A Well and a “Hello There!”

Apparently, it has been a month since my last post…I guess a lot of stuff has been going on recently. One thing I have been reflecting on is the famous interaction Jesus had with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s Well in John 4. It is a famous passage that is loaded with so much theology […]

Called to be Followers, not Admirers.

As I shared in my last blog, I love Easter and the resurrection hope that it provides to the believer. So, it is without shame or hesitation that I confess I am still thinking about it now even though we are past the date on the calendar. Because of this you all get to engage […]

A Night 3 Years in the Making

Well, it’s almost Holy Week again and I am excited. For me, it is easier to focus on the spiritual aspect of Easter than it is for Christmas. The Christmas season is inundated with so many layers of gifts and music and everything else that the message of Christ’s coming can be drowned out. I […]

Cease Striving, Be Still

Psalm 46:10 has always been a favorite verse of mine because it really highlights that God does not need me to do anything in order to accomplish His will. The concept of “cease striving” that the author uses here is an image of working against God rather than with God. I know for me it […]

The Sword of the Spirit

This coming Sunday at church part of the message will be focused on the “sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” Whenever I think about that passage, I am reminded of the time I spent taking iaido classes before seminary took away all my free-time and money. Iaido is a Japanese martial […]

Anticipation: AKA Already/Not Yet

I don’t know if any of you are fans of international soccer or not, but I am. If you are a fan, then you are probably aware of the fact that today (Jan. 31st) is the trade deadline for a majority of the leagues around the globe. The team that I support has been surprisingly […]

Modern Day First-Fruits

The biblical concept of first-fruits has been at the forefront of my mind recently. Pastor Steve’s sermon this past Sunday made me further reflect on the nature of giving back to God. The roots of first-fruits are found from the earliest pages of Scripture but it isn’t until the Exodus that God implements it as […]

Sanctification and… cross-stitching??

Christmas is almost upon us. I love this time of year because Advent is just an awesome opportunity to reflect on the great love and mercy God has for us. We get to spend 5 weeks intentionally marinating in this love and mercy of God. This time of worship in celebration of the first Advent […]

Giving Thanks at Thanksgiving

Well, here we are about a week out from the Thanksgiving holiday. We all know what that means…Christmas music is right around the corner! Every November, I think about the fact there really are no Thanksgiving songs to speak of (my youngest daughter does have a super adorable song from school though if you ask […]

Trophies

I have been thinking about success a lot lately. What is success? How do we recognize success? Mostly, though, is success as a Christian defined by the same (or at least similar) metrics as we see in the world around us? That question brought me to thinking about trophies and the concept behind them. Miriam-Webster […]