A New Song

Do you ever feel like all the worship songs you hear are just too hard to sing? Their words echo truth, but the experiences of your heart lately seem to say otherwise. It can feel fake and insincere to sing words you don’t mean, with barely a trace of joy in your...

How Can I Increase My Faith?

“Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20 “And he said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you...

Coat of Comfort

We are heading into the deep winter of the upper Midwest. If you have ever traveled to or lived in the North Woods, you know that winter is quite beautiful, but crisp and sometimes cruel. As I put on my winter gear to face the outdoors, the sound of the zipper brings...

Like a Scene from a Sci-Fi Thriller

It is like a scene from a box office thriller. He is running, fast and furious. His heart is racing. His breathing is so labored from exhaustion that it has a voice of its own: “I can’t do this. I can’t do this. I can’t do this.” As his steps grow closer together, and...

Obedience

It seems like everywhere I turn these days, I hear about this word: obedience. This somewhat unpopular word in my freedom-loving United States of America often becomes a hard word to follow. We can look to other societies in the Bible that also struggled with...

Stop Hiding

My daughter’s small voice swelled as it rose above those around her in worship last Sunday. I watched as she poured her whole self into the effort, an experience that consumed all of her — mind, body, and spirit. It wasn’t perfectly tuned, perfectly...