Praying for Strangers

The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.—James 5:16

If you don’t like awkward encounters, maybe you shouldn’t hang out with me because I’m the queen of awkward. And I hope that’s a good thing.

I’m that person who will ask a stranger how I can pray for her, and then, with her permission, I pray for her on the spot. (more…)

Jesus Died for That

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.—1 Peter 3:18

It’s been said there are two kinds of people: the saved and the lost. But I see two categories among the lost: the proud and the ashamed.

Some people, when (more…)

Wishing Our Lives Away

Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.—James 4:14

Do you ever find yourself saying any of these things?

“If I can just get through this week . . . “

“Once this deadline is behind me . . .”

“As soon as this project is (more…)

A Living Hope

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for (more…)

Unless a Seed Falls

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. – John 12:24

Entropy. The second law of thermodynamics. Everywhere I see evidence of it – in the mirror, in my overgrown yard, in the deaths of so many I’ve known, in this freakishly (more…)