You can gaze over the fence and covet another person’s life or tell yourself that God has blessed you in ways you never could have earned. Envy is not mentioned in either the old or new testaments, yet it is singled out as a moral failing particularly to be avoided by Christians. Envy is a…
Living in this present broken world is designed by God to produce longing, readiness, and hope in Him. It’s not natural for us to think about our lives in this way, but the difficulties we all face in this broken world are not in the way of God’s plan. No, they are part of it.…
Each of our lives are shaped by grief and celebration. This isn’t true only for the grand, significant moments of our lives; there are ways in which every day of our lives are marked by moments of grief and celebration. Daily we are sad, mad, upset, or disappointed by something, and every day we are excited,…
There is nothing that argues more for our desperate need for God’s love and grace than the two greatest commandments: 37You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’…
There are many struggles in life. We most likely learned that challenges can be actual lessons for us or an opportunity to support others in our life as they learn or grow through something. I know in my life, when I am in a difficult situation and I know I am being tested, I just…
Well, this week we read about boyhood. An confirmation read for some and a fantasy read for many others. In the Boyhood chapter, John outlines the embrace of the father. The love and support of the father. For many of us, that is just as real as watching one of our childhood t.v. shows. It…
This last week we discussed the obvious situation where many of us did not have a lot of experiences spending time with our father. As we go through life; struggle and persevere, we get to a place were our first response to the question “don’t you want a father in your life?” we simply answer:…
A challenging question, one easily shrugged off… In this weeks study guide section there is some real challenging questions that should not be overlooked. The chapter and the first part of the study guide focuses a lot on the movie “Kingdom of Heaven”, and if you did not watch it or did not watch the…
After stepping out of denial last Saturday, we move into a rhythm. Some of us have an extra day off work, others no school, and yet others will find time to get their reading and questions done. This weeks assignment: Read chapter 2 Answer questions in the study guide for “2. True Son of a…
Being strong willed and independent is probably a very strong characteristic of each of us. Each of us have survived many oppositions in our days. There have been times when we were backed up to the wall and we pushed forward. We were determined, confident and resilient. There have also been those times when we…