READ: PSALM 46; MATTHEW 14:22-33; HEBREWS 13:8 One of my family’s favorite summer activities is going boating. The water sport we do most often is wake surfing, which is like surfing on the ocean, only behind a boat. The smoother the water, the easier it is. On a trip we took to the lake one [...]

READ: MARK 2:13-17; LUKE 19:1-10; ROMANS 3:9-26 "We’ve got churches of Christians. I’d like to see a church of all sinners!” my coworker joked. I stopped and looked at him. He and another coworker laughed. “But…but that’s what a church is,” I tried to say. “That’s…that’s the point.” Neither man is a church go-er. But [...]

READ: PSALM 42; ZEPHANIAH 3:17; HEBREWS 12:2; REVELATION 19:6-9 My twelfth-grade English teacher taught me to love Haiku, a form of poetry that originated in Japan. These short, three-line poems are traditionally drawn from nature, and they’re only seventeen syllables long. He described Haiku as transforming a visual image into a “word snapshot.” For example, [...]

READ: ACTS 1:7-11; 2 PETER 3:1-13 So…where is He? It’s been 2,000 years since Jesus ascended into heaven, promising to return the same way He ascended and to set the world to rights. The church has grown since then, spreading all across the globe, but there has been no sign of Christ. Some say He [...]

READ: PSALM 34:1-8; MATTHEW 6:25-34; JOHN 14:1-7; PHILIPPIANS 4:4-9 Why do we worry when we know that God loves us? Why do we let our hearts become troubled when we know that Jesus warns us against that very thing? I wish I could say I never have a troubled heart. I wish I could say [...]

READ: PHILIPPIANS 3:12-14 I just keep sinning even though I know Jesus—I’ll never get it! Have you ever been frustrated with yourself for sinning? Have you felt like you should be able to get it right, but you just can’t? Lots of us feel this way. Here’s the good news: as Christians, we don’t have to [...]

READ: PSALM 107:1; ROMANS 8:31-39; 2 CORINTHIANS 5:7 I was out of ideas for where to look. Finally, I pulled out my journal, grabbed a pen, and wrote, “Lord, please help me find my grammar textbook.” About a week before, I’d misplaced a schoolbook. I had already been reprimanded about not having the textbook for English [...]

READ: GENESIS 1:6-10, 14-19; PSALM 19:1-2 Have you ever been overwhelmed by the beauty of the sky? Whether it’s the rolling clouds on a summer day, a golden sunset, or the twinkling stars at night, the skies above our heads are beautiful. Artists and painters try to imitate the beauty of the sky, but even [...]

READ: PSALMS 36:5; 148:7; EPHESIANS 3:14-21 The ocean makes me nervous. I really don’t like movies where people are lost at sea—especially if they’re stuck on some sort of tiny raft and no one knows how to find them. How awful would that be? The sky, huge above you, could release a storm at any moment. The [...]

READ: PSALM 36:7; MATTHEW 6:25-34; 23:37 Life can be so hard sometimes. Maybe you’re facing a challenging situation at school, or your parents are getting a divorce, or you got a scary medical diagnosis. In our world that’s broken by sin, we can quickly get discouraged because of all the messed-up stuff we face. But the [...]