Happy Rebirth Day!
Each year, we have the chance to celebrate the gift of life by giving and receiving birthday gifts and messages. I appreciate the warm sentiments, silly cards and simple acknowledgments of all the ways in which our lives are woven together. One year, I received a message that has forever influenced the way I view…
Read MoreAn invitation to Lenten Devotional
During this Lenten Season, I invite you to listen to the Word of God that we might hear God afresh and be drawn more fully into His love. We are reminded in Romans 10:17 that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” So when was the last time we honestly, really,…
Read MoreThe Biden State of the Union and the state of our union in Christ
The President of the United States is scheduled to deliver the annual State of the Union address tonight on Tuesday, February 7, 2023. Every year it gets me thinking about the state of my union with Christ, the state of the church, and yes, the state of the union of the nation I call home. …
Read MoreThis Valentine’s day, let’s “phileo”
In the 15th chapter of the gospel of John, Jesus bestows a great gift to his disciples. He says to them, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends.” Jesus demonstrated the value of true and faithful friendship. He knit together a small group…
Read MoreNew Year. New you?
Once again we find ourselves in a brand new year. We start with high hopes, great expectations and often a number of resolutions that prove unrealistic. Mere days into the fresh, new calendar, and some of us are already giving up. Our willpower is not as strong as we thought, or significant, unforeseen events push…
Read MoreBegin again, again
Children call it a “do over.” Golfers call it a “mulligan.” Television and film directors call it a “retake.” By whatever name, it is the realization that something didn’t go as we planned and we need a reset. We failed and we now have the opportunity to do it again. And, we want to do…
Read MoreWhen Christmas isn’t Hallmark Happy
The Hallmark Channel has become as synonymous with Christmas as Bing Crosby or 34th Street were for prior generations. Hallmark movies have become so popular they are now a genre. Other content producers now make “Hallmark-type” movies for Christmas. You know the type— relatively clean, pretty cheesy, but always with a predictable story plot where…
Read MoreConversation Tool: Christmas
Start the Conversation: Everywhere you look people have decorated for Christmas. But the characters of Christmas in America range from Santa to Snoopy to the Elf on the Shelf and Jack Skellington. What is Christmas, really? And who are the characters of the real Christmas story? How in the world do we Christ back into…
Read MoreThanksliving
Christians, we are people of thanksgiving— not just for a day, but in everyday living. When we gather at our tables this week, for the nationally recognized day of Thanksgiving, here is our charge: no matter the food on the table, the amount in our bank accounts, or the ease in our circumstances— to be…
Read MoreHeeding the signs of the times
When the smoke detector goes off, what do you do? How about the fire alarm in a commercial building? What about a tornado siren blaring on a seemingly clear day? Do you heed warning lights and signs? One woman shared her survival story after ignoring the mandatory evacuation orders during Hurricane Ian, and swimming to…
Read MoreWhat must we do to be saved?
During a sermon in the fall of 2022, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow, Patriarch Kirill, said that a Russian soldier’s death on the Ukrainian battlefield washes away the sins of that individual. Here’s what he said, according to AP: “If someone, driven by a sense of duty, the need to fulfill…
Read MoreWhat is a worldview?
The term worldview should be more than a buzzword— it should provoke us to think intentionally and critically about the forces that influence our minds and hearts. We use the word “worldview” regularly, but want to take the opportunity to slow down and pick apart what it really means and then equip you to test…
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