When I was in seminary, I worked in a missions office. One of the perks of the job was getting to travel internationally and see what our missionaries were doing in their communities. On one trip, I was in a rural community where the local missionaries and pastors would go
Over the last few months, many of our friends and family members have walked through intense loss and suffering. The last few years have been difficult for many, and my guess is that you’re in a similar situation. There are very few who have been left unscathed. Whether suffering has
Have you ever been in a situation that felt so dark and heavy, where there was little or no hope? For me, I just returned from overseas and some of the situations I saw with my own eyes felt hopeless. I sat across from brothers and sisters in Christ, praying
One of the things I’ve always loved about Jesus is how He rarely answered a question in the way people expected. Throughout the Gospels, we see people coming to Him wanting a list of do’s and don’ts or a specific answer, and Jesus rarely delivered. And yet, although His answer
In both of the passages we read today, we see women who had so much faith in Jesus that they relentlessly sought out healing, one for her child and the other for herself. I have always loved these stories, but I especially love the story about Jesus in Luke 8.
Have you ever met someone who is generous with their time, their finances, and their support, but they aren’t afraid to let you know it? Or even worse, maybe they hold their generosity over the recipient’s head, just waiting to call in a favor in return. Someone whose generosity actually
Every few years, I’ll start a Bible reading plan that takes me through the whole grand narrative of Scripture in a year. And I must confess, when I would reach passages where genealogies span over multiple verses, I used to be a bit disappointed in the day’s readings. “Oh it’s
I don’t know about you, but I’ve been through a variety of seasons in my faith journey. I’ve lived through fruitful seasons, and I’ve also experienced seasons of suffering where I didn’t see how God could redeem it. And yet He did. I’ve sat alone in my bedroom at night,
I grew up in an imperfect, but truly lovely family. My mom and dad loved each other, and they also loved me and my brother fiercely. They showed up to all of our sporting events, we ate meals together in the evenings, and we had a lot of fun. Don’t
I don’t know about you, but the last few years have been hard. Between living in a global pandemic, racial tensions, and seeing how divided our society is on almost every issue, I’ve grown tired and weary. Like many of you, I’ve lost friends and family members to an angry