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Creating an Ishmael
In the book of Genesis we are introduced to a man named Abram and witness God’s blessing and calling upon his life. As their relationship develops Abram voices his concerns over having to leave all that God gives him to a servant, because he has no heirs, and God makes Abram a promise. Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall…
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January
Of all the months, January holds the most distinct position of announcing big change. It leads us into the new year and is keeper of all those well-intentioned resolutions. January reminds us that as each year passes, we grow a little older and perhaps a little wiser. Winter may officially come in December, yet where I live, January also harbors some of the coldest weather we endure. Sure it’s just a month with nothing more magical than it’s orderly place in the rotation, but in many ways January can set the tone for where our focus lies throughout much of the year. For me personally, January also holds memories of…
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If My Life was a Reality TV Program They Watched in Heaven
For many, including myself, the idea of God watching over us night and day, like a super-powered Santa, may seem a little absurd or hard to grasp, but what if we consider our lives running like reality tv with no breaks or pauses, and the All Mighty watching, maybe with a few of the Apostles. What would they be saying as they watched you?
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The Value of Gratitude
For me, Thanksgiving has always announced the arrival of the Christmas Season. It’s like crossing a bridge from autumn into Christmas, and Thanksgiving is the grateful troll that guards the passage. On one side of the bridge everything is in a state of fading shades of orange and brown, but on the other side the world sparkles and glows with a little more glitz every year. Of course not everyone lives by my holiday timeline, so many have already had their trees up long enough for the ornaments to need dusting. Though even for those decorating well before my personal kick-off, Thanksgiving begins the anticipatory, month long celebration of the…
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Just a Taste
My little man is a big fruit eater and absolutely loves almost any kind of fruit, especially berries. As he’s getting older he now has the ability to invade the kitchen and search at will, frequently opening the refrigerator and climbing inside to find fruit. There may be blackberries from two weeks ago, with white fur growing on them, stuffed behind the bread and last night’s leftover meatloaf and mashed potatoes, yet he’ll see them from three feet below. It was during one of these recent raids, he discovered my fresh bag of cranberries in the produce drawer and asked about them. I explained they were cranberries, but they weren’t…
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Only the Best
Tonight as I was feeding my littlest miss and cutting up her broccoli, I paused to consider what I was doing. I think most probably prefer the broccoli flower over the stem, though for me it goes beyond preference. I love broccoli, but I don’t want to eat broccoli stems and it’s crazy annoying to open a bag of broccoli only to see that half the bag is stems. I willingly pay more to avoid this disappointment. Yet, as I was cutting up broccoli for the miss, I was giving her all the flower and eating the stems myself. It’s what I always do. Sure it’s a trivial act of…
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Dating with Purpose (part 1)
If you know me, when you see this title you might be thinking, what’s she have to say on dating? She hasn’t been on a date in years. I can hear the statement drawn out in Fran Drescher’s, New York accent, which makes it sound far more tragic than it should. In defense of my delicate ego, it’s only been a few years, not decades. Though none of that means anything to God. When he gives us truth to apply in this life, we can depend on its value, whether we’re cashing in on it today, ten years from today, or just sharing it along the way. The fact that…
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Health, Wealth & Prosperity
The blessings of God are real. The Bible is full of stories that tell of God’s presence and blessing upon his faithful servants. We see it throughout the Old Testament, in the lives of the Patriarchs, Joseph, King David, Job and many others. If we read nothing beyond their years of blessing it’s easy to see why many might believe righteous living is always rewarded with perpetual good health, wealth and prosperity, but is this what the Bible really teaches? Sure David became king and Joseph ruled over Egypt, but there was great hardship in their long journey to prosperity. David spent years on the run, eluding the envious wrath…
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How Free Love Broke A Nation
We live in a culture that scoffs at what might be referred to as, “the prudish ideals of generations past”. Uncommitted sex has become the norm, an icon for the masses, a prerequisite for marriage, a right of passage into adulthood, a viable entertainment option. It’s entrenched in pop culture: music, movies, advertisements and fashion. There are few parts of our lives untouched by the glimmer of sexual immorality. Yes, sexual immorality…it’s an ugly word, conjuring images of golden idols and God’s wrath, but is it really just sexual activity in the throes of drunken pagan worship from the Old Testament? The truth is sexual immorality is simply any sexual…
