Being raised Baptist, I’m about as Protestant as they come, but sometime around college/post-college, I started paying attention to the liturgical Christian calendar and found great meaning and spiritual growth through intentional times of focus (Advent, Lent, etc.) I love the implications of ashes on my forehead and the purpose of lighting candles every week, […]
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“No, but thank you.”
We live in a me-culture of self-absorbed people with self-focused agendas, reluctant to serve the people around them. “I just can’t be bothered with that…or you.” But if we aren’t careful, we can fall into the other ditch that says, “Yes, I will be anything and everything you ask of me from now until the […]
Sexual Exposure and Modesty & True Empowerment
“Any and every time we indulge in pornography, we deny the precious gospel truth that every man and woman possesses inherent dignity, not to be solicited and sold for sex, but to be valued and treasured as excellent in the eyes of God. People are not inferior objects to be used and abused for selfish, […]
To See Through Me To Something More Glorious
Scientific Name : Diphylleia grayi This flower is called a skeleton flower because its petals turn crystal clear when they make contact with water. When dry, the flower is white in color! When the Living Water of Christ pours over our lives, we become transparent and clear. People can see through our flaws to something […]
Don’t Worry, I’m Not All I Seem Either
Right before Christmas, I wrote down the top 19 memories from 2019, but truthfully, they weren’t necessarily my top memories: they were just the ones I wanted to remember. After all, sometimes we just want to forget the painful events that pushed us over or left us gasping for air. Social media has deluded us […]
What Can I Do With My ‘Today’? When You Feel Overwhelmed By Change
I wrote a letter to my daughter this morning. I do it every year around her birthday, so yes, I was tardy this trip around the sun, but it still got done in 2019. Since she doesn’t read my blog, I don’t have to worry about her finding out–unless you leak it, but you won’t […]
Iron on Iron: Why Accountability Counts
Proverbs 24:11: ” Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter.” For many Christians, accountability hovers over the same category as humility, perseverance, and character. We know we should have it, but the thought of accountability makes us uncomfortable too. Ironically, having accountability upfront with safe and healthy believers makes […]
That’s a Gift? How Sometimes our Hardships Are God’s Fulfilled Promises
I’ve been reading through Scripture and Advent devotionals for myself (and the kids). We are so familiar with the story of Christ’s birth, sometimes we don’t slow down long enough to contemplate the implications of Immanuel, God with us. Or how Jesus fulfilled numerous prophesies foretold hundreds of years before He came. Or that He […]
12 Things We Want for Christmas
“Back in 2013, the LA Times reported that the average American home has over 300,000 items in it and there are over 50,000 storage facilities nationwide (and this is the fastest growing real estate segment!)” We have so much stuff, we are drowning in the waste of it all. This year, we’ve decided to cut back […]
When Christmas Feels Like a War Zone
For all the fans of “It’s A Wonderful Life” and Jimmy Stewart . . . Just months after winning his 1941 Academy Award for best actor in “The Philadelphia Story,” Jimmy Stewart, one of the best-known actors of the day, left Hollywood and joined the US Army. He was the first big-name movie star to […]