The Journey

Do you ever find yourself reading the Old Testament and thinking, “Wow, how dumb can the people of Israel get?” Now, come on. Be honest. It’s amazing, isn’t it, how the Israelites could be saved by God working through Moses and yet they grumble about not having food. I mean, they don’t even ask for it, for goodness’ sake! They just whine to Moses. Or how they could make a covenant with God, promising to do “all that He has commanded”, and then as soon as Moses’ back is turned break the first and second commandments to create a calf out of gold. It’s no wonder God tells them in Exodus chapter 33 verse 3 that He’s no longer going to be with them. I guess, in a way I can understand them. For 400 years they lived as slaves, not making their own decisions, feeling like the God of their fathers has abandoned them, and being treated almost like cattle. Then along comes a man named Moses who was adopted into the kind of privilege they can only dream of with some “magical” powers t...

We've all had those days when it seems like life beats you down at every turn. Like nothing is going right and no matter what we try, we can't seem to come out on top. Like we're drowning, the air pressing in on us, our chests constricting under the weight of our problems. Maybe for you it's been more than a day. It's been a month. A year. Ten years. And you just can't see what good could possibly come of your suffering. All you can think is:  "God, what are you doing?!" No, wait, don't go. It's okay. You can admit it. Remember the first words I wrote up there? We've all had those days. All. Every single one of us, whether we admit it or not. Whether we choose to remember or not. See, that's part of the problem: remembering. We are such fickle, short-sighted people. During a trial, we can't see past our problems. Afterwards, we immediately forget what we went through. It's like... a mirror. When we stare our proble...

Jesus: Savior, Brother, Redeemer, Friend…. Angry toward those who set themselves against God, yet gentle toward the broken. Steadfast as a Rock, loving as a Shepherd, powerful as a King, and humble as a Child. All of these, and more, embody the complexity and beauty of our Messiah. Over and over in the Gospels Christ put who He is on display for His disciples to see. They started out seeing Him as their society did, wanting Him to be a Conquering King. He was someone who would give them what they wanted: freedom from the Romans and glory at His right hand during His reign. It wasn’t until later, when they felt abandoned by Him, that they began to understand. He hadn't come to free them from the Romans. He came to free them from their sins. His kingdom wasn’t an earthly one where they would be showered with power and wealth, but a spiritual one whose rewards wouldn’t be seen in this life. But did He openly contradict their misconceptions, beating them brutally with t...

Have you ever been lonely? Maybe you’re single, like I am, and your heart yearns for someone to share your life with. Or maybe you are married and know in your head you should be happy, but feel disconnected from your spouse. No matter where we are in life, everyone feels the dreaded thorn called loneliness at one time or another. For me, loneliness is my Achilles heel, my Paul-like thorn in the side. Even as a child I felt isolated and different, and then as a teenager I left behind all my friends when I moved to Europe. Now, as a young adult, the pangs of loneliness continue to remind me that the one thing I don’t have is a soul mate. The last five years have been a major struggle against depression. I’ve felt lost, alone, and unwanted even by those I would call friends. So believe me when I say I know a thing or two about loneliness. And I hate it. The thing about loneliness is that it’s not something we can categorize simply . For some, it may be the idol of marriag...

I've always thought that life was like a painting. Each person has their own and they are all unique. Some people's have primarily dark colors, others have mostly bright ones, but each one has a mixture of both. No one's life is either all happy or all sad. No matter what you may be feeling right now, at some point in time you experienced the full range of emotion. Veduta Di Piazza Della Signoria by Carlo Canella Emotions. Good and bad situations. Think of them as the colors in your painting. Each one produces a different shape, shade, or effect to bring about the beauty that is your whole life. And it is beautiful. The only problem is that we as human beings only get to see one stroke at a time. But God sees the whole picture. Action painting by VenusVanity Everyone seems to fall into one of two categories: A Veduta or an action painting. For those of us who are not fine art connoisseurs, a Veduta is a highly detailed painting (usually of a city scape). An action ...

Do you want to know who one of my favorite women of the Bible is? No, it's not Mary. Or Esther. Give up? It's Deborah. Bet you didn't guess her! You may be wondering what this has to do with the title of this post. I admit, Deborah isn't a very talked about woman and there's not much known about her, but there's not much that we know about encouraging the boys in our lives to become men either. If you were to ask just me and me alone how to do this, I would have to tell you that I honestly don't know. But Deborah does. Let's take a look at what we do know about our dear Deborah: She lived in a time when everyone around her was doing anything but what God had commanded them. (Judges 4:1) She was being plagued by an enemy nation that seemed like all it wanted to do was pick on her people. (Judges 4:2,3) She was in an unusual position of authority (that most women in that time period did not have) as a prophetess and judge. Everyone and anyone w...