Year: 2017
Altogether Generous

Altogether Generous

We’re told “God helps those who help themselves.” And we know that if we give things away, we’ll have less. In addition, many believe what we have is ours, to be used for our own pleasure. When these false narratives are combined, they form a powerful argument against...

Your Community

Your Community

We have been talking about community a lot lately. But what does community look like to you? Can we even see the community around us or have we become so tuned in to our day-to-day duties that we are missing the opportunity for genuine community? Possibly, even worse,...

Rest

Rest

RestThe LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. Psalm 23:1-2 (ESV)Iwas eased into parenting with an easy first baby. Our daughter slept through the night from five weeks on, took naps...

God Is Community

God Is Community

The Doctrine of the Trinity – that God is One in Essence and Three in Person – is one of the most ancient and well established beliefs in Christianity. While it is perplexing, mysterious, and often confusing, it is far from irrelevant. God’s simultaneous unity and...

The Secret Path to Courage

The Secret Path to Courage

Sometimes secrets are meant to be told—especially when those secrets could help us change for the better. For many people, finding courage can be a difficult assignment. But what if we all discovered the secret path to courage? Maybe it’s possible to create a...

The Sacrifice of Brokenness

The Sacrifice of Brokenness

The Sacrifice of BrokennessMy sacrifice [the sacrifice acceptable] to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart [broken down with sorrow for sin and humbly and thoroughly penitent] such, O God, you will not despise. Psalms 51:17 (AMP)Most of us are familiar...

Piles of Stones

Piles of Stones

Piles of StonesThen Joshua said to the Israelites, "In the future your children will ask, "What do these stones mean?" Then you can tell them, "This is where the Israelites crossed the Jordan on dry ground." Joshua 4:21-22 (NLT)Iwas chatting this week with a friend...

Normally Weird

Normally Weird

If you follow Jesus you’re weird. You’re supposed to be weird. You don’t have to read much of the life of Jesus or his teachings to realize that there was something wonderfully weird about him or that he called his followers to live out that same weirdness together....

Don’t Go It Alone

Don’t Go It Alone

We can be individuals to a fault—independent and self-sufficient, never needing anything from anyone and never giving anything to anyone. But we were created by God to function in community with others. You can surround yourself with people who, with you, can make a...

What If You Can Make a Difference

What If You Can Make a Difference

At some point in your childhood you were most likely asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Maybe you followed those early inklings or maybe not. Regardless of your profession, you can make a difference in the world around you. God only holds you...

What If It’s Not About You

What If It’s Not About You

We live in a selfie-centered culture. We seem to be people increasingly concerned with “likes” and “follows.” But the energy required for image management can take its toll. What if it’s not about you? What if your life is to be all about God and His desires for you?...

Hospitality

Hospitality

HospitalityAnd Jesus answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her." Luke 10:41-42 The thought of hospitality makes me feel...

What If You Can Be Happy?

What If You Can Be Happy?

Take a casual survey and you might find your answer at the top of the list. What is your greatest desire in life? Common answer: “I just want to be happy.” There’s certainly nothing wrong with wanting to be happy. But maybe there are different kinds of happiness and...

What If It’s Real?

What If It’s Real?

Each year Easter is celebrated all over the world in all kinds of cultures. Some celebrate out of tradition or even religious ritual. Others consider the Easter Bunny to be the center-stage character in the Easter story. But of course, Easter is the celebration of the...

The Age of Undoing

The Age of Undoing

The Age of UndoingFor I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. 1 Corinthians 15:3-4...

In Its Own Time

In Its Own Time

In Its Own Time Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NLT) Everything seems to have bloomed early this...

Scandalous Grace

Scandalous Grace

The word “scandal” often gets associated with things that are disgraceful, shameful, offensive or shocking. So, accusing God of scandal is…well…unthinkable. That is, until we look more closely at His grace. God’s plan of redemption through Jesus is scandalous. His...

Lavish Gifts

Lavish Gifts

Lavish GiftsIf you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! Matthew 7:11 (ESV)It was my birthday this past week. It wasn't a milestone year for me or a...

Hope for Tomorrow Today

Hope for Tomorrow Today

The plans of God can be mysterious and confusing. But it’s possible, no matter the circumstances, to have hope that God is working out His good purposes. Sometimes pain and unpleasant seasons are the result of God’s discipline and sometimes they remind us that we live...