"Pinkyyyyyy! I want Pinkyyyyyyy!" My youngest is a loud child anyway. But when she starts wailing... well, I wonder whether earplugs might be a good investment. And yet, I couldn't help but sympathize with her. She was devastated because I had taken away her beloved Pinky. The way she was carrying on, one would think I had removed the smallest digit on … [Read more...]
10 Ways to Pray for Lost Loved Ones
How to Pray for the Lost Isn't our God wonderful? We have tasted and seen that He is good. We have experienced the overwhelming fullness of joy in His presence. We can testify that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. One of the hallmarks of a Christ-follower is that we long for others to know Him, too. Especially those we love. And I sort of think it … [Read more...]
What Are You Longing For?
What are you longing for? Do you know? Have you ever stopped to really think about that? Maybe you are longing for a dream job, a dream family, a dream vacation or a dream house. Too often we long for ideal circumstances, situations or relationships. We easily forget that Christ is ideal. He is our goal. He is our prize. He is our aim. Hope deferred makes the heart sick, … [Read more...]
Trusting God: Shall Not the Judge of All the Earth Do What Is Just*?
Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him. Numbers 31:17 That’s a pretty tough verse, isn’t it? Married women. Widows. Little boys. When I read that verse, I think of somebody like me. Or, somebody like my ten year old. It’s hard for me to put myself in a Midianite woman’s sandals and imagine the … [Read more...]
Loving Your Child Enough
One of my priorities as I write is to always be truthful. Sometimes the truth is beautiful and charming and inspiring. But other times it's messy and ugly and...somehow still inspiring when we allow God to wrench it from our grasping fingers and use it the way He wants to. Here's fair warning that there's some truth of the messy variety ahead. One recent afternoon, my … [Read more...]