For the last month, I’ve been sitting on the sidelines of suffering… A friend’s sister is struck down by an aneurysm deep in her brain. During the week’s vigil at the hospital, her husband contracts the flu. Then one of her children. Her responsibilities at work must wait while she sits helpless, grieving, bewildered. Another friend’s toddler gets rushed to ICU with breathing difficulties related to asthma. This mom is 10 weeks pregnant–exhausted, sick, and at the end of herself. How will she make her house super-duper germ-free like the doctors advise? How will she even summon the energy to make dinner the next night? Yet another friend loses a…

Just this week I’ve started teaching the Book of Ruth again, this time to women at my church (over the summer I hosted friends in my home). I could study and teach this book every semester…not only is it a fantastic short story, but the characters are timeless. Good literature is most often remembered–at least in my opinion–because of the characters. Whether lovable or dispicable, they stick in our minds long after we put the book down. Ruth is no different. Think of Elimelech, Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz. Their experiences mirror ours today: hardship, hopelessness, loss, grief, starting over, faith, risk, faithfulness, redemption, honor, joy. Who can say they would…

Last weekend in my Sunday school class, our teacher walked us through lesson two of Evantell’s ACT111 program–an evangelism training for everyday Christians. While lesson one focused on one’s perspective in evangelism–who are the players involved (believer, unbeliever, and God)–lesson two discussed the actual message delivered.  What exactly is the gospel?  Ironically, during the church service following that class, our pastor has us turn in our Bibles to the same passage we studied in class. This double-whammy has kept me mulling over the topic all week. I think God doesn’t do coincidences–He does everything on purpose. So let’s talk about the gospel.  What is it? What is it not? In 1…

A few years before her death, my grandmother developed short-term memory problems similar to what Alzheimer patients suffer. She repeated stories, forgot where she put things, got frustrated when she couldn’t recall her train of thought. Yesterday eventually didn’t exist for her anymore, much less 3 hours earlier. But ten, twenty, fifty years ago–those memories remained relatively clear and accurate. My memory loss isn’t split into short- and long-term. When it comes to things of God, I just plain forget. Long ago, last month…if I don’t tell the story repeatedly or write it down, I know that I will eventually forget what He did for me. It happened to the…

During my tenure as a camp counselor (ah, college!), our directors took us through a personality test as part of our staff orientation. Developed by Gary Smalley and John Trent, this test identified four basic personalities by animal: lion, otter, beaver, retriever. They correspond roughly to the DiSC test (lion:dominant; otter: influence; retriever: steadiness; beaver: compliance). Most counselors agreed that the test was pretty accurate. Often we remarked on each other’s behavior with judgments like, “You otters are the life of the party,” or “Mr. Detail here could be the beaver poster child.” The lion category was most coveted–since camp counselors are not known for being shy or retiring–leadership qualities…

I recently began a summer devotional experiment. Summer, because it’s somewhat short and I want to give myself an out if it doesn’t work very well. Devotional, because, yes, it relates to my Bible reading and study. And experiment, because I’ve not tried this method before. A mentor in my MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group ended our spring semester by issuing the “15/15 Challenge.” Fifteen minutes of prayer, fifteen minutes of Bible reading minimum on a daily basis. Could we remain faithful despite crazy summer schedules that involve having all of our kids, from infant to grade-school, home all the time? I wanted to try something unique to help motivate…

The catchword these days at church is “missional.” Missional living, missional vision, missional mindset… the focus increasingly rests on getting out of the church building to “go and be” the church. One large church in my area has over 40 mission opportunities planned for this year alone, some local and cross-country, but most of them overseas. Members have responded with great enthusiasm, filling the ranks of these planned trips without a great deal of persuasion. As they prepare, leaders of the international mission trips would do well to share the following African (applicable to any culture) tale with their teams: Elephant and Mouse were best friends. One day, Elephant said, “Mouse,…

Christians call themselves “people of the Book” –which is true, for Scripture is God’s revelation of Himself to us. Yet we are also a creedal people–those who repeat the basic tenets of our faith through ancient statements that witness to the truth of Scripture. Creeds in general, and certain creeds specifically, help believers crystallize what Scripture teaches into statements that can be readily memorized and passed down. For much of history, people were either largely illiterate or the printed word was not available, so verbal repetition was vital to teaching the next generation. Liturgical churches today continue the recitation of, usually, the Nicene Creed, or its adapted version authorized at…

Earlier this week I had the privilege of interviewing author and speaker Josh McDowell for an upcoming article on his new book, Evidence for the Resurrection. Along with this apologetic for adult readers, he and his coauthor son, Sean, produced and released two accompanying books for younger readers: Jesus: Dead or Alive (for teens), and Jesus is Alive! (for children). A fun perk of interviewing and reviewing is the free books. This time I got three for one. The children’s book intrigued me most, since my children are all 8 years and younger. I asked Josh about the process they used to communicate heavy theology to such a young crowd.…

In my corner of the world, it seems to be testimony time. For the past year, my church has recorded and broadcast short vignettes from members, telling "their story" of life with Christ. Each one focuses on a different aspect of their journey. Some tell of their salvation, some of how knowing Jesus helps them through a struggle, others share how they’ve changed since trusting Him. They are all fabulous. The most recent story featured my friend Susie. You can watch it here: