You are chosen. Not like kids picking sides for kickball at recess. Chosen by His good pleasure. Like it or not, God is selective. Ephesians 1:4-5 (NIV) tells us about our choosing, “For he [God] chose us in him [Christ] before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his [God’s] sight.…

Workout for the Week: Ask the Trainer Memory Verse: “ Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:8-9 (NIV) Meditation Passage: Matthew…

Workout for the Week: How to Train According to the Heart Memory Verse: Ezekiel 36:26 (NIV) “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” Meditation Passage: Romans 8:5-14 Key Thought: I must train…

Twelve backs were torn open by the lashing whip. Thirty-seven. Thirty-eight. Thirty-nine strokes. Some time had passed since Jesus’ ascension. The apostles had been arrested. They’d spent a night in jail, experienced an angelic rescue, and then appeared before the Jewish Council. And now, a flogging. You can find the story in Acts 5. Even…

Election Day. Finally. Regardless of the results, let’s focus on two things: God is sovereign, and He can use ungodly people to accomplish His purposes. Though Hebrews 11 is filled with Hall of Faith heroes, Scripture is filled with outside–the-box, even outside-the-faith people used to accomplish God’s plan. Check out this line-up: Egyptian pharaohs. Joseph’s…

The breeze from the north this morning whispered of autumn, sweaters, and boots. But who are we kidding? This is September. In Texas. While I love my boots and sweaters, they’ll stay on the shelf a while longer. Texans layer as temps swing twenty to thirty degrees in the course of a day, so my…

Ancient Israel. Located southwest of the Fertile Crescent in the direct north/south, east/west traffic from Egypt to Assyria. Like the small one-light town you drive through on the way to somewhere else. Yet Israel’s location was strategic. God planned to impact the world through this tiny nation. We read of Abram’s call in Genesis 12…

Running water. What a blessing! I turn on the faucet, and out it comes. Sometimes the water is hot. Sometimes it’s cold. But the water is consistently clean and available. I think Jesus was like that. Consistent and available. When people drew near, He gave clean, clear water. Sometimes a hot rebuke. Sometimes a refreshingly…

All the kids were home this weekend. That gets harder to pull off as the nest empties. Russell and I stood in the kitchen and watched our four, plus one daughter-in-law and one daughter-in-law-to-be. Laughter filled the house. It made my heart glad to know my kids and their relationships are healthy and strong. Surely…

Wails erupt in my backyard. I feel the neighborhood cringing. I teach swimming lessons each summer. At present, I’m several days into a new session. Learning to swim is stressful. For most kids, swimming sounds fun until… Until it’s not. It’s hard. It’s scary. And it takes work. While some kids truly are fearful, most…