Have you ever resisted letting people in? Have you ever tried as best as you could to avoid engaging in community? Community is a difficult thing. Pastors preach on it well, church series address it well, and for the most part we get that it’s a positive thing, a desired addition by many. But many…
Weapons of War
Editor’s note: In Kill the Spider, Carlos Whittaker shares his story of pursuing God and healing at a spiritual retreat. * A few months after OnSite, my wife and I were on our way back from our fifteen-year wedding anniversary trip to Ireland. It was filled with lots of refreshment, but not a lot of…
One Choice Every Couple Should Make in Their Suffering
What is one choice every couple should make in the midst of their storm? It might sound like a simple question, but it is incredibly important. One of the most important choices we can make as a couple is to move toward community instead of away from it. The challenge for most of us is…
We Can’t, but God Can
“It’s just me, and I ain’t much.” We’d been talking for well into an hour before she said the words. We’d worked our way through two cups of machine- brewed, hospital-waiting-room coffee. Hers with sweetener, mine with powdered creamer. Small of stature she was. No makeup, hair matted. Her T-shirt was loose fitting and crumpled.…
Activists
Loving God Through Confrontation Rob and I had spent the better part of the last hour in intense prayer. I don’t know when I had felt closer to him. We had played on the Puyallup city champion Little League baseball team. In high school, we graduated to the grueling cross-country runs — Rob having the…
A Different Kind of Men’s Group
Editor’s note: Nate Larkin is the founder of the Samson Society, a fellowship of Christian men with groups that meet virtually and in-person across the globe. Many men (but not all) first come to the Samson Society from a place of brokenness, addiction, or pain. But no matter how they arrive, all that attend recognize…
I Am Accepted
The Father Himself loves you because you have loved Me and have believed that I came from God. — John 16:27 The trip was to be a reunion of sorts, a gathering of peers from around the country to meet at a well-known conference. I’d planned the trip for months and counted down the days…