Living Water
Last Sunday morning, our Forum featured Mike Rusert, Pastor and Community Curator of Intertwine Northeast, “a spiritual community of practice that makes room for others’ stories.” Mike shared his own story related to water, his earliest memories stemming from the clear, spring-fed lake north of Brainerd where his family’s cabin stands. He spoke of how his own relationship with water and land has changed, largely due to what he has learned from indigenous peoples of Minnesota.
God’s Listening Ear
On January 12, 2010 a 7.0 magnitude earthquake devastated Haiti’s capital city, Port-Au-Prince, and much of the surrounding area. It claimed over 200,000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands more. One of the images that has remained with me all these years later is that of a 21-year-old man, trapped under the rubble of a five-story building. Nearly four days after the building collapsed, he was still lying on his side, pinned under a large slab of concrete.
Connected
By the time this devotion is published, I will have just returned from an extended weekend at the Jorgens’ family farm outside of Scandinavia, Wisconsin. Twin Brook Farm was settled in 1858 by my husband’s great-great grandfather when he emigrated from Arendal, Norway. Bob is keenly aware of how fortunate he is to have been one of the recipients as the farm was passed on from one generation to the next, and he takes seriously his role of stewarding the land to the very best of his ability for the generations after him.
Unexpected Healing
In my recent work as a hospital chaplain, I had the privilege of accompanying three adult children on an “Honor Walk” for their 68-year-old father, Rich, who had suffered a cardiac arrest. Although paramedics were able to get his heart beating again, Rich had been deprived of oxygen too long to recover, and he was being kept alive by machines until his organs could be donated to provide healing – even life itself – for others.