My wife and I have the privilege to be a part of the worship team at our local church. It’s really special to me because it allows my wife and I to listen to music together that we might think would translate well into our “worship culture” at church. We have lots of fun finding and discussing songs and even working on harmonies together. It is such a blessing to us. The other day she asked me a question that caused me to think beyond the “mus ...

In Christianity there is a lot of talk on faith. Over the many discussions on this topic I have noticed that there is a very large gap between the biblical definition, explanation and understanding of faith versus the common understanding of faith. How many times have you heard this phrase or a version of this phrase? “Yes, things are going very bad but I just need to have faith.” Sometimes we hear this and nod along in agreement because we ...

In the book of Samuel, there is a story of the young prophet’s calling. The story starts in 1 Samuel 1 with a barren woman, Hannah, that prays to the Lord for a son and promises to dedicate the child to the Lord if she was given a son (1 Samuel 1:11). The Lord heard her prayer and she had a son (1 Samuel 1:20) and after he was of age she brought him to the temple to serve the Lord under the guidance of Eli for all his days. She names the boy “Sam ...

Did you know, as Christians, Jesus called us the “salt of the earth” in Matthew 5:13. At face value there isn’t a whole lot to really miss in this passage, right? It is fairly easy to understand what it would entail to be salt… it preserves, it flavors, etc. So, cool, yeah, I am salt. However, Jesus doesn’t stop there, he also infers with his question that if the salt loses its saltiness, it can’t be made salty again. In fact its only use is t ...

“How do I prove to someone that God loves them?” This is the question that was recently posed to me by a very good friend. We were discussing the struggles of tangibly feeling the love of God. The conversation was a difficult one to dissect. I mean, how do you explain to someone such Christian-ese idioms like “Surrender it into the arms of the Savior” or “Give it to God” or “Leave it at the cross”? Of course, when certain friends begin to thin ...

James 1:19-21, 26-27 Many of us over the holidays had the blessing of spending extra time with friends and family. It is always very fun and relaxing when I’m around my close family and friends, however in my relaxation I find I let the “bridle” of my tongue also be dangerously relaxed. It got me thinking about all the times we allow familiarity to dictate how we use our words. James has a lot to say on the tongue. He starts in 1:19 by tell ...