Welcome to our first week of Bible study in 2018! I think it is absolutely perfect that we begin the new year in the book of Ruth, don’t you? Right in the middle of all of our resolution making, we open our scriptures and find two brave women who took an honest look at their […]

The book of Revelation gives us plenty of fun opportunities to scour scripture, searching for answers to the riddles found in it. For example, in Revelation 11, John described two witnesses who will prophesy for 3 ½ years during the end times. Of course, we can’t know definitively who these two men will be, but […]

When our family lived in another state, we attended a church that had a special prayer service on Sunday nights. After a few worship songs, people would gather in small, informal groups with the people seated near them and would take turns praying aloud. As I sat in one of those groups once, I could […]

Criticizing “the church” has become something of a past-time on social media. One prominent author recently tweeted that, though the church had never been anything but good to her, she just wasn’t feeling it anymore. She didn’t know where she fit, etc. Hundreds of commenters tweeted that they were disenfranchised also. Some hadn’t been to […]

In the book of Revelation, Christ gave the church in Ephesus some glittering compliments. “I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles, but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have […]

About five years ago, I was at a Christian conference with a variety of speakers. Because I really, really care about adoption, I was particularly drawn to a speaker who had recently adopted two children. I sat at the edge of my seat as she talked about her family’s adoption journey. She was hysterically funny […]

My dad is a carpenter by trade. He’s a quiet, hardworking man who is very talented, but never the center of attention. Recently, a friend died and I went back to the tiny community that I grew up in to attend the funeral. The service was held in the only room big enough to hold […]

In First Peter 1:13, the apostle Peter wrote something profound; “Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled.” Peter had been writing about the inheritance that we have through Jesus Christ when we accept Him as our Savior. It is an, “inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade- kept in heaven for you (vs. […]

Jesus’ brother James didn’t waste any ink in his writing. He breezed right through an introduction in his epistle to implore his readers to consider their trials joyfully and, rather than craft a winsome conclusion, he closed it with these words; “My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should […]

My oldest daughter, Ryann, is an extraordinary reader. When she was seven, she asked me what “circumcision” was. “Ummm…where did you see that word?” I stumbled. “Genesis,” she answered. Okay, then. Interesting conversation, which I was entirely unprepared for, ensued. When Ryann was six years old, my husband took a class at church in which […]