Laura and Jason Van Dyk
How can art deepen your faith? If you had asked us this question about 10 years ago, we wouldn’t have had much of an answer. In fact, we were in the middle of figuring it out for ourselves. We’re Laura and Jason—parents to our little girl, Florence; ...
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Carolyn Wildermuth
If I had a nickel for every time I said, “I don’t have enough time to do that, ” I would be rich. For me, and I suspect most people, not enough time is an automatic excuse for things I have not thought through or prioritized. The bottom line ...
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Davina McDonald
You may be seated in a small and sparsely furnished room, staring at the single painting, waiting to learn whether you got the job. Maybe you are the nail-biter pacing the floor of a hospital waiting room, longing for a word of hope that your loved one will pull ...
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Jason Malec
Every one of us has experienced a parental fail. If you’re a parent, you can point to those times when you messed up. (Maybe as recently as this morning!) If you’re not a parent, there are likely times when your own parents made bad decisions or acted in a ...
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Hannah DeMarco
As an anxious kid, I hated watching action movies. As those films reached their climax, the protagonist faced obstacle after obstacle—each one seemingly more and more impossible to handle. Even though I knew they would make it out alive in the end, I couldn’t shake the feeling while watching: ...
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Gary Wiley
When everything returns to normal Earlier this week I sat down with a group of parishioners to discuss the logistics of how to return to corporate worship once the lockdown restrictions are eased. There we sat with our masks on, with no intention to engage in physical contact, ...
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Centro de recursos bíblicos de American Bible Society
«Sólo a ustedes he escogido de entre todos los pueblos de la tierra.Por eso habré de pedirles cuentasde todas las maldades que han cometido» (Amós 3:2 DHH). ¿Por qué el libro del profeta Amós es especial? Amós no era un profeta profesional como lo eran los ...
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Jen Pollock Michel
To come of age—at least in our family—means earning the right to watch The Wizard of Oz . (Isnt a certain degree of maturity required for facing those evil monkeys?) The film adaptation of L. Frank Baums novel is a classic story about the search for home. Dorothy and ...
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Dana Ergenbright
It can be easy to connect with God and spend time reading the Bible when we feel peaceful and happy with everything in our lives. But what do we do when pain and loss have slammed into us, when our lives and hearts are a chaotic mess? It can ...
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Harriet Hill
What to do with fear What do we do when we feel afraid? In A Grief Observed, C.S. Lewis writes, “You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death.… Only real risk tests the ...
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Hannah DeMarco
Have you heard of the phrase toxic positivity? Toxic positivity occurs when people—especially during challenging times in their lives—push themselves to feel and “be” perfectly happy. I don’t know about you, but I’ve felt the pressure to be this way during quarantine. Social media gurus ...
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RahShell Hemphill
As a kid, one of my favorite things to do was to color. I was a perfectionist. I had to stay inside the lines at all times. Crayola was my favorite brand of crayon because they color the best. You couldn’t bring me cheap crayons because I wouldn’t use ...
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Davina McDonald
You may be seated in a small and sparsely furnished room, staring at the single painting, waiting to learn when you can go back to work. Maybe you are the nail-biter pacing outside the hospital, longing for a word of hope that your loved one will pull through after ...
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Christina Miller
Questions in a time of pandemic We all want answers. Many times they are easily given: What time is dinner? When is my trip home? Who will join me? Answers bring clarity and structure to our lives. They help us know what to expect, giving us concrete handles ...
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Hannah DeMarco
Your eyes flutter open after a restful sleep warmly tucked under the covers. You yawn, stretch, and take a deep sigh. But as your feet hit the cold, hard floor, reality comes flooding back to you. In those blissful moments between sleep and waking, you almost forgot about ...
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Gary Wiley
He Is Risen! It was late that [Easter] Sunday evening, and the [believers] were gathered together behind locked doors, because they were afraid of the [COVID-19]. Then Jesus came and stood among them. “Peace be with you, ” he said. ‘Tis true. The preceding paragraph ...
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Gary Wiley
Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! This past weekend we celebrated Palm Sunday. We looked on at the celebration from the outside, as we still cannot gather publicly for worship. Ironically, that may have been a fitting reality this time—seeing this from ...
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Hannah DeMarco
I’m writing this, hunched over my keyboard at the dining room table. I’ve been seeing this table in my city rowhome a lot lately. Every morning, I drink the same coffee, eat the same breakfast, and sit in the same rickety wooden chair. I notice the same kitchen cabinet ...
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Gary Wiley
Estimados lectores, nos encontramos en un momento difícil como nación. El brote de COVID-19 puso patas arriba nuestras vidas. Algunos de nosotros no podemos abandonar nuestros hogares, algunos han perdido el empleo, algunos están enfermos y algunos de nuestros seres queridos han muerto. No podemos asistir al culto público. ...
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Gary Wiley
Dear readers, we find ourselves in a challenging time as a nation. Our lives have been turned upside down by the COVID-19 outbreak. Some of us are unable to leave our homes, some have lost employment, some are sick, and some of our loved ones have died. We can’t ...
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Gary Wiley
It’s too early to think about Christmas! If you are observing the season of Lent, you know that we are in the fourth week of Lent with less than three weeks until the great celebration of Easter. Celebrating Christmas is probably not on your radar at all. And ...
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Gary Wiley
Boy, we don’t like to hear that! All of our accumulated wisdom from over 7 billion people multiplied over millennia adds up to a bunch of foolishness. The apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 3:18-19a, “Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, ...
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Hannah DeMarco
Hi, I’m Hannah, and I’m a recovering germaphobe. When I was a kid, I worried about catching diseases from touching other kids’ toys and locker doors. I washed (and still wash!) my hands diligently and thoroughly. I took every single one of my vitamins. For me, this ...
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Peter Edman
Memorization has been on my mind and on my task list recently, including preparing a list of the top 10 Bible passages everyone should memorize. One candidate for that top-ten list of memory verses is Paul’s reminder in Philippians 4:8 to “fill your mind with those things that are ...
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Hannah DeMarco
I just can’t catch a break. I remember hearing my mom utter these words at her most stressful times when I was a kid. I also remember thinking, “Could it really be that bad?” Now that I’m adult, I better understand how my mom sometimes ...
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Christina Miller
The season of Lent is upon us, beginning last week with Ash Wednesday. In many churches, clergy traced ashes across recipients’ foreheads, reciting the words, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you will return.” This somber reminder led us into a 40-day journey, mirroring Jesus’s time of ...
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Gary Wiley
Marked for all to see I’ll never forget the first time I received ashes on my forehead on Ash Wednesday. I was part of a non-denominational church in New York City, a church that, although it was a relatively new church plant, was committed to be grounded in ...
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Hannah DeMarco
I haven’t seen the sun in four days. OK, I’m being a bit dramatic. But I’ve almost forgotten what it’s like to wake up to sun shining and birds singing. I wake up instead to wintery rain tapping my window. And it makes me want to do what ...
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Randy Petersen
Truth has taken a beating in the last few years. From the White House to the Vatican, the concern for “fake news” is talked about, but the reality of deception is as old as Genesis. We can blame the Internet for getting falsehood out faster than before. We ...
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Josh Lawson
Like it or not, failure is an inevitable part of life. We face it at work, at home, and in ministry. Unfortunately, society doesn’t place a high degree of value on failure, so people are not often equipped to deal with it when it comes. But failure can be ...
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Hannah DeMarco
Often, scrolling through Instagram offers a nice check-in on what my friends are up to. I sit nestled on my comfy couch, sipping coffee and smiling at all the fun the world has to offer. Sometimes, though, when I’m having a blah day, Instagram feels like ...
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Randy Petersen
Many Bible readers get into a certain rhythm—reading 5-10 verses of the Bible text and asking certain questions to dig into the meaning. Perhaps they read an entry from a devotional booklet. This is a fine model for Bible study, no need to change it. Unless ...
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Kari E. Randall
My friends are railing about politics on Facebook again. I’m exhausted. My social media feeds brim with news of violence, incivility, and decidedly un-neighborly behavior with no end in sight. And that’s just in the United States. Does it feel the same for you? ...
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Davina McDonald
The sun has just come up and already I’m feeling anxious, flustered, even exhausted. Not only do I have noise all around me, but I also deal with noise within me. The hustle and bustle of commuting only makes this worse. If I’m not careful, I will allow things ...
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Hannah DeMarco
I’m sitting at a stop sign, warm Chick-fil-a chicken strips sitting in my front seat as I listen to my favorite song. And then— WHACK!— another car hits me head-on. As much as I hate to admit it, my first thought is, NO! My ...
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Dottie McLoughlin
I recently reached Senior Citizen status and was having a little trouble celebrating the event. It seemed a bit unreal—after all, wasnt I just 35 a year or two ago? Then I remembered: Oh yeah, the kids are married with families of their own. My husband and I downsized ...
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Hannah DeMarco
We’re all sitting around the Christmas dinner table, rattling off our New Years resolutions: I’m going to lose 20 pounds! I’m finally going to write that novel I keep dreaming about. I’m getting a boyfriend, ...
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Alasdair Wallace
Alasdair Wallace – Bible Advocacy Campaign Manager, Scottish Bible Society I can sometimes forget that when I’m reading the Bible: what I’m looking at is a translation. And not just a translation into English from the original languages of Hebrew ...
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Bryan Park
I have a particular fondness for old hymns of the faith. A good hymn allows us to sing Scripture, and when we sing Scripture, we’re interacting with the Bible, which shapes our choices and transforms our relationships. And since we are just a few days away from Christmas, I’d ...
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Hannah DeMarco
In just two days, we’ll live through the shortest day of the year. And I will hate every second of it. Okay, that’s a little dramatic. But all this winter cold and darkness makes me long for 9 pm sunsets, ice cream, boardwalks, and the ...
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Christina Miller
I often wonder how Mary felt in the days leading up to Jesuss birth. What did it feel like to nurture and carry the Messiah? What physical pain and spiritual peace did she experience? When she received news of her unexpected pregnancy, Luke tells us, Mary treasured up all ...
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John Skillen
Every year at Christmas time my family looks forward to watching the “Service of Lessons and Carols” televised from King’s College in Cambridge, England. The singing is exhilarating, and so is the beautiful reading of the passages from Scripture that foretell and narrate the birth of Jesus. The readers’ ...
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Hannah DeMarco
Wait, how is it Christmastime already? you ask the calendar in front of you. While you’re looking forward to the Christmas celebrations, you’re also overwhelmed with anxiety. Christmas is expensive. With all the gifts and décor and parties, your bank account quickly drains down ...
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Tara-Leigh Cobble
In Part 1 of this series, we talked about three common mistakes I have made when reading the Bible and how my relationship with God benefitted when I corrected those things. The first mistake I made was approaching Scripture with a lens for myself ...
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Heather Drew
Where did all these feelings come from? All of my life I have been called an “emotional person.” But here is a fact: everyone is an “emotional person.” Emotions are natural and normal, and there are a variety of ways we can express them. Our emotions are created ...
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Hannah DeMarco
All you want to do is gather with family around the Thanksgiving table and eat good food. But you’re already feeling the stress of the holiday season. You dread fighting for the last turkey at the grocery store. You’re worried about that one relative who ...
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Jennifer Duncan
Last week was Veterans Day and I couldn’t help but remember that day by honoring a late neighbor and reflecting on how our lives intersected at a critical time in his life. The encounter also helped me to find a theme in Scripture that I had not noticed before. ...
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Sherri K. Edman
We try valiantly to limit media consumption in our home, but as any parent knows, it’s incredibly difficult. And as any stay-at-home parent knows, it’s especially difficult when your kids are operating at maximum “twerpitude” and driving each other—and you—crazy. Sometimes, when we are in each other’s faces, the ...
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Hannah DeMarco
I smiled at my little nephew, heart swelling with pride. There he was on the school stage, tie askew, singing “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer” loudly and badly. He didn’t know the hand motions. He got carried away and sang the closing note for too long. And ...
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Tara-Leigh Cobble
Though I’d grown up in the church and had earned my share of Scripture memory badges in Sunday School, I was an adult before I realized I didn’t actually understand much of the Bible. I knew how to pull out a verse of encouragement when I needed ...
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Anne Kennedy
The Bible is usually the last thing I want to face in the morning. I lie in bed in the early dawn, that netherworld between darkness and light, my phone in my hand, teetering between clicking on Facebook and clicking on my Bible app. I grew ...
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Gary Wiley
I have been thinking a lot about Jesus’s encounters with people at the dinner table. I wonder what it would be like to have him as a mealtime companion. What would he talk about? Would he walk the path of least resistance, trying his best not to bring up ...
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Hannah DeMarco
The first time a good friend “broke up” with me in middle school, I ran home crying to my mom. She patiently listened as I detailed every aspect of our friendship, everything we said, everything that happened the last time we had a sleepover at ...
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Rachel Dawn Hayes
The Bible tells us to rejoice. All the time and in everything. I spend my days juggling a toddler, freelance work, volunteer positions, a husband, friends, and a household. I cook meals that are too complex. I regularly overschedule my days. I am not continuously mindful of my very ...
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Tara-Leigh Cobble
For years I struggled with Bible reading. Not only was Scripture challenging to understand, but that challenge also left me with a lack of desire to read it. Every day I felt defeated before I even started; and most days I didn’t start at all. I ...
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Hannah DeMarco
Put away your pumpkin spice, autumnal gourds, and freshly picked apples. I’m the one woman in all of America who hates the fall. Well, actually, I don’t really hate fall. I just hate what it represents: the descent into shorter days, colder nights, more ...
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Gary Wiley
Early in my marriage, my wife used to ask me to “whisper a prayer” whenever a situation would arise. I thought her expression was quaint, maybe even lacking a degree of seriousness. However, it was not like her to take prayer lightly. In those early years of our marriage, ...
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Mark Giacobbe
There’s something I’ve noticed when I get together with old friends to talk about days gone by: we remember the same events differently. Sometimes these differences involve discrepancies that beg to be resolved. But usually they involve different perspectives; different angles on the same event, with ...
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Hannah DeMarco
I never thought I’d watch a movie about a man cutting off his own arm. But there I was, eyes glued to the screen, watching James Franco stab himself. The movie, 127 Hours , is based on the true story of a climber ...
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Joseph Bentz
The cross, the central symbol of the Christian faith, holds such power for believers that they are often willing to go to great lengths to display it. In a remote field in Lithuania tens of thousands of crosses of every imaginable size and design have been planted on a ...
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Joy Clarkson
There is an image in my mind which was planted in the earliest dawn of my memory, and which I hope will remain with me into the twilight of old age. It is of my mother reading her Bible. She sits enthroned on her overstuffed blue chair, ensconced in ...
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Hannah DeMarco
As a kid, I longed for the day when I’d be free of the heartache and horror of middle school politics. I yearned for adulthood. Adults always get along! I naively thought. I was told by teachers and parents that things would get better. You’re all ...
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Joseph Bentz
One clue that a fictional character has become truly influential in a culture is when that character is known by people who have never read the novels or seen the films in which that character first appeared. Many people know who Sherlock Holmes is even if they have never ...
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Mike Anderson
“Don’t you know you aren’t supposed to do that? God tells us not to. You know better.” Growing up around church but frequently found breaking the rules, I was used to appeals like these to correct my behavior. There was a measure of truth in them that resonated with ...
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Brendan Michael
Can getting angry ever be a good thing? That depends on how we think about anger. What is the purpose of anger? American theologian Tim Keller defines anger as “love in motion toward a threat to that which you love.” 1 This is the “righteous anger” of which we often speak. One ...
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Hannah DeMarco
As a kid, one of my favorite books was Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. I’d giggle and groan as my mom read to me every awful thing a boy named Alexander experiences in a single day. First, Alex’s ...
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Lydia Sheldon
Excerpts from Thoughts on Religious Experience , adapted by Lydia Sheldon Have you ever wondered if you’re the only one who can’t seem to concentrate when you sit down to pray or study God’s Word? Have you asked yourself why you ...
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Gary Wiley
I confess I am afraid of the dark. Especially when it is very dark—I mean really dark—like pitch black. I used to live in New York City and went through the blackout of 2003 when all power was out for more than 24 hours. It was dark, but not ...
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Hannah DeMarco
You pull into your driveway, turn off the car, and lower your head onto the steering wheel. You dread getting out of the car. At least on the way home, you could zone out and listen to music. Walking up your driveway and seeing the shutters that need to ...
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Matt Cohen
The first words of the Lord Jesus Christ’s public ministry were, “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15). We tend to focus a lot on the “believe the gospel” part of that charge. But how often do ...
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Sarah Berthely
When I lived in Mexico, one of my favorite spots was a park with a long path lining several small lakes. The lush getaway was hidden amid the chaos of the city. A few older, gigantic trees lined the path, their roots partially exposed. People often climbed the banks ...
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Hannah DeMarco
I’m writing this from my doctor’s office. While I’d rather be anywhere but here, I’m thankful I have a doctor I can go to when I’m sick. But I’m not thankful for all the money and time spent talking to doctors with dead ends. I’m ...
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Suzy Silk
The Bible is not merely a magnificent book written over hundreds of years by a variety of people in a variety of literary styles. It is God’s Word and it teaches us about his character, how to live according to his laws, and how his redemptive plan makes sense of ...
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Mike Anderson
Everybody wants to be free, right? America was founded on the principle that every human being has a right to life, liberty (freedom), and the pursuit of happiness. The theme shows up all throughout American songs, literature, and movies. The cry of William Wallace at the end of the ...
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Hannah DeMarco
Why do bad things like to happen all at once? I imagine all my greatest fears huddled together in a dimly-lit basement, plotting their coordinated attack. I’ll make her feel unsafe by making her have to find a new place to live , one cackles. ...
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Margi McCombs
Adapted from “Now Is the Time Parents’ Guide” by Margi McCombs. If you’re a parent, you might not share in your kids’ joy as you anticipate weeks and weeks of no school. By mid-summer, you’ve gone through an untold number of ice pops. ...
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Mark Giacobbe
The Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts together make up more than twenty-five percent of our New Testament—more than the letters of Paul. These books, a carefully crafted two-part account of Jesus and the early church, were written by a single author, traditionally identified as “Luke the ...
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Hannah DeMarco
You wake up, hopeful and ready for a new day. But as you check the time, you see you’re already late for work—and you haven’t even showered yet! It’ll be okay , you tell yourself. You’re determined to have a good ...
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Liz Wann
Anxiety is close to home for me. In fact, it’s right under my roof. Though I’m not typically an anxious person, I’ve had my own dark season of anxiety. And my husband has struggled with it on a sometimes daily basis—even to the point where it has affected our ...
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Alex Miller
A striking pattern in the Gospels is the way Jesus’s disciples often seem jarred by his creative teaching style. They struggle to interpret him so much that when, late in his ministry, Jesus drops his metaphorical language and begins to tell them directly that he is going to die, ...
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Jennica Stevens
It’s 6 o’clock. You shuffle into the house, not even bothering to take off your shoes before plopping down on the couch. Is too early to go to sleep? you ask yourself. But then you remember all the things you still have to ...
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Matt Cohen
What does the Bible say about dating or courtship? It can be difficult to know how to date in a godly way. After all, you won’t find the word “dating” in the Bible. Much of the Bible was written at times and in cultures where arranged marriages were the ...
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Joy Clarkson
Legend has it that when Saint Bonaventure received the news that he had been elected a cardinal, he was washing dishes in the monastery kitchen. Never very impressed with the prestige of this world, he requested that the cardinal’s hat (a symbol of honor and authority) be hung on ...
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Matt Cohen
“Matt, I think you’re depressed.” The statement shocked me because my wife is not given to exaggeration. Thankfully, because I was shocked I was also speechless, so she was able to continue. For about an hour or so, my wife helped me to see things that, as a pastor, ...
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Hannah DeMarco
You’re having a wonderful time, watching your kids play in the sand at the beach. But then, almost audibly, something tells you, What if they drown? What if they die right here, right now? It doesn’t matter if the event is unlikely. Your heart ...
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Mike Anderson
This is the fifth installment in a series of blog posts addressing Jesus’s promise that his followers who abide in his Word will know the truth (John 8:31-32). Shortly after I became a Christian, the leaders in the ministry ...
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Liz Wann
As I scroll through Facebook, I see blog posts for potty training your toddler over the weekend, how to get your kids to listen, and how to get your kids to eat right. I read one post that tells moms to cloth diaper their babies and feed them homemade ...
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Jennica Stevens
“Hey, want to grab a bite to eat tomorrow night?” These words often send me into spirals of dread during times of financial hardship. There have been times when even spending $3 to get ice cream with friends caused a well of anxiety ...
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Catherine Ricketts
Scripture, Animated It was January, dark by five, and bone-cold. I arrived at the party early, shivering as I slid off my coat. Inside, the tree was lit, the candles blazed, and the children pleaded for me to try their game. “We’re journeying to the Christ Child!” a ...
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Rosalie J. Karjala
It’s Easter morning, and I’m tucked in between my mother and father on the church pew, shivering a bit from the walk through the spring rain. I feel the swell of the organ as the voices of the congregation rise around me in rich harmonies. The joyous fervor of ...
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Hannah DeMarco
Growing up in the 90s, I was bombarded with messages of self-worth 247. Almost every pre-teen Disney movie or Nickelodeon TV show bedazzled itself with the same tried-and-true message: Be yourself! Don’t let anyone dull your shine! It all sounded nice, but it seemed ...
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Suzy Silk
Almost every Sunday, churches across America remember Jesus’s “Last Supper” as they take communion together. Eating bread or wafers and drinking grape juice or wine, they recount Jesus’s words: “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me. … This cup ...
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Matt Cohen
I became a runner when I was twenty-one. I tried running several times before, but it never stuck. I would go out for a run by myself, start way too fast, and give up with a painful side stitch after only five minutes. It was incredibly discouraging. Everything changed ...
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Maria Wolf
Kim didn’t feel close to God anymore. But she thought she was OK. She was alone, yes, but she felt she could handle everything on her own. And then her life fell apart. Her heart was broken through the pain of divorce. Twice . ...
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Mark Giacobbe
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesuss cry of dereliction from the cross recorded in Mark 15:33-34 haunts us each Lenten season. Traditionally, the church sets aside this season to ponder the deep mystery of God sundered from God, the eternal Son cast out from the ...
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Mike Anderson
“Why are we wasting our time studying? What really matters is doing what Jesus said.” I’ve been a Christian for 12 years now, and in that time, I’ve heard countless sentiments like this—and for good reason, too. Jesus himself said, “If you love me, you ...
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Hannah DeMarco
It was Friday night, and I was alone. I began the day envisioning a night full of laughter, deep conversation, and good food. But three minutes earlier, my friend had texted me to cancel our dinner plans. At first, I felt like ...
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Catherine Ricketts
Sometimes in my Bible-reading, I desire to slow down in order to imaginatively enter a single scene or to deeply consider a single theological idea. In moments like these, visual art is a welcome companion, for it captivates my imagination and slows me to a meditative pace. ...
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Mike Anderson
Shortly after I became a Christian, I was encouraged to memorize Bible verses. I remember deriving great comfort from memorizing Romans 8:28: “And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (ESV). Then one ...
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Hannah DeMarco
How am I feeling? Hold on. Be right back. Gotta go watch 37 episodes of TV and do a little online shopping and bake some cookies and plan a vacation I’ll never go on real quick. That’s an actual quote from me this winter. ...
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