The alabaster jar of spikenard. An unusual gift. Precious. Costly. This was no bottle of cheap perfume. The pink-blossomed spikenard plant grew in India. Its fragrant oil, collected from the plant’s spikes, was valued so highly that one bottle cost a year’s wages.  Scripture records several accounts of women bringing their oil-filled alabaster jars to…

Nehemiah 10:34 snagged me. The NIV reads, “We—the priests, the Levites and the people—have cast lots to determine when each of our families is to bring to the house of our God at set times each year a contribution of wood to burn on the altar of the Lord our God, as it is written in the Law.” What?…

I’m taking a dance class at my daughter’s studio. I have no dance background. None. Zip. Zero. Nada. We spend half of class time on technique. The other half is spent learning to worship through dance. And it’s been amazing. It’s very freeing to just dance. To let go. No one spends time checking out…

“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” (Psalm 53:1 NIV) We know better. Before there were synagogues or churches, there was worship. Personal worship. Altar building. (Genesis 12:8 Abraham) Memorials. (Genesis 28:18 Jacob) Sacrifices. (Genesis 8:20 Noah) Somewhere the concept was lost because the only worship I was taught was corporate. Choirs.…

Group dates. Purity rings. We parents make a concerted effort to teach our kids to do it God’s way when it comes to intimacy. God elevates the status of physical intimacy by protecting its sanctity with the guardrails of chastity and marriage. Because intimacy is dirty? No, because it is precious. In the little Old…