Category Archives: Jesus

Who is Wisdom? – Profiling in Proverbs

06 Friday Jan 2017

Posted by in Jesus, Provebs, Uncategorized

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Profiling as a tool to gain insight and understanding is widely applied in fields of social science; marketing, economics, and healthcare to name a few.

For today’s bible beans (and in preparation for this Sunday’s sharing), I am looking at how Wisdom is described in the book of proverbs…paying especial attention to instances in which Wisdom is personified…creating an initial profile based on the description.

 

Wisdper
easel.ly

What the heck???? A reference to Psalms and Headlines

28 Thursday Apr 2016

Posted by in Bible, BibleBeans, God, Headlines, Jesus, Psalm 37

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One thing I love about the Bible is how God can speak to you over and over again using the same passage and yet showing you how it applies to your life in a new way.  Psalm 37 is a favorite psalm of mine…..I find myself coming to it whenever I seek encouragement because it speaks of the things we see on a daily basis that make us wonder; What the heck?????

It seems to me that lately, there’s a lot going on that merits that question…to make a point, let’s sample the headlines for today’s NYTimes;

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/28/nytnow/your-thursday-briefing-donald-trump-ted-cruz-facebook.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

I see 3 back-to-back WTH headlines…and there’s a lot of reason for hopelessness and frustration. 

My initial thought when I see the absurdity of some things that take place in this planet is to try to do whatever I can to make this existence a little bit better for myself and for anyone I encounter…I feel this is my calling, as a Christian and frankly, as a thinking and feeling human being.  I feel a sense of urgency about this…and there’s a tendency to accompany that sense of urgency with action.

I have a busy day and was not planning to start my day with Psalm 37…but I’m glad I took the time to meditate before my day got started.  For some reason the saying “too busy not to pray” came to mind when I thought of my long to do list and the looming deadlines…and I took the time to read the bible and pray.

I came across Psalm 37 and as I was reading through it for the nth time…the following bible verses stood out to me:

Psalm 37:18 which says; “The blameless spend their days under the Lord’s care,
                                           and their inheritance will endure forever”.

and

Psalm 37:23-24 which say;  The Lord makes firm the steps
                                              of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall,                                               for the Lord upholds him with his hand.

For some reason, the image of the “hand of God” stood out to me…I did some research and saw that the word for hand in this passage in the original Hebrew is a noun used to describe direction, authority, and power.  This brought a new light into the verse because it moved the meaning of the sentence from an abstract figure of speech to a concrete directive of how God intervenes for his children..to think that God will uphold us by providing us his direction, with his power and authority…I would liken it to the ultimate TED talk; inspiring, enlightening, encouraging and empowering…inspiring us to continue to try to make a difference, to take risks, to be bold. 

The image of “inheritance” also stood out to me…that is the subject of dreams and novels; the long lost relative who leaves behind a sizable estate that propels the heir into new heights of wealth and status (and puts them on equal footing with their former nemesis who can no longer take advantage of them)….but I digress.  What does inheritance mean in this context?  There are two very powerful applications for this noun in Hebrew; the first one denotes the promised land…the second one denotes God Himself -as He called himself the inheritance for the priests in Israel.  This idea of inheritance being access to God and his promises brought to mind Paul’s words about Jesus and the setbacks that we encounter in life in Romans 8:

37 …in all these things [in previous passages Paul refers to opposition encountered and the pains of this world] we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God has given himself as an inheritance and we have the promise of his enduring love through Jesus Christ.  

Sometimes, even with our best efforts…things can still devolve into chaos..and then again we go to the good ole question: WTH????  However,  the love, acceptance, empowering guidance from God makes all the difference when WTH happens.

I am amazed at how new aspects of God’s word come to light, and how their application is hope-inducing, energizing and faith-building.

My faith in humanity might not be restored…but my faith in the calling of God empowering people to make a difference for good is.

Where did 2014 go?- Moving forward in 2015 using "Validated Learning"

04 Sunday Jan 2015

Posted by in 2015 New Years Resolution, Eric Ries, God, Jesus, Lean Startup, Luke 14:26

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It seems that for most people I’ve encountered lately, 2014 flew by in a flash.
Lo and behold in the blink of an eye it’s 2015 and we find ourselves reading goal-setting blogs, buying gym memberships, and feeling a mix of remorse for what was left unaccomplished in the past 12 months, and hope for what we might accomplish in the year to come.

Forbes reports that among the 40% Americans who make new year’s resolutions only 8% will be able to achieve their intended goals.
In the last 2 years, I have learned to be a bit more forgiving about my unaccomplished new years’ resolutions.  This doesn’t mean that I have been slacking off…however, perhaps through age and experience, I have come to understand two things:
1. More often than not, projects take longer than anticipated – which means that what I seek to accomplish in one year might take longer than that.
2.  There is quite a bit of pre-work involved in developing a new habit or skill which is often ignored in the goal setting process…and as the saying goes…if we fail to plan…we plan to fail.
In the bible, Jesus describes it in the following way:
“If one of you is planning to build a tower, you sit down first and figure out what it will cost, to see if you have enough money to finish the job.” – Luke 14:28
  
Recently, I came across Eric Ries’ “Lean Startup”.  In it, the author highlights a process for managing innovation in organizations.  One of Ries’ main contributions is the insight that due to the fact that innovative ventures are qualitative different that traditional manufacturing ventures, innovation-related activities should be evaluated and managed differently.  The “Lean Startup” is a coherent framework to approach innovation in organizations and I suggest it might have valuable insights for our goal setting process for 2015.
  
This framework can provide a useful tool in the preparation and execution stages of our goals; if we conceptualize our new years’ resolutions (or any goal in our life) as an innovative activity, we can apply concepts such as “validated learning” and “minimum viable product” to our initial execution process.  This will give us a robust method to self-evaluate, giving us a more positive outlook and hopefully bringing up the resolution’ success ratio for this year’s Forbes report 🙂  
Below, you can find my summary of the book.  God bless!
Lean Startup – Key Concepts/Takeaways
Scientific Management 2.0
Ries proposes a scientific approach to innovation management akin to Taylor’s contribution to general management through his scientific (productivity) management theory, which emerged at the turn of XX century.
Just like the absence of a framework supporting managerial practices created an opportunity for wasted human resources and curtailed productivity in the industrial sector of Taylor’s time, Ries’ postulates that due to the absence of “a coherent paradigm for new innovative ventures, we are throwing our excess capacity with abandon” (pg. 18).
Ries’ highlights the qualitative difference of innovative ventures vis-à-vis traditional productive ventures in organization:
Traditional productive ventures:
·       Focus on manufacturing and marketing an existing product (measured by production)
·       Create sales revenue by controlling production and marketing costs (measured by inventory)
·       Seek to maximize sales and profit margin (measured by revenue)
Innovative Ventures:
·       Focus on moving from vision of a product or service to a concrete concept
·       Establish the boundaries of the initial investment/infrastructure required
·       Develop a new product/service
·       Engage in traditional productive ventures for the new product/service (outlined above)
Ries defines entrepreneurship as management; those who manage and engage in innovation activities are “intrapreneurs (those working inside an established organization) /entrepreneurs” operating in the context of a “human institution designed to create a new product or service under the conditions of extreme uncertainty” (a start-up/ pg.27).
Traditional Manufacturing vs. Innovation Ventures:
Ries’ Framework
Since innovative ventures are qualitative distinct from traditional product manufacturing ventures, there should be different accounting currency to manage these ventures, namely; innovation accounting.  The Lean Startup provides a framework for accounting in the early stages of innovation management.
Innovation Accounting
In order to move from vision to concept formulation and to minimize the risk in moving towards an investment in infrastructure we need:
1.     A minimum viable product (MVP) that provides baseline metrics on which we test our assumptions
(Assumptions consist of a value hypothesis and a growth hypothesis)
2.     A mechanism to integrate feedback learnt through user experience
3.     A strategy to pivot or persevere towards a final product
The milestones in these three stages are measured using validated learning.
 The concept of validated learning and its application is illustrated through IMVU’s case study.  The original idea of IMVU’s product development was to create a 3D IM environment that would enable users to integrate across platforms with existing IM applications/contacts. 
The assumptions were that users would find value in interacting using 3D avatars and that viral growth would occur through the individual’s social network (calculated using Metcalfe’s law).  The MVP version of IMVU was released to users and optimized based on their feedback.  However, after the initial round of optimization there were no improvements in the diffusion of the product across users.  The feedback-optimization process occurred a couple of times before the production team realized that the underlying assumptions were inaccurate and thus, the optimizations were ineffective.
1.     Users did not want to integrate IMVU with existing contacts (growth hypothesis was inaccurate)
2.     Users were not ready to pay for IM service that was analogous to other IM services (value hypothesis was inaccurate)
The case study illustrates the difference between optimization and validated learning.  Unlike optimization (utilizing consumer feedback to building existing assumptions), validated learning uses customer feedback in a grounded approach, to test the underlying assumptions in terms of growth and value hypotheses that yield “evidence that a sustainable business can be built around its products or services” (pg. 126).
The outcome of the validated learning is therefore measurable by being actionable, accessible and auditable.  Furthermore, it relies on actionable metrics that explain steps ahead and use more precise methodology such as cohort analysis vs. vanity metrics that rationalize failure and use totals.
Recommendations
Small Batches – Ries recommends to release MVPs in small batches targeting early adopters for feedback; this creates a quick turnaround for the feedback loop to iterate.
Stagewise Progression for feedback validation using split-test methods – Ries recommends to integrate consumer feedback systematically from backlog to validation.  Feedback items in the progression should be limited to a maximum of three in each stage, and they should not be considered complete until they had been validated through split-testing.  This provides a systematic way of integrating customer feedback for validated learning.

BibleBeans Readings for March 24th, 2014

24 Monday Mar 2014

Posted by in BibleBeans, God, Jesus, Joseph, Love Enemies, Tick Tac Toe, Zero-Sum Game

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In this post, we look at Jesus’ commandment to love our enemies…which is not an easy task.
We look at the biblical example of Joseph’s life, who managed to love his brothers who sold him to slavery.
Joseph provides us with key insights into how we can overcome our initial impulse to engage in a ‘zero sum game’ against other people by trusting God.

BibleBeans Vlog Video for March 11, 2014

11 Tuesday Mar 2014

Posted by in God, Jesus, Mark 15:3-5

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The Vlog for March 11th looks at the story of Pilate’s first encounter with Jesus. 
Jesus stayed silent in light of the outrageous accusations leveled against him by members of the Sanhedrin.  Pilate probably expected him to react by vocally defending himself, however Jesus did the opposite…and this was powerful.  God’s word is powerful, however, so is his silence.
Link to watch:

Hey there 2014….A brief post welcoming the new year

12 Sunday Jan 2014

Posted by in Ecclesiastes 9:11., God, Jesus, New Year 2014

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This week I made a crazy realization… I did not write a single blog-post during 2013.  Is it just me or was last year a super-short year????

It seems like it was just yesterday that I was celebrating New Year’s Eve 2012-13 with one of my closest childhood friends who had just shared the news of her engagement.

When she told us that her plans were to get married beginning of 2014,  I remember thinking it would take forever for that day to come…and now the day came and went.  I just returned to from her AMAZING wedding.

The happy couple at the amazing wedding 🙂

Personally, I found 2013 to be underwhelming, and perhaps therein lies the reason for its perceived brevity. When I look back, I will think of 2013 as a “gap year”…

2013 in Retrospect

Just like almost every year in my adulthood, I began 2013 with a bunch of goals, well-crafted, SMART goals…however, this year was exceptional; I did not realize most my goals, and the ones I realized -albeit major (finally got my PhD)- turned out to be underwhelming.

Since 2013 went by so fast, I did not have time to prepare any goals for 2014, but to my surprise the year has been unexpectedly great…and to my dismay neither my planning nor goal-setting skills (or lack thereof) have played a role in it.

2014, what next?

So far, 2014 has been great mainly because of 3 things;
1. I welcomed the year in El Salvador, my home country, spending time with my sister, childhood friends and family (whom I hadn’t seen in over 10 years).
2. I saw my friend get married to the love of her life.
3. I spent the first Sunday of the year listening to an encouraging sermon at the largest church in Latin America.

Normal people would be thrilled about this, right?  They would think of it as “starting the year on a good note”… But it turns out, I’m not the most normal case (no surprise here), and instead of feeling hopeful about all the excitement ushered in by 2014, I get this sense of dread…”What if this is the highlight of my year? What if I do not experience anything better for the rest of the year?”

The combined experiences of 2013 and 2014 (so far) left me with some valuable realizations:  

1. Most of the plans we make (including new years’ resolutions) will take longer than expected…regardless of how S.M.A.R.T. our goals and resolutions are. 
 2.. It is not just bad things,  good things also happen unexpectedly and all we can do is be mentally prepared to make the best of any situation.
3. New years resolutions and goal setting at the beginning of a year will NOT ALWAYS bring us closer to our life-goals, but surrounding ourselves with the right people might WILL ALWAYS make the process a lot smoother (shout-out to my friends).
4. A sense of humor makes good situations better and bad situations less painful.

In the end, I can say that the fact that 2014 has taught me such valuable lessons in such a short time is a good sign…regardless of what the rest of the year may bring…no need to dread.

May both the goal-setters, and the laissez -faire inclined among us have a great 2014.

God bless.

” I have seen something else under the sun:
The race is not to the swift
    or the battle to the strong,
nor does food come to the wise
    or wealth to the brilliant
    or favor to the learned;
but time and chance happen to them all.”  

Ecclesiastes 9:11 (NIV)

Normal Activity…

07 Wednesday Nov 2012

Posted by in Big Bang Theory, David, God, Jesus, Jungian Crisis, Normalcy, Norms, Weltschmerz

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“Lord I wish I had a normal life…” 

That has been my prayer on more than one occasion at different points in my life.

I am sure I am not alone in my prayer…a lot of people have made similar prayers, maybe not in those exact words, but still in the same line of thinking.
“Lord, I would like to be able to have a job, like normal people do” 
“God, I would like to be married, like most people my age” 
“Lord, I wish I was more like everyone else…”
In short, when we pray for normalcy we do not necessarily explicitly ask God for a normal life, but we ask God for to bring about in our lives the situations that we consider “normal” for a given circumstance/outcome in our life.
Big Bang Wisdom: A Jungian Crisis & Weltschmerz 
My sister recently introduced me to a new TV show…the Big Bang theory.  One of the episodes had a really interesting scenario in which one of the main characters, the over-analytical theoretical physicist named Sheldon, tries to comfort his friend Leonard, who is sad due to the distant relationship he maintains with his mother.  Sheldon walks into Leonard’s room to talk to him, and the conversation unfolds like this;

Leonard: …Why are you here?

Sheldon: To comfort you, of course… Leonard, what you’re experiencing is a classic Jungian crisis in which the aging individual mourns the loss of the never-to-be realized ideal family unit.

Leonard: Thank you, that’s very comforting.

Sheldon: That’s not the comforting part.

Leonard: It’s not?

Sheldon: No, no. The comforting part is that the Germans have a term for what you’re feeling. Weltschmerz. It means the depression that arises from comparing the world as it is to a hypothetical, idealized world.

Leonard: You’re right, I do feel better.

Sheldon: Well, the Germans have always been a comforting people.

This episode made me laugh-out-loud, especially in this part because my GERMAN HUSBAND was sitting next to me…however, when I thought about this idealized vs. reality Weltschmerz notion, I had to wonder if my prayer for a normal life, was an expression of a Jungian crisis of some sort…was my prayer for ‘a normal life’  a prayer for an idealized form of reality?
What is Normal? From “Norm” to “Normal” to “Ideal”
The term “normal” is related to the word “norm”… a term utilized in sociology to describe a pattern of behavior that has been adopted by a group, and is now akin to a law -governing social interactions within that group.  In short, a norm is what everybody does, or at least, what everybody is expected to do.
The word normal thus refers to something that is manifested and expected by most people in a group…

The term “normal” can be used to qualify a broader range of phenomena, from behaviors (i.e. act normal), to personality traits (he’s pretty normal), events (it was a normal day)…in short, we use the word ‘normal’ when things fall within a range of expected outcomes.

However, it is in those instances “when things fall within a range of expected outcomes” where that which is considered ‘normal’ becomes idealized; because that which is expected is normal and is ideal…anything falling outside of that range can be grounds for a Jungian crisis, expressed in many ways; in my case it was a prayer for ‘a normal life’.
As I was praying for a normal life, God answered my prayer in an unexpected way;  I had to think of an account from the life of King David. 
David’s transition from shepherd to King
As a young boy, David was a shepherd in his father’s household who became the hero in Israel for defeating Goliath, saving the whole nation from destruction, and later become the king of Israel.  
It sounds like pretty normal progression; a shepherd who defends sheep from predators, a warrior who defends Israel from his enemies, a rising hero who becomes the king.  
Most of us have read/heard David’s story so many times, that the particularities of David’s rise to power elude us… the reality is, that the circumstances that led David to the throne are far from normal.
Unlike most kings, who are the first male child born into a royal family, David was not born into a royal family, he was not even the first born in his family…he was the youngest.
Once David was anointed, he did not get to rule over Israel, he did not get to sit on the throne, he went to serve under Saul, who constantly attacked him and sought to take his life.
David’s transition to kingship is the least normal in the history of Israel…
One particular account, encapsulates the far-from-normal circumstances that characterized David’s life;
David Destroys the Amalekites
(1st Samuel 30 verses 1-7) 
1. Three days later, when David and his men arrived home at their town of Ziklag, they found that the Amalekites had made a raid into the Negev and Ziklag; they had crushed Ziklag and burned it to the ground. 2 They had carried off the women and children and everyone else but without killing anyone.
3 When David and his men saw the ruins and realized what had happened to their families, 4 they wept until they could weep no more.5 David’s two wives, Ahinoam from Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal from Carmel, were among those captured.
6 David was now in great danger because all his men were very bitter about losing their sons and daughters, and they began to talk of stoning him.
But David found strength in the Lord his God.
7 Then he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring me the ephod!” So Abiathar brought it. 8 Then David asked the Lord, “Should I chase after this band of raiders? Will I catch them?”
And the Lord told him, “Yes, go after them. You will surely recover everything that was taken from you!”
Background of the story… 
This story plays out right after David has fled Israel with a group of loyal followers to evade Saul, who is trying to kill him. 
He ends up among the philistines and becomes their ally in battle (talk about less than normal situations)
…however while he was in battle, some philistine leaders became afraid that David would turn against them in the middle of battle, and again, he is forced out. 
David’s rise to the throne is most definitely not a normal progression of events;
1. Saul opposes his claim to the throne of Israel, he ends up joining his enemies the philistines, 
2.  Among the Philistines, David is treated with suspicion and ousted due to doubts regarding his allegiance in the battlefield. 
3. And to make matters worse, when he goes back to his camp, he finds that everything has been plundered and taken away from him and his friends. The bible says that he wept until he could no longer weep.
Maybe at that point he prayed “God why can’t my way to Kingship be more normal, why so much suffering, why so much pain?” 
I am sure many of us that can identify with David’s feelings at this point…we have come to a low point in our lives, and just when we think things couldn’t get any worse…they do…things are so bad, we long for normal.
In light of the loss of everything, David’s men became embittered…however the bible says David found strength in the LORD.  Not only did he find strength, but also guidance and the ability to go back and recover everything he had lost…
Normal vs. Divine
David’s initiative in light of the circumstances, was to ask for divine guidance in his life.  The Lord told David he could go and chase after the Amalekites, and he found them and recovered everything…
When things were all kinds of not normal…and much less than ideal, David looked for the divine…and everything fell into place.
This made me think about a bible verse in 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 that says;
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, 
no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.“

When we find ourselves far from the normal range of expected outcomes in our lives, the tendency is to go looking for normalcy…but what we need to do, is to look for God’s divine guidance…which means that even when things don’t fall within a range of expected outcomes, they will fall in the right place.  



Lent and Leap Day

29 Wednesday Feb 2012

Posted by in Dan Ariely, God, Jesus, Joshua Bell, Joshua Bell Subway Video, Leap Year, Lent, Provebs, Values, Washington Post experiment, Wisdom

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Has this ever happened to you; you put on a pair of jeans you hadn’t worn in a while and unexpectedly, you find money in the pockets???  



This has happened to me a couple of times…

Sometimes when I get change from a quick purchase, instead of putting the money in my wallet, I put it in my pocket, and forget about it…days later I find the money and it makes me happy; it is an unexpected bonus.

It seems to me that there are similarities between leap day and the money you find unexpectedly in your pockets.  Leap day -much like the money we find unexpectedly in our pockets- is not something that “magically appears”…it is time that has been stored up and emerges at one point in time. 

Leap Year Explained

In the gregorian calendar, the years are mostly 365 days long.  This period of 365 days should coincide with the time that it takes for the earth to circle once around the sun.  However, in practice it takes the earth 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes and 46 seconds to complete its trajectory around the sun.  So for three years, the extra hours are stored up and put away. On the fourth year, this extra-time -which now adds up to one whole day- appears in the calendar on February 29, which is leap day…a bonus day in the year.  

It is funny how much people enjoy leap year…it is the perception of an “extra day” that makes it special…much like the perception of the “extra money” makes me happy when I find unexpectedly some change in my pockets.

Perceptions and Values

Leap day illustrates how our perception affects the value we ascribe to things, and in turn affects the way we experience events in our lives.  February 29 is considered a “special day” in the calendar, even though it is nothing more than the extra six hours leftover in the past four years.  

This phenomenon was discussed by Dan Ariely in his book “Predictably Irrational”.  Through his experiments on behavioral economics, Ariely found that what we perceive to have value can affect our lives in concrete and significant ways.  In chapter 11 of the book, Ariely describes one particular experiment, where  students were given the same medication at different prices; one group was given the medication at 2.50 dollars a pill, and the next group was given the EXACT SAME medication at .10 cents a pill.  

Even though the medication was the exact same chemical composition, the reported relief resulting from this medication among the two groups was drastically different; ALL of the students who paid the “expensive” price for the pill reported pain relief, while only half of the students who took the “cheap” medication reported pain relief.  The experiment -according to Ariely – demonstrates how our perceptions, and the value we ascribe to things can drastically affect our concrete experiences.

It is a pity, that people who took good quality medication were prevented from experiencing the fullness of its benefits because of their perceptions of this medication as “cheap”.  The truth is, that sometimes we may perceive that are affordable and available as “cheap” but in reality…they might be very valuable.

That Which is Truly Valuable

Recently, a similar story about a study on perception, taste and priorities was circulating the web. According to this story, the Washington Post arranged for Joshua Bell, a world renowned Violinist, to play his 3.5 Million Dollar violin at the metro-station in Washington D.C.  Just a few days before, Bell had sold out at a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.  However that day in the subway, barely anyone stopped to listen…

The report on the experiment describes how this famous violinist played for 45 minutes, and during this time, it was mostly the children who wanted to stop and enjoy the performance…but the parents rushed them along.  Out of the approximately 1000 people who walked by during this time, nobody recognized Bell, or even worse, none of the adults appreciated the value of his music.  Why?  Probably because their perception of what should be valuable prevented them from appreciating the real value of the performance.  

This experiment brings to my mind the passage in Luke 10:17 where Jesus said to his disciples; I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

Perhaps what Jesus was referring to in this verse, is the quality of children that was displayed in the example of Joshua Bell…Children were the ones who took the time to appreciate that which is truly valuable, and made room to allow the transcendent into their lives.    


Lent and Leap Year

In a similar fashion to Joshua Bell’s music in the D.C. metro,  the book of Proverbs, chapter 8 describes how God’s wisdom is readily available for all of us…calling to us like a street performer.

1 Does not wisdom call out?   Does not understanding raise her voice? 

2 On the heights along the way,   where the paths meet, she takes her stand; 

3 beside the gates leading into the city,   at the entrances, she cries aloud: 

4 “To you, O men, I call out;   I raise my voice to all mankind…. 

6 Listen, for I have worthy things to say;   I open my lips to speak what is right…. 

10 Choose my instruction instead of silver,   knowledge rather than choice gold,11 for wisdom is more precious than rubies,   and nothing you desire can compare with her.


Lent this year began exactly one week before leap day…on ash Wednesday.  May this time be a time where we stop to appreciate that which is truly valuable and readily available for us…God’s grace, his love, and his wisdom in our lives given freely through Jesus Christ.