Category: Wesleyan Accent
Michael Smith ~ Of Pirates and Preserving Grace: Jonah’s Reluctance
February 15, 2019
He tells the sailors to toss him overboard, because he believes that his God is acting like all the other gods, punishing him and them in the process. After Jonah says, “hurl me into the sea,” something strange happens. The sailors start rowing to dry land. Though it’s easy to skip ahead and assume that they picked him up and tossed him right in – they didn’t. These outsider sailors are acting in a gracious way.
Aaron Perry ~ Self-Consciousness vs Self-Awareness
February 6, 2019
Good leadership requires self-awareness: a leader knowing herself by acknowledging her gifts and limits to set herself up for success.
Aaron Duvall ~ Wrestling with God
February 4, 2019
I affirmed something that I had said, from the pulpit no less, hundreds if not thousands of times. Something I had quoted in hospital rooms, promised to dying people, swore to college students during pastoral care times, and clung to during some of my darkest and scariest moments. Yet, as I was staring at my wife, who three days before had been diagnosed with what we were told was Stage 3 breast cancer, I no longer had his praise in my lungs, or on my lips.
Edgar Bazan ~ Relaunch
January 30, 2019
God wanted them to know that even though they were suffering, they were not forsaken. God wanted the people of Israel to understand that the hardship they were experiencing would not be the end of them. God wanted to give them a fresh start, a new beginning in their life, a relaunch, so to speak. By telling them, “forget the former things,” God was saying, “it is time to move on.”
Aaron Perry ~ A Grief in Birth
January 23, 2019
I am now learning to grieve. And my Dad isn’t here to teach me. C.S. Lewis noted after the death of his wife that he didn’t know grief felt so much like fear. The fear I have is that I won’t grieve – or that I won’t grieve well. I have had my tears, but what is grief supposed to look like? How will I know I’ve grieved?
Michelle Bauer ~ Finding Joy and Peace this Christmas Week
December 24, 2018
Christmas is almost here! Thinking backing over the last few weeks, when have you felt the most peaceful? When have you felt the most stress or anxiety? As you think ahead to the coming week, what are you looking forward to? What, if anything, are you dreading? Offer those things into God’s care.
Karen Bates ~ Hope in a Diner Booth
December 10, 2018
At a time in my life when things were not like I wanted, I sat in a restaurant booth across…
Suzanne Nicholson ~ Suffering through Thanksgiving
November 22, 2018
This is the time of year when advertisements inundate us with images of happy families gloriously celebrating the holidays. Women…
Edgar Bazan ~ Prayer: A Source of New Life
November 7, 2018
Recently, I had the opportunity to travel to South Korea and visit some of largest churches in the world: Kwanglim…
Priscilla Hammond ~ Remembering: Weigh Well and Consider
November 1, 2018
Before people used Enneagram types or extroversion temperaments to describe themselves, personalities were described using ancient medical terms: sanguine, melancholy,…