‘Make Every Effort’: Intentional Relationships in a Culture of Laziness
If given the choice, many people would opt for living in a do-less, get-more world. With the emergence of generative artificial intelligence, it can be tempting for a student to want to submit a single sentence to a chatbot—and let AI create the essay. Ever since COVID, it’s been tempting for some to want to […]
Leaving a Legacy of Faith
History is complicated. If you ever trace your family history, you’re going to find a few skeletons in the closet. And everybody in your family is going to have a different theory about how they got there. I’m not asking anyone to jump into the genealogy deep end. You might wake up in a daze […]
Household Gods: On Our Tendency to Worship Family
Have you noticed that parents have been acting a bit crazy? The parents getting ejected at youth baseball games for harassing the umpires; The parents losing their minds at school board meetings. The parents schlepping their kids around suburban hotels that exchange uniformed weekday business travelers with briefcases for weekend uniformed children with soccer balls. […]
Bless Your People
If you sneeze and someone is nearby to hear you, you’ll likely hear them say, “Bless you!” According to grammarist.com, Gesundheit is an interjection used to wish good health to someone who has just sneezed. It comes from the German language, where it means, literally, “Health!” In German it is used as the equivalent of […]
Practicing Spiritual Disciplines as a Family
No one should expect to be the world’s best football player the first time they step on the field. Likewise, no one can expect to be the greatest trumpet player with only a few hours of practice a week. Why is it that we expect to be able to act just like Jesus in His […]
Behind the Curtain: How God Built a Missionary Family into a Family of Missionaries
“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty” (Isaiah 6:5). I remember, as a teen, meandering behind my parents as they journeyed from the church pew, up the […]
The Blessing: A Short Story of Loss and Reconciliation
Paul and Eden had adjusted well to life in Rochester, Minnesota. It was now home. They were there for Paul’s job in IT. A major company recruited him out of college eight years earlier. Great salary. Rehabbed bungalow. Fun neighborhood. Made up for the harsh realities of being really far from home and shoveling snow […]
What Does the Bible Say about Divorce? 10 Truths About Marriage and Divorce.
What does the Bible say about divorce? Through Scripture Jesus teaches us that marriage is good and its purpose is for companionship, sexual enjoyment, and raising godly children. It is such an important commitment that Jesus teaches his followers not to get a divorce, with exceptions on the grounds of sexual immorality or for desertion […]
