When you buy a house you first make a large down payment. Then, to keep the house, you must make a smaller payment every time it comes due. You can’t change your mind and say, “I don’t feel like making payments!” without serious consequences. The same is true of your relationship with God. To make…
Everything God Made, He Made with Wisdom
When we look at the world around us, the diversity of Creation is amazing. God didn’t create a world without color or one season. Instead, He made a world awash with color, packed with variety, differing seasons, and various sounds. When we look at the world around us, we realize that God, the Creator,…
The Dream Broken: Finding the Goodness and Love of God in the Midst of Suffering
Editor’s Note: Katherine and Jay married right after college and sought adventure far from home in Los Angeles, CA. As they pursued their dreams, they planted their lives in the city and in their church community. Their son, James, came along unexpectedly in the fall of 2007, and just 6 months later, everything changed in…
The Grace of Your Story
I have been incredibly privileged. I grew up a pastor’s kid at a huge church in Houston, Texas. I was raised in a Christian home by two incredibly loving parents who worked very hard to provide everything we could possibly need. I have two beautiful sisters and a big brother whom I adore. We weren’t…
Dear Twentysomethings…
Imagine Sunday night youth group at a big suburban church. We’re in the gym and its “Parent’s Night.” The high schoolers, some of them reluctantly, have agreed to let their parents join them in the hopes of building a little understanding between generations. We’ve done a few icebreakers and no one has died of embarrassment…
Praying against Self-Harm and Suicide
The Lord has chosen you to be His treasured possession. — Deuteronomy 14:2 I first heard about the practice of cutting when our oldest daughter was in middle school. We lived in southern California at the time, and a couple of girls in her grade had been seen with razor marks on their arms. My…
Dark Grace: God Wastes Nothing
In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will. — Ephesians 1:11 When the night sky frays to day, smudged light coming up over fields, I wake Levi. Today’s our date with the city hospital, an operating table,…
Every Word Matters: Love
We named our daughter Love because I firmly believe that there is nothing on earth that is more powerful than love. Love is powerful because of its strength to bind us together, and it is just as powerful because of its vulnerability as it guides us to be more open and honest with one another…
Mental Health: This Is Not a Drill
We all have a lot of work to do. Most medical professionals agree that we are less than a generation away from turning the corner on cancer. But when it comes to mental health, the car is still parked in the garage. It’s a well-accepted embarrassment that twenty years have passed since psychiatry’s last major…
Dig In
The greatest gift you can give another is the purity of your attention. ~ Richard Moss Having written this book before COVID-19, I want to hug you, to pull you near and tell you that brighter days are ahead of whatever difficult season you’ve gone or are going through. I also want to jump up…