Are we brave enough to be a good wife?

I am in my second marriage. I was not a good wife in my first marriage. I was not walking with God and had not yet taken an assessment of my ability to love well, or to love like God loves. Proverbs 31:10-31 are probably the most famous verses about what it means to be […]

Will I ever learn?

Last week I considered the danger of editing God’s plans and still calling it obedience HERE. I have been paying keen attention to my propensity to talk myself out of doing exactly what God asks. I am saddened by how often I have done this, and am stilling doing so. This past week I donned […]

Summer Snippet 1: Have I lost some wonder?

Do we boast in the Lord? Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”    (1 Corinthians 1:31) If not, why not? Perhaps Jesus is not our treasure yet. This past Tuesday, an amazing event occurred at our church. CARSON WEITNAUER presented the first of four sessions on evangelism […]

What do people think about you?

You may have just thought, “It doesn’t matter what people think about me. All that matters is what God thinks about me.” Yes, and no.  David cries out in Psalm 109:21: But deal well with me, O Sovereign Lord, for the sake of your own reputation! As an avid Christ follower, I share the responsibility […]

How did Jesus stay silent when mocked?

He was despised and rejected – a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised and we did not care. (Isaiah 53:3, NLT) In this season of Lent, we continue our pondering of this verse, asking God for increased understanding leading up […]

A New Year’s Resolution Guaranteed to Work

Wrap up 2018. Whether you are a New Year’s resolution person or not, most of us think about what kind of year 2018 has been, even if for a few minutes. I usually spend 30 minutes tying up the current year before crossing the threshold into the next one. I write a list of the […]

Who told you that you were naked?

For years now, my first week of January involves keeping close tabs on one of the most influential Christian conferences in the world that takes place near me in Atlanta, Georgia. Passion 2018 has ended, but each talk is posted on YouTube. I have been making my way through each session in chronological order and […]

Is there room for Jesus in your inn?

Every year I focus on a particular part of the Christmas story on which to meditate and I have become smitten and convicted by a verse that might appear quite mundane at first glance: And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because […]

Finding Peace in the Midst of Life’s Storms

This year’s particularly intense hurricane season is providing a natural visual aid on the topic of Finding Peace in the Midst of Life’s Storms. I thought it would be fun to post a talk I gave last week about when Jesus calmed the storm as described in the account found in Mark 4:35-41. Do any […]

Are you willing to make an opening in someone else’s roof?

This week I read the story of men who brought paralytic man to be healed by Jesus (Mark 2:1-12). Jesus was in a house preaching when four men carrying a paralytic man showed up, but they “could not get near him.” Did they give up? Did they stand there waiting in hopes of still somehow […]