READ: GENESIS 1:14-19; PSALM 33:6; ISAIAH 40:26 BOOM! POW! BANG! The thunderous echoes of a fireworks display ring out. The noise isn’t always great, but fireworks sure are beautiful when they light up the night sky. Gasps of “ohh” and “ahh” can be heard as rockets whistle through the air and burst into umbrellas of [...]

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: PHILIPPIANS 2:1-11; JAMES 1:19-20 I had just entered my first summer in Romania as a missionary, and one morning I discovered a stranger at my apartment door spouting words I didn’t understand. To give some background information, the city had recently turned off the hot water to our apartment buildings, and this lasted for [...]

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: PSALMS 34:15-18; 139:7-12; HEBREWS 13:5 When it all slips awayWhen I am left aloneThe darkness surrounds meI feel like hidingWhen it all gets too heavyWhen life is hard to bearThe world is too much for meI remember I’m not aloneMy Savior is with meHe knows my painMy God does not forsake meNo matter how [...]

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: MATTHEW 2:1-12; 2 CORINTHIANS 9:15; JAMES 1:17 Galumph, galumph. The magi had been traveling for weeks. Nothing but sand under their feet and stars in the sky above. Though the heavens were scattered with twinkling stars, one stood out amongst them all. The star. The one leading them to the King of the Jews. [...]

READ: GENESIS 4:2-5; EXODUS 3:1-4; 1 SAMUEL 16:11-13; LUKE 2:8-20 Shepherds couldn’t even testify in a court of law. That’s how much people looked down on us. They assumed we were liars. I hated that. Not to mention we were too dirty and “unclean” to enter the temple because we cared for animals, dealing with [...]

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 [...]