"There is no emphasis on my action, my behavior, my commitment level, or my productivity...the emphasis is on how out of my own control my own identity is… which feels uncomfortable… and liberating. I have favor from God. That’s the final word. My identity, the “what” of who I am, is already set in stone."...

"I know I'm ladder climbing when I'm angry." When Justin spoke those words this Sunday reality hit me like a ton of bricks. Up until that point I had been struggling to think of what kinds of things I climb the ladder towards instead of Christ, but those words brought to light a whole lot of things that made me see the reality of my struggles as a sinner in a broken world....

Last night, I sat around with my community group sipping on some decaf coffee and half-listening to the conversation as my ear was partially attuned to my son dumping a whole box of building blocks onto the floor in the room around the corner. The discussion had centered around God's faithfulness to Abraham throughout his life, and the many promises proclaimed directly to ...

Justin's question to the little Christians in the room stuck with me as I listened to the sermon Will you go? And if you choose to go, what motivates you? Certainty and control motivate me... So, saying yes to something that involves mystery, faith, trust, and risk...is just really hard for me. What motivates me to go when certainty is not promised and control is out of ...

One summer about 20 years ago, my family spent a couple of days on a genealogical pilgrimage. We visited the town in Quebec where my great great (...I don't remember how many greats) grandfather John Hinks and his wife Elsie settled after they immigrated from England. We traced their children to Powerscourt, Quebec, about a mile north of the US border, and found their name...

I rememberso much in highschool and young adulthood thinking that I just needed to try harder if I loved God enough, I wouldn't be sinning so much. I knew that I was a *sinner* at my core. I understood that sanctification was a work of grace and that I was saved by faith alone, not by my works but somehow I felt such great pressure to be stronger in my faith and better in ...

"Now theLordwas gracious to Sarah as he had said, and theLorddid for Sarah what he had promised.Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.Abraham gave the name Isaacto the son Sarah said, 'God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.' "After twenty-five years of waiting, God k...

A couple years ago I asked for a weighted blanket for Christmas. My counselor's office had one and every time I went there I would immediately grab it and place it on my lap. The heaviness of it gave me a sense of comfort and the barrier it placed between me and my counselor made me feel safe or at least less exposed. In his sermon on Sunday, Justin talked about all the ti...

I used to live under the illusion that I was "good" at relationships. The brokenness that I heard and saw around me was always because of someone else's stupidity, ignorance, or brash words. I thought I was the sole peacemaker in the world: always fixing and never to blame. Ilovedpeople. Myjobwas to be relational and to be in community. Why wouldn't I be good at ...

This week, our 2 year old wild child ran around the dining room table, and shrieked and sang as Zach and I tried really hard to sit at the dinner table and focus in on our advent devotional. Eventually we somewhat successfully got through it. This week we talked about Salvation. After reading about Saul, someone who severely misinterpreted salvation, and the woman at the w...