cjbruinius

[cjbruinius]

Wait

**Over Easter week, my church asked me to write the story of Holy Week from a first person narrative. I enjoyed this so much, I decided to continue this narrative into Acts. I hope you are blessed. Have you ever noticed, in life, that we wait? I’m not sure what you are waiting for, but the waiting for the promise of the Father, for the Holy Spirit took forever. Yet, He proved Himself faithful,…

[cjbruinius]

The nearness of my God is good

Where do you look for answers? Where do you go when all the little stressors form into a giant wave crashing across your life? It’s so easy for our first response is to develop a plan. Look at our account. Scheme a way to get through this. I make that sound a bit drastic, but it’s so easy. Read with me in the Message version Psalm 73. The author Asaph begins with grief and rage. “No doubt about…

[cjbruinius]

With us

These last few days Luna, when the front door is opened, likes to run out and greet whomever is on the other side of that door. Now, for us, there’s a bit of trauma associated with her dashing out. In the very recent past, she has ran looping houses as fast as she could. All we could do is stand and watch and sorta beg her to come back. These last few days, however, she runs out to go right to…

[cjbruinius]

Input

Our cat Felix loves to sit on people’s laps on his terms. Meaning, he is not a fan of people grabbing him and forcing a cuddle. Lately, when I am the only one in the living room, he will come and bless me with his little presence. Luna will sense a disturbance in the force and come from the bowels of the house to take back her territory (me). She will climb up to the back of the couch and lean…

[cjbruinius]

Pause your rings

So, I have an Apple Watch and have been a bit addicted to closing my rings daily. What are rings you ask? The Apple Fitness rings consist of three rings: the red Move ring tracks active calories burned, the green Exercise ring counts minutes of brisk activity, and the blue Stand ring shows how many hours you’ve stood for at least one minute. Closing all three rings daily encourages a more active…

[cjbruinius]

Snow

We have forecasts of snow. Our local college was canceled Wednesday. Bible study canceled. I woke up to not a flake on the ground. We are grateful for weather people forecasting, right? We love to watch the time lapse and see where the snow/rain/sleet will go. A theme of our life is planning ahead, seeing the storms brewing, and we set about to order our steps. I remember when I was little there…

[cjbruinius]

Rest part 2

I wrote a post yesterday that just didn’t sit with me. Here is my edited version, to honor my Jesus. It surprises me, at least for me, how with the root of fear, the branches can be anxiety, frustration, etc. When I lean into that root in my life, I begin to doubt. Not God’s love, but my eyes look at everything with this lens of trepidation. These past few mornings have been like this. Please…

[cjbruinius]

Short

“Watch out, brothers, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that departs from the living God. But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception. For we have become companions of the Messiah if we hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start.”‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭3‬:‭12‬-‭14‬ ‭HCSB‬‬ A friend asked…

[cjbruinius]

Sleep

What do you do when you can’t sleep? Do you get up and watch tv or look at your phone? Do you lay there praying for sleep to come again? I’ve written about this before, but last night was another rough night and I need this post today. Let us look to Jesus first. “It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God. And when day came, He…

[cjbruinius]

Change

I’m noticing something this year at Christmas as I drive down the long street in my neighborhood before turning onto my little street. Light. Maybe one third of the houses are decorating with light. It’s dark as I drive down this street. Now, when you turn onto my street, there is light. Only one house isn’t decorated. My kids put up our lights this year and they are simple and beautiful. I’ve…

[cjbruinius]

Proof

Our walks in the morning begin before the sun rises. Most mornings we walk amongst the stars. It’s lovely and quiet and Luna hates it. Every leaf that rustles, every noise like our neighbor honking his horn and starting his car remotely…not that I’m bitter about that… She must stop and smell and look around. My headlamp illuminates our walk safely (peak fashion right here). This is where my…

[cjbruinius]

Reverence

Milo was in a fight the other day with something outside Noah’s window. We were able to chase whatever it was away and brought the little guy in from the chaos. He was bleeding and Ella cared for his wounds. We took him to the vet the next day and he got some antibiotics. We were told to keep him in until the scratches disappeared. Haha. He’s been in for four days, most of the time he is okay…

[cjbruinius]

Before me

Yesterday afternoon (Sunday), i began to be filled with dread. My time with my family, rest, and days off of work were drawing to a close. I longed to be in the days off more. This morning, the same dread hung over me. And i can’t help but think of my spot here in my living room. You see, we have a memory frame of pictures of Starburst, her paw print and her collar over one window. It is not at…

[cjbruinius]

Rain

We have had a bunch of rain (that’s a technical term, FYI) and the skies have been gray and gloomy. If you have been reading these little posts for awhile then you know I feed the little birds around here. I began to notice that the birds would come around, sit on the feeders, but the food wasn’t being eaten. I realized, upon further research, the food was rotten. Water had seeped in and mold…

[cjbruinius]

Fixed

So, in stretching and strengthening, I was watching a recent video and she made this comment: when standing on one leg, fix your gaze on an object in the room that is not moving. Keep it there until you come out of the pose. Now, this can be difficult with 2 cats and a dog flying around me, but it actually does work. Another. A frequent request for prayer is that we would make more time to be in…

[cjbruinius]

Set your face

Ever have a night where the sleep just will not come? I must have dozed some, but I spent much of the time, regrettably, awake. It is these moments that, upon reflection, educate me. The Lord knows what I need for this day. He knows each moment. He holds me in his hand. It is my reminder today to keep thinking of the Lord, even when moments become challenging. When tears are close, eyes heavy…

[cjbruinius]

Supply

One of the most curious parts of having an indoor/outdoor cat is their irrational need? Desire? To go outdoors. We did not adopt this boy, he adopted us. We feed him. I’d say clothe, but haha, no we do not clothe him. We give him a warm, dry place to rest. Cat towers. Cat couch. Cat hammock. Nope, you know when he’s had enough. He walks to the door, sits down, and stares first at the door, then…