Our associate pastor has three document frames on his office wall at church. The first two display his degrees. The third one, though, displays his heart--whether that was his intent or not--and never fails to lift my spirits. In that frame is a ribbon that says, "Clean Teeth Award."

I probably like that so much because that’s my speed. I don’t have a long list of credentials after my name. I grew up on a farm and went to college in Ohio. I taught elementary school there and in Indiana where I also received my master’s degree in education. I got married and we raised our two kids in New Jersey and Maryland. I’ve been in church (a grand total of ten of them) for most of my life and have done a little bit of a lot of things and a lot of a few things there. But, bottom-line, there is only one thing I really have going for me and it is that Jesus loves me and I know it.

I began this collection with the prayer that something I would share would be a breath of the fresh air of God’s Presence to your heart. As I end I want to pray another prayer on your behalf:

Peter 1:3-4 (NLT)