Author Archives: lee

Society often celebrates values that run contrary to what we believe. Sometimes we feel like we’re standing alone, and we worry we’re not strong enough to overcome the world.

Me:  God, what if I’m not strong enough to stand firm in a world that pulls the other way?

God: Why do you believe the weight of the world rests on your strength?

Me:  Because everywhere I look, the world celebrates things I can’t celebrate. And sometimes I feel like I’m the only one trying to hold onto what’s true.

God: Feeling alone does not mean you are alone.

Me:  But I can’t surround myself with believers the way people say I should. I don’t have that kind of community. Most days it feels like I’m walking this path by myself.

God: You are not walking alone. I stand with you even when no one else does.

Me:  Still, the world feels loud. And I feel small. What if the world is stronger than I am?

God: The world is not overcome by your strength. It is overcome by Mine.

Me:  But I don’t always feel strong enough to resist its pull.

God: You were never asked to resist it alone. My Spirit in you is greater than the world around you.

Me:  Then why does it feel so hard?

God: Because faithfulness in a shifting world requires courage. But courage grows when you lean on Me, not on your own resolve.

Me:  So even if I feel outnumbered, I’m not outmatched?

God: No. Because I go before you, I stand beside you, and I strengthen you from within. You are held by a strength that does not waver.

Me:  Then I don’t have to fear the world.

God: No. I have already overcome it.

This Conversation is not meant as God’s literal speech. It reflects how Scripture portrays God’s heart toward those who feel outnumbered, outmatched, or alone as they try to live faithfully in a world that pulls in the opposite direction.

Reflection This reminds us that staying faithful in a world that pulls the other way is a real struggle for all of us. We feel that tension in different ways, but the challenge is the same: we want to follow God, yet the world around us often moves in the opposite direction. Even in that struggle, God tells us we’re not facing any of it alone. He goes with us, just as He promised in Deuteronomy 31:6, and He stands on our side, like Psalm 118:6 says. Because of that, we don’t have to be afraid of being outnumbered or overwhelmed. He is the One who strengthens us and guards us, even when we feel overwhelmed. 

On this day in 1981, reggae musician Bob Marley died of cancer. Marley was age 36. His son, Ziggy, was at his side, Bob Marley’s last words to his son, Ziggy were “Money can’t buy life.”

Pretty good widely accepted. The phrase “Money can’t buy life” has become one of the most widely shared attributions about his final moments with his son Ziggy. Not a bad reminder about priorities, a

However, Ziggy has publicly clarified in interviews that his dad didn’t say that. that this specific quote isn’t accurate. Marley’s actual last words to him were, “On your way up, take me up. On your way down, don’t let me down.”

I like the first one because it’s easy true, one I’ve seen many times, The second one is good, but requires some thought. Suffice to say, it was specific fatherly advice. The first one, the incorrect one, is the many people see.

I like reggae. I have listed to it for years but fell in love with on a trip to the Bahamas about 45 years ago and shortly before, from a movie, Club Paradise with Robin Williams using his disability payout to retire to a small Caribbean island and gets mixed up in reggae, resorts, and island chaos.  

[Before beginning, another way to look at the verse is like this: A good and faithful mother may not see the fruit of her love right away, but one day her children will look back with love, see how much she mattered, and remember her love.]

There are questions mothers carry quietly, tucked into the corners of their hearts. They don’t always say them out loud, but they feel them deeply. This is a conversation about the tender ache behind the words every loving mother thinks at least once: Could I have done more?

Me:    God… I keep wondering if I could have done more.

God:   Why does that question stay with you?

Me:     Because I remember the moments I wish I could redo. The things I didn’t know. The mistakes I made without meaning to.

God:    You remember your perceived shortcomings more clearly than your gifts.

Me:      But what if those shaped them? What if my mistakes mattered more than my love?

God:    Your love mattered more than you know. And My grace covered more than you realize.

Me:      I still feel like I should have been better, stronger, wiser.

God:    You did what you could with what you knew, in the season you were in, with the strength you had. A mother’s love is measured by faithfulness, not flawlessness.

Me:     But what about the things I missed?

God:   I was there in the moments you missed. I filled the spaces you could not reach.

Me:     So, You were guiding me even when I didn’t see it?

God:    I guided you gently, step by step, carrying what you could not carry yourself. I have guided you the way a shepherd guides the ones he treasures, gently, patiently, never rushing, always carrying what you could not. {Note: Remember this one, I;ve always loved it https://www.praywithme.com/footprints-prayer.html ]

Me:     Then why do I still feel this ache?

God:    Because love remembers. But love also needs rest. Let your heart rest in Me.

Me:     So I don’t have to keep asking if I could have done more?

God:    No. Because I was working in you, through you, and beyond you, even when you didn’t see it.

This Conversation is not meant as God’s literal speech. It reflects how Scripture portrays God’s heart toward mothers who look back on their years of loving, guiding, and giving, and quietly wonder if it was enough.

A Mother’s Day Reflection

For the ones who wonder if their love was enough.

Being a mom can feel thankless at times. So much of what a mother does is unseen, uncelebrated, and unnoticed, at least for now. The fruits of her love often don’t show up for years, sometimes decades.

And in the quiet moments, she wonders if any of it mattered. But God sees what others miss. God guides mothers the way a gentle shepherd guides the ones who need the most care, not with force, but with tenderness, patience, and steady hands. He knows the weight they carry, the choices they make, the tears they hide, the strength they borrow. And He whispers to every mother’s heart:

“You were never meant to walk motherhood alone. I guided you gently, step by step, carrying what you could not carry yourself.”

When she looks back and sees only what she feels were errors, He sees the love. When she remembers the moments, she wishes she could redo, He remembers the faithfulness. When she fears she wasn’t enough, He reminds her, “I have guided you the way a shepherd guides the ones he treasures, gently, patiently, never rushing, always carrying what you could not.”

A mother’s love is not measured by perfection. It is measured by presence, by faithfulness, by the quiet ways she showed up again and again. And God was there in every moment, filling the spaces she couldn’t reach, strengthening the places she felt weak, and carrying what she could not carry herself.

This reflection is not meant as God’s literal speech where there are quotations marks It expresses how Scripture portrays God’s heart toward mothers who look back on their years of loving, guiding, and giving, and quietly wondering if it was enough-it was!

My mom died just over 29 years ago. How I look back differs as I get older. I wonder about things more, but one thing doesn’t change: I always loved her and still do💛 

On this date in 1961, Alan Shepard made history with a 15-minute suborbital flight aboard Freedom 7. Later, he would return to command Apollo 14 in 1971, making him the only one of the original astronauts to land on the Moon.

Unlike the gals doing it earlier this year in their form-fitting blue suits, it was a little different for Shepard. He didn’t have make-up artists getting him ready to prance in front of cameras or to enter the capsule. His capsule was so small that the height requirement for astronauts was 5’11” or less just to fit in the cramped space. He had to wait several hours from when he woke up until liftoff. Is that important? In a way, it is.

The flight had been postponed several times. The United States would have launched the first man if not for the delays. In the interim, Russia beat us to it. And it was almost delayed on the day of the launch. Nature called as Shepard sat in Freedom 7, forcing him to urinate into his suit.

Medical sensors attached to it to track the astronaut’s condition in flight were turned off to prevent them from shorting out. The urine pooled in the small of his back, where his undergarment absorbed it.

But we learn by trial and error. After Shepard’s flight, the space suit was modified, and by the time of Gus Grissom’s flight two months later, it included a built-in liquid waste collection feature.

I learned three funny things researching this, one that made me do a literal LOL. The first was Shepard, who later recalled his wife Louise’s response when he told her that she had her arms around the man who would be the first man in space: “Who let a Russian in here?”

The second was on May 18, 1959, when the seven astronauts gathered at Cape Canaveral to watch their first rocket launch, which was similar to the one that was to carry them into orbit. It spectacularly exploded a few minutes after liftoff, lighting up the night sky. The astronauts were, of course, stunned. Shepard turned and said to John Glenn, “Well, I’m glad they got that out of the way.”

My favorite quote was from a book about him, recalling an interview. When reporters asked Shepard what he thought as he sat atop the Redstone rocket, waiting for liftoff, he replied, “The fact that every part of this ship was built by the lowest bidder.”

This is a fascinating story. Most are aware of the first story, but there’s more to the story. Taken in 1945, this photo became famous. Fast forward 76 years, and the question for today: Would this be considered sexual assault resulting in a lawsuit against the United States Navy and a criminal charge against the sailor? The initial questions are the legal ones that interest me.  I’m interested in it as an attorney.

But I’m adding a second photo now because I found out something I didn’t know initially. While the sailor and woman have been identified, the second picture, which is a close-up of another taken by the same photographer, shows a woman named Rita Petry. Rita was there to meet the sailor, George Mendonsa, for a date. They later married. Still, a shaky start to a date. Doing the math, they would marry about two years later.

As an aside, the nurse who was not really a nurse but has long been identified as such is Greta Zimmer Friedman, a dental assistant. Greta’s parents died in a Nazi concentration camp.

Back to Rita, through 2015, the last time I could find anything on this, she and George had been married for 68 years. There were other sailors claiming to be the kisser (and a couple of women claiming to be the kissee), but George and Greta met years later and confirmed it was the two of them, so I’ll go with it being George and Greta despite the controversy simply because I like the story and it does have credibility.

Greta later said, “It wasn’t a romantic event.” It was just an event of ‘thank God the war is over’ kind of thing.” She repeatedly emphasized it was a jubilant, impulsive celebration in the moment of victory, not a love story. She and Mendonsa later became friends, appeared together at events, and exchanged Christmas cards, but she never framed the kiss as a mutual romance.

There are people who take offense, probably the ones who tried to ban Baby It’s Cold Outside. It has to be put into the context of the time, August 1945? And the aftermath needs to be considered and their later friendship after reuniting.

They reenacted the kiss in 1980 for a Life magazine reunion in Times Square on the 35th anniversary of V-J Day. 

The photo was featured in Life Magazine, but it was not the only celebratory kiss that day.