life. faithful.

The presents are all opened. The feasts have all turned into leftovers, reminders of the meals shared with friends and family. The ugly sweaters are once again relegated to the very back of the closet... until next year. Soon, lights and decorations will be taken down and here in Arkansas we'll move into the cold of winter.   The anticipation of Christmas is gone, replaced for a moment by the anticipation of the New Year... but everybody knows it isn't the same. That's because everyone knows there's something different about Christmas. The joy and hope you see on faces is different because it stems up from someplace deeper, somewhere at the core of each one of us. It is a hope that comes from that place in the soul of each person, from that deep down hidden place that knows each of us is made to be connected to the Divine.   For some, that joy and peace hinted at at Christmas very quickly give way to a quiet desperation, a search for the connection you were meant for. T...

Probably close to 20 years ago, my sister and I taught the preschool class for VBS. The theme that year was Creation, so our room was decorated with all sorts of colorful, unique examples of plants and animals. Among those decorations was a basket of wax fruit, made to look remarkably life-like. The first morning, we noticed that one little girl had something red around her mouth that hadn't been there when she was dropped off. The quick investigation revealed one of those wax fruits--a bright red apple--held in her hand, hidden behind her back, with two neat rows of teeth marks in it. We explained that the apple was fake, even if it looked real, and that she couldn't really eat it. We moved the basket from the table to a place that was a bit more out of the way and didn't think anything else about it--until the next morning. Again, we noticed the red around her lips. We asked her if she had taken a bite of the fake apple again. She smiled and nodded and pulled the wax appl...

I was listening to a message given by Nabeel Qureshi, a man who was raised a devout Muslim and later came to know Jesus not as a distant, promised Messiah in Islam but as the personal, crucified, and resurrected Messiah of Christianity. He was talking about the heart-wrenching moment when he told his parents he had converted to Christianity and watched it break their hearts. He spoke of how he fell to his knees after they left, crying out to God, asking why he hadn't just been allowed to die when he first believed because it would have saved him and his parents so much pain. He said that he then heard a Voice say, "Because this is not about you." Those words struck me. Not because I have a testimony like Nabeel's... but because I don't. It's something I've struggled with for a long time, and something a lot of us who were brought up in the church have struggled with. We hear dramatic testimonies--people who were in dark, dangerous places who experience Go...

  I've just spent a weekend serving on the Higher Ground Experience , where so many have seen first-hand the power described in this song. If you're facing heartbreaking, mind numbing struggles in your life, know that "There’s power in the presence Power in the blood, powеr in the name of Jesus And Hе has more in the hem of His garment Than the camp of the enemy There is a life changing Grave shaking, dead raising power in the room Heart-healing, hell-stealing No ceiling power, so tear off the roof"

  There's a small country church in our community that makes it a point to love on people through loving on the school. They show up in support all the time, but one of the main things they do each year (usually more than once) is by taking over the concession stand for a home basketball game night. They run the stand for every game that night, and they don't charge anyone for anything. When I was teaching, kids would be talking about the "free concessions" all day for those games. They would talk about everything they would get since it was free. I tried to make it a point to remind them that the concessions weren't free--they were just being paid for by somebody else. Because during those games, that church keeps track of everything they give people--and at the end of the night, they pay for everything. Those nights are far from free. If you've ever had dinner at a basketball game, you know how much it costs to even get a simple, basic meal: typically $2 fo...

 I just listened to a video posted by a young woman. She posted it as an explanation of why she chose to walk away from her faith, saying she wanted people still in the church to be able to understand her choices and what led her to where she is now. It broke my heart. She prefaced her video by saying she's a very analytical person, so I guess I'll preface this post with that same caveat (for what it's worth). First, a summary of what she said: This young woman talked about being a heartfelt follower of Christ, then going to a Christian college where she majored in psychology and, in her words, was taught to think critically for the first time. She said it was the first time she was told to examine her beliefs in light of what others believe, and it left her questioning. She then went on a study abroad trip to Cambodia, where she was faced with the atrocities of genocide and found herself wondering where God was in all of that. She said that it made her question her belief ...

 To the one searching for identity, First, can I tell you that my heart breaks for you? There's nothing quite like that lost feeling, the feeling that you don't truly know who you are supposed to be, that you're somehow "not right" and don't fit. It swallows up every other thought and feeling, makes you feel more alone than you could ever imagine. If you don't fit in your own skin, how can you ever fit with other people? You somehow feel wrong, and that leads to feeling like everything you do is wrong and can never be right. And then, a group comes along. It seems like they have all the answers--they tell you that you don't feel like you fit because you've been in the wrong body all along. If you were born a female but you don't like "girly" things, it must mean you were supposed to be a boy, right? Or if you were born a male and don't show interest in guns and playing in the mud, you must just really be a girl. Not to mention all...

School's back. . If you are a parent of a junior high or high school student, here are a few things your kid's teachers wish they could tell you (but can't... or at least won't): 1. If your child receives a zero on an assignment, that's because your child earned a zero on an assignment. ~I know it's hard for us to admit as parents, but our kids aren't all brilliant at absolutely everything. And it surely doesn't come as a surprise to you that kids aren't known for always being responsible and on top of things. Sometimes, a kid will fail an assignment because they just honestly didn't understand the material. Often, a kid will fail simply because they didn't do an assignment... which leads me to 2. Your precious little pumpkin doesn't always tell the truth. ~I know, I know--your child knows better than to lie to you. But I also know something else that parents seem to lose sight of: your child doesn't want to get in trouble with you. I...