If you’ve been around here very long you know I love the Advent season. Though I didn’t know much about it growing up, it’s been a life-giving practice in my adulthood. If “Advent” is new to you, it’s simply the four week period leading up to Christmas. Churches often have a special scripture reading and light a candle each of the four Sundays before Christmas. Individuals and families might light candles on an advent wreath and read a daily or weekly devotional that prepares their heart to … [Read more...]
When “Let Go and Let God” is Bad Advice
Around here, and maybe in your back yard too, the crops are drying up. Days are shorter. Evenings are cooler. Sunflowers have bowed their heads and corn stalks have gone crispy. The landscape isn't as lovely as it was this summer, but brown fields mean harvest time is coming. It's a perfect metaphor for the benefits of hanging on in brown and dry seasons of life. Today we have a guest who has written beautifully about "hanging on." My friend and fellow author, Jennifer Dukes Lee is with us today … [Read more...]
When the Story Comes True
It was a story I’d heard all my life, or a version of it anyway. Yesterday, it came true. My grandpa, the same one I wrote about last summer, who’s systematic prayer life explains a lot about my own life, was a storyteller extraordinaire. Besides that, he had learned his mother's tried and true play-it-by-ear piano techniques—major and minor chords, the trilling of an octave, and a jolly be-bopping melody--and when he combined the two, it was a grand performance. But his performances were … [Read more...]
Moments with the Savior
In 1998, before basic nouns were preceded by the vowels i and e (iPhone, iBooks, email, ebooks), I picked up a hard cover book in an actual book store. I'd been searching for a new devotional. What I discovered wasn't actually a devotional, but it was a fabulous find. Intimate Moments with the Savior: Learning to Love by Ken Gire has been a favorite. If you've never read it, you might want to join the 100,000+ people who have. It is beautifully written and timeless. Life is a kitchenful … [Read more...]
Not by Sight
You know how it happens on the web…you click on an interesting title, then read a moving article, investigate the author’s bio, peruse the books he or she has written, and before you know it, 90 minutes have passed, and you can’t remember how you ended up clicking “buy now” on Amazon. That’s how I discovered, Not by Sight: A Fresh Look at Old Stories of Walking by Faith by Jon Bloom. “Through the imaginative retelling of 35 Bible stories, Not by Sight gives us glimpses of what it means to … [Read more...]
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