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Taking the Long Way Home
Three weeks ago our family packed all of our belongings into the largest U-Haul we could rent and said goodbye to the only place we’d ever called home. We are certain God has called us to this new place, but driving away from all you’ve known is still hard. The last little league games, school days, and best friend goodbyes are bittersweet. Excitement mixes with sorrow as we embark on a new journey—a new way home. In the car driving away, minutes turn into hours. You remember all you’re leaving behind in the rearview mirror. You day dream about what lies ahead in a new place. You follow the twists…
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Guided By an Unseen Hand
It was a year to remember—but not for the reasons I hoped. Just two weeks after finding out we were expecting our third child, my husband came home with news we always feared. He’d be moving on from the coaching job where he’d served for thirteen years. Our family would be moving on from the community where we’d raised our children. We walked forward into an unseen, unknown, and unexpected future. Where would our soon-to-be kindergartener go to school? Where would we live? How would we make ends meet? The uncertainty continued for months. My husband jumped on a seemingly endless carousel of job interviews before ending up at a…
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People pleasing; an invitation to faith over fear
For a while, I had a “people pleasing” dog. She really was quite the gem because she was terrified that we would be upset with her. For the first few years of her life, when she learned that her behavior caused a negative reaction, she simply would not repeat it. Seemingly we had trained her well, and we had definitely tried. Over time however, she grew comfortable with us and now in year 8 of her life, I’m quite certain she has completely recovered from her people pleasing ways. I am not too different from her, in my complacency and trust of others, I can grow so comfortable and sure…
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Walking in the Wilderness
This post was originally published in 2012. But it fits as much today as it did then. I once had a mentor tell me that the lessons of our lives often go in circles, just like Israel wandered a circular path in the wilderness. The older I grow, the more I see the cycles—the same lessons are learned more deeply as we step into new but different places. If you find yourself walking through a wilderness season, take heart. God is using the deeply worn pathways to teach you and take you somewhere good. Forty years—it sounds like an eternity. I’m sure it felt that way for the Israelites too.…
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Praying for and Supporting Those Who Struggle
With every prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit, and to this end be alert, with all perseverance and petitions for all the saints. Ephesians 6:18 One of my responsibilities is to pray, especially for some loved ones who are fighting personal battles and for global workers planting churches in unfriendly environments. After the last few difficult years, it is easy to give up. After all, prayer is hard work and doesn’t always garner visible results. I can’t do it alone. Thankfully, I have prayer partners who intercede with me and for me. Together, we follow the example of Moses, the leader of the Israelites. As Moses led the people out…
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The Problem with Grumbling
Grumbling! We hate it in our kids but do it ourselves. Moses’ leadership was met with grumbling throughout the forty years that the Israelites were in the wilderness. It if wasn’t about food, it was about water or Moses’ leadership. We all know how grumbling works. We’re angry or fearful and start complaining about the people in charge to our friends. Then there are groups upset and confirming each other’s complaints. Grumbling is contagious. What bothers one person soon becomes the issue of a mob. It was grumbling about entering the Promised Land that got Israel stuck in the wilderness for another thirty plus years. I’ve certainly been guilty and…
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Why Don’t We See More Women in the Biblical Text?
Recently, someone asked me why we don’t find more women in the Bible. Last time, I pointed to translation concerns that hide the presence of women. Today, I want us to consider that sometimes we miss the women who are actually named and featured. Here’s a sampling from some of the earliest stories: * * * Go back in time with me to the thirteenth century BC in Egypt. The king has issued an order to kill all boys born into bondage, because members of the slave class—your own people, descendants of Israel—have proliferated, and the ruling class fears an uprising. Born under the ban, you lie in a pitch-lined…
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Rescued by God
Exodus 14:19–31 is part of the lectionary readings for the fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, which is September 13th. We learned last week that after the deaths of all the firstborn in Egypt, Pharaoh yielded to the Lord’s demands and ordered the Israelites to leave his land (5:2–12:31). God did not lead the Israelites on the shortest route between Egypt and Canaan. The shortest route to the promised land would have been along the Mediterranean Sea and would have taken only a few weeks. Essentially a military road of the Egyptians, this route went through Amalekite and Philistine country. Along this route were many Egyptian military outposts. God knew that if…
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A new beginning for God’s people
Exodus 12:1–14 is part of the lectionary readings for the fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, which is September 6th. Previously, God revealed to Moses that He would harden Pharaoh’s heart. Even though the Lord would perform increasingly severe “signs and wonders” (7:3) throughout Egypt, the nation’s ruler would refuse to listen to Moses. Yet, Pharaoh’s stubbornness would only intensify the great “acts of judgment” (v. 4) the Lord would use to bring His people out of Egypt. Furthermore, these miraculous deeds would prove to the Egyptians that the God of Israel was the sovereign Lord of the universe (v. 5). It’s helpful to remember that Egypt was polytheistic, which means the…
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Moses, called by God to deliver His people
Exodus 3:1–15 is part of the lectionary readings for the thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost, which is August 30th. The account recorded in chapters 1 and 2 relates that Pharaoh believed the enormous number of Israelites living in Egypt were becoming an existential threat to the nation. He therefore ordered that they be enslaved and placed into labor gangs under harsh Egyptian taskmasters (1:9–11). Moses, who by that time had become a prominent member of Pharaoh’s court (Acts 7:22), reacted in anger at the cruelty of an Egyptian who was brutally beating an Israelite slave. For this reason, Moses murdered the Egyptian. Next, at the age of 40 (v. 23), Moses…
