Our flatlander family vacationed in the mountains for the first time this year. My prairie children, at home in the endless grass and fields of our North Dakota farm, were stunned at the height and majesty of the mountains. They exclaimed over the steepness of the trails as we hiked. Mom couldn’t exclaim; she was…
“For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.” (Zech. 4:10 ESV) Are you in a season of rebuilding? Maybe you can identify with one of these scenarios: You finally did it! You quit your 9-to-5 job to pursue your dreams. But…
“The word of the Lord came to me: ‘Son of man, speak to your people and say to them: When I bring the sword against a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman, and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the…
They were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, not as the scribes. (Mark 1:22 ESV) About halfway through reading the Gospel of Mark, I noticed that Jesus’s disciples, the crowd who followed him, and even the Pharisees and others who were antagonistic toward him were repeatedly “astonished” or…
Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their…
A year and a half ago, I experienced a debilitating concussion. Not being able to drive, work, or get out of bed shook me to the core in all the ways you’d expect, and it did something more, too. Before the concussion, my intelligence was my identity. I was wise and witty, the one who…