Lael ArringtonHeart Topics – Lael Arrington

Of all the men you know, who do you really consider a “great man”?

admin — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 12:04:30 +0000

Johnny Miller 1944-2025

Probably not many qualify. But, as I read the comments on Columbia International University’s Facebook page in tribute upon their fourth president’s passing, I saw it written time and again.

“A great and godly man, a champion of the Word. One of the finest men I have ever known.”

“One of the greatest men I have ever known.”

“A great man of God! His teaching, passion, and example marked and motivated me.”

I didn’t know Dr. Johnny Miller when he was president of CIU. But in the epilogue of his ministry, long after that presidency, I was blessed to know him as both a great man and a great friend.

Step into the Easter Story as Foretold by Isaiah and Fulfilled in the Four Gospels

admin — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 18:45:45 +0000

Jesus set his face like a flint for Jerusalem. His hour had come. Almost 700 years before, the prophet Isaiah described what would unfold in surprising detail, and what it would mean for all humankind. I invite you to read Isaiah’s version (before Sunday) that focuses more on the physical, emotional and spiritual suffering of Jesus and the reasons why God was willing to “crush” his Son. Let it take you deeper into the arrest, trial and crucifixion of “the greatest story ever told.” And worship the One who loves us and sacrificed himself for us.

All the texts are taken from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version except for my comments in italics.

***Isaiah 53:1-3 Betrayal, abandonment, denial, rejection***

Giotto: Jesus betrayed by Judas, Scrovegni Chapel, Padua, Italy; @1305

Isaiah: Who has believed what they heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?…He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

Matthew: And [in the garden of Gethsemane, Judas] came up to Jesus at once and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” And he kissed him. Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you came to do.” (26:49)

Then all the disciples left him and fled. (26:56)

The joy of trusting God like Shadrach, not Jacob

admin — Mon, 29 Jan 2024 14:24:22 +0000

Long ago, these were my hands…until they were wrecked by rheumatoid arthritis. Thirty+ years ago I had three joints replaced, two ruptured tendons repaired, and one large nodule removed. Yesterday I had a second surgery on my right hand. The nodule has grown back and was removed again. The middle joint of my thumb underneath it has been destroyed, so it was stabilized by drilling a hole and inserting a pin. Recovering the use of my right hand may take three months (for the bone to strengthen).

The problems in my hand are not very painful, but it is getting harder and harder to grasp things with my right, dominant hand. The nodule may grow back. So the prospect of big gain is iffy. But my doctors are recommending this surgery, so I am trusting them and am all set to do it.

I am also trusting God for the gain of function we are hoping the surgery delivers.

When I told all this to a friend yesterday, she responded, “Well, you have an army of people praying for you.” I smiled and thanked her. It’s true. And if any of you reading this would like to volunteer, I’d be grateful. We have so many nerves in our hands.

Smart, fun, generous…and difficult—my mom died a year ago today

admin — Tue, 15 Aug 2023 03:54:51 +0000

How God is way ahead of us and with us in the Valley of the Shadow

It’s been a year since I’ve regularly posted here. After Mom’s death I needed time to process. Grieve. Reflect. Rest. I didn’t intend to pull back this long. One thing that has drawn me back: I’ve wanted to tell the story of how amazingly God provided for us during her final three years fraught with vascular dementia.

I’ve also wanted to encourage others on an all-too-common yet nearly impossible journey. Nothing really prepares you for the unimaginable twists and turns of caring for someone who has always been so sharp and fiercely independent, who begins to need help doing her laundry, and even taking her medicines. Especially when they insist on remaining a thousand miles away.

Just when you’ve figured out how to respond to hallucinations or accusations of stealing, another unthinkable challenge comes up. But let me tell you how God shepherded us through the Valley of the Shadow…

The last 20 months have been a tale of two cities for us—”the best of times and the worst of times.”

Coping, or Overcoming?

admin — Thu, 18 Jun 2020 11:50:16 +0000

It’s easy to lose your mojo. It’s summer…when we normally downshift anyway. But more than that, we are weary of life with masks and distancing and non-stop news of the heart-breaking injustice, violence and loss in our cities. The stock market goes up and our hopes rise, only to plummet again.

To make matters worse, our election-aggravated culture war is starting to ramp up for five long months of political assault on our hearts. Hopes of returning to an economic or daily “normal” are sinking and for many a feeling of low to high-grade anxiety is settling in. Or perhaps a roller coaster of both.

There is much talk of how to cope. That is not what this post is about. Coping with all the issues mentioned above carries the idea that we are using strategies and methods to merely survive. Riding the roller coaster of news, events and emotions, but managing our fear and anxiety enough to stay on the rails and not launch into the abyss or crash at the bottom.

But interestingly, the word “cope” is not used in the Bible.

Virus, Floyd, Riots, the 1-2-3 Punch: Choosing Not to Fear

admin — Wed, 03 Jun 2020 16:31:05 +0000

Floyd protest NYC

Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

How is your heart today? Seared by that slow-motion, snuff-film video? Rattled by the riots? On top of the virus threat that lurks out there as we begin to venture out, don’t they feel like a 1-2-3 gut punch?

My heart is grieved and angry over that video. And I’ve been ambushed by fear several times in the last few days. Maybe you have too.

“The Gospel Comes with a House Key”

admin — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 15:29:53 +0000

New book challenges and equips us to reach out and love well

We all have them. That short stack of books that have profoundly impacted our lives. Changed not only our understanding but the way we live. To my short stack I’m adding Rosaria Butterfield’s The Gospel Comes with a House Key.

I’ve read several books on “hospitality.” But none have reached as deeply into the way I think about and practice hospitality as her discussion of it as the overflow of table fellowship and caregiving. Rosaria and her husband’s daily schedule radically incorporates preparing extra food, engaging with neighbors, and filling their guest room as a way to make “strangers into neighbors, and neighbors into the family of God.” Rosaria: “This transition…does not happen naturally but only with intent and grit and sacrifice and God’s blessing.”

In today’s culture that is so profoundly fractured by our great divide in beliefs and values, this is God’s way to bridge the divide. And she speaks directly to the saving grace of hospitality in our postmodern culture.

Thanksgiving, Black Friday Whiplash and 3 Ways to Cultivate Contentment

admin — Fri, 23 Nov 2018 11:46:13 +0000

Oh the irony: we give thanks and bask in the contented glow of food and family, only to wake up and launch into Black-Friday–the starting gun for fulfilling long Christmas lists on short budgets. ‘Tis the season of discontent.

Family gatherings may mean hours of navigating broken relationships and difficult people. Or the aching absence of those we love. Holiday festivities constantly invite us to measure our looks, dress, domiciles and social skills against others far more gifted or well-endowed.

It’s the perfect time to read or refresh our reading of Ann Voskamp’s book, 1000 Gifts. I read her book seven years ago and it changed me. Ann describes herself as a “woman who speaks one language, the language of the fall—discontentment and self-condemnation, the critical eye and the never satisfied.”

But she took a dare to list 1000 gifts in her everyday experience. In the midst of piles of dirty laundry, piles of dirty dishes, squabbles among six children and her husband’s concern over the viability of their farm in the great recession, Ann began to train her eyes to see God’s gifts and record them on her blog.

This Thanksgiving I give thanks for Ann’s book, and in the Christmas season ahead I’m refocusing on three deep insights that have radically altered my life and will prepare our hearts for a Christmas of contentment and joy.

World-weary? “All Things New” torches our hope

admin — Thu, 25 Jan 2018 04:29:25 +0000

The ultimate fix for culture wars and chaos, pain and loss

You probably saw hundreds of thousands take to the streets in protest for Right to Life and women’s empowerment last weekend. On Capitol Hill the Democrats in their trench shouted, ‘Protect Immigrants!” while Republicans in theirs shouted, “Protect citizens! Protect the military!”

And we watch. War-weary, just wanting these people to do their jobs and run the government. The shutdown shut down, but the “cultural war for the soul of America” as Pat Buchanan first described it, continues—this daily battle over “who we are and what we stand for as Americans.”

Did you hear any of the speeches from the Senate floor? It was as if Democrat Schumer and Republican McConnell each described the shutdown from totally different planets. As my gut tensed I wondered, “How will this war ever end?” It used to be that the war was fought during election season and now it’s fought every day.

Suddenly, unbidden, words and images flooded in…

Want to watch women laughing, learning and cooking together?

admin — Wed, 22 Nov 2017 12:50:05 +0000

(the perfect primer for holiday cooking)

Take a peek at our Apples of Gold power point below. Based on the invitation (in Titus 2) for older women to mentor younger women in kindness, loving their husbands and children, hospitality and other big issues, we gathered for 7 weeks this fall for cooking lessons and Bible Study.

Liisa and Judi, our cooking mentors taught us how to make everything from pulled pork to cheesecake, how to choose olive oils and knives and whip up a perfect mug of frothy coffee. Then, after Bible study and discussion, they served up the yummy lunchtime results of their labors–the perfect setting for going deeper on our topics.