Moving at the Speed of Life

What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.—James 4:14 ESV

I was 14 when I first experienced the death of someone in my circle. It was a 16-year-old tuba player in our high school band—a boy who had delivered our newspapers and on whom I had a serious crush. Just a few (more…)

Rise Up and Walk

Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.”—John 5:8

If you’re anything like me, getting up in the morning can be a challenge. Maybe you sleep hard, and it takes the banging of metal trash can lids to get you going. Or maybe you—like me—struggle with insomnia. But most of us are able to get up out of bed (more…)

Found Faithful, Finding Favor

If you’re like me, you admire some famous person about whom you find yourself thinking, “Imagine what he or she could do for God with that kind of talent.” But the people God uses aren’t necessarily powerful or prominent or popular. They’re ordinary people who demonstrate extraordinary faith and faithfulness. And because of that, God shows them favor.

In the days of (more…)

A Waiting World

Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ He promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”  But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being, and the earth (more…)

Why Good Things Happen to Bad People

For many of us, life doesn’t seem fair. Godly people are unable to conceive, or they lose their beloved children. We see the righteous die young. They experience hardship and devastation. But it becomes more difficult to process how bad things happen to good people as we see good things happening to bad people. How? Why?

You are always righteous, Lord, when (more…)