This past Sunday night the Gathering young families group met online again. And this week we did a short reflection on a great scripture from the New Testament, Hebrews 10:23-25 which says, “23 Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. 24 And let…
Last week a prominent theologian was asked to offer a two word opinion of the preacher Beth Moore. And in response, he said “Go Home.” This is enough to get me a bit worked up. But Moore responded with compassion and grace, saying her calling is not to man, but to God. We here…
I recently read the quote by Miroslav Volf which said that “There is something deeply hypocritical about praying for a problem that you are unwilling to resolve.” There is some obvious truth in that statement, of course. Though it is hard to swallow the idea that I may, at times, be that hypocrite… However, I…
Last week a friend let me borrow a book, though apparently it’s already been sitting on my shelf for years. I may have too many books. It’s a book called Dangerous Wonder. And it’s about the value of childlike faith. And it is of value, without a doubt. A mother and her little boy were…
John Huffman describes a moment he had with his daughter. He had been away for several weeks on a mission’s trip. When his airplane landed, he could hardly wait to see his wife and four kids, but he and the other passengers were detained in customs for two hours. Finally they let them proceed to…
Last month, before Christmas, one Sunday morning we were running a little late, and so I was anxiously in a hurry to get to church. I got Ollie all buckled in to his car seat, everybody got in, and I zoomed out of the garage! But the problem was that I had failed to close…
I was watching the preacher Francis Chan speaking, and in the middle of his sermon he kinda took out his phone and was looking at it, and he said, “if you’ll find your bibles,” (still looking at his phone) “and uhh find Jeremiah.” And he kinda acted like he was texting, “Jeremiah 29:13” he’d say,…
A couple weeks ago in our Wednesday night Life group, we watched this speaker share on the power of vulnerability. This is not something we really want to feel. To put ourselves out there wholeheartedly, (our true, raw, unpolished, vulnerable selves), among those we come across in life, even with our loved ones, it is…
We are heading full-tilt now into our Wednesday night Youth and Life Groups for the year. During our summer months, our Wednesday nights are pretty quiet, there’s not a lot going on, the church can stay pretty neat and tidy. That’s a little less the case after a good night of Youth and Life groups!…
I was thinking how hard and how delightful parenting can be sometimes. I have to remind myself every so often that it’s always worth it even though it’s not always easy, or immediately gratifying. Often times, I can come home to time with the kids and it is a joyful and life-giving thing for me.…