The other day, I spent time in two different places—a restaurant and a doctor’s office—doing something I hate doing. Waiting. As I waited, I noticed something interesting. In both waiting areas, they gave us something to do while we waited. The restaurants gave us coloring menus (okay, they’re for the kids, but who’s judging?), and the […]
When I was a kid, I used to dream about receiving an invitation to the Super Bowl. I envisioned sitting on the sidelines, with all the stadium food I could handle, yelling passionately as my favorite team took the field and crushed our rival. Have you ever dreamt of an invitation like that? Maybe yours […]
Thirty-three years ago today, on a Sunday morning, I was in our bedroom getting dressed for church. Tamara was thirty-three weeks pregnant with our second child and first daughter, Andrea. She was lying in bed when I felt the Holy Spirit speak to me. I walked over to Tamara, put my hand on her and said, […]
I love gardening. I enjoy tending to plants, watching them produce beautiful fruit or flowers. In doing so, I’ve learned about one unseen but extremely vital part of the plant—the roots. If a plant doesn’t have solid roots, it won’t produce fruit. The roots anchor it and provide it with the nutrients it needs to […]
Our society seems to have grown star-obsessed, craving to know all about elite actors, businesspeople, athletes, and influencers. But if we look deep into the lives of many we perceive to be living their best life, we’ll find they’re really more like us than we thought. They have good and bad days, strengths and limitations, […]
A few years ago, I visited the house my grandparents lived in. It was a small, blue house in rural Pennsylvania, where they raised my dad and his four siblings. My grandfather, Kenneth, worked in a glass factory, was the chief of the volunteer fire department, and played softball lots of weekends. My grandmother, Jeanne, […]
Our culture places a heavy emphasis on “finding ourselves”—on discovering who we are and where we fit. From developing our Instagram aesthetic to discovering our ancestry, it seems we’ve become obsessed with relating to a certain group—so much so that we may edit, crop, and filter who we are to fit who we think we […]
One hot summer day in 1967, a 17-year-old girl named Joni staved off the summer heat by dipping in the Chesapeake Bay. Unfortunately, the water Joni jumped into was more shallow than she thought. In an instant, she went from athletic to paraplegic, completely paralyzed from the shoulders down. She grew angry—at herself, at God, […]
It’s been thirty years since we televised our first Sunday morning service on Victoria’s local ABC channel. Recently, I watched a show from those early years and had two thoughts. First, God is so faithful. Second, I was so young and a lot skinnier! If you would have told that 32-year-old all God would do despite his shortcomings in […]
The cross. It’s a symbol we see a lot this time of year. On it, Jesus uttered a phrase that changed our lives and eternities forever. Through heavy breaths and blood-stained lips He said, “It… is… finished.” And with His last breath, the sacrifice was complete. Jesus’ followers’ hearts shattered as they stared at their […]