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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…

Answers to prayer come in many shapes. Yes. No. Wait. Soon. Try this. Not that. Left. Right. Up. Down. Where is God going and what is He up to? No clue. What I do know . . . He’s working. On our behalf. All the time. When I don’t understand what He’s doing—which is most…

You did it. You decided to pray. You came. You asked. And God said . . . wait. If you’re waiting on God, you’ve got lots of company. Abraham, Moses, Paul. Even Jesus? Yep. In fact, if you look around, He might be in the chair next to yours. The Second Coming, you know. So,…

Let’s take a second look at asking. We have two children in college. One happily asks us to spring for things. The other often pays her own way, even for expenses we would gladly cover. I know she wants to be independent, but she’s trying to cover expenses for which we’ve already made provision. So,…

My husband and two of my boys have a unique gifting. They ask—and people respond. I’ve seen them snag more discounts, free stuff, perks, and promotional items simply because they asked. Still hesitant? Ever wonder what people in Scripture asked God for? Let’s take a look: Advice: “ . . . so David inquired of the Lord,…