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Give Thanks IN Everything
When it comes to reading the Bible, each word matter. Take a look at 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. At first glance it can seem Paul is calling us to radical, unrealistic happiness. But look at each word—even the tiny ones—and you’ll see he’s calling us to something far more significant. Rejoice always. Paul doesn’t say be happy always. He calls us to be joyful always. That doesn’t mean we’ll always feel good. He isn’t calling us to act okay when life is not. Instead he’s challenging us to shift our focus.…
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Silent Nights Suffering Nights
From heaven's height to manger low There is no distance the Prince of Peace won't go
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Preparing kids for the Lemonade Stand; Parenting from a place of your Redemption
Our recent adventure in parenting involved trying to decide how our boys could have summer jobs despite their young ages. What began as a way for our kids to sell the flowers from their garden morphed into making homemade jellies and apple butter. Turns out that making jellies and apple butter is hard work, and it is not independently done by young kids! After several weeks of working in the kitchen, the boys created a nice stash of apple butter to take to market. We added fresh baked cookies and banana bread to our menu and carefully worked late into the evening on Friday night preparing for the Saturday morning market. …
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Good House Keeping for the soul: a Word of Encouragement
Sometimes cleaning the house is not pretty. We recently bought a house that had not been lived in for some time. In fact, we learned that the woman who lived here before us was a genuine hoarder. Someone had bought the house, cleaned it up quite a bit and it was totally empty. However…there was still some serious cleaning to do. We opened kitchen drawers to find ancient kitchen towels and cleaning supplies. Of course, we found remnants of bugs, namely roaches. Yeah, no need to go in to detail. Bugs are no fools, so they set up camp in a nice reliable spot, like an unused home. Anyway, suffice…
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un-cursory
Victoria Monet shares a poem relevant to many conversations about race on social media. In her poem "un-cursory," she highlights themes of humility and redemptive relationships in light of racial reconciliation.
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Life in the Spirit
Romans 8:1–11 is part of the lectionary readings for the sixth Sunday after Pentecost, which is July 12th. In chapter 6, Paul explained that we are dead to the absolute control (though not the continuing influence) of sin. Next, in chapter 7, the apostle clarified how, through our baptismal union with Christ, we have died to the Mosaic Law, which sin used to stir up evil within us. Then, in chapter 8, Paul explained how we can walk in newness of life. Because we are God’s children, we must not continue in our former relationship to sin. Towards the end of chapter 7, Paul conveyed his distress over his paralysis…
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Light and Momentary Troubles
Job loss. Global pandemic. COVID-19 killing thousands. Racial injustices. Knees on necks. Anxiety. Depression. Social distancing loneliness. Sexual harassment. School bullying. It’s just one thing after another. Maybe you wonder if God is even paying attention. We all face discouragement. We try our best, only to be humiliated in front of our coworkers by a toxic boss who leaves us feeling unappreciated and discarded. We toil to make our marriages work, only to feel frustrated because nothing is changing. We give and serve at church, only to have our jaws hit the floor when we learn of members’ gossip and betrayal. It’s a good thing that what God says…
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Called to Be Holy
First Peter 1:17–23 is part of the lectionary readings for the third Sunday of Easter, April 26. In this passage, the author summoned us to cultivate hope, holiness, and love in our lives, especially during trials. Many Bible scholars consider this early Christian letter to be part of the persecution literature of the New Testament (which also includes Hebrews, Revelation, and possibly James). The epistle would have been written during one of the three periods of Roman persecution endured by early Christians—under emperors Nero (AD 62–64), Domitian (AD 90–97), and Trajan (AD 111). If one holds to Peter’s authorship of the letter, the only period that fits would be the…
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Shame, Jesus, and Me
This month I’m honored to invite my friend and teammate Christian Williams as my guest blogger. I love being in Christian’s company because one minute she’s making me laugh so hard I’m crying and the next she has stopped me in my tracks with a thought-provoking reflection. Christian is a Dallas transplant (Native Arkansan) and DTS student who loves communicating truth and building safe, authentic, purposeful communities. She feels God’s pleasure most when using her imagination, storytelling, teaching, and living in intentional relationships which yield growth and transformation. Dub: (verb) to give an unofficial name or nickname to (someone or something). I dub everything. From my period- I call her…
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Tips for Teaching #1
I want to share some tips that will hopefully help us better prepare our children for the difficulties of standing strong in the faith. Encourage children to ask the hard questions. If they aren’t asking, ask them! Teach them how to wrestle with the Word of God to find the answers. We tend to shy away from the questions that are hard to answer or maybe can’t really be answered. Learning that we can’t demand answers but must be humbly thankful for the revelations God gives is a hard lesson to teach and even harder to learn. I was recently talking with a woman who grew up in a Christian…
