Father, As you well know, my children start school today. New year. New school. New friends. New teachers. New lunch room. New hallways. New grade. There’s a big part of me that is glad and thankful for all of this. There’s another big part of me that is anxious and scared. I am grateful for the summer we have had. I am grateful for the incredible school system. I am grateful for the teachers. I am grateful for the brand... Read more
At the end chapter 9, Luke records four different reactions by potential Jesus followers. First, James and John want to call down fire from heaven when they see that they, nor Jesus, are welcomed by Samaritans. They were being rejected. The Sons of Thunder reacted by wanting to live up to their name and bring destruction from the sky (see Luke 9:51-56). Second, a very zealous man was told by Jesus to think twice before following Him. Being with Jesus... Read more
I recently read this article from Relevant magazine about the Christian music group Gungor. A comment Lisa Gungor made about her husband, Michael, stopped me in my tracks. In the article, Lisa talks about how her husband stopped believing in God. She proceeded to share how surprised he was about how his life didn’t change after he made his “atheist” declaration. Here’s the quote: “He didn’t become a different person,†Lisa recalls. “I think there was this idea in my... Read more
“Jesus answered, ‘Truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled.'” John 6:26 Take a few moments and evaluate your prayer life over the past 6 months or so. Evaluate the content of your prayers. Whether you prayed once in 6 months, or 3 times a day. What do you pray? When you communicate with God, what do you talk with Him about? Now. If... Read more
Growing up in the home of a veterinarian is . . . umm. . . interesting. Before the days of cell phones, the main telephone in our home was the kitchen. That made for some funny/gross/sad/bizarre/can’tbelievewhati’mhearing moments while eating supper. Friends and family of my dad have pleaded with him for years to write down some of his unbelievable vet stories and capture them in a book. Well, he has. It’s called What a Way to Make a Living: Tales... Read more
Yep. My mom regularly blogs and writes articles as a travel writer here. But she also wrote a very interesting book on being a missionary. It is full of Pearsonality (see what I did there?) as only she can tell it. It’s called Telling it on the Mountain: 52 Days in the Life of an Improbable Missionary. One of the favorite things my momma likes to do is “tell it.” It may be good. It may be bad. It may... Read more
This is LOOOOOOONNNNNNNGGGGGG overdue, but my big sister (Laura Baggett) wrote a book. It’s good. It’s short. It doesn’t take up too much time or clutter (you’ll get why that’s funny when you download and read the book). It’s a very helpful and strong challenge – especially for people like me who just have a bunch of stuff and don’t want to get rid of it. It’s called Making Room for Jesus: Getting Rid of Mental, Emotional, Spiritual, and Physical... Read more
5 So when Jesus looked up and noticed a huge crowd coming toward him, he asked Philip, “Where will we buy bread so that these people can eat?†6 He asked this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. 7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread wouldn’t be enough for each of them to have a little.†(John 6:5-7) Have you ever been forced to stare down the barrel of an impossible situation? Have... Read more
In preparation for this week’s message on Jesus feeding the 5,000 from John 6 (sign #4), I came across some incredible quotes from a chapter in Winn Collier’s Holy Curiosity: Encountering Jesus’ Provocative Questions. See if you don’t agree: Jesus steadily asserted that our most profound hunger and thirst, the cravings that exert a compulsive influence over the person we become and the life we pursue and the dreams we clutch, can only be satisfied by eating and drinking him. During his ministry, Jesus... Read more
After Jesus healed an invalid of 38 years, He told the man not to sin anymore so that something worse would not happen to him (John 5:14). How did this man take this counsel? How did he heed this directive? There’s one of two ways. First, he could have assumed Jesus meant that if he ever sinned – just once – something was coming his way that would be far worse than being paralyzed for 38 years. Can you imagine?... Read more
Churched
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