“You want to save America? Here’s the plan. This is the play we need to run, on three. Love your wife. Respect and obey your husband. Control your temper. Stop drinking so much. Learn to be as precise and as honest in your business dealings as a person can be. Get your kids a Christian education. Bring your family to church, every... Continue Reading →
Faith, Works, and an Un-Burdensome Lent
The Christian High Holy days are just about upon us again, a time when Catholics and some Protestants pause for a bit of a spiritual self-assessment over a 40-day period called Lent. Today is Shrove Tuesday, "pancake day" or Mardi-Gras, however you choose to look at it. A kick off celebration of excess before we... Continue Reading →
Hatch, Or Go Bad
The terrible thing, the almost impossible thing, is to hand over your whole self — all your wishes, and precautions — to Christ. But it is far easier than what we are trying to do instead. For what we are trying to do is remain what we call “ourselves,” to keep personal happiness as our great aim in life, and... Continue Reading →
Our Cultural Moment
I came across a wonderful post on Instagram today from a solid Christian lady who is out there walking her talk. I just love that in a person, don't you? This little post is an encouragement and a reminder that while we find ourselves in ridiculously ridiculous times, we who claim Christ have a joyful... Continue Reading →
Wide-Path Walkers
"If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God."Colossians 3:1-3 I'm pondering... Continue Reading →
Shuddered Churches, Open Anarchy
Another weekend has passed, another Sunday, day one hundred and something since we were told to hunker down and stay out of church. Here in our neck of the woods, our church is still closed. Privately, we've gotten together with friends for some backyard worship, we've of course done things on our own in our... Continue Reading →
Rebellious Songs
There's a reason the enemy doesn't want you to sing, and that's because it glorifies God and it changes you. What you sing is what you reflect on. Singing is meditation. Singing is worship. Songs get "stuck" inside of you. Songs move you in one direction or the other. Worship is warfare. A singing people... Continue Reading →
Wielding and Yielding
First we practice sin, then defend it, then boast of it.Thomas Manton Photo courtesy Pinterest Every single day we wake up to a world fueled by emotion, desperate for affirmation, and fragile to a frightening degree. Dull or deaf to the truth, quick to react but slow to understand. There's my happy, peppy take on... Continue Reading →
The Urgency of Opening
And the church just slips through the cracks again. Every week, I wait eagerly for the email from our pastor telling us that doors are finally going to open - its almost July after all, if anyone is keeping track. Each week, we receive another message explaining why we still can't gather... it's either logistically... Continue Reading →
The Gospel Isn’t Patronizing
As I finally sit down to hash out some words, I feel like an oversaturated sponge that has been soaking for too long and needs to be wrung out. At the same time, I'm just as exhausted as everyone else with all the incoming news and updates from the front. It feels like little grenades... Continue Reading →