Walking With God

Green Bank, West Virginia, is a tiny community in the rugged Appalachian Mountains. The town resembles dozens of other small towns in the area—with one major exception. None of the 142 residents have access to Wi-Fi. This is to prevent interference from Wi-Fi or cellular phone towers near the Green Bank Observatory, whose telescope is constantly trained on the sky. As a result, Green Bank is one of the most technologically quiet places in North America. Sometimes…

When Bill Pinkney sailed solo around the world in 1992—taking the hard route around the perilous Great Southern Capes—he did it for a higher purpose. His voyage was to inspire and educate children. That included students at his former inner-city Chicago elementary school. His goal? To show how far they could go by studying hard and making a commitment—the word he chose in naming his boat. When Bill takes schoolkids on the water in Commitment, he says, “They&rsquo…

More of God comes to us as we love God. The more that we love God, the more we are able to experience him. Part of this has to do with the nature of God, and part of it has to do with our own human nature. You understand from your own relationships, your story of love, that you don’t give your heart away to just anyone. You don’t give access to the deeper places in your soul to just any idle acquaintance — certainly not to someone who is at the same time…

Genesis 18:1-33 tells us about unexpected visitors to Abraham’s tent: Three men appeared out of nowhere, declaring that Sarah would give birth to a son. This announcement—which was surprising enough since it came from strangers—was even more unusual because of Sarah’s advanced age. Before long, however, Abraham and Sarah rejoiced when God kept His promise and gave them Isaac. A few chapters later, though, God told Abraham, “Take now your son,…

People come and go, and each season turns into the next; continual change is normal in our life. Thankfully, this is not the case with God, who is “the same yesterday and today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8). We can completely depend on the Lord’s steadfastness because He is: •Omniscient. Our Father knows what is happening for every person at every moment (Prov. 15:3). His knowledge is complete—no circumstance is hidden from Him; there is no motive…

Let’s come back to something very basic to our pursuit of God and the transformation he is always after in our lives—everything we do has a reason behind it, a motive. Within the Christian community we tend to focus on behavior, and that is right and that is wrong. Of course what we do matters. It matters how you treat people. It matters whether you lie or steal or commit adultery. Our actions have enormous consequences to them. However, according to Jesus,…

As a Christian, embracing your brokenness means acknowledging and accepting your imperfections, weaknesses, and struggles. It is recognizing that as humans, we are all flawed and in need of God's grace and redemption. Here are a few key aspects of embracing brokenness as a Christian: Humility: Embracing brokenness involves humbling yourself before God and others, acknowledging that you are not perfect and that you need God's help. It means letting go of pride and self,…

When you think of what Desolation looks like, picture a barren desert. Desolation wants to make everything a wasteland. So what is the opposite of a wasteland? Eden! The paradise of God, our first home, with all its lush, glorious beauty overflowing here, there, everywhere! If you follow the flow of Scripture and human history, you can see that our enemy wants to make everything a wasteland, and God wants to make everything a restored Eden. When it comes to the resilience…

Yesterday we looked at two reasons we might miss God’s will. John 14:26 says the Holy Spirit teaches us all things. So why do we sometimes have trouble understanding His plan? We make decisions according to emotions. When life gets hard, our instinct is to move away from the source of pain—but in reality, we need to move closer to Jesus. When we figure He couldn’t possibly want us to feel this way, we’re more prone to take action and hope that we&rsquo…