Understanding Love

We stared at the piles of donated shoes as we entered a local homeless shelter. The director had invited our youth group to help sort through the heaps of used footwear. We spent the morning searching for matches and lining them up in rows across the concrete floor. At the end of the day, we threw away more than half of the shoes because they were too damaged for others to use. Though the shelter couldn’t stop people from giving poor quality items, they refused to…

“Object permanence” is an expression used by psychologists of a child’s ability to understand that objects still exist even if they are no longer visible. Up to about four months old, babies don’t have the capacity to believe something exists if they can’t see it. If you hide a toy it no longer exists as far as they are concerned. They reach a stage where if you hide a toy, they will keep on looking for it. They realize that objects exist even…

Light is remarkable, yet we go about our lives hardly giving it any thought. For instance, light is a singular white beam, but it can be separated into many colors. Countless scientists have devoted their entire career to proving whether light is composed of particles or waves, yet remarkably it’s both. And when combined with water and soil, light helps life to grow. Not only that, but it moves faster than everything in the known universe. Keep these qualities in mind…

Have you ever felt like you were in the depths of despair? Have you felt that ‘the bottom has fallen out of [your] life’ (v.1, MSG)? The psalmist says, ‘Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord; O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy’ (vv.1–2). Your prayers and God’s mercy are like two buckets in a well. When one goes up, the other comes down. There is an honest desperation about this prayer. Don’t try…

Love is the selfless, giving, devoted love of God and others. It’s an active display and compels us to put others' needs above our own. Love honors others and celebrates truth no matter how difficult it is to hear it. It gives of self even when it doesn’t feel like it. Love doesn’t allow feelings to dictate its choices. Love is hopeful, persevering, and trusting. Loving people keep hatred, apathy, and self-preservation far from them. Joy is a deep and…

“The Spirit-fueled development of Christ-like character is liberating, because it brings us closer to being the people we were designed to be, the people our Spirit-renewed hearts want us to be.” – Tim Keller The Fruit of the Spirit is listed in Galatians 5—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These qualities make up the Fruit. There are not nine different fruits—it is a nine-part Fruit.…

At the Himba of Namibia in Southern Africa, the date of birth of a child is fixed, not at the time of its arrival in the world, nor in its design, but much earlier: since the day the child is thought in His Mother's mind.⠀ ⠀ When a woman decides she's going to have a child, she settle down and rests under a tree, and she listens until she can hear the song of the child who wants to be born. And after she heard this child's song, she comes back to the man…

John Harper had no idea what was about to unfold as he and his six-year-old daughter embarked on the Titanic. But one thing he knew: he loved Jesus and he was passionate that others know Him too. As soon as the ship hit an iceberg and water started pouring in, Harper, a widower, put his little girl on a lifeboat and headed into the chaos to save as many people as possible. As he distributed life jackets he reportedly shouted, “Let the women, children, and the unsaved…

Can you feel it?  Do you sense it?  Can you hear it?  In the midst of the cacophony that surrounds us...  In the midst of the pressure and business of daily life...  In the midst of the emotional upheaval and unrest of this season... Are you hearing God's invitation?  Can you feel that deep, quiet, persistent knock on the door of your heart? Come away with me.  This beautiful, intimate, blessed invitation is extended to each and every…