After a hard day scrambling to find your way around in the world, it's assuring to come home to a place you know. God can be equally familiar to you. With time you can learn where to go for nourishment, where to hide for protection , where to turn for guidance. Just as your earthly house is a place of refuge, so God's house is a place of peace.

The difference between mercy and grace? Mercy gave the prodigal son a second chance. Grace gave him a feast.

Be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life. Do you want to be happy tomorrow? Then sow seeds of happiness today -count blessings, memorize Bible verses, pray, sing hymns, spend time with encouraging people. Do you want to guarantee tomorrow's misery? Then wallow in a mental mud pit of self-pity or guilt or anxiety today assume the worst, beat yourself up, rehearse your regrets, complain to complainers.

God, the Master Weaver. He stretches the yarn and intertwines the colors, the ragged twine with the velvet strings, the pains with the pleasures. Nothing escapes his reach.

What the new mate, sports car, or unexpected check could never do, Christ says, "I Can." You'll love how he achieves it. He reconnects your soul with God.

What Christ does in us and through us will always be 'exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think.'

God does uncommon things through common people in common places.