Author: Sweet Tea and Front Porch Storyteller
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The Shepherd Who Stands Beside Us
Daily Office Reflection — Psalm 118; Isaiah 66:7–14; I John 3:4–10; John 10:7–16 The Lord Is at My Side Psalm 118 feels like a traveler’s song — the kind you sing after you have come through something. “The Lord is at my side; I will not fear.”“The stone the builders rejected has become the chief…
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Daily Office Reflection
Psalms 107 | Isaiah 66:1–6 | 1 Timothy 6:6–21 | Mark 12:35–44 “Whoever Is Wise, Let Them Consider the Mercies of the Lord.” The Psalmist in Psalm 107 recounts story after story of deliverance—wanderers in the desert, prisoners in chains, sailors caught in storms. Each refrain echoes: “Then they cried to the Lord in their…
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Daily Office Reflection
Psalm 102 | Isaiah 65:17–25 | 1 Timothy 5:17–25 | Mark 12:28–34 The Psalmist groans.He feels thin, worn down, forgotten. “I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop.” It is such an honest image. Not a soaring eagle. Not a triumphant dove. A sparrow. Small. Exposed. Alone. And yet in the very next breath,…
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Seeking, Being Sought, and Training in Godliness
Psalm 105 Isaiah 65 1 Timothy Mark 12 There is a holy tension woven through today’s readings. Psalm 105 urges us: “Search for the Lord and his strength; continually seek his face.” Isaiah 65 answers with something astonishing: “I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready…
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Psalm 101, Isaiah 63:15-64:9, I Timothy 3:1-16, and Mark 11:27-12:12
Today’s Daily office readings: Psalm 101, Isaiah 63:15-64:9, 1 Timothy 3:1-16, and Mark 11:27-12:12 seem like a hodgepodge of different events or thoughts that don’t seem to fit together. The Psalmist seems to be telling God what the Psalmist will accept and reject. Isaiah declares we are the clay, you are the potter, and we…
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The Table, the Porch, and the Mystery
5 Three places have shaped my understanding of life more than I realized at the time: At first glance, they seem unrelated. One is sacred. One is domestic. One is fictional entertainment. But the older I get, the more I see they are all about the same thing: Mystery and connection. The Holy Mystery of…
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Farm Life in Greene County, Mississippi
Some places do not just hold memories — they form you. For me, one of those sacred places was our farm in northwest Greene County, Mississippi, in the 1950s. It sat on the Union to Piave Road, a narrow dirt road that ran east to west and crossed Lovewell Road on the other side of…
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Walking as He Walked — Light Without Labels
4 Scripture Readings: This morning’s reading from I John is both simple and piercing: “Whoever says, ‘I abide in him,’ ought to walk just as he walked.”“Whoever says, ‘I am in the light,’ while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness.” John does not give us a complicated theology. He gives us…
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God Comes to Us in Many Different Ways
February 12 — A Life Lesson “Be still, and know that I am God.” — Psalm 46:10 There was a time in my life when I believed God spoke in only one way — through Scripture, through church, through sermons preached from a pulpit. But seventy-six years of living have taught me something different. God…
The Curious Pilgrim 