This is the story of one of my friends. Due to the sensitive nature of this story, I am publishing it anonymously for her. The experience of sexual abuse and the church's failure to protect is sickeningly common. What are we doing to bring about redemptive change? While working for that change, are we motivated …
Tag: Christ’s body
What Do Women Want?
I woke up around 12:30 this morning with a familiar pain in my knees. With no mother to look after them, I got up and crept out to the kitchen to find the Tylenol. Downing a couple pills with a cup of water, I realized I wouldn't be able to go to sleep until the …
Our Best Life Now
In Joel Osteen's popular book Your Best Life Now, he details how to go about securing the best life possible for yourself, mostly through positive thinking and believing that God will give you everything you want. I thought about this "best life" while struggling through wondering if our family was truly living the life that God …
All Things
Sometimes when I have heard a certain part of a Bible verse emphasized my whole life, I fail to notice the rest of the verse until it pops out and surprises me. I felt that jolt this week while reading 1 Corinthians 14. I had stumbled across an online article that deeply disturbed me. The …
Ordinary Families Can Foster
In our yard is a huge oak tree, its branches shading the sandy dirt underneath. Under the tree, a collection of spoons and cups pilfered from my kitchen litters the ground. My six-year-old daughter is the queen of mud pie production, and she takes it on herself to teach our foster children the craft. The …
Should A Church Have Rules?
Growing up, I was mostly very compliant with rules of any sort. I didn't just accept everything at face value--I often turned things over in my mind and tried to make sense of them--but I didn't usually challenge those things even if I thought they might be wrong. For me, keeping peace and avoiding hurt …
Giving Advice: Common Sense or the Holy Spirit?
For some reason, this post I wrote two years ago has been on my mind, so I’m reblogging it here.
Which do you value most: common sense or the guidance of the Holy Spirit?
As long as I can remember, I have loved reading missionary stories. Recently, I read (or re-read) three: Bruchkoby Bruce Olson, Chasing the Dragon by Jackie Pullinger, and The Word Came with Power by Joanne Shetler and Patricia Pervis.
While reading these stories, different things catch my attention and fill my ponderings for the days after, depending on what I am experiencing or thinking about at the time. This time around, I noticed something that was similar in all three of the stories I mentioned.
They all went to the mission field God called them to against the advice of people who were supposed to be their spiritual leaders. Some of the missionaries gained acceptance; but at least initially, they all went despite being told not to go. God prospered their ministries tremendously, after years of love and risk and heart-break went into the places where they were called: Bruce to the Motilone…
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Denominational Superiority and Achieving Balance
Some years ago, I sat in a workshop at the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) convention in Kansas City. The workshop was about integrating both grace and truth in our communities and schools. At one point, the instructor used a Venn diagram to illustrate what she thought was a healthy balance. On one side …
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When Parents are Failing
What do you do when you think your friends are failing at parenting? Of course, it's easy to have all the answers about parenting before you've tried it out yourself. But suppose you have parented several children already, and what you see in other people makes you shake your head in despair? Let me tell …
Ten Simple Ways Your Church Can Serve Foster Families (by Jason Johnson)
Foster care is a Church problem, not a state child welfare problem. It is a Gospel issue first, not a government issue. The Church has both the duty and privilege to speak on behalf of and stand for the sake of those who cannot speak and stand for themselves because that is exactly what God …
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arabah rejoice 