READ: EPHESIANS 6:18-20; 1 TIMOTHY 2:1-4; JAMES 5:13-16 One day, I heard a beautician chatting to her colleague as I was selecting a nail polish. She said, “I’m trying to stay strong, but when I’m alone, my husband’s illness overwhelms me.” My heart lurched. Sadness welled up inside, and immediately I knew I needed to [...]

READ: JOHN 8 It can be hard to answer people who question us about our beliefs, especially if they speak aggressively and make us nervous. Studying the Bible can help us have answers in our heads, but getting those answers out can still be an issue. In John 8, Jesus was questioned by some Pharisees, [...]

READ: JOHN 11:32-36; ROMANS 12:15; HEBREWS 4:14-16 There are a lot of lies in our world, and one of them is that real men don’t cry. But what about Jesus? God became human, and it was well-documented that Jesus cried, including when His friend Lazarus died. In John 11:35, Jesus was crying with grief at [...]

READ: EPHESIANS 2:11-22 The village of Koselig had begun building ships. For too long the Blodugur clan had pillaged their tiny coastal town (and they, in turn, had done the same to them) and now the village of Koselig had made plans to leave before more bloodshed. But they are too late. A horn bellows, [...]

READ: PSALM 66:16-20; JAMES 1:19-27; 3:13-18 Sometimes our orchestra would split into ensembles. In these smaller groups, we’d sit down with our sheet music, then all start at the same speed, or tempo. But sometimes, it didn’t stay that way for long. Soon the cello had sped up, the violin had slowed down, the bass [...]

READ: ECCLESIASTES 3:1-14 Do you ever feel like you’ve been stuck in the age you are forever? Maybe you have big dreams for the future, but you just don’t have the resources or experience or age to do the things you want to do yet. The teenage season of life has its own challenges and [...]

READ: EPHESIANS 5:1-2; COLOSSIANS 3:8-10 When you hear an accent different from yours, do you find yourself slipping into the new accent? For example, maybe you say y’all around your grandparents or brilliant around your British friend. Whatever it looks like, switching accents is a pretty common and often funny phenomenon. Thinking about accents can [...]

READ: MATTHEW 9:20-22; MARK 5:25-34; LUKE 8:43-48 Drained, the blood flows, Labelled, “unclean” and “lost” Doctors fail, trying everything I don’t care about the cost. “The healer is here, Jesus,” An echo of Your name Sings in my ears. Can He heal my shame? In pain, I scrabble on my hands Battling through loud crowds. [...]

READ: GENESIS 1:9-31; PSALM 119:73 I’ve always loved going on road trips for various reasons, one being that I get to see so much of God’s creation along the way. Traveling gives us an idea of how beautiful and large the world is. Just the United States of America alone is so big that when [...]

READ: PSALM 116 When I was fifteen, my grandma passed away. I had never dealt with a loss like that before, at least not one I remembered well (I had been much younger when my grandpa passed away). I was devastated. It was a hard time, and I couldn’t imagine her being gone. I wanted [...]