Michelle DeRusha's Blog, page 54
March 5, 2014
Pre-Approved by Him
I’ll tell you the truth: it took me forever to get the concept of grace.
I admitted that to a group of women at a retreat this past weekend, and when I said it out loud, that grace wasn’t anything I’d heard much about as a child and a young adult, they were visibly aghast. I felt a little bit like a failure in that moment, but what can I say? It’s the truth.
For the longest time, I thought “grace” was what you said over your turkey and gravy once a year on Thanksgiving. We didn’t talk much abou...
March 3, 2014
Hear It on Sunday, Use It on Monday: When You Think You Can See but You’ve Got It All Wrong
I pulled into the parking space just as the red pickup truck next to me turned sharply, clipping the neighboring car so hard it rocked on its wheels.
The pickup idled. Behind the spattered windows rolled up tight, a man and a woman looked down at the scraped Ford. There was discussion. Mouths moved behind the closed windows. They looked, talked some more, laughed. And then drove slowly away.
I ran across the parking lot and into SuperSaver. Tossing my purse onto crates of tomato juice, I wrote...
March 2, 2014
Weekend One Word: Foolish
Friends, if you are looking for a daily devotional to accompany your walk through Lent this year, consider Beneath the Tree of Life - a collaborative effort between my church, Nebraska photographer Curt Brinkmann and me. It’s available as a free downloadable e-booklet to email subscribers of this blog. Click here for more details.
{If you already receive these blog posts in your email in-box, scroll all the way down to the very end of the post to the blue box, where you’ll find directions for...
February 28, 2014
Beneath the Tree of Life: A Free Lent Devotional for You {2014}
A confession: I feel unprepared for Lent this year. It crept up on me, and as I told a friend a couple of days ago, I feel like it’s suddenly breathing down my neck. Not exactly the image one ideally pairs with the season of repentance and quiet contemplation.
Maybe you’re feeling a bit of this too?
If that’s true, I have some good news for both of us.
As has been the case for the last three years or so, I have once again collaborated with my church to create a Lenten devotional this year. And a...
February 26, 2014
The Man with the Brown Blanket
Photo credit: Matt Talbot
“Peaches, sir?” I ask, holding a slotted metal spoon over the vat of canned fruit.
He doesn’t talk, just nods a quick yes. The plastic tray shakes in his hand. I spoon the fruit into a square partition, careful not to drip the juice onto the chicken breast and green beans. We make eye contact only once, his grey-blue eyes piercing mine before they dart away. A ragged brown blanket is stuffed under one arm.
The boys and I are serving dinner at Matt Talbot, the local kitc...
February 24, 2014
Hear It on Sunday, Use It on Monday: Different Doesn’t Mean Wrong
A black and white photograph of my maternal grandparents hangs on the wall in my parents’ living room. In the picture my grandfather stands handsome in pin-stripes, a white corsage pinned to his lapel. In front of him, their shoulders barely touching, is my grandmother. Her floral hat is angled just so, her porcelain skin framed by a spray of ribbons and gladiola across the shoulder of her suit.
It’s their wedding portrait, but there’s no tuxedo, no white dress, no lace-trimmed veil. On the da...
February 22, 2014
February 21, 2014
Surprised by Love
She’s got an underbite, sausage legs and a tiny piece missing from her left ear. Sometimes her lip gets caught up in her tooth, and we laugh because she looks just like Elvis.
She sits at the sliding glass door like an sentinel, watching the squirrels in the backyard while I write. We both know the squirrels are up to no good.
I said I’d never get a dog. I said it no fewer than 23,000 times.
It’s only been six days, but I love her already. Her name is Josie, but I call her Snaggle Tooth, which I...
February 19, 2014
The Life God has Ordained for You
We stood side-by-side in front of the case, the lunch crowd pressing loud and boisterous behind us. My friend bent down, hands on her knees, to admire the delicate chocolate confections arranged in perfect rows behind the glass. Her hair fell in gentle waves over her shoulders. I watched the man with the white apron tied around his waist watch my friend. Her eyes, blue like the Caribbean, settled on a dark chocolate truffle. His eyes settled on her.
“You like? You want to try, for free?” the m...
February 17, 2014
Hear It on Sunday, Use It on Monday: The Bread of Life
In a fit of panicked work overload, I asked Brad to write this week’s #HearItUseIt post, and he graciously agreed (with a little begging on my part!). Thanks, Bradster!
When I was about sixteen years old, a friend and I attended an event at a local non-denominational church. The event may have been a concert or a talk by a well-known athlete. I don’t recall. What I do remember is that it was all a bit of a set up.
At some point, counselors came through the rows asking about the state of our sou...
