Watch the Shepherd

Dear friends, It's been about three years since I last posted on this Watch the Shepherd blog, although I have posted on some of my other blogs! If you follow me on Facebook or in person, you k...

http://watchtheshepherd.blogspot.com/2022/05/a-blog-update-and-ordination-lectionary.html

Friends, I love seminary. I always say it gave me my life back. Two years ago, I ran into my old friend Patricia on a fluke visit to a church where she happened to be helping lead the litu...

http://watchtheshepherd.blogspot.com/2019/10/lectio-divina-seminary-notes.html

"Give me ears to hear, eyes to see..." That's what I was thinking on the board walk at Blue Springs State Park. I have only a half an hour, not nearly enough time for the extended expl...

http://watchtheshepherd.blogspot.com/2019/07/give-me-ears-to-hear-eyes-to-see-heart.html

Devote yourselves to prayer,  being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that GOD MAY OPEN A DOOR  FOR OUR MESSAGE,  so that we may proclaim  the mystery of Christ,�...

http://watchtheshepherd.blogspot.com/2019/07/open-door.html

"Has the community served to make individuals free, strong, and mature, or has it made them insecure and dependent? Has it taken them by the hand for a while so that they would learn again t...

http://watchtheshepherd.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-goal-is-not-control-but-empowerment.html

"ALL THE WAY MY SAVIOR LEADS ME" Fanny Crosby All the way my Savior leads me, What have I to ask beside? Can I doubt His tender mercy, Who through life has been my Guide? He...

http://watchtheshepherd.blogspot.com/2019/02/all-way-my-savior-leads-me-strength-in.html

REVELATIONS OF DIVINE LOVE BY JULIAN OF NORWICH  This is one of my Church History assignments from last semester at Asbury Theological Seminary. For a Primary Source Analysis (PSA), a...

http://watchtheshepherd.blogspot.com/2019/02/revelations-of-divine-love-by-julian-of.html

"Le Christ Bennissant" by Bernardino Luini Louvre, Paris Dear friends, I thoroughly enjoyed my first semester at ASBURY THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY (Orlando campus) this past fall, and I'm ...

http://watchtheshepherd.blogspot.com/2019/01/inductive-bible-study-on-discipleship.html

Dear friends, I've been thinking lately, as so many of you have, about how many people are in survival mode during the holidays. I'm not talking about how they have just crammed their sche...

http://watchtheshepherd.blogspot.com/2018/11/you-can-make-this-holiday-season-little.html

Dear friends! October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month! Tomorrow evening, I am speaking at a small church (in a home) about how Christians can respond to domestic violence victims. To ...

http://watchtheshepherd.blogspot.com/2018/10/domestic-violence-what-to-know-and-what.html

A voice. A Christian voice. A Christian woman's voice. The Christian woman's powerful voice. What thoughts come to your mind? Did you flinch? Wince?  Maybe you heard an inner voice into...

http://watchtheshepherd.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-power-of-christian-womans-voice.html

GOD TRUTH CHANGE BEAUTY QUESTIONING CONTEMPLATION Today is Holy Saturday, the day before Easter. I've been scurrying around getting ready for my adult children and my grandchildre...

http://watchtheshepherd.blogspot.com/2018/03/soul-musings-from-old-journal.html

Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim, Till all the world adore His sacred Name. Led on their way by this triumphant sign, The hosts of God in unity combine. Lift ...

http://watchtheshepherd.blogspot.com/2018/03/lift-high-cross-strength-in-hymn.html

Dear friends, Yesterday, I spontaneously posted the photo below on Facebook along with an analogy about PTSD. Despite the ugly photo, my words must have resonated, because as of this morn...

http://watchtheshepherd.blogspot.com/2018/03/ptsd-pain-that-keeps-on-giving-while-we.html

Last night I attended a Community Conversation meeting on the topic of human trafficking in Central Florida. Dr. Joel Hunter, pastor emeritus of Northland Church and founder of THE COMMUNI...

http://watchtheshepherd.blogspot.com/2018/02/human-trafficking-community-conversation.html

Dear friends, Two weeks ago, my longtime fellow blogger and FB friend Julie Anne Smith noted on her FB page that she would be in Orlando for a conference. She wanted to know if anyone wo...

http://watchtheshepherd.blogspot.com/2017/08/mutual-by-design-2017-christians-for.html

"No Little Women" Virginia Knowles In the beauty of the Kingdom There shall be no little women: Shrinking Shriveled Silenced Shamed Subservient Shadows No, never! Lo and behold Sisters and ...

http://watchtheshepherd.blogspot.com/2017/07/no-little-women-cbe17.html

Dear friends, It is International Women's Day again!  What does that mean? Different things to different people, I'm sure. I am an evangelical Christian and a feminist, and no, those ...

http://watchtheshepherd.blogspot.com/2017/03/international-womens-day-2017-what-do.html

"Wonderful Words of Life" Philip Bliss, 1838-1876 Sing them over again to me,  wonderful words of life;  let me more of their beauty see,  wonderful words of life;  word...

http://watchtheshepherd.blogspot.com/2016/09/wonderful-words-of-life-strength-in-hymn.html

A couple of weeks ago, a new novel mentioned on Facebook piqued my interest. I ordered it almost immediately. A MEASURE OF LIGHT , by bestselling Canadian author Beth Powning, retells the sto...

http://watchtheshepherd.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-puritans-quakers-and-little-old-me.html

Five Things Homeschool Moms Should Know About Abusive Marriages by Virginia Knowles (NOTE: THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY REQUESTED BY RYAN STOLLAR OF HOMESCHOOL ALUMNI REACHING OUT AND FIRS...

http://watchtheshepherd.blogspot.com/2016/03/five-things-home-school-moms-should.html

Naghmeh Abedini Picture Credit DEAR FRIENDS, Though I haven't blogged at Watch the Shepherd in nearly three months, I have been keeping a pulse on one of my major themes here: abusive ...

http://watchtheshepherd.blogspot.com/2016/02/nagmeh-abedini-and-responding-to.html

COMMUNITY THANKSGIVING FREE DINNER TODAY 4-6 PM You might have seen these colorful signs along a road near us today. And then you might have seen dozens of people mingling and eating in a pa...

http://watchtheshepherd.blogspot.com/2015/11/thanksgiving-dinner-in-community.html

TO THE YOUNG WOMAN WITH BRUISES I had not intended to be 120 miles from home Late on a Sunday night in an unfamiliar city Sitting in my van with a Monster drink in my hand Trying to wake ...

http://watchtheshepherd.blogspot.com/2015/09/to-young-woman-with-bruises.html

Dear friends, So the War Room movie hit #1 status in the box offices, and that's pretty amazing for an overtly Christian film. Immediately, my Facebook feed filled with glowing endorsements...

http://watchtheshepherd.blogspot.com/2015/09/war-room-hope-or-hype.html