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What God’s Provision Really Looks Like
We all know what it feels like to be in need: humbled, broken, even broke. The trials of life show no favoritism. In one way or another, we will all experience our share of pain and heartache, and in those times of crisis we may turn to God, whether it’s something we normally do or not. So if we call out to God on our darkest of days, what can we expect? Many say prayer works, yet there’s an entire population of disheartened souls out there wondering why it didn’t work for them. Maybe their loved one still died, their partner still left, they continue to struggle in addiction or…
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Straight Up and Over: navigating the faithful journey
In the movie Homeward Bound three family pets decide to make their way home after being left temporarily with a family friend. As they escape and set out for a mountain range in the distance, the old retriever, Shadow, tells his companions, home is straight up and over, assuring them they would be home by dark. How many of us can relate to their despair as they crested the ridge, and looked out over an expanse of mountains and wilderness, instead of their cozy, suburban neighborhood? Is it really so different when we believe God has called us to something and we set out on that adventure, expecting blue skies…
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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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Are you Living Like You’re in the Army?
There used to be an ad for the Army that suggested enlisted individuals do more before nine a.m. than most people do all day, with the tagline “Be all that you can be”. I suppose the ad was intended to inspire, but it just made me feel guilty, like I really needed to step up my game if I didn’t want to be like all those other slovenly Americans. It probably sounds a bit ridiculous, but the truth is I’ve always carried this oppressive feeling I had to prove myself, driving me to become this perfectionistic, over-achiever that rarely rested. In my mind, I was singing Ethel Mermen, “Anything you…
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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…
