Last Christmas, our pastor used the hymn “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” as inspiration for a sermon. In the third verse, eighteenth-century preacher Charles Wesley wrote lyrics about how Jesus was born to give us second birth. But what does it mean to have second birth? When Adam and Eve disobeyed God's command, sin and [...]

Darkness. That's all I'd ever seen. I'd heard countless people's voices. I'd tasted numerous kinds of food. However, I didn't actually know what humans looked like. I'd never seen one. I'd never seen the fruit I ate or the money I begged. But I knew the weight of the thin, round coins, and I could [...]

Let's face it relationships can be hard. Maybe you and your mom had another fight and you both used harsh words that hurt the other person. Maybe your best friend won't talk to you and you don't know why. When relationships are good, life seems to be good, but when relationships go bad, life seems [...]

When I was about twelve years old, I started struggling with germaphobia. For as long as I can remember, I've been a major perfectionist, and I stressed and worried about a lot of unnecessary things. Then I began to wash my hands so much that they were constantly cracked and bleeding. I worried about getting [...]

As I watch the snow fall outside my window, I notice all it is covering up. Just yesterday, my sister remarked that nothing really looked beautiful. The trees were gray and free of leaves. The little snow that was on the ground had already been trampled and made dirty. The world was in need of [...]

Tuesday is my favorite day of the week because I get to sing with my friends in choir. I used to mentally divide my whole week into days that were Tuesday and days that weren't. The non-Tuesdays only served to get me to Tuesday. I was on mental pause for 86 percent of my week [...]

Some Bible stories are easy for me to relate to. When Simon Peter and his friends go fishing for a long period of time and catch nothing, I feel their pain. They most likely expected to catch a lot of fish but came up completely empty. Keep in mind these are professional fishermen who stayed [...]

Music and laughter filled the air, but Jamesh's heart was filled with darkness. He jabbed the shovel into the ground, vigorously ripping up the soil. “He runs away for months,” Jamesh growled, “squandering his inheritance and acting like a pig, while I stay here and work. And when he comes home, Father throws a party!” [...]

***Editor's note: Today's reading discusses abuse*** During our teenage years, many of us start dating. This is a big step, and while dating can be fun and wholesome, it can also be confusing and damaging. After I experienced several rejections as a teen, I was thrilled when a high school romance came my way. God [...]

It is surprising how we can be so spiritually blind about certain matters. For a long time, there was an area of my life where I was spiritually blind. For years, I acted contrary to the truth of God's word. As a teenager, I had bias against one particular tribe in my country. I disliked [...]