I sat in my rickety lawn chair, waiting for folks to walk up our driveway and buy our old treasures and trinkets as part of our neighborhood garage sale. Things were slow. Granted, I didn't have much to put out, but still, I'd hoped to make enough to put a dent in our Christmas budget. Sighing, I watched another car drive past. Our cat purred, rubbing around my legs as I sat and waited. At least she was getting plenty of attention so early on a Saturday morning. An hour passed, then two. All I sold was a set of…

Redemption is a beautiful thing. There is something, dare I say, romantic about someone with power and position plucking a nobody from the crowd and claiming them as their own. Perhaps that's why I've so frequently heard the Gospel compared to a fairy tale story. A king sweeping the lonely girl away to a land where all her dreams come true. Not long ago, I heard someone compare what God has done to the story of Cinderella. I understand the gist of this kind of thinking, but it just doesn't ring true. Not for me. See, Cinderella was pure and…

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about avoidance. Trying to avoid the chocolate calling for me in the pantry. Avoiding too much screen time. Germs. Crowds. The scale. Overextending. Traffic. Snakes and spiders. The news. Avoiding staying up too late because I just can’t seem to put the book down. What I’ve slowly come to realize is most of these are physical aggravators. Oh, indulgence in any of them can affect my emotions, possibly even harm me. Yet while we tend to focus on external things we should avoid, most of us are missing a huge aspect of our spiritual…

Lord, We come to Your feet, praising You for being the God You are--holy, all-powerful, King, and friend. Father, You hear the cries of Your children in Afghanistan and all over the world. You hold them in their darkest moments, when terror squeezes the breath from their chests. Be their peace. Be their hope. Give them courage. I ask, in the name of Jesus, to blind the enemy as You did in the days of Elisha. Confuse their plans and rescue Your children from danger. Not for their name's sake, but for Yours. Forgive us, Lord, for our apathy. We…

I was getting a bit bored, driving through soggy rice fields on my way to a prison in Arkansas, preparing to speak to inmates on a drizzly Sunday morning. Maybe it was the lack of scenery that made me notice it. Maybe it’s because it was the only building around for miles other than a few silos. But when I saw the building perched on the side of the road, I shook my head. There in big, bold print, a sign advertised: Euphoria. Now, if this establishment offered chocolate or books, I would have pulled right in. This business, however, offered…