‘The women who had been companions of Jesus from Galilee followed along. They saw the tomb where Jesus’ body was placed. Then they went back to prepare burial spices and perfumes. They rested quietly on the Sabbath, as commanded.” Luke‬ ‭23:55-56‬ ‭MSG‬‬

Good morning, PrayerWarriors. 

Monday morning we gathered around a co-worker’s empty desk as we dwindled in and heard the news. The remains of our Carla’s son, Tommy Raymond, had been found over the weekend. 

Remains: worst fear. 

They had been looking for him, a “missing person”, for almost 4 years. He just disappeared. After a family vacation, he just vanished. The family and investigators had been looking and following hundreds of leads through these years, with hope of finding him alive. 

We never give up hope. 

We cried, my work-family and I. We held each other. As if somehow, in holding each other, we were holding together the brokenness of his mother. 

Mary, mother of our Savior, followed her son’s lead through every day of His life, too. Her passion took her to places she never thought she would go…and, He had her shaking her head some days at His eccentric ways, on other days, she stood marveling at the wisdom that drew throngs of people together in a common thread of hope. Her baby boy. 

She followed Him through the streets, 

through the doubters, 

through the believers, 

to the cross,

to the place where He was laid. 

Because, we never give up hope. 

The parallels of the stories of these mothers and sons are unending, as is the grief. 

Hindsights wander in and out. 

Treasures of memories rise and fall. 

A random gesture releases a stirring … a glimpse of their sons continuing on in the lives of their loves. And, the gift of the ultimate promise is resurrected from soul-deep: hope of eternity. 

Because, we never give up the reality of our hope. 

Eternity. Thank you Jesus, for Your gift of eternity. 

Wake up. 

Cherish hope. 

Go. 

http://www.lewis3sunz.com

Twitter @lewis3sunz

Good morning, DearOne,

There are places the Holy Spirit takes me where I dig in my heels. And, the fight is on. 

There are places where my Savior draws me closer and closer, eye to eye, until all I can do is understand the battle is His, and my call is to hand it over. (And, I normally balk again-stubborn and slow learner!)

But, oh. 

When that release happens, when truly, I give over the storm, or the hate, or the grief of the thing, 

then, 

my soul says a loud and clear, “YES!”

Things may look normal on the outside, but from inside, I see the world in a new light. 

From a place of being completely wrapped in the light of forgiveness, then difficult parts take on a clear perspective. 

From this place, a holy place, people become solutions, not problems. 

From here, events are turning-points to move us out of fear, away from past barriers and blocks – to the place where The Almighty needs me. 

This is the place that every exhale expels fear and every inhale brings a deeper love. 

In complete trust, 

in love so whole, 

you, too, have been placed here with purpose. 

No matter where you are, 

No matter how you “feel”,

No matter what you’ve done-

know this, you would not be here if your growth was not on the line. 

Just like the people and events in your own life … 

You are an answer. 

Not a problem. 

“Wake up. Put your face in the sunlight. GOD ’s bright glory has risen for you. The whole earth is wrapped in darkness, all people sunk in deep darkness, But GOD rises on you, his sunrise glory breaks over you.” Isaiah‬ ‭60:1 MSG‬‬

Wake up. 

See everyone in fresh light. 

That’s resurrection. 

Go. 

http://www.lewis3sunz.com

Twitter @lewis3sunz

8 The LORD is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.

11 For His unfailing love toward those who fear Him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.” Psalms‬ ‭103:8, 11‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Good morning, Beloved. 

It is Easter week. 

Reminders of His unfailing love encircle me like a whirlwind. 

Constant. 

Steady. Steady. Steady. 

Our supply of His Holy Spirit – 

never-ending. 

Inexhaustible.  

It is true – at least for me it is – that whatever I focus on increases. Just as when I allow fears and anxieties to consume my thoughts, I become more fearful. 

When I choose for my thoughts to fly to our Maker, The Most High God, the arrows of harm I have set loose with fear are rerouted by His angels of protection. His Spirit rises, and from that place where He has heard my mortal cry, He stands between me and the unjust. 

From this place we move to show His love to the ones who, like us in times past, have been kicked to the side of the road – a soul in need of comfort, strength, sturdy sheltering. 

The older I become, the more I sense … trusting my God-given intuition, the less I speak, the more I pray, and, the more I trust. It is here, in this place of trust, He expands His Spirit in you and me, firming up the Holy Warrior in us to stand in the gap for others who need to catch a glimpse of His unfailing love and be protected from the arrows of attack. 
Wake up. 

Take your place. 

Go. 
http://www.lewis3sunz.com

Twitter: @lewis3sunz

Good morning, God’s Child. 

What is your soul-practice? I’m always curious about how others go in. Time alone, co-mingling with our Savior, is what causes us to burn brighter with His Spirit. 

Sometimes, I deplete. Empty. Empty. Empty. A certain empty dark. 

Somehow, in the business world and the educational world it has been labeled “unproductive” when time is spent alone. A tagged taboo. It is ironic to me that for many, the opposite is true. It is through caring enough to return to His place, anytime, anywhere – in a crowd or sitting on a creek bank, or wrapped in a blanket on bleachers, that we find we can enter into Holy presence. It is there that we protect our lives from being drawn into the traps of the enemy, someone else’s drama and hunger. It is here, where we return, that we choose to allow the Almighty to meet us with relentless boldness, unguarded assurance, profound endurance. 

We need only to look for His wild and living wisdom, and we will find Him. Enter in. 
“When God fixed the weight of the wind and limited the water by measure, when He established a limit for the rain and a path for the lightning, He considered wisdom and evaluated it; He established it and examined it. He said to mankind, “The fear of the Lord is this: wisdom. And to turn from evil is understanding.” Job‬ ‭28:25-28‬ ‭HCSB‬‬
Wake up. 

Enter in. 

Go. 
http://www.lewis3sunz.com

Twitter @lewis3sunz

Good morning, DearOne. 

As a child, my brothers and cousins and I spent many hours on Cobb Creek on the back side of our grandparent’s place. We watched minnows and critters and caught crawdads with bacon on a string. 

Dale and our sons locked in on that same sense of wonder in nature. They know with acute intensity the trees and the leaves and the trails and the markings at our rural Oklahoma home. They know the space so well that they could likely wake from a month’s long sleep, look around, and tell you what the date is by simply seeing the maturity phase of the buds and blooms. 

These were spiritual disciplines we practiced without even knowing. Our world ablaze with a wonder close to terror … our Creator’s wildness filling every detail. A school of the beasts, large and small. We dance with the Divine, because when we notice His hand in the life all around, He turns us on to a wild freedom. 

God governs our nature … and in our human perspective, we realize it’s not always all about us, it’s about the whole of His creation. Everything cycles and blooms over and over again according to His timing. His ways are right. 

This is the place where I feel a chord of deep humility rising in loving kinship with His creation … a place where together, we’re responding to the lure of God’s glory. 

Today, can you simply choose to place every interaction and event into trusting 

His timing, 

His wisdom,

His ways?

‘But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” Romans‬ ‭8:25, 28‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Wake up. 

His ways are right. 

Trust Him here. It’s a choice. 

Go. 

http://www.lewis3sunz.com

Twitter @lewis3sunz