READ: MARK 10:46-52; 1 PETER 2:9"Mom, look!” The whole drive home from the eye doctor, I kept pointing at the world outside the car window. For the very first time, I could read the billboards over the interstate and make out the vibrant gr
READ: PSALMS 25:16-20; 28:6-9; 38:1-8; 138:1-8One of my favorite Bible verses is Psalm 138:8. It says, “Yahweh will fulfill that which concerns me. Your loving kindness, Yahweh, endures forever. Don’t forsake the works of your own hands.” T
READ: ROMANS 8:18-39; REVELATION 21:1-5Think of your favorite T-shirt. How long have you had it? How much have you worn it? Is it the same now as it was on the day it was first made? Probably not. Why? Because of something scientists call e
READ: PSALMS 55:16-18; 57:1-11I’ve had days when I’ve cried out to God again and again because I cannot face all that is going on in my life without Him. It takes humility to admit that I need Him to get through my life, and that I especial
READ: MATTHEW 6:25-34; 18:1-4; 19:13-15When I was a young child, I didn’t worry about the future or what I was going to do next. I was focused solely on the present, and I relied completely on my parents to guide me. They prepared my meals,
READ: JUDGES 6:1–7:25; ROMANS 5:6; 2 CORINTHIANS 12:8-10Have you ever made excuses to God? Blamed God when bad things happened? Feared what others would think if you obeyed God’s voice? I have. But so did Gideon, and God worked through Gide
READ: PSALM 139:1-18; 2 CORINTHIANS 5:16-17Who am I? What is my purpose? Do I matter? If you’ve asked these questions, you’re not alone. When describing ourselves, we often list physical attributes such as age, height, hair color, and ethni
READ: PSALMS 1:1-3; 92:12-15; ROMANS 4Arbor Day has come around again, prompting us to take notice of an important part of God’s creation—trees! It’s good to appreciate all the good things trees provide us with, like clean air, food, wood,
READ: PSALM 18:1-2; MATTHEW 7:24-27; 1 JOHN 4:9-10When my high school sweetheart broke up with me in college, my whole world turned upside down. He had been my everything: my best friend, my anchor, my fortress, my rock. And suddenly it was
READ: PSALM 139:1-12; ROMANS 8:26-39; HEBREWS 13:5My heart beats quickly in my chest, and I feel a bit nauseous. Everything feels out of my control again, and I don’t like it. Moments like this come and drag me to a dark place. I feel uncer
READ: PSALM 19:1-6; MATTHEW 27:45-54The sky is one of the most varied and beautiful parts of God’s creation. In the morning you can see soft pinks and yellows amid golden sunlight as the sun rises up. In the afternoon you can see fluffy whi
READ: MATTHEW 28:16-20; JOHN 20:19-31; 1 PETER 1:5-9Doubt can be so sneaky. It could be that our whole lives we feel like we’ve had rock solid faith, and then one day we find ourselves asking, “Is God real?” For anyone experiencing doubt to
READ: LUKE 23:50–24:12, 36-48; JOHN 20The resurrection is vital to the Christian faith. It proves that Jesus is both fully God and fully human. But did Jesus really come back from the dead? Or did someone steal His body? Let’s look at some
READ: MATTHEW 20:17-19, 28; 27:27-54; JOHN 19:16-37One of the questions people often ask about Jesus is, “Did He really die? Or did He just pass out and revive later on? Did He fake it so He could get everyone’s attention…and then pretend t
READ: MATTHEW 27; ROMANS 10:9-13; 1 JOHN 1:7–2:2"His blood is on us and on our children!” the people shouted. This quote comes from Matthew 27:25. The people are gathered around the Roman governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate. They are begging
READ: MATTHEW 26:14-56; 1 CORINTHIANS 11:23-25; HEBREWS 4:14-16Have you ever been betrayed? From large betrayals to small disappointments, betrayal is a hard thing to bear. And yet, it is so common. There probably is not a person in the wor
READ: 1 PETER 2:22-25It seems so unfair, how Jesus was taken to the cross. He is perfect. He never did anything wrong, much less anything deserving of death. It seems so confusing that He would allow it to happen. Jesus had all the power. H
READ: ROMANS 8:1; GALATIANS 6:14; HEBREWS 12:1-3; 1 PETER 2:23-25When I see a cross, I don’t think much of it. People use the shape of a cross on jewelry, t-shirts, tattoos, logos, books, and church buildings. But back in the New Testament
READ: ISAIAH 53:3-5; 1 PETER 2:24; REVELATION 21:4Throughout human history, a wide variety of cultures have had rites of passage where individuals had to endure something painful to be seen as an adult. Having a high pain tolerance has ofte
READ: JOB 40:15-24; PSALMS 57; 142The young man leaned heavily against the cave’s wall. He gasped for breath, clutching a wound at his side where blood seeped through his shirt and stained his fingers red.“You promised,” he spat into th
READ: PSALM 10:11-18; EPHESIANS 6:18; HEBREWS 4:14-16I accidentally tapped “emergency call” on my phone today. Immediately, I felt my heartbeat speed up. I had never done that before, and I wasn’t sure what it would do. Thankfully, I was ab
READ: 1 CORINTHIANS 15:20-28, 54-57; REVELATION 1:17-18Today, we’re going to revisit yesterday’s poem. Not only does Jesus’s death and resurrection give us victory over sin, but it also gives us victory over death! In 1 Corinthians 15, we see
READ: EPHESIANS 6:10-18; 1 PETER 5:6-10; REVELATION 12:10-11One year in college, I struggled with an onslaught of repeated failures in my walk with Jesus. Although I confessed these failures, I was plagued with relentless guilt. Most mornings
READ: PSALM 119:9-16, 97-104; MATTHEW 5:13-16Have you ever been told you were too young to do something or go somewhere or hang out with certain people? Maybe nobody told you with words, but their body language, tone, and actions conveyed t
READ: JOHN 10:1-18; 14:26; 1 JOHN 4:1-21Have you ever heard someone talk about what God is “telling them” and felt frustrated, wondering, “Why isn’t God talking to me?” I remember feeling that way.But let me encourage you! It takes time