Author: Sweet Tea and Front Porch Storyteller
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What Is Shaping My Heart?
Daily Office Reflection for Monday, September 28, 2026Psalm 106; Hosea 14:1–9; Acts 22:30–23:11; Luke 6:39–49 Psalm 106 begins with praise and thanksgiving, but it soon becomes a confession: “Both we and our ancestors have sinned;we have committed iniquity, have done wickedly.” The psalmist does not stand at a safe distance and condemn previous generations. He…
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The Missing Piece of the Puzzle
Forrest Gump said life is like a box of chocolates. I have discovered that life is more like a crossword puzzle. It gives us clues, and we spend our lives discovering the answers. Sometimes it is like a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle: the pieces look so much alike, but somewhere they fit together to form the…
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Mercy That Meets Us Where We Are
Daily Office Readings for Sunday, September 27, 2026Psalm 118; Psalm 145; Hosea 13:4–14; 1 Corinthians 2:6–16; Matthew 14:1–12Source: The Book of Common Prayer, Proper 22 We have written often about grace, but today’s readings invite us to stop and consider another beautiful expression of God’s love: mercy. Psalm 118 repeats the words: “His mercy endures…
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Remain Connected to the Source
Pilgrim Series: The Sixth Meeting—Unceasing Prayer and Salvation Source: The Pilgrim Continues His Way, author unknown, translated by Olga Savin, Shambhala, 2001 Over the years, I have heard salvation described in two very different ways. Some speak as though salvation were a single act of God’s grace after which the way we live no longer…
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Saints in My Book
Some saints will never be remembered on a church calendar or written about in a book of saints. Their names may not be known beyond their families, classrooms, churches, and communities. Yet they will always be saints in my book. My parents were among my first saints. They were imperfect people, as we all are,…
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Abby Kelley Foster: When Faithfulness Requires Confrontation
Saint for September 26, 2026Abby Kelley Foster (January 15, 1811–January 14, 1887)Quaker, Abolitionist, and Advocate for EqualitySource: A Year with American Saints by G. Scott Cady and Christopher L. Webber, Church Publishing, 2001 Abby Kelley Foster was raised in a loving but strict Quaker family. As a young woman, she became a teacher. After hearing…
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Lord Jesus Christ, Be Present with Me
Pilgrim Series: The Sixth Meeting—Unceasing Prayer and Salvation Source: The Pilgrim Continues His Way, author unknown, translated by Olga Savin, Shambhala, 2001 In the Sixth Meeting of The Pilgrim Continues His Way, the Skhimnik speaks with the Professor and the Pilgrim about unceasing prayer and salvation. Salvation occurs as we seek God through prayer and…
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God Has Not Given Up on Me
Daily Office Readings for Saturday, September 26, 2026Psalms 107, 108, and 33; Hosea 11:1–9; Acts 22:17–29; Luke 6:27–38 Life is filled with challenges. Some arise from choices I have made. Others come from decisions made by people whose lives touch mine. Still others simply happen because illness, loss, disappointment, and uncertainty are part of living…
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Lord Jesus Christ, Heal What Is Wounded—Change Me
Pilgrim Series: Reflections on The Pilgrim Continues His WaySixth Meeting In the Sixth Meeting of The Pilgrim Continues His Way, the Professor, the Pilgrim, and the Skhimnik discuss unceasing prayer as a way of entering more deeply into union with God. The prayer they describe is not an incantation. It is not merely mumbling the…
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Melville B. Cox: Planting an Unfinished Work
Saint for Friday, September 25, 2026Melville Beveridge Cox, MethodistNovember 9, 1799–July 21, 1833 Melville B. Cox knew grief, illness, and interrupted plans. Born near Hallowell, Maine, in 1799, he entered the New England Methodist Conference as an itinerant preacher in 1822. Tuberculosis forced him to stop preaching in 1825. He moved to Baltimore, worked in…
