The first time a doctor spoke the word infertility to me, one of my closest friends had just had twins. Another close friend was pregnant, and then another and another until I tasted the bitterness of desperately wanting what you cannot have. Years later, in my husband’s new pastorate, we sustained loss after loss in…
the Gospel
Our Only Hope in Life and Death
I never heard the word ‘catechism’ until I was an adult. Well, that’s not entirely true. I remember reading the word in a book once as a child and wondering what it meant, pronouncing it cat-a-CHism in my head, with a hard CH, like in the word cheese. I grew up a Southern Baptist and…
Women, Don’t Be Weak-Minded: A Call for Discernment
I was a junior in college when I realized she was a universalist. My favorite author, whose lyrical style and captivating storytelling filled my bookshelves, had finally shown her cards in one of her non-fiction works. I had to read the paragraph three times to realize that she had departed from the gospel of Jesus…
Hear the Voice of the Lord. And also, Obey.
I’d been running behind all day, and on this particular Monday afternoon, I found myself racing through the grocery store near dinnertime. I wasn’t even sure what we were having yet but knew I needed to finish my shopping quickly to get home to my hungry family. While speeding through the frozen food section, I…
Ours is an Every Day Gospel
I tried to ignore the gospel this morning. My alarm sounded rudely at 5 am, and I spent fifteen minutes trying to convince myself that the world might look a little brighter if I turned my back on it for another two hours. But the discouragement that weighed down my heart, my bones, my eyes…
Peter’s Saturday
There is no New Testament person I identify with more than Peter. Impulsive, short-tempered, driven by emotion, the pre-resurrection Peter reminds me a lot of the face I see in the mirror every morning. He is given to fear, even in the presence of Jesus. Remember him on the water, in the garden, in the…
Good Friday’s Torn Curtain
“Suddenly, the curtain of the sanctuary was split in two from top to bottom; the earth quakes and the rocks were split.” Matthew 27:51 “Then the curtain of the sanctuary was split in two from top to bottom.” Mark 15:38 “…The curtain of the sanctuary was split down the middle.” Luke 23:45 I remember the…
The Bad News is Really Bad
“I’ve got bad news, kids. You’re terrible people.” That wasn’t my exact opener for my Wednesday night kid’s class at church, but it might as well have been. We’ve been going through Old Testament history for a few months and are currently working through the judges material. My synopsis of the book of Judges was…
Advent is for Everyone.
“Build God-centered anticipation and expectancy and excitement into your home — especially for the children. If you are excited about Christ, they will be too. If you can only make Christmas exciting with material things, how will the children get a thirst for God? Bend the efforts of your imagination to make the wonder of…