Faith and Doubt
“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.” (James 1:5-7, NIV) Recently my parents wrote me an amazing note that I have taped next to my desk that still makes me cry when I look at it. It is full of encouragement for myself as a parent but also for all the other aspects of life that I embody. They...
Read MoreIt’s Time to Give Up Broken Clocks
“Stay away from a fool, for you will not find knowledge on their lips. The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways, but the folly of fools is deception.” (Proverbs 14:7-8, NIV) I honestly have no idea how many times I’ve heard the phrase “Even broken clocks are right twice a day.” Growing up I heard it all the time as an idiom to remember to value everyone because you never quite know when they could be right. With that being my frame of reference I found that I had no real standard to measure good advice against bad against just plain crazy. So...
Read MoreI Choo Choo Choose You
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21, NIV) Growing up I wasn’t allowed to watch the TV show The Simpsons and for good reason, but there was a clip that I had seen one time that always stuck with me and my siblings. In the scene, the hopelessly clueless little boy named Ralph gets his one and only Valentine in his second grade class from Lisa Simpson who gives him the card out of sheer pity. The card had a picture of a train that was surrounded by hearts and said “I Choo Choo Choose You.” Ralph was smitten at this thought and...
Read MoreMacaroni and Cheese and Patience
“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7: 9-11, NIV) I realize lately I draw the majority of illustrations about the mysterious relationship between heaven and earth, God and His people, Christ and the church from my experiences as a parent. I think there is something to be said for using what you know to understand what you can’t...
Read MorePraise for Progress
“When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.” (1 Corinthians 13:11, NIV) I had a friend announce on Facebook today that it was her first day home alone with her newborn daughter. Her husband had used all his paternity leave and she was braving the world of stay-at-home motherhood. Her newsfeed was filled encouragement and words of wisdom and funny stories from others’ first days. I gave her the best piece of advice that was ever given to me, “give yourself a lot of...
Read MoreGolden Idols, Kosher Hotdogs and “Because I Said So”
“But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.” (Deuteronomy 7:8-9) Growing up, there was rarely a more frustrating phrase uttered from my parents’ lips than “Because I said so.” I was always a little more than curious about the world around...
Read MoreChocolate and Excuses
“May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.” (1 Thessalonians 3:13, NIV) For years I used to make fun of my Catholic friends in high school who were required to give something up for Lent because inevitably most of the girls I knew would give up chocolate or sweets in general. Some days I would order two cookies at our school cafeteria just to impose my Protestant superiority over what seemed like old and outdated traditions. Plus, I never quite understood how abstaining from...
Read MoreWhat A Mess
“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” (Isaiah 1:18, NIV) As a kid, my mom was always the penultimate hostess. She was undoubtedly one of the best cooks in the church and as such we often had people over for Sunday dinner (which in Minnesota is the noon meal, supper is in the evening.) On more than one occasion a new couple would walk into our church and when our pastor introduced them to my mom he would say “This is Becky and she is an amazing cook, you...
Read MoreOh, You’ll See
“They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?” He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.” (Mark 2:22-25, NIV) I haven’t decided yet if I like surprises. I like the idea of surprises. I like to think I am patient enough,...
Read MoreAre You Afraid of the Dark?
“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” (John 3:19-21, NIV) When I was 12 or 13 I was at the Minnesota State Fair with my family and at the end of the day, after all the butter sculptures, Ferris wheel rides and food on a stick, I still had three...
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