Month: December 2014
Leave Your Stuff Behind by Maxie Dunnam
December 31, 2014
By the time most of us get to be adults, we have accumulated a great deal of stuff. We’ve learned so many wrong things, stored up so much misinformation, learned to respond in so many destructive ways, adopted all the biting, snarling, snippy styles of relating, become secretive and cynical. We carry a lot of stuff around, and it burdens us down. We get all glued up in our limited world of habit. So this word of Pharaoh to Joseph’s brothers is a good word for us, particularly as we begin this new year: leave your stuff behind.
When You Feel Like You’re Drowning by Carrie Carter
December 29, 2014
Have you ever had a near-drowning experience? I have. I don’t remember when, but I’d guess I was between the…
Receiving Christmas by Elizabeth Glass Turner
December 24, 2014
I’m learning what pastors around the globe know so well: that Christmas Is Different For Pastors. The same truth reverberates…
Holy Focus: Distraction by Elizabeth Glass Turner
December 22, 2014
Let’s just say I know a thing or two about distraction. In the past 12 months, three of our four…
Get Up And Go by Mark Trotter
December 20, 2014
“Do it even if you don’t feel like it, even if you don’t believe, or can’t imagine, that the promise that is offered can come to you. Get up and follow it anyway, because you are a person of faith, and you believe that what is real is not only the way you feel now, but the promise offered to you in Jesus Christ. Arise, and shine.”
Reflections on Dean’s “Almost Christian” by Jack Jackson
December 18, 2014
” In essence our children aren’t disciples because we aren’t disciples. We’re more focused on our kids’ happiness and success than we are on their discipleship.”
The Gift Of Time by Scott Pattison
December 17, 2014
“Regardless of how I have spent, squandered, or invested my time, I still have the wonderful gift of this set of 24 hours. Regardless of how I spent “yesterday,” I still have today. I can waste today, by regretting yesterday, or yearning for tomorrow. I can spend the day selfishly on myself, or investing in others.”
Remembering Christ’s Presence With Us by Ken Loyer
December 15, 2014
“How is memory significant for us as God’s people? Why is it important for us to remember, and what specifically should we remember most?”
Disciplines For Spiritual Formation by Maxie Dunnam
December 11, 2014
“We are what we think. We are transformed by the renewal of our minds. So study is a necessary discipline for spiritual growth.”
Reveal by Elizabeth Glass Turner
December 10, 2014
Revelation. Not of the contents of a carefully wrapped box in your childhood home, hidden from view until enterprising siblings…