I couldn’t believe what my husband was suggesting. Home school our three sons? That one was not on my radar. It conflicted with what I thought I wanted my life to look like. In my ideal life—my fantasy—I would send my darlings off to school and then settle in for a productive, creative, wonderful day of writing. When the boys returned in the afternoon, I would serve milk and cookies and ask how their day had gone. (Mine, of course, would have gone splendidly, with me well on my way to publishing a best seller.) So much for fantasies. In real life, after a couple of years of Continue Reading

Months after a hurtful situation, I found myself still struggling to forgive. Time in and of itself wasn't doing the trick. I finally realized that, before I could freely extend mercy, I had to acknowledge just how painful and unjust the offense against me had been. Perhaps you can relate to this dilemma. If you’re a Christian and you’ve been sinned against, I’m guessing the message you’ve heard the loudest is that you should (quickly) forgive the offense and let it go. Although mercy ultimately triumphs over judgment, we ignore a vital part of God’s character when we rush into Continue Reading

She was only ten years old when a random accident took her life. Decades later, her parents still grieve the loss of their daughter. How could the unthinkable happen to this Christian family? Why this senseless tragedy? The writer of Ecclesiastes has some wisdom to offer about the mysterious nature of life. (I’m grateful to the team at thebibleproject.com for the following insights.) Thirty-eight times in the book, the Teacher repeats this phrase: “Hevel, hevel, everything is utterly hevel.” In English Bibles, the Hebrew word “hevel” is usually translated “meaningless.” Continue Reading

The man wasn't even a Jew. He and his men had been stationed in Capernaum by the Roman authorities to keep law and order.  But he'd established a good relationship with the local Jewish elders, so he asked them for a favor. Would they go to Jesus and ask him to come and heal his paralyzed servant, who lay close to death? Not only did the elders go to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly on behalf of the centurion. "This man deserves to have you do this,  because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue," they said.  So Jesus went with them (Luke 7:4-6). Before he got to the Continue Reading