• Sin & Repentance

    Absolutely THE BEST Contemporary Book on the Doctrine of Sin & Temptation! Russell D. Moore’s “Tempted and Tried”

    I. Am. SHOCKED. At how extraordinarily EXCELLENT this book is. Tempted and Tried: The Temptation of Christ (by Russell D. Moore) Granted, I’m not through the entire book yet (but I have jmpted to the end to read that first—does anyone else read the end of books first?), but so far, it is the best contemporary book I have ever read on temptation. With brilliant, decisive turns of phrases and strong exegeting of Scripture, Pastor Moore has already helped me to prepare for this weekend’s celebration of the Incarnation more than anything else this year. That Jesus would come into THIS WORLD? To battle the “wild out there” (Satan) and…

  • Uncategorized

    What sustains us under pressure?

    What a fun start to our day! I got to look up a Bible commentary for Fred on my LibraryThing.com, and then I got to flip through a bunch of hanging file folders filled with “important” (really, just OLD) documents from Fred’s past. (With Fred), I flipped through sermon notes, camp journals, and even a two-page hand-written testimony he gave once. (He knows not when, but a girl did write him a note on top of the page. 🙂 ) He found what he was looking for and is working now on his devotional for Peacemakers. I found a Sinclair Ferguson book that I should really go back and read…

  • Relationships & Peacemaking

    Enough Grace for Family Gatherings …

    @ScottyWardSmith is one of my favorite Twitter feeds. One of his quotes today is a sweet encouragement re: why sales of my first book (Peacemaking Women) always go up around the holidays and why  free downloads of my “Woman of Peace Amidst Holiday Strife” file increase too: “There will be enough of God’s grace for every family gathering you attend this holiday season. That’s hope, not hype.” Amen!  

  • Relationships & Peacemaking

    Stuck — Just a Tiny Bit (OK, a huge bit!) in the Trap of Unforgiveness

    I’m having a strange December. The majority of my life is actually really great. I feel centered in Christ, happy, loving, even down-right Merry. I’m laughing a lot and relaxing with friends and family (and Golden Retrievers). I’m also aware of what a grace this is—so many of my friends are going through frustrations and suffering and just not feeling “in the mood” to celebrate Advent and the Incarnation with their standard Christmas traditions. I’ve sure been there! But not this year. No, I’m actually feeling pretty good. I’m even about to install a giant blow-up PENGUIN onto our yard (avec “Happy Birthday” balloon) to prepare for the great MISSION…

  • Relationships & Peacemaking

    Egotism Seemed to Vanish …

    Right now heading over to Amazon to buy the referenced book (A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France). All thanks to Margaret Manning and RZIM’s daily e-devotional (which I love!): Resistance PS  I’m going to wrap it and put it under the tree. Given the state of my brain/memory these days, ten to one, I’ll forget about it and be pleasantly surprised when I open it.  

  • Relationships & Peacemaking

    Cannot Wait for This Book to be Released: “Loving Well (Even If You Haven’t Been)” by William P. Smith

    I just finished a remarkable book. I wish I could link to pre-orders on Amazon for you (I would be pre-ordering one myself!), but I guess they don’t have it there yet. This is a great book. This might be the best contemporary book on relationships I have ever read. (My long-time blog readers will know that’s really saying something because they’ve listened to me gush repeatedly over books like How People Change and The Peacemaking Pastor—which has to be the worst titled book ever. It it SO incredibly wonderful! And should be titled something like, “Authentic Gospel Relationships in the Body of Christ” with the subtitle, “Every Christian Needs…

  • Uncategorized

    Two Very Specific HEADS-UP (might not apply to you …)

    I realize that these two pieces of advice will only apply to a small number of people who read my blog—and that the number of people who overlap into being helped by both is so tiny as to be almost nil. But they’ve both been on my heart and so, here goes: 1. If you know anyone flying out of Billings during the holiday season, be sure to let them know that, beginning Thursday, December 15, we will have THREE large planes departing Billings in the 6AM to 6:30AM time slot. So if you only allow the standard (15 minute!) time to get through our wonderful, friendly, tiny TSA screening…

  • Uncategorized

    Have you learned to concentrate in prayer? Does your mind no longer wander?

    Do you meet the “criteria” for coming to Jesus? According to Paul Miller: ‘Jesus does not say, ‘Come to me, all you who have learned how to concentrate in prayer, whose minds no longer wander, and I will give you rest.’ No. Jesus opens his arms to his needy children and says, ‘Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest’ (Matthew 11:28 ).” A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World Are you weary? Overwhelmed? Does your mind wander? Is your life messy?   ‘My grace is sufficient for thee. My power is made perfect in weakness.’ 2 Corinthians 12:9 Amen…

  • Fear Not!

    Anxiety – the “Handmaiden of Creativity”?

    If you are a friend of mine on FaceBook, then you already know that I was pretty freaked out yesterday. It had to do with my need to take four hour-long sessions from my standard Fear Not retreat and turn them into two thirty-minute sessions and one 45 minute session. Can you say slash and burn? I was trying so hard to delete delete delete. But with each passing hour, I became more and more anxious. Nice, eh? Fear, worry, and anxiety AS I’m studying God’s Word re: His sovereignty, goodness, and immanence. True irony. (And a true reflection of just how far I still have to go in life’s…