READ: JEREMIAH 17:14; 30:16-18; PHILIPPIANS 1:1-11 I’d been eating the cashews for several days before I stopped to ask why they seemed so small. Then I noticed the label on the canister: halves and pieces. I thought I’d bought the same kind of cashews I usually did—roasted and sprinkled with sea salt—but I hadn’t paid [...]

READ: GENESIS 1:26-31; EPHESIANS 2:1-22 “How does God see my generation?” It’s a good question, and one we don’t often think to ask. We hear a lot of talk about the different generations: what they’re like, what their strengths and weaknesses are, how they’re different from other generations, and on and on. The concept of [...]

READ: MATTHEW 14:23; JOHN 15:5-9 I love God and value my relationship with Him, but I have periods in my life when I struggle to make time to focus on being with Him. I do really well when I have a lot of structure surrounding my own faith. This was great when I was in [...]

READ: MATTHEW 6:25-34; PHILIPPIANS 3:7-21 Lots of things in life can feel important in the moment. You might worry about your grades. You might think you need the most fashionable clothes. Maybe you feel pressure to be the best athlete on your team. Maybe you want to learn to drive and get your license and [...]

READ: ROMANS 6:4-11; COLOSSIANS 3:1-4 Do you have a favorite book or movie that you like to read or watch over and over? Do you ever find yourself wishing you were part of the story? It can be fun to get wrapped up in a good story and imagine ourselves in it. And let’s not [...]

READ: MATTHEW 25:35-40; LUKE 2:15-20 Do you ever get that bored, depressed, or letdown feeling after Christmas ends? When all the fun and festivities come to a close and we wait for the new year to begin, it can be a bit, well, boring. But boredom can be a really cool opportunity to show Jesus’s [...]

READ: LUKE 15:11-32; ROMANS 5:6-8; 15:7; 1 JOHN 4:9 As a kid, the one thing I wanted for Christmas—every Christmas—was a puppy. Sometimes a collie, sometimes a German shepherd, sometimes a cocker spaniel. But always a puppy. Every year I got what was second on my list. One year it was the doll I wanted. [...]

READ: MICAH 5:1-4; MATTHEW 2:1-6; LUKE 2:1-15 Are you a detail-oriented person? Some people are, some people aren’t, and some people—like me—can be if it’s something they care about. Did you know God cares about the details? All the way back in the writings of the prophet Micah, He left us specific details about a [...]

READ: LUKE 2:4-7; JOHN 1:1-18 Christmas tends to get a lot of hype as far as holidays go. I love the holiday personally. It’s a time when I get to celebrate with my family, share presents, and eat good food. It’s also a time I get to remember the story about how God became a [...]

READ: LUKE 1:26-56; 2:1-35; 1 TIMOTHY 4:12 In Luke 1, when the angel Gabriel suddenly appeared out of nowhere, Mary was probably no more than sixteen. As if the angel wasn’t terrifying enough, he also brought distressing news: she—still a virgin and engaged to be married—would soon become pregnant with the Son of the Most [...]