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I saw an advertisement recently claiming, “Unbiased News from a Christian Perspective.” In the comments, more than a few people pointed out the irony of that statement. We understand ourselves in the contexts of stories and narratives. This is how we make sense of the world. This “sense-making” takes place as we interpret our experiences in the context of the world around us. When we...
You all know what it’s like to become discouraged with life. Seeking the Lord may sometimes begin to seem like a burden. Things that used to intrigue you seem to lose their wonder. Do you ever feel like a grunge-muffin on the inside? I’d be telling an unnecessary lie if I said it didn’t happen to me. A friend of mine recently described it as “things feeling slippery and pointless.” Yep. I know...
Editor’s note: Emily Smucker is a staff writer for TheReb and has recently released a memoir, from which this moving story is an excerpt. We’ll let her explain it… Two years ago, I set off on a year-long road trip around the USA, where I planned to live in a different community every single month and support myself by writing. Nothing quite went like I expected it to, and I ended up writing...
I want a time machine. To go see the future so I can plan accordingly. To go back to the past so I can know what I don’t know already. Mainly, to never be blind-sided by the difficult or the easy moments of life. Right now, I feel blind. I have been reading Jeremiah and was struck by the same blindness in the lives of the Israelites. They are blind to the power of their God and instead turn to...
It’s been talked about by philosophers for centuries. It’s been defined, re-defined, then defined again. It’s spoken of in movies by rogue vigilantes who claim to take the law into their own hands and by protesters on the street corner calling out for change. Today, it takes on many forms–economic justice, reproductive justice, social justice. But what is justice, really? Is there a reality...
“One of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not from lack of time.” – John Piper A Sober Reminder A smartphone in the hand of a human can often become more like an extra limb than a tool. Technological advancement has seen exponential growth over the last decade and has greatly entranced the masses. While not inherently wrong, our...
One of the things I look forward to doing every year is putting on my boots, donning my cloak, and picking out the best hat to wear when I go to the renaissance festival. I love being transported into the past and seeing all the demonstrations, singing groups, and entertainment the event brings. As a nerd myself, I get excited when I’m around others like me. I love seeing what costumes people...
Christians tend to have two extremes when thinking about heresy. Some see heresy everywhere. If heresy simply means “whatever contradicts scripture”, we’ll see heresy in any biblical interpretation or doctrinal belief that disagrees with our own. We’ll see heresy in our friends, in our pastors, and—of course—anywhere in social media. (Conveniently enough, we’ll...
The letter you are about to read was written out of the deep desire of my heart to start living a life that loved like Christ loved. A few months ago, I was holding on to my own plans, hopes, and wants so tightly that I was hurting people close to me. However, God in His grace got a hold of my heart and something in me changed. As I started asking Him to help me, He started filling me with a...
7 A.M. rolled around, and I felt fresh. God’s words were alive. Ideas flowed fast. I would dig through Scripture until something caught my eye that I could carry to my desk, and then I spent an hour typing up pages in my pajamas. Those pages worked nicely for Sunday blog posts. I sometimes wondered if a big Christian website might peek at them. And do you know what? Being a young Christian writer...
rebelling against low expectations
