Being a witness to suffering is suffering itself. Holding your child down on a hospital bed so that medical professionals can help them doesn’t make the pain easier. Helping at the site of a car accident leaves you feeling shaken and helpless. Hearing the wailing of a bereaved spouse, parent, or child echoes through heartsContinue reading “Taking the Pain of the People”
Tag Archives: Gospel
The Force of a Story
Author Wendell Berry transforms the ordinary of everyday into wonders too wide for comprehension. A humble barber (Jayber Crow) follows Dante’s path through 1950’s Kentucky before discovering that love and heaven dwell together. A war widow (Hannah Coulter) gives birth after her husband’s death but finds what it means to truly live. A tobacco farmerContinue reading “The Force of a Story”
No Recipe Needed
I’ve made copious amounts of chocolate chip cookies during my lifetime. I’m not talking about hundreds, friends. It’s definitely in the thousands. I’ve made chocolate chip cookies so often that I no longer need the recipe. The way I see it, a chocolate chip cookie is appropriate to every possible social scenario. Neighborhood children needingContinue reading “No Recipe Needed”
Glorify God in Your Body
It’s a predictable pattern. A young teen does not feel safe in her home. Alcohol changes people she loves into monsters who cannot be trusted. This week, her little sister came to ask me to pray for her. “Sister cuts her legs and arms,” the little one said. Harm begets harm. When the Apostle PaulContinue reading “Glorify God in Your Body”
Making a Difference
Federal agents swooped in and took my neighbor from his workplace. It was the middle of the day. He wasn’t expecting it. His girlfriend and children weren’t sure what to do or how to contact him. He sat in prison for eight months before his federal trial. It seemed unjust, unconstitutional, unamerican. But I wasContinue reading “Making a Difference”
Loving Leviticus
Leviticus gets the short end of the stick. Pastors rarely exhort congregants to start their Bible reading in Leviticus. Adjectives for the book abound: boring, dense, antiquated, dull. To most, it is a list of rules for an ancient people who weren’t able to keep them. But David found treasure in the book of Leviticus.Continue reading “Loving Leviticus”
Conservatism’s Door to the Gospel
Charlie Kirk didn’t begin his political activism from a Christian point of view. He, like many others, thought that religion could be held separate from the political sphere, a self-imposed separation of church and state. But, the more he became involved in conservative politics and policies, the more he changed his views on the roleContinue reading “Conservatism’s Door to the Gospel”
How Long, O Lord?
I have a Whisperer at Bible Club. She sidles up to me, cupped hands around her mouth, ready to whisper shocking details about any of the other little kids sitting nearby. This week, it was, “Sarah, did you know that [so and so] said he was going to steal [so and so’s] bike?!” “We won’tContinue reading “How Long, O Lord?”
When God Made Fruit
Listen HERE A ministry called “On Eagle’s Wings” sends us interns every March. Each young man who has come has been saved by Jesus and OEW helps them learn to share their “hope story.” They spend the summer months traveling to different reservations across North America sharing the story of how Jesus saved them. ThoughContinue reading “When God Made Fruit”
Solution for Disaster
Listen HERE When there are dirty dishes on the counter, it’s surprising how quickly my children remember what everyone else ate. Accusations fly faster than mashed potatoes from a spoon. Eventually, the guilty party stops throwing accusations and begins flinging excuses. It’s rare for someone to confess immediately, and even rarer for someone to voluntarilyContinue reading “Solution for Disaster”
Sarah Dixon Young 