rebelling against low expectations
I have last year’s goals spread out before me. Some practical: Work out two days a week. Get to bed by 10:30 each night. Some ministry and work related: Write book two. Redesign website. Some spiritual: Study the Bible in a deeper way. Be consistent with my prayer time each day. If the beginning of a year is anything, it’s a time for casting vision. Dreaming. Planning. Making new goals and...
Go ahead, be honest. Are you a little relieved 2020 is almost over? The beginning of a new year always strikes me as a little strange. I mean, if you really think about it, it’s just another day run together with all the rest. 24 hours after the day previous and 24 hours before the next. From day to day, there’s nothing special about a new year. But we still crave a fresh slate, the start of...
New Year’s Eve 2019. I remember it like it was yesterday. We didn’t have any plans, so my family and I stayed home to ring in the New Year. We binge watched a TV show while I ate too much chocolate and an embarrassing number of cream puffs until a shiny, brand new 2020 rolled onto the calendar. Another year over. Another just begun. A few days before, I’d written in my journal, “What will this...
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...
“God, please show me how to live with this!” Three years earlier, Jesus had captured my heart and I was excited about new opportunities he was giving me to serve him. But as my health deteriorated through the next year and a half, one thing after another was taken from my life. Now, laying bed-bound at home, sick, helpless, and grieving, I prayed for God to show me how to live with this chronic...
“You know how something in my relationship with God has been off lately?” I asked my friend over the phone. As soon as I asked the question, I heard a quiet sigh as she replied, “Yes.” I went on to tell her what I theorized the problem to be. That happened many times over the past several months, when I finally came to realize the root of it all: my passion for Jesus was gone. However, what I...
The tradition of Christian apologetics has a long history, from the apostles in the book of Acts, to writers in the early church like Justin Martyr, to modern recent authors like C.S. Lewis, Lee Strobel, and John Lennox. The term itself comes from the Greek word apologia—meaning defense—and refers to laying out a logical case for why the faith is true. At some point, every Christian will be in a...
My mom and I were at Fred Myer buying seeds for our garden. We both had masks on—and I was also wearing my sunglasses (for some reason, I had forgotten to take them off as we were entering the store). Now for some time, it had been my usual routine to verbally vent to those around me (usually my mom) about how my mask kept me from vital access to oxygen. “I can’t breathe!” I would exclaim...
We’re all being directly affected by the Coronavirus, and many of us are homebound. We went from a busy schedule of church, school, work, and extracurricular activities to an empty social calendar and nowhere to go. With so much concentrated time together under pretty dire circumstances, it doesn’t take much to get on each other’s nerves. Siblings’ loud playtime during school hours, antsy pets...
This is probably not the first time you’re reading an article about glorifying God during the lockdown. And this probably won’t be the last time either. But have you ever stopped and thought about how your life has progressed during the lockdown? What have you accomplished? What have you done for God? While I often dream about doing great things for God, I easily get so caught up...
rebelling against low expectations
