Advent Week 3 – Joy The focus of this third week of advent is joy. What is joy? Is it happy? Does it depend on circumstances? The writing of Nehemiah records the rebuilding of the wall around the city of Jerusalem after the people returned from captivity in Babylon. The wall was finished in fifty-two …
Out of the Chaos
Inspiration for living outside of the chaos.
Here we are just two weeks before Christmas. I wonder what you are experiencing. If you picked a movie to illustrate how you feel, would it be a Hallmark movie? How the Grinch Stole Christmas? Christmas with the Kranks? It’s a Wonderful Life? Or maybe something else entirely! What would you choose? I wonder if …
I struggled for many years with God’s love for me. I knew he loved others. I believe he loved the world. In the most general sense, I knew, in my head, he loved me. The distance from the knowledge in my head to the space in my heart aching to be loved unconditionally was strewn …
I, like many young people, wondered from an early age if I would marry one day. More than that, I believe my deepest longing was to be loved. Would someone love ME? Yesterday we discovered that before anything was created, God already loved humans and chose them to be holy in his sight. So even …
Sitting at the dentist’s office, I hear another advertisement for a reality show that toys with the idea of love before sight. Love at first sight is difficult enough to embrace, but love before sight? That seems a genuine stretch. Living in a world that, for the most part, rejects prearranged marriages, I wonder what …
ADVENT – WEEK 2 The focus of the second week of Advent is love. Today “love” refers to the feeling one has toward pizza, a good movie, the weather or a life partner. A bit overused, so perhaps the message “You are loved by God!” doesn’t hold much weight. But you are, in fact, loved …
I wonder today, as I finish this week of writing, how your week progressed. Did your thoughts turn to hope more often? Did you experience a greater level of confident expectation? I know that reading and writing about hope helped to refocus my attention on the foundation of my faith and refreshed my outlook. I …
HOPE: confident trust with the expectation of fulfillment. 20Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, 21the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. Romans 8:20-21 It is an interesting thought to me that all of creation waits …
I have many fond memories of going to my grandparent’s house. There were certain things you could count on, certain corners that remained the same. There was the cookie jar. Sitting in the corner of the counter, it always held cookies. The cookie jar wasn’t air tight so Grandma put the cookies in a plastic …
HOPE: confident trust with the expectation of fulfillment! Hope that characterizes the kingdom of God, the reign of Jesus prophesied in scripture, isn’t wishful thinking. It is solid certainty, expectation that knows fulfillment! 4Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we …
Out of the Chaos 