Building a Monumental Faith that Stands

by Michael Catt (from the Leap of Faith series) Joshua 4 I. Why the stones? Monuments are built to remember and teach. The stones were: Teaching tools for future generations Reminders of those first steps of faith To preserve and promote the memory of what God had done What do these stones mean?1) They were […]

"Wisdom is, and starts with, the humility to accept the fact that you don't have all the right answers, and the courage to learn to ask the right questions." - Anonymous

Wisdom

"The greatest affliction of life is never to be afflicted." - Anonymous

"Great trials seem to be necessary preparation for great duties." - Thompson

Affliction

"We ought as much to pray for a blessing upon our daily rod as upon or daily bread." - John Owen

"Adversity is the trial of principle. Without it, a man hardly knows whether he is honest or not." - Henry Fielding

Adversity

Signs That I Need a Retreat

by Robert Johnson 1) I feel emotionally “raw” in the face of criticism or disagreements.2) I struggle with creativity.3) I fall into a rut of being pessimistic.4) My need to belong consistently displaces my responsibility to lead.5) My stress levels begin to impact my nutritional choices.6) There’s an increase in the temptation to lead by […]

Contentment

What Contentment IS Contentment is the ability to have joy in my life, being thankful for what i have instead of bitter about what I don’t. Contentment is know that my value as a person is in no way tied to the value of my assets. Contentment is the ability to say no to things […]

Are You Waiting for “The One?”

Cultivating Realistic, Positive Expectations for Christian Marriage – Margaret Kim Peterson & Dwight N. Peterson. IVP Books. Does God want to write your love story? Maybe not! Through positive, realistic assessments of family, conflict, friendship, children, household economics and life stages, Margaret and Dwight Peterson help us locate the difference between inherited images of marriage […]

Ancient Christian Devotional

Lectionary Cycle B – Edited by Cindy Crosby. Formatio. This devotional guide combines excerpts from the writings of the church fathers as found in the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture arranged in fifty-two weeks of readings following the weekly lectionary cycle B. Spend each day with God as you draw from the prayers and hymns […]

The Most Important Thing You Do

How could eleven men replace Jesus and begin the most important movement in human history? It sounds impossible and yet it happened. This small band of leaders were used by God to begin the church, empowered by the Holy Spirit, but the genesis for their leadership happened three years before. And he went up on […]

Discerning God’s Will

There are few sights this time of year that are as captivating as watching geese flying south for the winter. They glide along in “V” formation with the grace and elegance of synchronized swimmers while giving their honks of encouragement to those in the lead. They possess the accuracy and precision of the mighty Blue […]

A View from Mount Perspective (Part 2)

Because Terri was home recovering from surgery, I had gone to the church to meet my friend, Pastor Ed Litton. Ed was in town to speak at Sherwood Christian Academy’s graduation that night. I walked out of my study and next door to the Strauss House, a guest house our church maintains for speakers who […]

R Is for Rejoice (Part 1)

On January 11, 1877, Phillips Brooks, the well-known rector of Trinity Church in Boston, MA, stood before the ministerial students, faculty and guests at Yale Divinity School to deliver the first of eight lectures in distinguished “Lyman Beecher Lectureship on Preaching.” After taking a few minutes to lay the groundwork for his series, Brooks made […]