We’ve moved a few times, and every time, we’ve had to start over at a new church. After a few too many awkward experiences, it became easy to hide behind excuses about why we just didn’t go to church. “We’re too busy.” “It’s the only day we get to sleep in.” “I don’t feel like…
Want to Shake Up 2023? Invite Someone Over. If the past few years have taught us anything, it’s that our connections have become brittle, and we’re lonelier than we’d like to admit. We’re constantly faced with reasons to be wary. Our culture is factious. We are divided. These “times” have been unprecedented for so long,…
The world will give you that once in awhile, a brief timeout; the boxing bell rings and you go to your corner, where somebody dabs mercy on your beat-up life.” —Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees One of the winter activities our family enjoyed pre-COVID was what we called Soup Saturdays. We’d put out…
What is an attractive life? Let me explain. I don’t mean attractive as in physical appearance. I’m not talking about a life that looks like an air-brushed magazine cover. When I searched ‘definition of attractive’ on Google, I came up with these definitions: Appealing or pleasing to the senses Having beneficial qualities or features that…
Then an expert in the law stood up to test him, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 18:18) In ancient Israel, to be a good Jew meant following the Law as laid out by Moses. This was more complicated than just the Ten Commandments we’re used to. To be upright…
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. (Col. 3:2 ESV) There’s a common admonition among Christians, to “be in the world but not of the world,” but you may wonder what, exactly, this means. Does it mean we don’t engage the world, that we avoid anyone and…