Women of the Bible: The Syrophoenician Woman

A desperate mother of a suffering child will stop at nothing to get help. She’ll seek out every expert, go any distance, and make every sacrifice to ensure her child is once again well and whole. Such a mother is singleminded and relentless. She remains a powerful and persistent force until someone finally attends to her plea for help.

That’s the story (more…)

Stealing, Killing and Destroying

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.—John 10:10 (NIV)

Two weeks after we moved into our current house, we came home to find someone had been inside while we had been at church. The door was still locked. No windows were broken. No valuables, some (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…)

When FOMO Matters

But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him . . . ”—1 Corinthians 2:9

For a while, I kept hearing about FOMO, fear of missing out. (For the record, I was definitely missing out when it came to the meanings of our (more…)

Jesus Is the Cure

But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed.—Isaiah 53:5

All of us seem to be waiting impatiently for society to reach herd immunity, for the spike in COVID-19 cases to ease up, for a vaccine to be developed—anything that allows us (more…)