We see a hearse; we think sorrow. We see a grave; we think despair. We hear of a death; we think of a loss. Not so in heaven. When heaven sees a breathless body, it sees the vacated cocoon & the liberated butterfly.

Patience is more than a virtue for long lines and slow waiters. Patience is the red carpet upon which God's grace approaches us.

The Bible is the story of two gardens. Eden and Gethsemane. In the first, Adam took a fall. In the second, Jesus took a stand.

What causes us to think of prayer as the last option rather than the first? I can think of two reasons: feelings of independence and feelings of insignificance.

I think to trust in the sovereignty of God does not excuse my personal responsibility. Just the opposite - it equips me to be personally responsible.

Whether or not storms come, we can not choose. But where we stare during a storm, that we can.

Jesus said, "My Father is the gardener...He trims and cleans every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce even more fruit".