"Consider the Ravens..."

This year I decided I was finally going to do an Advent devotional for the month of December.  It's something I seem to forget about until mid-month and then the perfectionist in me doesn't want to do something half-way so I forego the whole experience.  But this year, I'm on it! I'm enjoying Ann Voskamp's "The Greatest Gift" devotional.  Advent celebrates the anticipated arrival of Jesus.  And even though the story line of Christmas morning is familiar, I'm seeing and experiencing Advent differently this year. Really, the point of Advent is to focus on the anticipated birth of Christ.  Anticipation is a funny thing. It's a wild card in our hand of emotions -- sometimes anticipation functions like excitement, sometimes like a pre-celebration, but sometimes it's the vehicle for anxiety.  And if you think about it, it's all made up -- anticipation is whatever we imagine it to be.  Experience informs our imagination, but we choose which th

We're coming up on what many people consider to be "the most wonderful time of the year."  Here in Minnesota, we've had a few rounds of light snow but it hasn't stuck around just yet.  Nonetheless, the reminders are present: the holidays are on their way.  And with the holidays come a whole host of events, people, and opportunities unique to this season.  The commercials on TV portray households as being cozy and warm and decorated just perfectly.  We buy all kinds of fluffy things to battle the biting cold -- socks, sweaters, blankets... And for most people, at some point, we find ourselves thinking or saying, "I just love this time of year."  Why?  I think it makes us feel good.  We like the feeling of the holidays and the advertising companies know it.  Who can resist a good snuggle with a puppy or a baby while sitting by the fireplace with a twinkling Christmas tree as the only source of light?  Only the Grinch himself, I'd say. But I don't

This week the Lord put a few conversations in my path that have caused me to stop and reflect on a core value in my life.  While I’m not totally through this process or conversation internally, I want to pose the same question to you because I think the mistake I made is an easy one, especially so for Christians. About a year and a half ago, I entered a season of intentionally reading my Bible more in pursuit of more practical godly wisdom.   Instead of just reading, I chose to write out Scripture in a notebook so I would remember it better.   In the course of a few months, I wrote out several whole books of the Bible, starting with Proverbs, then the books of 1 & 2 Peter, then 1 & 2 Thessalonians, then Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians and a whole host of Psalms.   But one of the phrases that has stuck with me from that time of study has been 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12.   It reads:                “ Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life , to mind you

I'm writing today from a coffee shop in a small town I didn't plan to stay in.  God has a funny way of encouraging His children to stop and smell the roses.  Here's the story: Thursday after work I buzzed down to a small town south of the metro to drop my car off and meet up with my dad to drive to Indianapolis for the weekend because Dad had another marathon to run.  I left my car with a former co-worker and family friend and spent just a few minutes catching up while we waited for Dad to arrive.  I got in the car with my dad and immediately said, "Man, I miss those guys!"  Dad asked, "Why don't you come see them more often -- they're not that far from you!"  I agreed and said I didn't know why but that I could be more intentional about those friendships. We had a great weekend in Indianapolis.  I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to navigate the city and how beautiful some parts of it were.  We never really got lost, which, if

What makes you feel alive?  Like, genuinely full of life?  In the years God has afforded you, what moments have caused you to be most glad for the life you have?  Are those moments often or really rare?  Can they be cultivated?  Or is it just a matter of perspective?  So many questions! This week something I read hit me like a ton of bricks: "Hurt and loss strengthen our desire to heal and thrive."  I think we can all acknowledge there's a pretty significant difference between surviving and thriving.  It's become a bit of a catch phrase for today's working-class millennials.  We don't want to just survive in our jobs, we want to thrive and have an impact because life is about more than paychecks and mortgages.  But humanity has long-since debated how a person "thrives." To some degree, the concept of thriving is merely an idea and is subject to relative standards.  What is considered "thriving" in a developing nation may still appe

So, there's something about me you should know. For the last six months, I have not had internet at home.  That's right -- I'm a millennial who has a job that requires internet access and yet I have no internet at home.  By extension, it means I do not have Netflix, Prime, Hulu, Spotify, or any of the other internet-based subscriptions so common to the American household today (and I don't have cable, either -- just 3 channels that come in when the weather is nice, haha).  I told this to a few people lately, forgetting how uncommon it was and was humored by their reactions.  What has become normal to me is outlandish to a few of my fellow millennials and completely unheard of when GenXer's compute that such a Millennial exists!  To be clear, I still have a smartphone with a (very small) data plan, so if absolutely necessary, I can access the online world... but honestly, my life doesn't require it from 4 PM to 8 AM, so I've foregone the $50+/month price ta

I recently heard an excellent sermon on this very topic and while I wouldn't want to one-up it, I will say this is well-worth a watch or listen:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLKFXqy7X3Y If you skipped the video, here's the thesis: sometimes God complicates our lives on purpose.  (What?!)  If you're new to Christianity or were of the belief that God only wants us to be happy, this might hurt a little bit... but hear me out. I've been reminded a lot lately that God functions much like a parent.  Because His lens is so much wider than any one human's ever will be, we need to acknowledge that some things we will just never have the answer to on this side of heaven.  So, to start, if you've got something you've been praying about and asking the Lord for and it just seems like the answer is always no even if the "thing" you're praying for is inherently good, it may be worth praying about His 'no.'  His answers are trustworthy, even wh

It's been said that we can tell a lot about a person by the way they wait.  The way we spend our time is an indicator of our priorities and our motivations.  Life requires waiting.  There's no way around it.  Modern technology has sped up many small things in life to speeds our great-grandparents could've only dreamed about, but there are still constants: one hour still holds 60 minutes, each of which hold 60 seconds, and the length of which has never changed.  There's a weight to this constant.  Honestly, who hasn't been subject to sitting in a doctor's office or a waiting room before an appointment, just watching the minutes tick by?  When there's a particularly important bit of information on the other side of those double doors, time may seem to speed up or slow down, but it doesn't.  It just feels like it does. Often, internally, we have a lot to process as we wait.  Many of us would rather not process the internal and would prefer to just move a

Good morning from my favorite little coffee shop! My reading and pondering this week showed me a pattern in Scripture that I knew about but just hadn't seen so clearly.  And then, "by chance" I saw this post from a friend online: When God gives you a word, there is always a season of preparation before release. Be patient. Be prepared!!!! Prophetess Yolanda Holmes The pattern is this: God declares some kind of promise , He allows a season of preparation , and then in due time, He yields proof of His faithfulness. Where do we see this pattern in Scripture?  Many places -- but just to name a few... Noah was told to build a boat to save his household from an impending flood that God was bringing because humanity had been so corrupted that God was basically using Noah to hit "Edit, Undo" and start over.  The promise is given in Genesis 6 along with His reasoning: 13  And God said to Noah,  “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, [ c ]  for