Archive
7 Jan
Facing the Unknown
Do you remember the first time you scaled the ladder of the high dive? I do. It was an incredible summer day, the water was fine, and I was ready to take the leap of death into the cool water. I felt both nervous and excited. I couldn’t stop shivering but I didn’t know if it was from anxiety or the wind against my wet bathing suit.
When my turn came, I began to climb, realizing how much empty space separated my feet from the ground. I became more nervous–fearing what I had never experienced. I had been told the high dive was the next best thing to the waterslides, but at that new altitude, I was not so certain.
6 Jan
Wrong Place at the Right Time
Books? Check! Pencils? Check! PowerPoint visuals? Check! Notes? Check! Everything was in place to insure an efficient group-project planning meeting. Well, ALMOST everything, there still remained one slightly problematic detail–my entire group was missing.
30 Dec
“Who Ordered The Chef’s Salad?”
When I was younger, my parents didn’t have much money. Their luxurious seminary apartment (which doubled as a roach hotel) was in desperate need of Ty Pennington to drop in and film an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. However, the one object that seemed to turn this “house” into a “home” was a small potted plant. It brought life and color into an ordinary abode. The problem was it also made great salads. At least, to a toddler it did!
29 Dec
Empty Vessels
“‘Go and borrow empty containers from everyone—from all your neighbors. Do not get just a few. … pour oil into all these containers’. … When they were full, she said to her son, ‘Bring me another container.’ But he replied, ‘There aren’t any more.’ Then the oil stopped.”
2 Kings 4:3-4, 6
Empty is an adjective. Empty jars. Empty hands. Empty hearts. Empty pages. Hollow, aching, empty vessels … waiting to be filled, waiting for rain from heaven, waiting for oil from God’s provision.
24 Dec
The Christmas Story
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register.
23 Dec
Thanks…but no-thanks
As I gazed down in awe at my creation, I realized its design was sure to elevate me into the halls of architectural genius, alongside the Sistine Chapel, the Eiffel Tower, and the Parthenon. It was a gingerbread house like the world had never seen! It was beautiful! It was majestic! It was…Crack!…in need of some minor repairs.
22 Dec
Growing Above Maintenance
Rock climbing is my favorite thing to do. It’s technical; every problem is different and requires thought to solve. I also have to be strong enough. I have to rely on my strength to keep me from falling. The type of climbing I do doesn’t use a harness. If I lose my grip I fall. When I climb indoors the floor is covered with padding but outside the only padding I have is a small pad.
I climb once a week. It’s great! I get to climb with other climbers and see the progress we make as we climb from week to week.
19 Dec
Students see missions in South Africa
Photo courtesy of Baptist Press
PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa (BP)—It’s one of those moments where you can almost hear crickets chirping. Two International Mission Board short-term missionaries are trying to get a room full of high school students to open up about issues they face at home.
18 Dec
Things Unseen
Many people have a vice in their lives that continues to get the best of them. It may be alcohol, smoking, gossip, or any number of things. For my dog Chevy, it is garbage.
17 Dec
The Great Imitators
I remember a church camp I attended a couple of years back. The theme was two Greek words I was not familiar with: Phroneo Christou. Together these words mean “the attitude of Christ.” Through study of the Gospels we are able to see images of Christ’s attitude as He interacted with His followers and those who were in opposition to His teachings. We are able to walk through His trials and temptations and have the privilege of learning from His actions and reactions. Ephesians 4:22-24 commands us to “put off [our] old self” and “be made new in the attitude of [our] minds…created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” The first verse of chapter five directly commands us to “Be imitators of God, therefore, and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us…” As Paul tells us in Philippians, “To live is Christ and to die is gain.”
