Two Daughters

Over this past week, my two daughters have caught my attention once again.

Both are beautiful in their own mysterious, sweet way — reminiscent of their radiant, dark-eyed mother.

Both play my heartstrings like a master plays a strativarius, and both are young girls rapidly flowering into young women.

Often, one of them comes up behind me, puts their hand through the crook of my arm, and nestles their head on my side.

To say that my heart leaps with fatherly delight in those moments is a supreme understatement.

In those moments, I realize that I am changing the world with a glance and an embrace.

To reach the next generation with a sacred way of living, strong ideals and a faith that is sustainable through the storms of cultural and sociological shift (both personal and global), is to reach our children.

They are the first Church given to me to pastor, nurture and celebrate.

To deeply reach our children, is to deeply reach our grandchildren, great grandchildren and generations beyond.

This is the gift we bring today, to the future family of mankind.

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Sheltering Mercy: Prayers Inspired by the Psalms

Sheltering Mercy, along with its companion volume, Endless Grace, helps us rediscover the rich treasures of the Psalms—through free-verse prayer renderings of their poems and hymns—as a guide to personal devotion and meditation.

The church has always used the Psalms as part of its prayer life, and they have inspired countless other prayers. This book contains 75 prayers drawn from Psalms 1-75, providing lyrical sketches of what authors Ryan Smith and Dan Wilt have seen, heard, and felt while sojourning in the Psalms. Each prayer is a response to the Psalms written in harmony with Scripture. These prayers help us quiet our hearts before God and welcome us into a safe place amid the storms of life.

This artful, poetic, and classic devotional book features compelling custom illustrations and foil-stamped hardcover binding, offering a fresh way to reflect on and pray the Psalms.