A Brilliant Reflection If you have ever looked out on a newly frozen and undisturbed lake, you’ve witnessed a reflection so pure it’s nearly an illusion. We tend to see these brilliant surfaces in smaller water bodies, where there is less interruption to the process. What a beautiful image this is when we consider how […]

  There is a pivotal point consistently found throughout Scripture. We discover a contrast of what we once were, and who we now are. The hinge in the middle is Christ. In every scenario, and in any circumstance, He is the difference maker. We find exactly this sort of situation in Titus chapter 3. Verse […]

  It is difficult to escape the discouragement of this unique holiday season. Many are grieving get-togethers that simply cannot take place. It goes against our human nature — us being created in the image of a relational God — to not gather with our loved ones. While we hope and pray ways are made […]

  Perhaps you, like so many, feel the hard-pressed nature of focusing on Advent this Christmas season. Events of this year have caused a refraction of attention — redirecting our thoughts to immediate, pressing circumstances. We find it difficult to be still and think back on the manger scene. It is a challenge to slow […]

  Thanksgiving acts as a dog-ear between the bookends of a year. A page bent over to signal a pause — wait here, linger, give thanks. Each year as the weather brings a chill, the trees outside cling to final, drooping leaves, and holiday music begins filling the supermarkets, there is a change inside of […]

  On every side we are bombarded with reminders of the broken world we live in. We walk through our days longing for assurance, desperate to know we are secure, safe, and that no evil or tragedy will strike. Yet that is not the world we live in. And as we grapple with this existence, […]

  Fear has a personal way about it. It wraps itself around us, entwining with our thoughts, emotions, and beliefs — distorting what we know to be true. It encroaches on our identities. Before we are aware of it, fear has so permeated our lives to a point where it feels as though it has […]

  Most of the time when we think of the antonym of contentment, the word discontentment comes to mind. Yet if we take the time to unpack the concept of discontentment, we discover more precise examples. We find what truly erodes our contentment: envy, pride, entitlement, selfishness, disappointment, and especially relevant in today’s society — […]

  For one year, she found herself stuck in a refrain of three words. “No,” “Yes,” and “Corrie,” was all Cornelia Ten Boom could say after suffering a stroke. For two months she lay in a coma, until she slowly resurfaced, aware but paralyzed. Her third word, “Corrie,” was the name of one of her […]