Precious reader, are you carrying shame? Our Savior died to make you free from that burden. I have found the more willing I am to be identified with Jesus in His life and death, the easier it is for Him to teach me. There is a desire for humility in many Christians, but we resist…
Our Biblical heroes can easily become characters to emulate, and they begin to stand alone in our brains as moral examples when torn from the fabric of the rest of the Scripture. I don’t remember teachers showing me, as a child, how the stories and people of the Bible pointed to the promised Jesus. I…
It is imperative that we consistently place ourselves in the hands of our loving Father and allow Him to love us and search us. He pointed out to me that I placed way too much trust in man-made traditions. This misplaced trust sucked the spirit-life out of me, and put me in bondage to the…
I tell my children, “There’s nothing you can do to make me love you any more or any less than I do right now.” I tell them what my Father has told me. Once He has brought us into His family, we are His. He is not looking for us to mess up so He…
This song is marvelous. He is worthy.
The text I’m writing about is Exodus 16:1-17:7 in the New Living Translation. The boys and I talked about this particular reading, and we all had some questions and observations. I am sure I could spend some time in commentaries to find “the answers” and yet I sometimes like to sit with the questions and…
This is for you, my friend. I can see your shoulders slumped from all the disappointments and unexpected hardships. Every road seems blocked and the detour is under construction. You feel alone and hurt, and anger is at the surface in every conversation. I see you turning to the pitiful comforts of this temporary world,…
I had another conversation this week with The Adapter about how intensely our feelings can wash over us. Me and her. Like two peas in a pod, really. In The Rest of the Gospel by Dan Stone and Greg Smith/David Gregory, he talks about the soul being like a swing. It can sometimes swing wildly,…
Old hymns have a way of getting into the deep parts of my spirit. The lyrics are rich in truth, often based in scripture and sometimes have a surprising turn of phrase that makes me think. The actual tune doesn’t matter much to me, and I search for updated melodies and arrangements so that I…