Each year the church I attend has a theme, a direction we choose to head for corporate growth. For instance, in 2019 the theme was “Growing Deeper,” so many of the ministry goals focused on taking us as a church deeper in our relationship with Christ than we had gone before. Another year the theme … Continue reading Stronger Than Gorilla Glue
Author: Cindy Matson
Scarlett O’Hara and Sacrifice
I’ve recently been reading Gone with the Wind, the great American novel set against the backdrop of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Though I’ve read it a couple times before, this time through has been a little different. The hardships of war have seemed a little closer to home, given the crisis affecting our world … Continue reading Scarlett O’Hara and Sacrifice
Just Obey Already!
Stutterer. Fugitive. Murderer. Moses knew a thing or two about failure. Yet, he’s the one God wanted as the deliverer of His people. You know the story. Moses has run away from Egypt because his murder of an Egyptian was found out, and his own efforts to deliver the Israelites had failed (see Exod. 2:11-15; … Continue reading Just Obey Already!
The Unholy Trinity of Idolatry
Read almost any Christian living book from a Reformed perspective, and you’re almost sure to run across this line attributed to John Calvin: “Our hearts are a factory of idols.” This quotation is helpful because it tells us uncomfortable truth though an image of something familiar. Though Calvin knew nothing of conveyor belts and assembly … Continue reading The Unholy Trinity of Idolatry
Do You Want to See God?
Smoke covered the mountain that had been engulfed in cloud and bombarded with lightning moments before. On the peak flames rose above the smoke. As the people stood gazing upwards, the mountain itself began to shake violently. Suddenly, the trumpet sounded, beckoning them to the boundary at the foot of the Mount of God. They … Continue reading Do You Want to See God?
Hungry for Normal
I have a confession to make. I’m naïve. The day etched into the memories of anyone over the age of twenty-five or thirty, is likewise implanted in mine. I remember September 11, 2001, better than any other single day of high school. It began quite normally; because I lived in the Mountain Time Zone, I … Continue reading Hungry for Normal
Pray, Don’t Negotiate
“Let My people go.” That’s the directive God gave to Pharaoh through Moses. All the people—tall, small, old, young, smart, talented, clumsy, and inept. All of them. All the animals too. “We shall go with our young and or old; with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds we shall go, … Continue reading Pray, Don’t Negotiate
Blessed Are the Gentle
Among the first words Jesus spoke in public ministry were these: “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matt. 5:5). We also find gentleness among the fruit of the Spirit listed for us in Galatians 5:22-23. Finally, James lists it as an attribute of heavenly wisdom (3:17). In short, gentleness isn’t optional
God’s Presence in an Age of Social Distance
If you're anything like me, you had never heard the term “social distancing” before this spring. Now it’s a phrase that is permanently part of our parlance. I read speculation that it will be named the word (phrase?) of the year, and I suspect that’s true. Even when the economy begins to open up again, … Continue reading God’s Presence in an Age of Social Distance
Hopelessly Devoted to Shadows
My tenth-month-old son loves to gnaw a good string. Shoelace or hoodie, he doesn’t care. There’s just something about chomping on a string that puts him over the moon. Recently a pair of my tennis shoes was on the ground, and he tried to grab one of the laces. What he didn’t realize was that … Continue reading Hopelessly Devoted to Shadows