“He’s perfect!” my friend exclaimed and continued, “A couple years ago I made a list of all the character qualities I wanted in a husband and he has every one!” “So what’s the problem,” I asked. My friend had just graduated from college and her boyfriend was a couple of years…

After our son Mark’s death, I struggled to find joy and purpose in living. I wasn’t finished mothering Mark. I never wanted an empty nest. Mark had two more years of high school and we looked forward to pouring our lives into him as our last dependent child. Darkness covered my heart and I could not see how…

Whether you agree with theologians who believe Anna was 105 or 84, Anna is old when Luke introduces her. Nevertheless, his description of Anna defies her age. By that, I don’t mean we would tell Anna she looks good for her age. Rather, I imagine that any physical evidence of Anna’s age disappeared…

Luke’s comments about Anna are packed with information, but brief and lacking on details of Anna’s personal life. Luke writes only the words that serve his purpose in telling the story of the birth of Jesus, so filling in some of the blanks requires personal speculation. First, let’s review what Luke does reveal…

Think of a beloved older woman who seems to appear at just the right moment with needed wisdom, loving encouragement and kindness. Every interaction with her inspires you to extend your own love to others and you whisper, “I want…

Our small group always ended with prayer but our leader felt we needed to go deeper so she suggested that each person pray a sentence prayer, praising God for one attribute. Later one woman described how her heart pounded when she heard these directions. She avoided praying in public, in fact she had never prayed a public prayer…

To experience the full impact of commitment to doing life in community with a small group of Christians requires an equal commitment to vulnerability and a willingness to seek and follow counsel. Our Today’s Treasure verse reminds us of the value of counsel, but such counsel is useless if pride stops us from submitting to the wisdom of others…

In our Today’s Treasure verse we see a practical application of the power of Christian community. In response to the teaching of the Word, early Christians committed to doing life together. They live out Jesus in their daily lives and they did this by depending on one another…

David wrote Psalm 133, a song sung by the Israelites when they were on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. David knew the agony of division and conflict in relationships. From his father-in-law, Saul, who tried to murder him, to his son…

When God said it was not good for Adam to be alone, He wasn’t just talking about the beauty of marriage between a man and woman. In those few words, God states that along with our relationship to Him, He created us to need connections…

Aloneness created a need in Adam for another person. So God created Eve. Note that Adam’s loneliness was not an “oops moment” for God. Creating Eve was not an afterthought. God planned the creation of community from the beginning. Loneliness sounds negative, but loneliness showcases our need for one another.

How was your week? What does next week look like? Are people pressing in on you to meet their needs? Did your boss task you with a project that should have been completed yesterday? Do you have sick children or an unhappy husband...

Jesus models for us how to depend on God the way a child depends on his or her father. We see Him rising early to pray before choosing His disciples. After a full day of pouring out in ministry, He slips off by Himself to a desolate place and prays all night, energized by time with His Father to lead His disciples...

A friend’s daughter told her she no longer believed in God. Her precious daughter wanted out of her marriage, saying her husband refused to love her the way she wanted to be loved. How could my friend survive such agony...

About a year after our son Mark’s death I continued to wrestle with how to reconcile God’s love with His sovereignty. Though the words on the pages of the Bible often looked like black marks on a white page, I knew there was no other

The first chapter of Mark in the Bible describes an incredible pouring out of emotional, physical and spiritual energy from the life of Jesus. He chose His disciples, taught in the Synagogue, healed Simon Peter’s...

Shortly after the death of our son, our five-year-old niece asked her mother why she should pray, because everyone she prayed for died. Wondering the same thing, but wanting to give her little girl some kind of response...

Susan’s frantic phone call to my husband Chuck terrified us. She didn’t know what to do for her husband, John, who gasped for air in the throes of a heart attack. Chuck quickly called her family members and then we rushed to Susan’s home...

How does the love of Jesus drive your mission statement? The board and team that run MARKINC Ministries, a non-profit that we started after the death of our son, Mark, struggled to carefully identify our mission. We agreed that we exist to offer help and hope to hurting people. We then described the ways we will fulfill that mission....

When our sons asked me what songs I wanted sung at Mark’s memorial service, I didn’t hesitate to ask for O, the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus.  Though we wanted to rejoice in our faith, I wanted a way to express the anguish and desperate need for Jesus in the coming days. Remember the puddles of grace that...