Grace Notes
a weekly blog by Steven Norris
Groomed for Distraction
By Steven Norris It is embarrassing to admit, but I can get easily distracted. Maybe it is a character flaw or just a part of my personality makeup, but there are days that it frustrates me to no end. I need to get things done and all I seem to do is get...
What Are You Afraid Of?
By Steven Norris We all know the standard phobias: arachnophobia (fear of spiders), claustrophobia (fear of enclosed spaces), or acrophobia (fear of heights). What about some of the less common ones? Maybe you suffer from arithmophobia (fear of numbers),...
Saying Goodbye to Unwelcome Guests
By Steven Norris Colonel Jeff O’Leary was working with UN Peacekeeping forces in the Sinai Peninsula. He was having tea with a group of men when he noticed that his host kept staring at the man who had come with the guests to tend the camels. After a while, the...
Traveling Light
By Steven Norris The invitation of Jesus is simple, though it is never easy. “Come, follow me,” he said to the fishermen on the shore. In order to follow him, however, they had to leave some things behind. To follow Jesus, they had to “travel light.” Jesus...
Living Memorials
By Steven Norris I was eighteen when I first saw the iconic black wedge cut into the hillside — a constant reminder to a city that is always in danger of forgetting. On one end, the Vietnam Memorial points a finger towards the obelisk in honor of that great...
A Word for Graduates
By Steven Norris This week, my son will graduate from high school and start the next chapter of his life as a university student. If I had a chance to address his class, I might offer the following advice. The year was 1090. In the Burgundy region of France,...
Joy Comes in the Morning
by Steven Norris This week, I sat in the old fellowship hall of a Baptist Church on St. Simon’s Island, strumming my four-stringed ukulele and singing along with about 75 others gathered there: “Take it easy, take it easy / Don't let the sound of your own wheels...
Trading Duty for Delight
By Steven Norris A Pastor once told a story about growing up in a small town. When he was a boy, his mother gave him an assignment: “Go down to the florist and pick up some flowers for the dinner table.” The young boy did what he was told, but he felt quite...
How Do You Say “I Love you?”
By Steven Norris Sometimes, the phrase “I love you” can be spelled S-U-N-D-R-O-P. I moved to Georgia in 2018 from North Carolina to take a position at my current church. During my sixteen years in North Carolina, I had come to love the taste of a very particular...
An Easter Church
by Steven Norris It was dark when Mary approached the tomb that morning. Dark because it was just before sunrise. Dark because she was consumed by sadness. Dark because her dreams had been crushed and she had buried someone she dearly loved. One has to...