What Makes Your Identity Special? Identity is a hot topic lately. Who are you? What are you? And the hottest identity topic of all these days is related to human sexuality and gender. When we meet someone new, one of the first questions we ask is their name....
To Work or Not to Work? The Labor Day holiday weekend is coming. Ironically, it’s a holiday we celebrate by avoiding what we’re celebrating. We celebrate labor by not working. The celebration of this holiday reminds us there’s a time to work…and a time not to...
“What If” or “Even If”? Why is it easier to focus on the negative? On every fear-inducing “what if”? Yes, the world can be a scary place . . . and it shows no sign of improving. Of course, it doesn’t help that my default reaction is to ask, What if things get...
Who Is El Elyon and Why Should We Care? The more I read and listen to news reports of current events, the more my head hurts. Truly. Watching a world in which truth is manipulated to mean whatever you want it to mean can bring on a roaring headache . . . and...
How Do You Respond to Adversity? There’s something refined about a tea party, isn’t there? Perhaps we enjoy tea parties because they help us push pause in our crazy, schedule-driven lives. We wait for the water to boil, the tea bag to steep, and our stress...
Planting and Growing in God’s Garden Confession time: I’ve killed more plants than I’ve actually grown. Because of my failings, I’m especially drawn to passages in Scripture that describe God as a Gardener or Vinedresser. For example, in Isaiah 5, God is...
Aging Gracefully Is it possible to age gracefully? What does that even mean? Facebook is great about reminding me of friends’ upcoming birthdays. And yesterday, one friend posted about her eldest daughter’s 17th birthday. Seventeen? I first met her when she was...
Compassion for Friend and Foe Passions are riding high these days. In many ways, our culture—especially related to politics—is at a flashpoint. The slightest spark has the potential—no, the probability—of setting a wildfire consuming everything in its path. We...
Are You Surviving or Thriving? Anyone besides me feel frustrated at the apparent success of those who do evil in a world that frowns on a biblical worldview? There are times when I feel like crying out to God along with the psalmist who said...
Rights Christians Have, Don’t Have, Like, and Don’t Like The Constitution. The Bill of Rights. Documents protecting the rights of citizens of the United States. As we celebrate another anniversary of the birth of our nation, I wonder . . . what rights do...
Living in Jesus or Fitting Jesus In? It was supposed to be light entertainment. A movie airing on one of those...
Do You Eat Scripture Like a Squirrel or a Raccoon? I have a mango tree in my backyard. Some years the harvest...
When Does God Give Grace? I’ve lost count of the times I’ve wished I knew the future, or at least a few aspects...