This wonderful story told by Max Lucado brings me a lot of hope today. I pray it also does for you.

Hurt never feels good. I would never recommend it, but without, we never truly come to appreciate the joy of healing.

Maybe you're just doing your best today and don't feel like your best is enough with all that you're dealing with.

If that's where you're at, let me introduce you to A.M. Overton.

Hope it was a wonderful Mother's Day weekend for you but I know it's filled with a lot of mixed emotions for a lot of people, including our family.

Though it was an tough day without mine or my wife's moms, something really interesting happened that turned a sad day kind of sweet.

I think all of us are looking for connection.

Some of us will try to find that on social media. Maybe these days, that’s the most common way we try to connect with others.

But, there are a few things that can get in the way of real connection. One happens on social media a lot.

If I put a veneer or gloss over myself to hide what I really don’t like about myself, or what I think YOU won’t like – if I try to make myself look better than I really am or just like a less flawed version – connection becomes difficult if not impossible. Social media – as fun as it can be – really encourages this.

I’m learning that the first step is to just drop the veneer...take the filter off...be a little humbler and kinder to myself and others.

Then, often, people feel they can connect with me more. When I’m not trying to be so Insta-Worthy.

Another beautiful thing about doing this: it takes the pressure off everyone.

Myabe you're facing something that feels scary. Maybe in that thing you feel like you're walking into it alone. Here's a truth that will never change: You will never go where God is not. Plain and simple. It's a 2,000 year old promise.

Some reflections to encourage you on the loss of my mother, and how I used it (by God's grace) to share a blessing with my children (her grandchildren). You can do the same.

Now that my kids are bit older, I look back on my years of parenting fondly for the most part, but there's of course a couple of regrets. This one sticks out above the rest.

-Doug

Our bad things will turn out for good. Our good things can never really be lost. And the best things are yet to come.
-Jonathan Edwards

This week, as I buried my mother, I thought a lot about the question, "How do people deal with death if they think this life is all there is?"

Just about the ONLY thing that has kept me from breaking down (other than just God's sheer mercy even when I couldn't see it) is the knowledge that this is NOT the end.

As a believer in Christ, my mother LIVES.

I hope you are OK today. If you're not - that's understandable...and OK.

Our entire community is shaken to the core, and rightfully so.

It is in these times of shock, sadness, confusion, and frustration, that I CLING to words like these.