There's something profoundly significant about physical symbols in our spiritual lives. We are creatures who forget easily, whose attention drifts, whose hearts grow cold toward truths we've heard a thousand times. Perhaps this is why God, in His wisdom, doesn't just speak to us—He shows us. He engages our senses, gives us something to touch and taste and see, because words alone often fail to pen...  Read More

The Christmas season invites us into a curious tension. We string lights, hang decorations, and gather with loved ones, yet many of us carry heavy burdens that threaten to steal our joy. Financial worries, strained relationships, health concerns, grief—these realities don't pause for the holidays. In fact, they often feel more acute when the world around us insists on celebration.This tension isn'...  Read More

Life has a way of disappointing us. The Irish poet Seamus Heaney captured this universal experience in his famous poem "Blackberry Picking." He told the story of collecting blackberries as a child, carefully storing them in a shed, hoping they would last forever. But inevitably, he would return to find them rotting—a "rat-gray fungus" consuming what had once been sweet and fresh. Year after year, ...  Read More

Standing at the foot of Mount Sinai must have been terrifying.Thunder crashed overhead. Lightning split the sky. The mountain itself trembled, wrapped in smoke like a furnace, with the very presence of God descending in fire. The trumpet blast grew louder and louder until God answered Moses in thunder from the peak.The Israelites stood there, trembling, knowing that even touching the edge of the m...  Read More

There's something profoundly sobering about last words. When someone stands at the threshold between this life and the next, their words carry a weight that demands our attention. In 2 Timothy chapter 4, we encounter such a moment—the apostle Paul, imprisoned in Rome, knowing his execution is imminent, writing what would be his final letter to his young protégé Timothy.Paul wasn't just offering ca...  Read More

There's a fascinating tension in the Christian life. We're called to be "in the world but not of the world"—a delicate balance that becomes especially challenging when the world's values seep into our thinking without us even realizing it. This infiltration affects how we relate to God, to one another, and to those who lead us spiritually.The Apostle Paul understood this struggle. Writing to the c...  Read More