As a staff member in our local church, I get the opportunity to see many things that the rest of the body does not. Part of that comes from knowing many of the families on campus relationally, part of that comes with the “behind the scenes” planning in events, but part of that is because…

Finding and feeling constant joy seems nearly impossible sometimes. This morning I realized I was struggling with that very thing. Over the last few weeks, I’ve felt the burden of busyness and while outwardly, I may have seemed to have it all together- I felt dry within. Between planning a massive ministry event at work,…

As I was driving to work this morning, traffic was congested (per the usual) and you could almost feel the stress of people radiating from the way they were maneuvering their cars. Cars were going well over the speed limit and portrayed a desperation to get to where they were going, no matter what it…

Friday morning I woke up to an illuminated tire pressure light that led me to notice a tire that had lost a significant amount of air overnight. Not to mention only three weeks prior, I had paid to have all four tires replaced as well as the tire pressure sensors which had gone bad. After…

As I sat in the waiting room of the eye doctor one afternoon this week, I noticed the amount of older adults. I was by far the youngest person awaiting my name to be called in a sea of people I assume to be in their last decade of life on earth. Some came with…

In a Sunday afternoon game of Battleship with my six year old, I was reminded why this game brings such excitement. The way I overanalyze how to strategically place my ships and the way the little plastic pegs feel in my fingertips as I place them after hearing “hit” or “miss” feels like a timewarp…

In currently doing a slow read through the Proverbs, I stumbled over a verse that seemed to jump off the page this morning. “The one who searches for what is good seeks favor, but if someone looks for trouble, it will come to him” (11:27). In tossing this verse around in my head and mulling…

My reading in Luke this morning was one verse, Luke 23:26. “As they led him (Jesus) away, they seized Simon, a Cyrenian, who was coming in from the country, and laid the cross on him to carry behind Jesus.” In Mark’s gospel, it adds an extra detail about this seemingly random man from the country-…

Mary Magdalene. The one who was filled with demons and likely shunned from society, the one who was healed by Jesus firsthand, the one who followed and traveled with him throughout his ministry, the one who witnessed his torture and crucifixion up close–is one of the first ones whom Jesus appeared to in his resurrected…

My reading today was Luke 17:11-18 when Jesus healed the ten lepers and only one of them returned to give thanks. Leprosy was a grotesque disease that resulted in social isolation. There was no cure. No priest could make it go away, so they followed what the law said to do: identify the disease and…