As a young believer, I found myself corralling grace into a corner -- by grace I have been saved. Conversion was the theological boundary of grace in my mind. By it, I was adopted into God's family and granted the future hope of heaven, but surely, the hard work -- the blood, sweat and tears -- of living for Jesus depended on my strength and ...
Sitting beneath the stained glass windows of the church I grew up in, sharing a creaky wooden pew with my mom and dad, I heard the words that would change everything for me. My pastor preached from Matthew 5:16 that no matter your circumstances, no matter the mistakes you’ve made, you can choose right now to shine anyway. I sat there trembling as ...
It’s not easy living in a brown body. There is this pain I carry in almost every space I enter, a fear that wracks my mind and heart as I wonder if the people I’m about to meet will see the real me or just the color of my skin. When people only see my skin color, they often make assumptions about me. They stereotype, they label -- usually ...
But Ruth replied: Don’t plead with me to abandon you or to return and not follow you. For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you live, I will live; your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Ruth 1:16 (CSB) Ruth stayed. She could have left Naomi, her widowed mother-in-law, to fend for herself as she traveled back to ...
A few weeks ago, my husband and I saw a movie called Yesterday. It's about Jack, a struggling musician who's hit by a bus during a worldwide power outage. When he wakes up, the world is going on like normal, but he quickly realizes things aren't quite the same as they were before. Most importantly, he discovers that he's the only person who ...
I’ve been a swimmer since childhood, so I was caught off guard when panic tried to wedge itself between me and my destination. Knowing I could easily swim over to join my family and neighbors hanging out a short distance away, I had jumped from the boat into the lake. But about half-way there, I could hardly catch my breath. I felt like I was ...
I turned the melon in my hand, analyzing every inch, trying to find any evidence of ripeness. Because, as we all know, picking a good melon — whether cantaloupe, honeydew, or watermelon — feels almost as risky as a trip to Vegas. You can give it your best shot, but there’s little guarantee you’ll go home with the jackpot. Still, I examined its ...
There's a particular Starbucks I frequent, one that sits across the street from the courts where my daughter, Faith, has tennis practice. While Faith works on her tennis game, you can often find me working on my writing game at one of their outdoor tables under an umbrella. I'm there a lot this summer. One day, after ordering my typical iced ...
We thought we were pretty high tech cruising down the road, some twenty plus years ago, in our Pontiac Transport minivan (lovingly known as the dust buster on wheels). For long family road trips, we were among the first to have a "deluxe" video tape player that plugged into the cigarette lighter. Cell phones and video games had not yet burst on ...
Hallelujah! Praise God in his sanctuary. Praise him in his mighty expanse. Praise him for his powerful acts; praise him for his abundant greatness. Praise him with trumpet blast; praise him with harp and lyre. Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and flute. Praise him with resounding cymbals; praise him with ...
