Lately, I have felt myself falling into what for me is an occupational hazard. Because I work in a Christian ministry, I have found my times in prayer with God can easily turn into “work” in my heart, something that I have to do to earn God’s approval and blessing on my work. In my heart, I can easily go from being a child of God to solely being God’s employee, where my prayers are about appeasing the Boss to curry His favor, anxious about what He thinks of my performance.

Equating my performance with my value is a great personal weakness of mine. When I feel particularly insecure, my wicked heart will rise up and, suddenly, I’m treating God like an idol that I need to manipulate in order to get from Him what I think I need. I treat Him like He’s going to be disappointed in me if I don’t finish my tasks.

But, that is not the God I serve. My God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. He’s not an object for me to use to get...

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Lent is nearly on top of us, and with it comes Ash Wednesday. In high liturgical churches, the people are reminded, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you will return.” As I think about those words, it strikes me that perhaps they are some crucial words for Christians in the States to hear, though I suspect they're also the ones most likely to pass right on through our ears, skipping by our hearts, and off into the stratosphere.

I think if we did stop and ponder them, we might be doubly offended. I think there's something in us that would rankle at being told we are dust. Living in “the greatest nation in the world” in...

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I've recently finished reading a book entitled, Renovation of the Church. It is written by two pastors, Kent Carlson & Mike Lueken, from a northern California church that began a journey some ten years ago to change the trajectory of their congregation.

My book is highlighted in several places; however, there is one set of paragraphs that has bubbled to the top for me this week.

Perhaps our greatest lesson from the past decade is that it is spiritually formative to be dissatisfied and unable to resolve that dissatisfaction. In fact, there is hardly a better catalyst for transformation than to not get what we want. Sitting in the dissatisfaction, without frantically trying to resolve it, can...

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I’ve been thinking about Lent this year, which starts in a couple weeks on February 22. Growing up in an evangelical environment, I never attended a church that stressed the observance of Lent. In recent years though, I have appreciated the practice of setting aside those 40 days for a particular purpose and in preparation for the celebration of Easter. I haven’t participated every year but have spent several seasons abstaining from one attachment or another usually involving sugar!

This year my thoughts are running on a different vein. For some reason the idea of giving something up seems too easy. It feels like I would be shrinking back or disengaging. A verse from the gospel of Luke...

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