Posts from 2017

This is a story about woundedness, about loss and about music. (Names and details have been changed or omitted.)   A sister of a close friend died last month. From an overdose of heroin. In a field behind a Walmart in California. Her drug-addicted son, who introduced her to drugs, did not tell the rest of the family for more than three weeks.  Her obituary, written by her brother, describes her early life, growing up on the family farm and being raised in the Baptist church.  It tells how, in high school, she won…

This a confess-imony. The Bible says “confess your sins to one another, so that you may be healed” (James 5:16), and, because we “conquer [the enemy] by the Blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony” (Revelation 12:11).  This is both of those at once: it’s a confess-imony. During the building of our townhome we were surprised that many statements and promises by our builder were not true or were greatly exaggerated. Many of our requests were simply ignored and forgotten.  He has never acknowledged those things or taken responsibility for  what didn’t work out.  It’s been very frustrating. I felt disrespected and greatly offended. However, I knew I had to be patient and…

I didn’t want to forgive a family member, because they mishandled the family estate. We didn’t receive our rightful inheritance. I was very offended and angry about this. What they did was wrong, and they didn’t deserve forgiveness. I became bitter – my spirit and soul became a toxic place. God patiently and gently brought me along by reminding me of His Word and of the times in my past when I had also struggled with unforgiveness. I remembered how…

If you were asked the question “What is the hope Jesus offers us?”, how would you answer it? Perhaps the first thing coming to mind is the hope of eternal life. Or it might be the hope of redemption from our sins. And these are certainly true. Another response to consider is this: the hope that Jesus brings to us is the hope of restoring the image of God in us. The original design of us, the thing God said…