My fondest childhood memories include my siblings and I waddling up steep Pennsylvania hills, towing our sleds while laughing and talking until we piled onto our reckless crafts and flew screaming down the hill. During Christmas holidays, our church families had a tradition of getting together and driving around the neighborhood, where we sneaked out …
Tag: faith
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 …
Enduring the cross, despising the shame
If I were to try to convince someone to become a Christian, shame is not a quality I would advertise. I would probably talk about the wonderful sense of being set free from guilt, the comforting presence of a communicating God, and the indescribable joy of Spirit-infused life. Not shame. Certain verses have come alive …
Those who sow in tears
On a Thursday morning about a year ago, I received one text after another saying a variation of the same message: "We won't be coming to small group tonight." The house was cleaned (no small feat with my little children), the shopping was done and the food was made, and Will had a lesson prepared. …
Working Toward Meaningful Change
As a child, I carefully kept my precious nickels and dimes in a ceramic pig. Sometimes after thinking about it for a few days, I went upstairs to my room and pulled out my piggy bank. I sat on my bed, turned the pig upside down, and pried the rubber plug loose. Shaking a nickel …
Navigating Adaptive Challenges
When I first read this paragraph from God's Country: Faith, Hope, and the Future of the Rural Church by Brad Roth, my mind leaped to a scenario exactly like Roth described: a community losing its missional bearings and directing its energy into constructing a recreational building. In the church, we so often favor the concrete …
What Faith Cannot Do
Faith is a miracle worker. It moves mountains and heals the sick and brings about the impossible. Faith is the evidence of a world unseen. But did you know that there is something faith cannot do? The last few weeks, I've been reading stories of Anabaptist history to my children. After numerous failed attempts to …
Our Beautiful Family
Occasionally when our family is out in public and the kids are displaying a rare well-behaved, quiet side of their usually rambunctious temperaments, some kind person remarks to Will and me, "You have such a beautiful family!" Will and I smile and thank the compliment-giver politely. But inside we sort of snicker that we could possibly …
A Morning Exercise
1. Quiet your heart and bring your thoughts toward God. In the stillness, tell Him that you are listening. Sit in silence for a few minutes. 2. Ask God to bring a Biblical character to your mind. Write down the name of the first person who comes to your mind. 3. Ask God, "What part of this person's …
arabah rejoice 