Dear Graduate, I’ve never written anything specifically for graduates, though nearly every year for the past couple of decades of my life, I have attended either high school or college graduations as a graduate, friend, or faculty member. So, graduates of both high school and college, have a special place in my heart; and I … Continue reading Dear Graduate: Embrace the Awkward
God’s Word Is Good. But Is It Better?
“Have you ever read…?" I confess that I ask this question far too often. I’m sure that my friends want to get out the duct tape as soon as the first words escape my lips. I just can’t help it. I enjoy reading, and I want to talk about the books I’m reading, have read, … Continue reading God’s Word Is Good. But Is It Better?
The Infinite, Incomprehensible Goodness of God
God is so good.God is so good.God is so good,He’s so good to me. Before they can sing the ABC’s, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” “Old MacDonald,” “Jesus Loves Me,” or “Baby Shark,” the youngest among us can sing these few simple lines. Perhaps because of their simplicity, you have, like me, dismissed these basic, though … Continue reading The Infinite, Incomprehensible Goodness of God
Want to Grow in Hospitality? Start with Your Inner Circle
I suppose I should start this whole post with a confession. I stink at hospitality. Despite my best efforts, I will never win any awards for my hostess-ing, cooking, decorating, or feng-shui skills. So, if you’re looking for tips in any of those areas, you’ve come to the wrong place. I am writing this post … Continue reading Want to Grow in Hospitality? Start with Your Inner Circle
A Song in the Desert
Stranded. Thirsty. Alone. Helpless. Thirsty. Lost. Desperate. Weary. Thirsty. Thirsty. Thirsty. I’ve never been lost in the desert, but if I were, I suspect my thoughts would run along these lines. Desperation would begin to set in as I see nothing but sand and cacti in every direction. No landmarks. No Google. And, most importantly, … Continue reading A Song in the Desert
God’s Training Program
The best part of every movie in the Rocky franchise is the training montage—the footage of Rocky, finally inspired to take on the opponent he should have no business fighting, getting up early, drinking a few raw eggs, and then pounding the pavement with every neighborhood kid in tow. But the best of these (at … Continue reading God’s Training Program
Resurrection Sunday Hope for a Tuesday Afternoon
Easter Sunday has a special vibe about it. The church is fuller than normal. Everyone is dressed a little extra fancy. Voices have a little more oomph than they do during a typical worship service. The pastor gives his sermon a little extra polish. Families gather together for a special meal. The kids get hopped … Continue reading Resurrection Sunday Hope for a Tuesday Afternoon
Competition…to God’s Glory?
It’s the most wonderful time of the year!With March madness coming,The office is humming with bracket-brained cheer!It’s the most wonderful time of the year! There’ll be brackets for busting,Buzzers for beating,Cinderellas making a run.Upsets and close-calls,It’s the year’s best bballWill a sixteen take down a one? With the greatest sporting event on the calendar about … Continue reading Competition…to God’s Glory?
Wrestling in Prayer
Aside from many elementary-school recesses, my football career was very short-lived. It consisted of exactly one “powderpuff” game during Homecoming Week my senior year of high school. We girls each borrowed a football player’s jersey for the game and suited up to face one another for one glorious night on the gridiron. My big moment … Continue reading Wrestling in Prayer
Love Even for Oppressors
Dividing the world’s population is easy: Salty cravers and sweet cravers. Avocado lovers and avocado haters. Conservatives and Progressives. Coffee drinkers and tea drinkers. Jocks and nerds. Oppressor and oppressed. That final category has received increasingly more attention in recent years. While none of us would ever want to admit to being an oppressor, historically, … Continue reading Love Even for Oppressors
Praying for Discernment
“Discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong; it’s knowing the difference between right and almost right.” This quotation attributed to Charles Spurgeon captures the difficulty of discernment. Plenty of the images, videos, and sound-bytes we encounter every day carry an overtly worldly and unbiblical worldview. Rooting this out does require discernment but … Continue reading Praying for Discernment
We Must Not Glorify Anxiety
It’s no secret that in the four years since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the rates of anxiety have skyrocketed, particularly among young people. However, along with that has come an accompanying trend that’s not so quantifiable with surveys and statistics, but is no less concerning: anxiety has become “cool” and even expected. Rather than a … Continue reading We Must Not Glorify Anxiety
My Heart Stands in Awe
The unbelievable one-handed catch in the endzone. The first bite of a steak that's been grilled to perfection. A jaw-dropping sunset that no camera could capture. The first cry of a newborn infant. The gymnast’s perfect-10 routine. A choir’s flawless performance of Handel’s Messiah. These seemingly disconnected moments share one common thread: they each make … Continue reading My Heart Stands in Awe
Share Even What’s Sparse
My son has a lot of Hot Wheels cars—and he’s just getting started. As I write this, he’s currently pulling one after another out of his Hot Wheels tub to zoom each one down a car slide. While I doubt Guinness will be calling us any time soon about breaking the record for most extensive … Continue reading Share Even What’s Sparse
Honor Marriage
As the author of Hebrews winds down his “brief letter of exhortation,” he gives a terse command about marriage: Marriage is to be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, because God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers. (Heb 13:4) Let’s face it. Marriage has fallen on hard times in our society. … Continue reading Honor Marriage
God Is For You: No Matter Where, No Matter Who, No Matter What
With the Promised Land in their sights, the nation of Israel had begun their conquest. Two Amorite kings, Sihon and Og, had been defeated. Now, King Balak of Moab, fearing he would be next, decided to take matters into his own hands. What he needed, he decided, was to call down a curse on this … Continue reading God Is For You: No Matter Where, No Matter Who, No Matter What
Humility at Home
Dorothy Gale of Kansas said it best: "There’s no place like home." It’s where I wear my comfy clothes, don’t worry about hair or make up, unwind after a long day, and generally feel the most secure. Home is also where I’m most likely to let my guard down. Because I feel secure with family, … Continue reading Humility at Home
To the New and Nervous Scripture Reader
Hi Friend, I heard you set a goal for the new year to read Scripture more faithfully. That’s great! But I was also told that now you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed. You want to be in the Word, but you’re just not quite sure how that’s going to work. I get it; and if I … Continue reading To the New and Nervous Scripture Reader
Favorite Books from the Second Half of 2023
It’s hard to believe that we’re already to this point of the year again: Christmas trees, holiday programs, Hallmark movies, and “best-of” book lists. As you may know, I like to do two lists each year to highlight my favorite reads in June and again in December. While I like to read new books, I’m … Continue reading Favorite Books from the Second Half of 2023
Exile: The Epilogue of Christmas
He supposed one never really got used to it, though it had happened to him before. Angels interrupting one’s dreams did not make for restful sleep, of this he was sure. It had taken him two years to recover from the first visit in which an angel had told him to wed Mary because she … Continue reading Exile: The Epilogue of Christmas
Your Deliverer Is Standin’ By
Joseph took his wife and her childAnd they went to AfricaTo escape the rage of a deadly KingThere along the banks of the NileJesus listened to the songThat the captive children used to singThey were singin' My deliverer is comin', my deliverer is standin' byMy deliverer is comin', my deliverer is standin' by1 Songwriter Rich … Continue reading Your Deliverer Is Standin’ By
Debunking Myths About Mentoring
Have you been asked to be a mentor? Have you wondered if you should reach out to that younger believer, but you’re just not sure if you’re qualified to be a mentor? Are you looking for a mentor and wondering how old the person should be? Questions swirl around the topic of mentoring, so let’s … Continue reading Debunking Myths About Mentoring
A Prayer for Living in Cancel Culture
As the world-system grows increasingly hostile to God and more openly indulgent of its fleshly desires, navigating situations within our families, workplaces, communities, and even churches has become foggy and confusing. Do we let our kids watch the movie with that agenda-pushing scene? How do we talk to our third-grade son when a student in … Continue reading A Prayer for Living in Cancel Culture
God Said No. What Now?
When I was in Bible college, every Monday in chapel would bring a round of “Works of God Testimonies,” when our president would encourage students and faculty to share brief, specific, God-glorifying testimonies of how we’d seen prayers answered in the recent past. Over four years, I heard testimonies of debts repaid, hard hearts softened, … Continue reading God Said No. What Now?
Pray for the Shepherd, Pray for the Sheep
Near the end of his “brief exhortation,” the writer of Hebrews addresses the sheep/shepherd relationship, telling the flock how they ought to relate to their shepherd and why. Though other passages could add to this list, Hebrews 13:17 gives an excellent prayer guide on how to intercede not only for pastors, but for the rest … Continue reading Pray for the Shepherd, Pray for the Sheep
What to Do When You’ve Hit the Mats
“Yo, Adrian! I did it!” No doubt these words bring to mind a bloody, sweaty, and exhausted Rocky Balboa somewhat incoherently communicating a single message to his beloved Adrian watching the fight at home. Rocky can barely piece together this famous sentence because of the brutal fight he has just undergone. Back and forth with … Continue reading What to Do When You’ve Hit the Mats
The Bread of Idleness vs. the Haven of Rest
In recent years a trend has emerged, emphasizing the need for rest in a believer’s life and the biblical concept of Sabbath-taking. Undoubtedly this movement has been in response to the all-too-common pitfalls of burnout and self-sufficiency. For these reasons (among others), God prescribed rest for the nation of Israel, and it’s good that we … Continue reading The Bread of Idleness vs. the Haven of Rest
Four Directions of Praise
If I were to pick the most helpful application on my smartphone, a few contenders would rise to the top. Email, text, and camera of course—and the navigational GPS system. As a directionally inept person, having a device with me that can get me to anywhere and home from anywhere is a dream come true. … Continue reading Four Directions of Praise
What Is Your Top Priority?
It’s a wise practice to inventory your life every so often to make sure that priorities haven’t gotten out of whack. To look at money spent, time invested, and activities undertaken to assess where your true priorities lie. We all know that it’s far too easy for items that should be second-tier priorities to sneak … Continue reading What Is Your Top Priority?
Yahweh Reigns
Chaos. Disorder. Upheaval. Disaster. Turbulence. When a large body of water shows up in the Bible, you should probably associate it with these things. While the Flood may be the easiest example, it’s hardly the only one. Consider Red Sea, thrashing the Egyptians, after God proved to be Master of the Chaos by making a … Continue reading Yahweh Reigns
A Prayer for Victims of the Post-Pandemic Pandemic
It’s a post-pandemic pandemic, and chances are pretty good it has already hit your home. It’s not a virus or a variant. It’s not a bacterium or a parasite. I’m talking of course about anxiety. You’re probably aware of some of the staggering statistics about the precipitous rise in anxiety cases in the last three … Continue reading A Prayer for Victims of the Post-Pandemic Pandemic
Wisdom in the Secret Heart
James 1:5 contains one of Scripture’s most precious promises: God will generously and compassionately grant wisdom to anyone who asks Him for it. We probably cling to this promise most tenaciously when making momentous decisions: whom to marry, where or whether to move, which treatment to choose, or which career to pursue. We often take … Continue reading Wisdom in the Secret Heart
The Deadly Weapon We All Wield
If you’re a fan of NCIS, CSI, Blue Bloods, Sherlock Holmes, Criminal Minds or one of the zillion other crime dramas, you’re probably quite familiar with methods of murder. While the writers of these shows try to outdo themselves by coming up with clever new plotlines, crimes, and means of homicide, I doubt any of … Continue reading The Deadly Weapon We All Wield
Speaking Scripture
I recently read a new, self-published work devoted to the spiritual discipline of Scripture memory, simply titled Speaking Scripture. If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time, you know that I enjoy memorizing long passages of Scripture. (You can find out why here.) So I was happy to read and review Rachel … Continue reading Speaking Scripture
Ordinary Faithfulness, Extraordinary Legacy
Though it contains eight rather than four letters, ordinary has become a dirty word. The world churns out countless messages exhorting us to throw off our “ordinary lives” and embrace something “extraordinary.” To be accused of being “ordinary” is roughly akin to being called a gray-suit clad, half-glasses-wearing, bun-styled schoolmarm who never smiles, has dry … Continue reading Ordinary Faithfulness, Extraordinary Legacy
My Top Five Books for the First Half of 2023
Well, my calendar tells me that another year is already nearly 50% behind us. That means it’s time for a semi-annual overview of my favorite books of the year. So far in 2023, I’ve found myself reading/listening to many books about culture/wokeness/secularism, and this is certainly reflected in my choices for this list. However, I … Continue reading My Top Five Books for the First Half of 2023
Gospel-Patterned Friendship
Bert and Ernie. Woody and Buzz. Lucy and Ethel. Rocky and Bullwinkle. Anne Shirley and Diana Barry. Calvin and Hobbes. From Sesame Street and the comics to classic television and literature, the stories of friendship fill our homes. However, what begins as easy and natural as kids somehow becomes murky and difficult with age. Sure, … Continue reading Gospel-Patterned Friendship
Are You Caught in the Trap of Approval?
Bernard Lawrence Madoff. No name, other than perhaps “Ponzi” itself, is more closely equated with the term “scam artist.” Over the course of a quarter-century, using an elaborate Ponzi scheme, Madoff defrauded tens of thousands of people out of tens of billions of dollars. The US Justice Department reported distributing over $4 billion dollars to … Continue reading Are You Caught in the Trap of Approval?
Don’t Stop Praying
“In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did whatever seemed right to him.” The book of Judges closes with these haunting words, a fitting summary of the final four chapters of the book, which give a picture of what it looks like when people do “whatever seems right” to them. And if … Continue reading Don’t Stop Praying
Let’s Turn Pride Month into Prayer Month
It’s upon us once again: 30 days of unremitting, unapologetic, rainbow-banner-waving support for the LGBTQ+ movement. While I admit that I’d much rather bury my head in the sand and ignore this aggressive campaign, I’m convinced that we followers of Christ must launch a campaign of our own. I’m not talking about petitions, protests, or … Continue reading Let’s Turn Pride Month into Prayer Month
Are You Casual with the Holiness of God?
Imagine that, after suffering a loss on the battlefield, an American army general decided to galvanize his troops by taking the Declaration of Independence into battle. Sounds a little farfetched, I know. What kind of general would play so fast and loose with one of the most precious artifacts in the nation’s history? Though it … Continue reading Are You Casual with the Holiness of God?
Did Hannah Manipulate God?
“God, if You get me out of this alive, I swear I’ll turn my life around. No more drinking. No more women. I’ll fly straight from now on, I promise.” Meanwhile, bombs and grenades explode all around this terrified soldier, terrified for his life. You’re probably familiar with this movie trope in which the desperate … Continue reading Did Hannah Manipulate God?
Discipleship: Back-Breaking Work
If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you have been given one job. Before leaving His disciples and ascending back into heaven, Christ commissioned the eleven (and all future generations of disciples) to one major task (Matt. 28:19-20). Though you may see other verbs in the Great Commission as imperatives in your English Bible, the … Continue reading Discipleship: Back-Breaking Work
He Was Forsaken That We Might Draw Near
Nearly 20 years ago, Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ depicted in graphic detail the horror of the crucifixion, bringing to the big screen a depiction of the most agonizing, painful form of execution ever conceived. In fact, our English word excruciating, literally “out of the cross,” derives its meaning from this Roman punishment. … Continue reading He Was Forsaken That We Might Draw Near
Remember to Remember
How many of the seven dwarves can you name? How about kids from the Brady Bunch? States that begin with the letter “M”? Or, if Bible trivia is your thing, can you list all twelve disciples? Or the twelve tribes of Israel?1 What about spiritual disciplines? How many of those could you name? Of course, … Continue reading Remember to Remember
God’s Providence Despite Bad Leadership
Esther, the unique Old Testament narrative, could compete with any New York Times bestselling thriller: assassination attempts, conspiracy, hidden identities, vendettas, suspense, romance, and poetic justice. Most curiously, the book never mentions the name of God. Yet, undeniably, one if its major themes is the providence of God. At first, this may seem counterintuitive. How … Continue reading God’s Providence Despite Bad Leadership
God Can’t Wait to Forgive You
Bloodthirsty, vicious, fearsome, violent, wicked, indomitable—these are just a few of the words that describe the ancient Assyrian empire. Though Israel was just a bump in the road to these pillagers, it was a bump they desperately wanted to own. So they started breathing down the neck of God’s chosen people. As they felt the … Continue reading God Can’t Wait to Forgive You
Ours the Cross, the Grave, the Skies: Our Union with Christ Makes Easter Worth Celebrating
If you wrote one song every single day of the year from now until the year 2047, you would have written approximately the same number of hymns as Charles Wesley. Of course, when you write over 8,000 hymns, not all of them are home runs, but a few live on even today, nearly 250 years … Continue reading Ours the Cross, the Grave, the Skies: Our Union with Christ Makes Easter Worth Celebrating
I Am Thirsty
I had quite possibly the best summer job a college student could have. Basically, I got paid to get a fantastic tan (and some epic tan lines!). For five summers, I worked as a “flower girl” for the University of Wyoming. Our crew would spend a couple of weeks tilling several dozen flower beds, an … Continue reading I Am Thirsty
For the Weary
Busy. Tired. Worn out. Burnt out. If you ask someone how they’re doing, and don’t hear “fine” in response, chances are pretty good you heard some form of the list above. We are a society that thrives on being “on-the-go,” involved in everything from soccer and PTA to community service and church ministry. Even if … Continue reading For the Weary
How Do I Meditate? 10 Tips for “Chewing the Cud”
"This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth; you are to meditate on it day and night so that you may carefully observe everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do. (Jos 1:8) Instead, his delight is in the LORD's instruction, and he meditates on it … Continue reading How Do I Meditate? 10 Tips for “Chewing the Cud”
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