• Sin & Repentance

    Surviving Sin vs. Reigning Sin

    “There is a total difference between surviving sin and reigning sin, the regenerate in conflict with sin and unregenerate complacent to sin; it is one thing for sin to live in us; it is another for us  to live in sin.” John Murray, Redemption Accomplished and Applied (SO looking forward to women’s Bible study starting up this week on Kris Lundgaard’s The Enemy Within: Straight Talk About the Power and Defeat of Sin!) 

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    Discipline of Grace

    I hadn’t read it in a few years, so I had forgotten how GREAT this book by Jerry Bridges is: The Discipline of Grace: God’s Role  and Our Role in the Pursuit of Holiness But I just re-read it and wow! I really hope we can study this in women’s Bible study one day …  

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    Nobody is As Happy as He Seems on FaceBook

    A must read from Russell Moore: Why FaceBook and Your Church Might be Making You Sad Here is just a tiny excerpt to tempt you to click through … “By not speaking, where the Bible speaks, to the full range of human emotion—including loneliness, guilt, desolation, anger, fear, desperation—we only leave our people there, wondering why they just can’t be ‘Christian’ enough to smile through it all. The gospel speaks a different word though. Jesus says, ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted’ (Matt. 5:4). In the kingdom, we receive comfort in a very different way than we’re taught to in American culture. We receive comfort not…

  • Hope in Suffering

    Slipped the Surly Bonds of Earth to Touch the Face of God

    I often have to remind myself that teenagers today weren’t even alive when the crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger died right before our eyes on this date, January 28, twenty-five years ago. They weren’t assembled in front of a little television, rolled into the history room on a black cart from the library. They weren’t happy to be avoiding a boring lecture by getting to watch … hey … what just happened? Did it just EXPLODE? Yes. Right there. It did explode. Seven people were there and then they were not there. They “slipped the surly bonds of earth and touched the face of God.” And we were flooded…

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    Competing (and Contradictory?) Counsel

    I’ve been reading a lot of books on complex subjects lately and one of the things that really annoys me is when people I respect disagree. I think this bothers me because I am just a lazy person who wants to be spoon-fed. “So-and-so says it. OK. Must be right.” I don’t want to have to actually study. Pray. Wrestle. Think. Shame on me! This complex life requires prayerful thinking. I am to ask God for wisdom and seek wise counsel. I try to make the best decisions I can and then (this is ALSO hard for me!), I need to stop worrying/fretting/comparing myself to others once I act. Because…

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    Scary 1980’s Photos

    Because our geography class has been studying the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe countries, today I decided to bring in my old, yellowed photo albums and show my students photos from my time in East Berlin, Estonia, and Slovenija. (I forgot the pics from Outer Mongolia—not that Mongolia is in Europe, of course, but I was there right after the fall of the USSR.) Oh, friends. Those were some seriously scary 1980’s pics—not the communism, the HAIR. I told my students that before they knew it, people would be looking at THEIR teen photos and LAUGHING AND LAUGHING. But I’m sure they didn’t believe me. How could their slouchy…

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    Who Am I?

    I’m having one of those … well … everything is just fine OR everything is falling apart / I’m actually feeling fairly happy and grateful OR I’m feeling overwhelmed and mad … kind of days. Ever have those days? Do your teenagers ever have them? Or your wives? 😉 (You know. Hypothetically.) My minor “Who am I?” crisis found a resonant (and convicting) voice in yet another Jill Carratini RZIM Slice of Infinity essay (which confirms, yet again, why this is the only daily e-devotional to which I subscribe). Nothing like getting your eyes off of your easy-peasy life and contemplating real hope in the midst of real suffering to…

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    Normalizing

    I’m prepping a date night with my sweetie, so I will keep this super brief and hopefully come back to this topic again before too long … Today I was reminded of just how good (safe, hopeful) it is when someone normalizes whatever it is we are going through at the time. For example: – You are angry? You should be angry! This is a horrible thing. I’m mad with you! (But then, of course, moving towards a godly and wise response …) – Oh. Yeah. You had an anxiety attack. They are terrifying. I know what that’s like. I, too, thought my husband would need to call 9-1-1. Yup.…