Getting to Heaven
Recently I had an outpatient procedure involving fast-acting anesthesia. As the anesthesiologist put the medicine in my IV line, she said it might burn a bit. Less than 5 seconds later, I remember a tingly sensation as though I were fading away like Homer Simpson disappearing into the shrubs, or Captain Kirk dissolving into millions of energy particles in the Enterprise transporter. When I awoke it seemed like only moments had passed.
Continue ReadingThe Good News
For the past few months, our church has been in a campus-wide teaching series tracing God’s one story from Genesis to Revelation. We have been discovering how God is weaving together His great plan of making all things right in Jesus. What an amazing time in our church body to share God’s plan from the youngest to the eldest.
Continue ReadingPie
Warm apple pie with vanilla ice cream is my favorite. For me, it is traditional and a little nostalgic. When I was growing up in the youth group at my church, our apple pie fundraiser was an annual tradition. Now, we weren’t selling pies from a local bakery; we were actually making 300+ homemade pies.
Continue ReadingSeasons of Change
Autumn is the quintessential season of change. A chill is the air, backyard bonfires fill our noses with the smell of smoke and leaves turn beautiful shades of yellow, orange and red. Then they fall, creating dry, crunchy piles on the ground, leaving stark profiles of empty, barren trees. It’s a beautiful time, or perhaps a melancholy time for those of us reluctant to let go of summer.
Continue ReadingOn Jesus’ Sheep
Have you ever had to write a bio for yourself? How do you give someone a sense of who you are without opening yourself up to being radically misjudged, all because the joke you agonized over putting in sentence #3 doesn’t actually land? I think writing a bio is the worst. Forget bios—what about social media? Could someone scroll through your Instagram or Facebook and really get an accurate sense of who you are?
Continue ReadingFasting: What’s the Point?
Fasting is a common theme in the Bible when it comes to prayer. Traditionally, fasting is to go without food, for a period of time, to show sacrifice and to rely only on God for sustenance. In the modern world I have seen people fast specific things, such as soda, coffee, social media, and tv shows–things they feel hold precedence in their lives. However, fasting was intended for so much more than that.
Continue ReadingWhat Are You Thinking About?
There’s a sign painted under the overpass I drive under on my way home. It’s positioned at a bend in the road, so I drive straight towards it. It’s impossible to miss. There is no context or attribution, no artwork, pretty colors or interesting font. But this simple sentence challenges me every time I drive past.
Continue ReadingOn the Alert
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith (1 Peter 5:8-9a, NIV). The apostle Paul warns of Satan’s attack (Ephesian 6:13-18) and he lists the defensive armor of God that we should be using…
Continue ReadingTaking Our Speech Seriously
The past few months I’ve been making a new effort to take my speech seriously. My efforts originally came from making sure I was only contributing Christ-honoring speech if a conversation I was part of turned to gossip, judgment, unkindness, etc. But after thinking about it, it only became more relevant as I thought of how we speak to one another day to day amid hostility that has seemed to increase over time.
Continue ReadingGod’s Good Plans Are Better Than Our Best
Lately my husband and I have been talking about life plans, goals and ambition with our grown children. They’re all young adults moving at various stages along their own individual paths of independence. Each is considering various options for the future, pondering what comes next.
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