"The sun stood still, the moon stayed, ... The sun halted halfway across the heavens; not for an entire day did it press on." - Joshua 10:13

Oftentimes, sickness and death come with no warning.  One's life becomes frozen in time.  Projects that were started and projects that were planned are suspended without end.  Laundry drying on the clothesline, needlepoint threads sorted out in the box lid, zucchini ready to be harvested in the garden, a hairbrush lying on the bathroom counter, breakfast dishes sitting in the kitchen sink, a glass of water on the nightstand.  All of these stopped like a mannequin challenge.  Our life's video movie succumbs to a snapshot in time.

​Dear God, all life will end.  One day, the sun will stand still and the moon will stay.  Then, Thine Will, and not my will, shall surely be done.  Amen.

We watched a stray napkin dance in the wind in a parking lot the other day.  It kept us mesmerized as it hovered just over the ground.  It was swaying back and forth, trying to escape from the parking blocks that confined it.  It was as if it was in a "fun house", bumping aimlessly into one "wall" and then another.

As we watched, we felt as though we wanted to help it to escape, to get free.  But we just watched to see how it would free itself.

To our amazement, it glided between the parking blocks, tumbled along the ground for a bit, and then the wind lifted it up.  And up it went!  It soared higher and higher, and further and further.  We watched, our eyes glued to this napkin until we could see it no more, as the wind carried it towards the clouds and out of our sight.

Then we wondered:  Where was it heading?  Where did it go?  When did it land?  Who did it captivate next?

"You make the clouds your chariot; traveling on the wings of the wind." - Psalm 104:3

"Then he had a dream: a stairway rested on the ground, with its top reaching to the heavens; and God’s angels were going up and down on it." - Genesis 28:12

Steps that appear to go nowhere.  From a certain perspective, they just seem to disappear into the sky.  We climb the steps, hoping to meet Jesus there.

Looking at the stairs, your imagination is taken to new heights.  There is hope.  There are dreams.  All will be new.  In your heart, in your imagination, and through your eye, you can visualize a magnificent journey.

"... and, like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house ..." - 1 Peter 2:5

A couple of stones, placed in a certain position, form a symbolic picture.  Rearranged in a different pattern, they would form a totally different picture.  What is it really?  Nothing but a couple of stones that our mind chooses to interpret in a certain way.

Words are the same way.  Put together in one way, they can be praising and loving, but put together in a different way, they can be hurtful and mean.

Lord Jesus, help me to arrange my words and all the "stones" of my life so that they are always pleasing to You, and form patterns representative of Your love.  Amen.

"and the LORD said to him: Pass through the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and mark an X on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the abominations practiced within it." - Ezekiel 9:4

Just like the water line is marked with a "W" to indicate the presence of the pipe, we are all marked with the sign of the cross at Baptism to symbolize that we belong to Jesus Christ.  We mark ourselves with the sign of the cross when we enter the church or listen to the Gospel, as reminders of our "location" in the kingdom of God.

The next time you see a symbol that marks a particular spot, remember the mark that you carry that designates you as belonging to Jesus Christ.