Parents, how would you answer these questions: • Do you want your children to see you as someone they can trust? • Do you want your spouse to take comfort in just being with you? • Are you easy to talk to? • Is your family hesitant to talk you when they are hurting? • If someone in your family messes up or is in trouble are you the person that helps him feel secure and safe, the person that she knows will help make things right? • Do you sometimes get angry and hurt when those close to you don’t seek your help? If these questions created some uneasiness and tension as you read them, God does have a […]
Monthly Archives: October 2018
14 posts
Jesus was on a boat with his disciples. He decided to take a nap. While he was sleeping, a fierce storm came up. Waves were crashing over the top of the boat. The disciples feared for their lives so, in a panic, they woke Jesus shouting, “We are going to drown!” Let’s pause the story for a moment. Can you identify with the disciples? It appeared the boat was about to sink and there was Jesus, sleeping! The disciples acted as if they didn’t alert their master, he wouldn’t know that they were in danger. At that precise moment, they were acting very much like you and me. We somehow think it is our job to remind God that he […]
Seth came home with a heavy heart. He had just been demoted to second-string. He was no longer a starter. He would still be playing a lot, but the coaches decided to give another player the starting job. He was disappointed, but this is not why his heart was heavy. Somehow he would have to tell dad he was no longer a starter. That was the moment he was really dreading. Seth’s dad was always a star at whatever he did in sports. He never failed to remind Seth that he expected Seth to excel, so being second-second-string was unacceptable. Seth, didn’t want to disappoint his dad. The sad reality is that Seth’s dad was living his life through his […]
God’s wisdom is not pledged to make us happy in the fallen world or to make us comfortable in our weakness and petty heart idolatries. God is at work with exquisite wisdom to continue his work of grace in us, by transforming us into people who will love him, honor him, praise him and delight in him. So he is at work with wisdom in the wonderfully ordered and complex events of our lives to make us grow in grace and the likeness of Jesus Christ. Sometimes that glorious work will bring us through times of affliction and trial as he unrelentingly chisels at us like a gemologist would cut a diamond to make it more beautiful and more valuable. […]