Desperate for Initiation A man needs to know his name. He needs to know he’s got what it takes. And I don’t mean “know” in the modernistic, rationalistic sense. I don’t mean that the thought has passed through your cerebral cortex and you’ve given it intellectual assent, the way you know about the Battle of Waterloo or the ozone…
Walking with God: Winter
Finding God in Our Losses, in the Mundane, and Sustaining Our Hearts Over What Can Feel Like the Long Path of Obedience The Passing of Scout Our family is grieving. Our beloved golden retriever, Scout, has died. It’s hard to describe this loss, because you would have to have known Scout and what he meant…
Time for a Fresh Start
Is anything too hard for the Lord? — Genesis 18:14 It’s a brand-new year. It’s the time of year we start thinking about making changes. This year, rather than writing a quick list of resolutions that we’ll likely forget before February, maybe we should take a different approach. This is a good time for each…
All Things New: The Hope of Renewal
Picture a treasure chest. Not a small box that might hold jewelry on a girl’s nightstand — a large treasure chest, larger than any suitcase you own, larger than any suitcase you’ve ever seen. Picture a massive oak treasure chest, like pirates might have used, with large iron hinges and a huge clasp. The size…
The Incarnation Continues
[My] labor pains for you… will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives. — Galatians 4:19 NLT And so you’ve celebrated Christmas, the coming of Jesus to this world. And what a thing to celebrate! The entire pageant comes down to this: Jesus took on a genuine humanity. And of course, this…
The Invasion of Christmas
Enjoy reading as well as listening to this devotion from John Eldredge’s newest devotional, Restoration Year. From Heaven’s Point of View Her child was snatched away from the dragon… Then there was war in heaven. — Revelation 12:5, Revelation 12:7 NLT I would pay good money to have a nativity scene with Revelation 12 included.…
The Heart of a Woman
Think about the women you meet at church. They’re trying to live up to some model of femininity. What do they “teach” you about being a woman? What are they saying to us through their lives? You’d have to conclude that a godly woman is… tired. And guilty. We’re all living in the shadow of that infamous icon, “The…
Warrior Princesses
“Me, a princess?” “You are the legal heir.” “I never lead anyone.” “We will help you to be a princess, to rule. If you refuse to accept the throne then the kingdom will cease to exist as we know it.” — The Princess Diaries In God’s name, we must fight them! — Joan of Arc Women are…
A Battle to Fight
Hanging on to the Truth In any hand-to-hand combat, there’s a constant back-and-forth of blows, dodges, blocks, counterattacks, and so forth. That’s exactly what is going on in the unseen around us. Only it takes place, initially, at the level of our thoughts. When we are under attack, we’ve got to hang on to the…
Why I Stopped Saying ‘I Will Pray For You’
I’ve come to the place where I have had to stop telling people, “I’ll pray for you.” I simply know that despite my good intentions — and these promises are almost always spoken with good intent — I know that nine times out of ten I just don’t remember to follow through. Not until maybe…