The Daily Memo

Whatever else it means to be human, we know beyond doubt that it means to be relational. Aren’t the greatest joys and memories of your life associated with family, friendship, or falling in love? Aren’t your deepest wounds somehow connected to someone also, to a failure of relationship? That you were loved but are no longer, or that you never have been chosen? One of the deepest of all human longings is the longing to belong, to be a part of things, to be…

Have you ever found yourself simply standing in front of the refrigerator, not looking for anything specific but wanting to fill a longing? At other times, our craving involves something other than food, such as a career, possessions, or relationships. Our souls are continually trying to find satisfaction, but nothing in this world will fill the void. Since we were created for relationship with God, He placed deep within us a yearning for Him. Though we may not recognize it…

Chris had his blood retested four years after his lifesaving bone marrow transplant. The donor’s marrow had provided what was needed to cure him but had left a surprise: the DNA in Chris’ blood was that of his donor, not his own. It makes sense, really: the goal of the procedure was to replace the weakened blood with a donor’s healthy blood. Yet even swabs of Chris’ cheeks, lips, and tongue showed the donor’s DNA. In some ways, he’d…

Who do people believe Jesus is? Some say He was a good teacher, but just a man. Author C. S. Lewis wrote, “Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher.” These now-famous words from Mere Christianity propound…

I’m reading a book written by the author of The Shack, Wm. Paul Young. In fact, it was a topic on this week's Embracing Brokenness Podcast. I'd encourage you to Listen Here. Many of the premises in his book have been considered controversial. I will say this, as I’ve delved deeper into what Young is saying I find myself agreeing more than disagreeing with the vast majority of the Lies We Believe about God, the book's title. I’ll focus on one…

The next chapter of our story is precisely that—the chapter that follows all the chapters before and fits them perfectly. God is still telling a story; the next chapter is not disconnected from the rest. (I know it feels totally disconnected, but it is not.) If we will look at our future in light of the story God has been telling, it will banish the fog like a strong summer sun. In the next chapter, our powerful and creative Father re-creates us and the earth. He then…

Approximately ten Lego pieces are sold for every person on earth each year—more than seventy-five billion of the little plastic bricks. But if it wasn’t for the perseverance of Danish toymaker Ole Kirk Christiansen, there wouldn't be any Legos to snap together. Christiansen toiled away in Billund, Denmark, for decades before creating Leg Godt, which means “play well.” His workshop was destroyed by fire twice. He endured bankruptcy and a world…

Now—what is your part? What is your role in the Story? In truth, the only one who can tell you that is the Author. To find our lives, we must turn to Jesus. We must yield our all to him and ask him to restore us as his own. We ask his forgiveness for our betrayal of him. We ask him to make us all he intended us to be—to tell us who we are and what we are now to do. We ask him to remove the veil from our eyes and from our hearts.The Story God is telling&mdash…

It seems some people are born knowing what they want to do with their lives. Others jump around, trying one thing after another, never finding a fit. But both groups are in error—no matter how successful they are (or aren’t) in the world’s eyes—if they never asked God to help them discern His will. Psalm 103:19 tells us, “The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all.” This means there is nothing…