Today I have the pleasure of sharing a poem by my daughter, Camille (age 21). It is from the perspective of King Ahaz (see 2 Chronicles 28).
Recommendations, Church, Culture, Identity, Reading
The exhaustion that comes from chasing rest: Aimee Joseph begins, “Americans are notorious for needing vacations from their vacations. We work extra hours to save up an exorbitant amount of money so that we can plan an extended vacation for rest. During this “restful” vacation, we try to see all the sites, snap all the pics for all the posts, and eat at all the highest-rated restaurants. If our step counts outpace our spending, we have succeeded!”
Are you as connected to the church as you want to be? Benjamin Vrbicek says, “The biggest wet blanket in ministry
Biblical Studies, Reading, Wisdom, Theology, Spiritual Growth
There is no topic we love discussing more than ourselves. The self-discovery industry has never had more pull than it does in the contemporary West. In the immortalized words of the country singer Toby Keith, “I wanna talk about me, wanna talk about I, wanna talk about number one, oh my me my. What I think, what I like, what I know, what I want, what I see.” We laugh because it’s true and we laugh because it reveals our narcissism.
Christians might be tempted to push back on all of the obsession of self-discovery and reject it as narcissistic and ungodly. John Calvin
Recommendations, Faith, Nature, Religion
Six lies culture wants you to believe about aging: Jen Wilkin says, “The Bible instructs that aging is a completion, a deepening of identity. Older men and women are presented as the repositories of a generational wealth that can only be built by the passage of time and, in the case of the believer, by the work of the Spirit.”
The first conspiracy theory and the dangers of hidden knowledge: Rachel Suffern says, “Rather than providing power that elevated men to the status of God, the knowledge of good and evil gave humans a choice between competing forces much stronger than they were capable of mastering.
Christian Living, Faith, Fear, Hell, Prayer, Theology
There is more going on around us than we can see. The physical world is surrounded by the spiritual realm. A spiritual battle rages around us.
I grew up during a time of heightened awareness of the spiritual realm. I remember lying in bed as a high school student, heart pounding and eyes glued to Frank Peretti’s This Present Darkness. I recall driving past Hindu temples in Trinidad overwhelmed by a feeling of spiritual darkness. Our church hosted workshops based on Neil Anderson’s The Bondage Breaker. We were taught to put on the armor of God piece by piece and to claim the blood of Jesus when confronting dark spiritual forces.
Forgiveness, Relationships, Spiritual Growth, Wisdom
“Why do I have to keep forgiving them?” It’s a question I’ve heard many times as a pastor, said in different ways and sometimes meaning different things.
It can be said with weariness and hurt, or anger and bitterness, or confusion and longing.
It can mean, “It hurts too much to keep forgiving them for repeated sins.”
It can mean, “Can’t I just overlook their sin against me?”
It can mean, “They hurt me so deeply they don’t deserve any more forgiveness.”
It can mean, “Why am I still hurting over a particular sin when I said I forgave them?”
