READ: PROVERBS 28:13; ROMANS 7:21–8:2; 1 JOHN 1:5–2:2 My friend and I share a community garden plot at our church. But in the middle of the summer, there was a week when neither of us was able to take care of it, so the garden ended up being a bit neglected. And the weeds were [...]

READ: PSALM 13; REVELATION 6:9-11; 21:1-7 Working in a fast-paced environment can be stressful, especially when you’re new. I used to work at a very busy coffeeshop, and I was so nervous and stressed for my first several weeks. Then, suddenly, I wasn’t the new person anymore—I was helping the new people. I remember one [...]

READ: GALATIANS 6:9-10; COLOSSIANS 2:6-7 A wise friend of mine once said, “I never realized how much of my adult life would be choosing between good things.” He’s lived longer than I have, so I paid attention to his words. And the more I reflected on them, the more I realized how true they were. [...]

READ: 1 CORINTHIANS 3:4-9; 1 PETER 2:1-5 What do we need to do to become more spiritually mature? Be really self-sufficient? Come up with all the right answers to life’s questions? In 1 Peter 2:2, we are told to “like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in [...]

READ: MATTHEW 11:28-30; 1 PETER 5:6-7 Has a Bible verse ever hit you like a freight train—in a good way? I had that experience a couple months ago. I was going through a very stressful time in life with a number of large, sometimes painful decisions in front of me. I was weighed down, desperately [...]

READ: PSALM 19:9-10; JOHN 1:1-5, 15; LUKE 4:14-21; HEBREWS 4:12 Of all the things I learned at Bible college, the most important thing I learned was from Dr. Kroeze. In every class, Dr. Kroeze’s excitement for the Bible was contagious. As he talked about the Scriptures, he would bounce up and down on his toes, [...]

READ: ACTS 2:40-47; GALATIANS 6:9-10; EPHESIANS 4:1-16 Have you ever heard Christians talk about “doing life together”? It can be hard to understand exactly what this looks like. But I got to experience it in a variety of ways this week. I have some friends in my church who, like me, are married with young [...]

READ: GENESIS 1:26-31; PSALM 35:27; PROVERBS 3:11-12; ISAIAH 62:4 If you grew up in church, you’ve probably heard over and over that God loves you. And He does! But did you know that He also likes you? This is a truth I’ve struggled to accept. It’s easy for me to believe that God loves me, [...]

READ: MARK 13:11; 1 CORINTHIANS 3:5-9; 1 PETER 2:12; 3:13-18 Have you ever eaten sprouts—like bean sprouts with rice noodles or broccoli sprouts with salad? They’re crunchy, delicious, and nutrient-dense. And they’re pretty easy to grow! Recently, I started growing my own sprouts. I took a seed mix, sprinkled it onto a sprouting tray, put [...]

READ: ISAIAH 53; ROMANS 12:15; HEBREWS 4:14-16 Have you ever met someone who just gets what you’re going through? It can be so comforting. I experience this often with my friends who are parents. I have two young kids, and I really appreciate my friends who do have kids, as well as my friends who [...]