Advent 2025, Week 4 – John’s Light of Christmas Past/Present/Future, Part 1 I have a friend from college who, together with his wife, have experienced numerous difficulties in parenting. Our kids are about the same age, and they even had three boys then a girl just like us. One of their sons married, then soonContinue reading “Difficult family relationships at the holidays”
Tag Archives: spirituality
Jesus’ parable that inspired Dickens’ A Christmas Carol
Advent 2025, Week 4 – Light of Christmas Past/Present/Future, Preview Will you watch a dramatization of Charles Dickens’ famous A Christmas Carol this holiday season? Some literary scholars believe that Dickens’ source material is one of Jesus’ parables. What parable do you think might have sparked Dickens’ imagination to think about ghosts? Does Jesus haveContinue reading “Jesus’ parable that inspired Dickens’ A Christmas Carol”
The confusion of darkness
Advent 2025, Week 3 – Psalm 139, Part 1 This guest post is by Molly Stouffer, a ministry student at Regent University. I want you to imagine with me waking up in the middle of the night. And instead of drifting off to sleep again, you realize something. You aren’t where you fell asleep. You’reContinue reading “The confusion of darkness”
The burdens of life are real
Advent 2025, Week 3: Psalm 139, Preview What is weighing heavily on your heart and mind this week? Here are a few snippets of text conversations I had this week, all of show the tell-tale signs of burden. Maybe one of these will resonate with you. “Gonna have a hard conversation this weekend, with [—]:Continue reading “The burdens of life are real”
The Messiah’s peaceable kingdom
Advent 2025, Week 2: Isaiah 9, Part 5 As Isaiah continues talking about the government of Jesus in Isaiah 9, he gives us more descriptions of the messiah. Consider his famous words in Isaiah, 9, verse 6: “And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” These royal titles showContinue reading “The Messiah’s peaceable kingdom”
The government is on the shoulders of a baby?
Advent 2025, Week 2: Isaiah 9, Part 4 We just had a new baby in our family. Our second son and his wife had their first, a son, a month ago. I was holding my new baby grandson recently, as he was sleeping, and I noticed his blond eyelashes. Not typical for my family, but soContinue reading “The government is on the shoulders of a baby?”
Bringing joy to the oppressed
Advent 2025, Week 2: Isaiah 9, Part 3 This second week of Advent 2025, we’re studying Isaiah 9. In the previous two posts here and here, we’ve learned that the prophecy sees a light breaking into the darkness of war-torn northern Israel. A new hope of peace has dawned. No surprise, then, how the prophecyContinue reading “Bringing joy to the oppressed”
Peace in the midst of dark times
Advent 2025, Week 2: Isaiah 9, Part 2 Matthew was there. He not only saw the light of Jesus’ peace change others, Matthew personally experienced what happened when Jesus light of peace enters the darkness of a person’s life. Matthew’s life was dark, without peace. He was a tax collector. Hated by his fellow JewsContinue reading “Peace in the midst of dark times”
The kind of peace Jesus came to bring
Advent 2025, Week 2: Isaiah 9, Part 1 Today we go back in time nearly 2700 years and Israel is at war. There is no peace. Isaiah 9, verse 1 gives us the context: “Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land ofContinue reading “The kind of peace Jesus came to bring”
What can heal the ideological divide in our culture?
Advent 2025, Week 2: Isaiah 9, Preview Have you sensed that there is a widening ideological divide in our American culture? I’ve written about it here on the blog, the sorting of our society. I recently heard someone suggest, however, that only 10% of people hold to the extremes poles of cultural ideology. 80% resideContinue reading “What can heal the ideological divide in our culture?”
Engaging Scripture 