Guest (Page 12)
When you pray with your children…
“Every night my girls want me to pray with them and for them. If I do not tuck them in at night, or if I forget to pray when I do tuck them in, I can be sure that sooner or later I will hear feet coming down the stairs and then the question: “Daddy, will you pray with us?” Sometimes I think they are expressing a good and heartfelt desire and other times I think they are merely being…
If I share the gospel…
“We all know people who don’t know Christ. Sadly, most Christians know people whom they’ve never told about Christ. One of the main reasons why many people don’t share the Gospel is because they are afraid that if they do, they will ruin their relationship with that person. They enjoy their friendship, and they think that if they tell them the truth, they will no longer have the same type of relationship as before. Or perhaps they feel like it…
The Strength of Silence
“Our culture is full of noise. We constantly have places to go, things to do. Our lives are made up of errands, meetings, and schedules. We divide our days into segments and relegate specific activities to each part. Work, food, entertainment, sleep—everything fits into a schedule that is full, overflowing. Structure is good—God Himself is a God of order, not chaos. So there’s nothing wrong with a schedule and a plan for each day. In fact, we need structure in…
Wait for the Ending
“Faith in a sovereign God does not prevent us from sometimes feeling bewildered about what our sovereign God is doing. On a small scale, we can grasp for reasons behind everyday frustrations like dead car batteries and sleepless nights — mere inconveniences, to be sure, but nevertheless enough to sometimes ruin what we thought were God-honouring plans for the day. Perhaps we can agree with J.I. Packer when he writes, “The harder you try to understand the divine purpose in…
God is on His Throne
“I had a friend who used to answer a common question in an uncommon way. He has since moved to another city, but his response has never left me. For a long time, when I would ask how he was, he gave a three-fold response: “God is on his throne, everything is going his way, and he loves me.” These are simple yet profound truths. They define not only how we are in ultimately, but how we can be in…
Make Sunday Mornings Uncomfortable
“Sorry to cut you off!” I’d just started connecting with a close friend at church. I was eager to catch up. But as she talked, I noticed a woman sitting alone, thumbing through her service sheet. Honestly, I wished I hadn’t seen her. Interrupting my friend would be rude. It’s good for me to invest in friends! Someone else will likely spot that woman. These were some of the excuses that ran through my head. But the woman was clearly…
The Most Radical Mission For Christians May Be The Most Mundane
“Christians must not conceive of mission as only that which takes us far from home or into harm’s way. Too often, would-be missionaries are energized by the possibility of going across the world to minister to unreached people groups but are not energized by the prospect of going across town to engage in cross-cultural mission with local unreached immigrant or minority communities.” Read more…
Most Growth will be Slow Growth
“”The road to heaven is flanked with dangers — and not always the dangers we expect. Many of us set out on this journey expecting threats to come from the world: its comforts and pleasures, its false stories and faux moralities. Many of us also anticipate danger to come from suffering: sudden losses, broken dreams, persecution in its various forms. But perhaps fewer of us are aware of another threat, less familiar but just as dangerous: the slowness of our…
Why does the universe look so old?
“When it comes to the age of the universe, Christians find themselves in a bit of a conundrum. At least, those Christians do who hold to a traditional interpretation of the first two chapters of Genesis—an interpretation that leads them to believe the universe is something less than the billions of years indicated by contemporary understandings of the scientific data. Those, like me, who hold to a six-day understanding of creation have to face this question: Why does the universe…
What Children Get Right that Adults Get Wrong
“A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony.” Read more…