A Holy Pursuit

“But you, O LORD, are a shield around me, my glory, and the lifter of my head” Psalm 3:3. In the midst of tumult and discouragement I am quick to ask God “why”. Why do I have to do this? Why now? Why me? Why does this have to be so hard? For the record, I get that life is hard. I get that ministry is challenging. I get that this is all part of my sanctification process. I get it. But I still don’t always like it. It is so easy for me to be self-focused during these times. How I’m not getting what I want. How I don’t feel like serving. How I want it to go my way. It is in these moments that I get a glimpse into my own depravity. God, in His rich mercy and love, allows me to catch a glimpse of my ugly heart (and trust me, I’ve been seeing a lot of ugly recently). But He doesn’t stop there. God doesn’t leave me with the worst ever taste in my mouth. No, He has been bringing to my mind, rather consistently, the sweet, satisfying words of Psalm 3. “But you, O LORD, are a shield...

Easter has always been a pretty big deal for my family. We would always have a special outfit to wear and a big lunch together, then my parents would hide Easter baskets, filled with wonderful treats, from my brother and I. Mom never lacked creativity when filling our basket, and dad never lacked creativity in hiding them. Oh, did I mention that there was a time or two during my younger years when mom would create matching Easter dresses for her and I? And one year dad hid Jordan's basket on the roof? Yes, Easter was very special. With that in mind you may imagine my disappointment when I asked Bryan what he was going to wear for Easter Sunday and he replied, "I don't know. Whatever I pull out of the closet that morning." He obviously didn't know what a big deal Easter duds are (at least to me). Regardless, I moved on and settled with trying to create my perfect Easter outfit with what I had in my closet.  A few days later on the Thursday before Easter, I...

As Jordan and I were growing up, my family incorporated many family traditions into our Holiday celebrations. My dad didn't let anyone put any presents under the tree until Christmas Eve night so that when we woke up Christmas morning we were really surprised. My parents put as much thought and care into our stockings as our regular presents. My dad always read the Christmas story from the book of Luke on Christmas morning before we opened gifts. Mom made a big, delicious Christmas brunch. We always did a gift exchange with our extended families. All of these were great Christmas traditions and memories, but they are not the ones that stand out to me the most. My favorite Christmas tradition was purchasing Christmas gifts for someone who otherwise wouldn't have any, or just giving to any kind of charity during the Christmas season. This tradition helped my brother and I, and  probably my parents, too, focus on what was really important during the Holidays and get our attitudes...

Reading isn't one of Jordan's hobbies, so I'm going to try and keep this short. Today is my big brother's 26th birthday. I've been blessed enough to know him 24 1/2 of those years. Ever since I can remember he's been one of my best friends.  We did everything together from building forts, swinging on our swingset (my favorite was the butterfly... If you don't know what that is, you really missed out), and playing some very realistic versions of "Cowboys and Indians". Those were the good days.  Then mom entered us in a speech class together. We both pretty much hated that together, but we got through it. As a result, I found something I really enjoyed, and Jordan found something he really did not enjoy.  Jordan has been one of the most influential people to teach me the value of hard work. We used to go play back in the woods with our cousins (who had a couple of 4-wheelers) and every evening when we would have to walk back ho...

I love taking my puppy for walks, and he probably loves it even more than I. Recently, we have started incorporating some jogging into our morning walks. Some day Riggins will be my running partner, so I thought I should start training him in that direction. Something I noticed early on in our training was that when he was running next to me and not trying to bite the leash, or chase something, I would praise him and tell him what a good puppy he was and he would speed up a little, bouncing along happily. As we jogged along together, that scenario happened again and again. Riggins would be running alongside me very well, so I would praise him and he would happily speed up a little, as he expressed his pleasure in my approval. His reaction got me thinking about the effect of praise in our lives. This brought three things to mind: 1) The book of Psalms is chock-full of examples of the psalmist praising the Lord. It is important in our Christian walk to not only express our...

A couple days ago the long-awaited, highly-anticipated birth of the British prince came to a culmination when he was introduced to the world outside of the hospital where he was born. Then, the world waited in anticipation for his name to be announced. He is already celebrated and appears to be well-loved. I, also, celebrated the birth of this little guy. At first, simply for the historical significance his birth provides; but more so for the simple fact that he is a baby, not only allowed to live, but joyously celebrated. His parents are joined by many other celebrators. As I observe on every news channel more updates on the "royal baby", I am, however, saddened. Maybe I am jaded by my career in a pregnancy help center where so many babies are unwanted. Maybe I am overly sensitive because of the large quantity of calls I get every day from young women devastated by the news that they are pregnant. Maybe I am cynical because I get phone calls from desperate young men wonderi...

I have recently been reminded and challenged of the importance of keeping our bodies healthy and pure, as a response to the message in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, which says, "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies."  Someone put this into perspective for me again in the past few days, but for the life of me, I can’t remember who it was. Maybe it was Pastor Luke in his sermon? Regardless, they said the Lord no longer dwells in the temple as He did in the Old Testament. Rather, now our bodies act as His temple, where He lives and dwells. In the Old Testament (and much of the New Testament, I suppose) the temple was kept with utter respect and dignity. It was revered as a place of worship. Since the temple is now represented through our bodies (Paul says in Colossians 1:27 that Christ in us is our hope of glory), I think ...