September 16th, 2014 
In every generation humans have been compelled to store away lines from poems and songs, movies and speeches. Shakespeare devotees still thrive in the 21st century.
We borrow the beauty and strength found in someone else’s words, and take ownership—mantras we wish we could have said. We walk with Robert Frost in The Road Not Taken. We taste the bitterness of another in, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Patriotism wells …
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September 9th, 2014 
Mark chapter 1 gives this account at Jesus’ baptism, “As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are My Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” Mark 1:11.
Notice this private event between Father and Son. According to the text, Jesus is the one who saw heaven …
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September 5th, 2014 
I have only been memorizing scripture since April 2014. I went to a retreat and the speaker did a session on bible memorization, telling us how it changed her life. She taught us the technique she used. After the retreat I decided to commit myself to trying to memorize verses from the bible. I have to confess that I had my doubts how doing this could “change my life” like the speaker said …
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August 27th, 2014 
Living with continual bad news as our world slides into the abyss—how do we stay above it all? Where’s the hope?
Great question, and here’s another: how did God intend for his people to find hope? Since this is God’s story, he must have had a plan, for his people in every era, to press on with hope.
Three answers overlap:
1) God himself is our hope. A deep abiding relationship with …
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August 25th, 2014 
Watching the evening news, a ritual in our empty nest, informs us of the world’s happenings. The last few weeks have seemed especially gruesome and disheartening: ebola, police shootings, a journalist beheaded, persecution of Christians in Iraq, suicide, immigration crisis on the border. Some nights we feel assaulted by the broadcast—fear, outrage, sadness, disappointment, occasional glimmers of hope drowned out by cruel humanity.
Its hard enough to digest the news, its even more …
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