"Consider the Ravens..."

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...

One benefit of being a young professional who lives alone is that I have a lot of time to think. I mean, really sit and process and ask questions about bigger things than just "what's for dinner?"  Don't get me wrong -- I have hobbies, but sometimes an idea just comes to me that requires a bit more pondering.  Here are the questions I'm wrestling with this week: Where does hope come from?  How does hope interact with faith?  And where is love in all of this? When people talk about hope, often it's in a positive way.  We sometimes use it as a synonym for faith, but I think the two are different.  Hebrews 11:1 tells us that, "FAITH is confidence in what we HOPE for and assurance about what we do not see."  So, hope has to come before faith otherwise faith would be directionless, but where does it come from?   And, is it possible for hope to be a bad thing?  Like, what about when people say, "Oh, don't get your hopes up" or "we we...

Friends, I am in disbelief and awe of the words I'm about to write -- not because I'm any good at writing, but because God is so at work and I want to make sure to tell the story as it continues to unfold. At the start of 2018, I decided I was finally going to get a handle on my financial situation.  As I've watched friend after friend buy and move into houses of their own, it's become increasingly difficult to fight off envy.  But, because of choices I made in college (private, Christian education) my financial situation is a lot harder to find elbow room, and I finally realized that if it was ever going to change, I'm going to just have to own what I've signed on for and kick butt to pay it back.  I had wanted to take Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University class, but it just never worked out, until this January.  So, for the last 8 weeks, I've been outlining budgets, insurance, savings, etc and working SO hard to make sure that theory becomes reali...

The older I get, the more I realize the truth of this statement: "The only thing constant in life is change."  It's inescapable.  In fact, this very moment, even the biochemical processes in our bodies are seeking to change us, to age us, to heal us, and to grow us.  Change can feel pretty overwhelming.  If you've followed this blog for any length of time, you know, I've seen some change in these last years. This month marks 15 months at my current employer.  This is the longest I have been with a single employer outside of international missions.  Part of me is a bit embarrassed or repulsed by that stat, after all, I've been out of college for 7 years.  But another part of me is relieved, because for the first time ever , I'm not facing a life-altering change like a career move or new education program in the foreseeable future.  I finally have a sustainable life rhythm.  The funny part is, the last 15 months have felt closer to 15 weeks....

I re-listened to a sermon yesterday on the theology of suffering from a pastor (Levi Lusko) who suffered immense pain after losing his daughter to an asthma attack in 2012.  The following quotation has caused me to stop and think so many times since initially hearing it that I couldn't help but share it and relate it to my new career endeavor. "If we take away suffering altogether, we take away the ministry. The Bible tells us that we're a royal priesthood and holy nation and we like that!  But most of us forget that Kings and Priests have to be anointed.  What are they anointed with? Oil.  Where does oil come from?  Olives-- olives that have been pressed and crushed and broken down so that the goodness can be drawn out from it.  Who was crushed in order to be anointed?  Jesus.  He was crushed at Gethsemane (literally meaning "oil press") so we could take His anointing as kings and priests of God's kingdom. In return, we sometimes feel crushed b...