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As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:4-5 NIV) Peter described Jesus as a living Stone. Ever seen one? What qualities…

My husband loves to tinker with outdoor lighting. Solar lights dot our landscaping. Tucked in among sweet pansies, prickly holly, and sleepy crepe myrtles, they soak up the light of the sun. You hardly know they’re there. Some are disguised as rocks. Others nestle in the groundcover.  But when the sun melts into the horizon,…

Merry Christmas! Instead of the normal blog post, I wrote a Christmas story for your reading pleasure. Biblical scholars believe that, at the time of Jesus’ birth, caves or the lower level of a house often served as stables. I wrote this story from the innkeeper’s perspective of Luke 2. I hope you enjoy it!…

“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.  (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)  And everyone went to their own town to register.” (Luke 23:1-3 NIV) Rome. One of the world empires mentioned in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2:31-45.  Caesar…

Gracious. Compassionate. Slow to anger. Abounding in love. He relents from sending calamity. We see these qualities of God in numerous Old Testament verses (Exodus 34:6-7; Nehemiah 9:17; Psalm 86:15; 103:8; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2) We see it with skin in the Gospels, beginning in Bethlehem. Humbly. Quietly. The hoopla limited to a few ragtag…

As part of our swim classes, our students play lifeguard as we teach water safety. We pose the question, “How do you save someone from drowning?” Their method typically involves leaning over to offer a hand or an object the victim can grab in order to pull them to safety. When the student does this,…

The Great Commission reads, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19 NIV).” Note the absence of the verb “save.” Salvation has always been God’s job. Our task? To go and make disciples. But how does our…

I love Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving helps us to remember, it’s bigger than us. Thanksgiving helps us to remember, it’s not even about us. Could there be any better prep for Christmas? A refocusing on the big picture before Christmas goes into full swing on Black Friday? In 1 Chronicles 23, King David worked with the Levitical…

Dark chocolate. Once you acquire a taste for it, you’ll never return to milk chocolate. The familiar Hershey bar with its dark brown wrapper loses its appeal when compared to one with a high percentage of cacao. You can’t stuff this kind of chocolate in your mouth like a handful of M&Ms. It begs to…

Weight. Not something we generally like to discuss. Psalm 62:9 (NIV) reads, “Surely the lowborn are but a breath, the highborn are but a lie. If weighed on a balance, they are nothing; together they are only a breath.” The NASB puts it this way, “Men of low degree are only vanity and men of rank are a lie; In the balances…