While the disciples were building walls, erecting hierarchies and in fighting over who is the greatest, Jesus cut off any temptation to minimize the size of someone’s works. Some will show their sincere faith in Jesus in great ways, but genuine faith can also be seen in simple acts of faith like sharing a cup of water with someone in need. We also must be careful not to look down on or minimize any genuine work of faith.

The spectacle of the Super Bowl mirrors the temptations we all face in  life: the lure of recognition, the pressure to conform, and the fleeting nature of worldly success.

I played division one college volleyball, but that fact doesn’t usually affect my ministry opportunities. Most women’s ministry directors that invite me to participate in their conferences care primarily about my speaking, Bible teaching and worship leading skills, not my ball handling, vertical jump and net skills. But over the years, I have had some pretty cool niche ministry invitations due to my athletic experience…

Between cold weather and playoff football, I probably spend more time in front of a television in January than any other month...

There is a deadly tendency in fallen humanity to take from this a call to “do better.” For the longest time in my own life, I viewed this verse as a threat where my application of it was to strive for obedience to prove my love. But that is exactly backward. And that is where the counterintuitive cure comes into play.

I love to talk to new Christians. They inspire me and remind me of the fire I experienced as a new believer. I felt set free and everything was new uncomplicated, and my speech and actions were all about Jesus as He changed me into a new creation as child of God…

As the calendar turns to a new year, many of us feel inspired to set goals, reorganize our lives, and pursue new opportunities. As we plan for 2025, we must ask ourselves: are our lives aligned with Christ's eternal mission? Are we truly following Him as His disciples?

I’ve always loved connecting dots. In my childhood it was dots with numbers on paper that stranded together to form an object. As I threw my attention to the page and followed the numbered steps, a picture developed. A new creation appeared that brought joy to my little-girl heart.

In his book “The Cost of Discipleship”, Dietrich Bonhoeffer coined the term “cheap grace”. Cheap grace is meant to describe a shallow and convenient form of Christianity that emphasizes only the pleasant and easy parts without incorporating repentance, confession, discipline, and sacrifice. Cheap grace is salvation without the cross.`

One of my biggest pet peeves is not feeling listened to. I can detect it very quickly in a conversation.  The other person hears what I say.  But their responses reveal a clear lack of understanding, or a desire to try.  They are waiting for their next turn to speak. The conversation begins to feel like an empty exchange of words in which I am not being seen nor heard. 

We may think of ourselves as the seven loaves and few fishes – insufficient to meet the need. And that is correct! But if we withhold our aliquo, we should expect nihilo to follow. Yet, when we place ourselves into Jesus’ hands, we can be confident that we will be the something through which nothing will be impossible for him.

Mark Chapter 7 is a pivotal scene in Jesus’ ministry.  Exhausted from an intense period of teaching, healing, continuous skepticism from his disciples, and growing opposition from religious leaders, Jesus steps away from the familiar ground of Israel and enters the non-Jewish areas of Tyre and Sidon for rest and reflection…

In Jesus’ day the rabbis of the old covenant had added so much to the law of God that they had bound the people’s conscience. Where God had left men free, the Pharisees had put them in chains. Much of Jesus’ teaching and most of his conflicts with the Pharisees arose over this issue.

While at my son Preston’s football game, I had a moving conversation with another team mom. It was the first time we’d ever connected beyond socially expected niceties…

In the face of difficulty, when we need to lean into our faith, it is helpful to remember why our God can be trusted. How has He shown up in the past? How have we seen evidence of His presence in the world around us, in our own lives, and in the pages of Scripture? What’s in our boat to inspire us to keep rowing through a storm? What might even give us the courage to step out of the boat to walk on water?   

Jesus knows your faith isn’t perfect.  It is for that reason we should expect it to be stretched throughout our lives by way of trials.  Will you embrace those moments as opportunities to grow your trust in Him?  Will you hand Him the keys?

We know him. We know his family. We watched him grow up. He’s just a carpenter from a poor family. He’s nothing special. We even know his shady background. Who does he think he is coming here as if he could teach us? If we didn’t know him, maybe we’d be impressed – but we know better.

Embrace a faith that is willing to confront suffering and death with the hope of the resurrection.