READ: COLOSSIANS 1:9-11; 1 THESSALONIANS 1:2-3; 1 PETER 1:3-9 The final line of yesterday’s poem says the winter trees wait, “Certain of the coming spring.” Can we be certain spring is really coming? I mean, will our hard times truly end—and not just in death? As I wrote that line, I had in mind the [...]

READ: ACTS 18; ROMANS 16:3-5; 1 CORINTHIANS 16:19 Who are Priscilla and Aquila? This was a question I asked as I was reading through Romans 16. They’re mentioned in verse 3, and for some reason it caught my eye. So, I looked up their names in my Bible app, and I was surprised to learn [...]

READ: MATTHEW 1:18-25; JOHN 1:1-18; 3:16-17 One of the greatest mysteries for the church to comprehend is the nature of Jesus. In the incarnation—that is, the event in which God became human— something happened that theologians call the hypostatic union. This refers to the union of two natures in one person: Jesus is one-hundred-percent human [...]

READ: JOHN 4:3-42; 7:37-39; REVELATION 7:16-17 The drought in Xzerio had gone on for a year. People were so thirsty they were fainting in the hot streets. That is why I came up into the mountains—I hoped to find water. I plod on. Then, I see a glimmer up ahead. What is it? Lakes! Three [...]

READ: ECCLESIASTES 3:1-14; MATTHEW 28:20; ROMANS 8:35-39 Have you ever seen a plant that’s been repotted? If a potted plant gets too big, it needs to be moved to a bigger pot so it can grow and flourish. But, when you first put it in its new home, it may look droopy. That’s because it’s [...]

READ: DEUTERONOMY 31:8; MATTHEW 6:25-34; JOHN 10:3-5 I was 24 years old, and I was bawling. I sat halfway down a mountain slope, one ski at my feet and the other several yards uphill where it had landed when I’d crashed. I had actually chosen this area of snow to land on, as leaping into [...]

READ: PSALM 139:14-18; MATTHEW 6:26; 10:29-31; EPHESIANS 2:10 I love snow. I love the way the delicate little snowflakes dance and spin as they fall from the sky. I love it when they all pile up into fluffy, white, satisfyingly smooth mounds. I love the way they look, with each little ice crystal so small, [...]

READ: PSALMS 106:1-2; 146:6-10; 1 THESSALONIANS 5:16-18 When I look at my hands, each finger formed by You,When I feel the wind, each breath coming because of You,When I hear the noise of a crowd or the quiet of a peaceful place,All of this points to You. How can I not thank You?When I move [...]

READ: ISAIAH 53:1-6; LUKE 15:1-10 Shivers snaked through my body. I blinked. The sun lit the surrounding snow with gleaming white light. I pushed my curls out of my eyes and away from the wound on my head. I touched the bruising and winced; the memory flooded back. After we lost the fugitive, a fight [...]

READ: MATTHEW 6:25-34 Since I was young, I’ve often had to remind myself to just consider the next moment instead of trying to figure out everything that’s going to happen in the future. The truth is, it’s all in God’s hands, so I don’t have to worry about tomorrow. I don’t have to get stressed [...]