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If I could go back in time, there are plenty of things I would want my teenage-self to know. But if I could, I’d especially want to go back in time and shine some truth into a few of the lies that I believed as a young person. Maybe you’re struggling with some of these lies too. If so, this is my invitation to you to experience some truth. Lie 1: I’m too young to do big things. The world we live...
Water–the thing we all need and yet we often take for granted. With taps, faucets, and bottles of it all about us, we hardly ever consider its availability. But when it is scare, it becomes the most important thing. When you live in Arkansas a small running creek is no big deal; when you live in West Texas it’s a small miracle. Last time, we discussed how God’s Word is like water, and how...
In America, we’re often sheltered from all the trials and persecutions Christians endure in foreign countries. During a recent church service, I watched a video about the sufferings and persecutions of Christians. It broke my heart. Sure, I knew Christians suffered in foreign countries, but I never fully realized how much they went through until I watched this video. They refused to deny their...
The worst place to die of thirst must be the ocean. “Water, water, everywhere, and not a drop to drink,” says the old poem, and it’s an apt description of the situation. Stranded in a small boat, with not canteen of fresh water, you’re surrounded by miles and miles of water–but none of it does you any good. Ocean water isn’t fit for drinking. The salt in it dehydrates you, drying you...
“Dear younger me, where do I start? If I could tell you everything that I have learned so far, then you could be one step ahead… ” (Dear Younger Me, Mercy Me) Over the years, we’ve all had our share of mistakes, experiences, and victories that have taught us and grown us. How much simpler life might have been if we had known it all beforehand! Though time travel...
There are two things that seem to fly out of everyone’s mouths when they hear that you’re struggling–read the Bible and pray. Surely those are the most obvious answers, and they’re genuinely the best suggestions. Right? But for some reason, those answers can still feel empty. They can still feel hollow. How will reading a book, or talking to someone that I can’t hear help me with this...
Pain has been a recurring and unwelcome theme in my life. I’ve struggled with nervous system disorder for years. Complications from this disorder have directly caused my inability to work and necessitated that I drop out of college during the semester I planned to graduate. Everything in my life was turned upside down. Every plan I ever made for myself was painfully dismantled. All of this...
I recently noticed this phrase on the phone case of a friend I work with in the church nursery. I shrugged it off after glancing and went about my duties, but the words lodged in my brain in the following days. “Good vibes only.” What comes to mind? I thought of California. Sun, surf, and sand. The Beach Boys and their 1966 hit “Good Vibrations.” But I suspect that there’s more to this popular...
They had never sobbed so hard. Several had even thrown up. They couldn’t help it, so great was their shock when they saw the things they’d permitted. One of the ladies tried to cover her eyes, but an officer pushed her hands away and the soldiers urged them on. Determined that they shouldn’t stop short of seeing every mangled body; that they shouldn’t pass by any of the rooms where such...
Every weekday morning has a similar sound. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. “Oh no, morning. Please, just five more minutes,” I groan as I reach over to press the snooze button. With the exception of those who enjoy rising early, no one likes to hear their alarm clock in the quietness of the morning. We groan and sloppily reach out to press the snooze button on our incessantly ringing alarm clock...
rebelling against low expectations
