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Stop Apologizing for Your Joy
I was eating chocolate, wiggling around, singing out loud, and beaming early that morning. A simple answered prayer had me celebrating with the Lord, bursting with joy. Eventually my routine brought me to social media, a place where I delight in encouraging others in the Lord. Guess where my makes-me-want-to-shout joy went? Tail between its…
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Finding Home in the Midst of Change
He and his groomsmen marched to the altar with General Patton’s March playing. Shortly after, we clasped hands, bowed our heads, and prayed for the first time as two newly become one in Christ. We danced to This is Home by Switchfoot with all the laughable grace of giraffes on stilts. Home is where the…
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Lord, Help My Countenance!
Sometimes all our favorite coping mechanisms fail us. Sometimes clearing our heads just makes the clutter in our hearts stand out more. Sometimes it’s not a matter of unbelief or challenging circumstances. Call it hormones. Label it mood. The fact is, sometimes despite what we believe, we just aren’t “feeling” it. While there are many…
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A Time to Love: A Simple Equation to Keep You From Quitting
I didn’t want to like him. He was too silly, too sincere, too serious about his faith in Christ. That’s almost exactly what I said to him the day I begrudgingly confessed to him that I liked him. He told me he liked me too- but offered to try to quit liking me if I’d…
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Don’t Miss the Dreams Already Come True
Once upon a hyper-proactive day, I wrote up a list of components of my dream job. In my mind, I sketched out exactly what the position would look like and the kind of place it would be in. A sample title sat on my imaginary desk. That was the goal. That was the dream. Onto…
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In Case You Thought There Wasn’t Enough
A massive crowd gathers and listens to lectures for hours. As the hour gets later and later, they begin to get hungry. You have just a small amount of food to offer. Would you organize them by neediest? By the most vulnerable, feeding children and the elderly first? Maybe, because they should have brought food,…
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The Promise of Presence
A promise. Several generations passed. 400 years of captivity. 40 years wandering the desert. The Promised Land in sight, then out of sight, then in it again. Amazing victories. Devastating losses. Seasons of sin. Periods of rejoicing and serving the Lord. Finally, the death of Moses. It wouldn’t be long. All they’d waited for was…
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Treating God Like a Fair-Weather Friend
“God, I need this!” You’ve heard that one before –you’ve probably even said it. You have probably also been warned against relying on God as if He is a giant vending machine. That’s a fair point. God doesn’t exist at the whim of your happiness, and His will does not revolve around giving you what you want.…
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The Instrument’s Purpose
Whew. What a flute. What a paintbrush. What a keyboard! …Said no one awed in a concert, enjoying an art show, or mesmerized by a book. The plate, my goodness, it’s spectacular. What a fork! Said no satisfied diner. Ever. Those Christians. So good and righteous and flawless. What a bunch! Said too many people.…
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Watch for the Bait and Switch
Pauls’ words in Romans 7:15 about struggling with sin nature echo in our ears: “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” What gets us to do what we hate? Why do we sin when we know sin stinks? One…