Author Ava Pennington
Author Ava Pennington

Christians, Please Stop Saying That

Last week another hurricane hit Florida. But it wasn’t just another hurricane. Irma is the most powerful storm to ever come out of the Atlantic. So large, it covered the whole state, coast to coast. The. Whole. State. We endured Category 1 winds on the east coast....

read more

A New Way to Express Kindness

Kindness is a virtue most of us appreciate and many of us aspire to. You may have heard about the practice of random acts of kindness. It supposedly began in 1982 when Anne Herbert scrawled the words "practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty" on a...

read more

Hurricanes, Trust, and the Sovereignty of God

Hurricane Irma is coming. The most powerful storm ever in the Atlantic basin is aiming for Florida and tracking to travel up the east coast. Where. I. Live. Granted, by the time it reaches our area, it’s predicted to downgrade from a Category 5 to a Category 4. Not...

read more

Everyone Has an Opinion

A well-known Christian speaker recently posted on social media that she was suffering from poison oak and asked for the best remedy. She received countless replies—each person absolutely certain their remedy was the most effective. Problem is, the opinions were not...

read more

Did the Solar Eclipse Change You?

The 2017 solar eclipse is now history. The special glasses we sought in a frenzy have been cast aside. Life is back to normal once again. So, has anything really changed? For some, the waltz between the moon and the sun merely provided a diversion from the routine—a...

read more

The Bad News Proves the Good News

I’m weary. Worn out. Battle-fatigued by the relentless drumbeat of bad news. Alt-right. Alt-left. Murder. Racism. ISIS. I’m reminded of the 60s musical, Stop the World—I Want to Get Off. Problem is, it doesn’t stop….and I can’t get off. The headlines keep coming. The...

read more

Prisoner of Hope

What makes one person a prisoner of hope, while another is mired in hopelessness? My “one word” for 2017 is hope, so I’m especially attuned to this word this year. And the subject came up again during a recent lunch with a friend. She asked me how to become a...

read more

Life’s Traffic Lights

Today is the 103rd anniversary of the first electric traffic system installed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1914. Four sets of red and green lights told drivers when to stop and go. The Cleveland Automobile Club praised the system, saying they expected that it was “destined...

read more

Bible Study is Not Enough

The title of this post is probably not what you might expect from a Bible teacher. Bible study is important. No, it’s more than important, it’s critical. But studying the Bible for the purpose of quoting it or making memes or posters with Bible verses isn’t enough....

read more

What is Your Worldview?

Is Christian your default status? To put it another way, do you identify as a “Christian” simply because other options such as Jewish, Muslim, or Buddhist don’t apply? There’s a significant difference between self-identifying as a Christian—even if you attend...

read more

Receive Ava’s weekly blog
posts & occasional 
newsletters in your inbox!

Search by category:

You May Also Like

The Order of Submission

The Order of Submission

The Order of Submission   If ever a word could be identified as an emotional trigger, it’s submission. And if...