‘Tis the season for mortar boards, oversized gowns, diplomas, valedictory speeches, graduation parties, and the all-important commencement address. This year, graduates of Duke University will have the chance to hear my childhood basketball hero Grant Hill; those walking across the stage at Emory University will listen to the wisdom of music icon Usher (I wonder … Continue reading To the Young (And Not-So-Young)
Author: Cindy Matson
Let the Word Shape Your Prayers
Have you looked at your church’s prayer list lately? I haven’t see yours, but I know that it probably includes the serious health needs of several members, an unsaved family member, a prodigal child, a family dealing with loss, and maybe a material need or two (new job, working car). These represent real needs of … Continue reading Let the Word Shape Your Prayers
What Happens When We Abide
TWEEEEET!!!! At the shrill whistle of the lifeguards, the pools would clear out, leaving only a few adults in the water and sending all of us kids to our towels for some Red Vines, crackers and Easy Cheese, and Capri Suns. For the next ten minutes we would snack, enjoy the summer sunshine, and chat … Continue reading What Happens When We Abide
The Dirtiest One Another
Worm dung farmer, sewer inspector, chimney sweeper, hot tar roofer, garbage pit technician, and avian vomitologist—these are just a handful of the occupations that host Mike Rowe investigated in his long-running series Dirty Jobs. Certainly, a job that requires the study of any type of refuse or animal waste easily qualifies as “dirty.” While I … Continue reading The Dirtiest One Another
Four Things I Try to Pray Every Day for My Children
Prayer is hard. You know it’s true. Who among us doesn’t walk away from any sermon about prayer feeling like a failure? We all need to grow in prayer, but we struggle to do it. I’ve read books, listened to podcasts, attended conferences on the topic, and I am still the farthest thing from an … Continue reading Four Things I Try to Pray Every Day for My Children
Embracing Jesus’ Mindset of Surrender
While winter still has a few punches left to land, spring is finally making its way to the upper Midwest. After multiple school cancellations due not to snow but to temperatures twenty below zero (without windchill), we’re definitely ready for some warmer weather. Around here, even the 30’s are greeted with smiles and t-shirts. The … Continue reading Embracing Jesus’ Mindset of Surrender
Are You Leaning on Your Own Understanding?
In the summer of 1972, just weeks before a terrorist attack would be perpetrated against Israeli Olympians competing at the games in Munich and months before the Watergate scandal would break, Bill Withers climbed to the top of the pop music charts with his most famous track, “Lean on Me.” A declaration of relational fidelity … Continue reading Are You Leaning on Your Own Understanding?
Unclean Lips
The prophet Isaiah numbers with a small group of people to have glimpsed the holiness of God while still on earth. He gives account of his experience: In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne,and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphim were standing … Continue reading Unclean Lips
How to Pray for an Unmet Desire
Lord, please just give me a baby. We’ve been waiting for so long. I would really like to be married, Father. Please bring the right man into my life. I’m tired of being alone. God, I hurt all the time. Please take the pain away. Please work in my husband’s heart. Help him to forsake … Continue reading How to Pray for an Unmet Desire
How Do You Approach the Word?
I’m afraid we have one of those dogs: the type that’s the bane of every delivery person’s existence. He’s big and intimidating-looking, and he barks with such ferocity whenever a delivery truck pulls up that surely the poor person inside thinks that no parcel could possibly be worth a fight with Cujo. However, Huxley’s bark … Continue reading How Do You Approach the Word?