Everywhere I turn these days it seems I am dealing with disappointment. Failure. Unachieved goals, unmet expectations. Nothing is going the way it is supposed to, or like it used to… One disappointment after another. And I’m not just talking about being let down by other people. In fact, I think the disappointments that affect…
Life With God
Lord, Save Us From Your Followers
Being a fan of documentaries, and, having many thoughts on the nature and condition of the church, I was intrigued enough by the title and description of the movie above to click the play button on a recent visit to Hulu.com. As the video began, I wasn’t entirely sure which “side” was being presented. I…
Letters To God
The reviews of Letters To God are either glowing, or not kind. And, I can see where most of them are coming from. In some ways this movie was pretty hokey. Some of the acting was bad. Some of the story was a tad unbelievable. Some of the “Christian” part seemed a bit too forced….
The Soul Felt Its Worth
O holy night… the stars are brightly shining. It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth. (With me so far?) Long lay the world… in sin and error pining till he appeared and the soul felt its worth. I was listening to a podcast1 recently (titled, Your Sense of Belonging) where the lyric from…
Children Obey Your Parents
We had an interesting conversation with our teenager the other night. Ian is thirteen. That means he’s officially a teenager. He’s been there—especially in his own mind—for quite a while now, even before the calendar said he was. That’s how he came into the world, actually. He’s usually ahead of the game. And that’s his…
[From The Archive] Feeling Loved, And Lovable
This week’s trip into the Archive will be much shorter than last week’s (sorry about the link overload with that one!) Maybe because there’s been so much to read here lately that I want to give you a break… But probably more because the content of this previously-posted article is beautiful in its simplicity. I’m…
Always Be Thankful
“And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.“ I have recently been reminded of the book One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. I read the first half or so, and then it got buried…
The Illusion of Control
For some reason, though everything tells us otherwise, we all seem to have this illusion that we are in control of our lives and our surroundings. I may be speaking a good deal from my American perspective, but I do feel like it’s more of a human thing than a cultural thing. (We Americans just…
[From The Archive] Peace
This week’s From The Archive was chosen from one of several posts I found that had elements of this theme of “the illusion of control” that has been swimming around my thoughts for some time now. Each of the articles previously published had at least some small perspective on the idea that we are not…
Completely Plagiarized (With References)
Tonight I need to let some other words speak for me. If you’ll permit me, the rest of this post is entirely copied selections from the Bible. (New Living Translation if not otherwise noted.) They are words we are feeling strengthened by today. Perhaps they’ll do so for you, too. (And, does it really count…