I loved school. When I was a kid, I loved everything about school. And I loved good grades. I wanted to be the best. But here’s the thing: there was always someone better than me. No matter what I did, no matter how hard I tried, there was always that one person who was smarter.
Meditations on Mark: Permanence
September 19, 2023 by Leave a Comment
Scientists in Britain recently made a fascinating discovery. After centuries of mystery and debate, they finally located the body of King Richard III, who was killed in battle in 1485. The location of his grave was lost to history until February 2013, when DNA tests confirmed that they had indeed found the late king.
Crossroads: That’s Not Fair!
September 18, 2023 by Leave a Comment
“That’s not fair!” Growing up with a younger sister sometimes meant that I said “that’s not fair” a good bit. There were times when she got to do things much earlier than I had gotten to do them, or she got her way when I really wanted mine.
Crossroads: God Always Finds a Way
September 11, 2023 by Leave a Comment
Looking back and seeing God’s fingerprints in your life is a lot easier than seeing them in the moment. There are times in my life when things seemed impossible. When I was upset and hurting in the 6th grade when our church fell apart, it seemed impossible that I would ever be happy again.
Crossroads: Paying Attention
August 28, 2023 by Leave a Comment
Moses could’ve easily walked on by. After all, a burning bush probably wasn’t that unusual. But when Moses looked at it, he noticed something. The bush was burning but it wasn’t burning up. So he went over and the Lord spoke to him. Moses was paying attention.
Meditations on Luke: The Depth of Darkness
August 23, 2023 by Leave a Comment
One the greatest measures of human creativity is our ability to rationalize almost anything. No matter how destructive our actions, no matter how foolish our choices, no matter how selfish our behaviors, no matter how dark our impulses, we can always come up with a good excuse or a reasonable explanation for them.
Crossroads: God’s Love Is Eternal
August 21, 2023 by Leave a Comment
David’s psalm is a great reminder that God’s love never fails. God never quits on us. God sees and knows everything about us and still loves us. And when people hear what God has to say, they will sing about the glory of God. Their response will be one full of thanks.
Honesty: Believing There Are No Ifs, Ands, or Buts
August 8, 2023 by Leave a Comment
This verse is about a merchant weighing out a customer’s goods. When the customer pays for a gallon or for a pound, the Lord demands a gallon delivered, or a pound, and not a drop or a hair less. Don’t even begin to walk down a dishonest path. But the command is about much more than buying and selling; it’s about honesty and truthfulness.
Crossroads: Standing Up for Others
August 7, 2023 by Leave a Comment
Joseph was the favorite son and it seems like he liked to tell on his brothers. So Joseph was a tattletale and the favorite, and his brothers hated him for it. They hated him so much that they plotted to kill him. But Reuben knew how much Joseph meant to his father, and so he stood up for him. Kind of.
Crossroads: Don’t Give Up
July 31, 2023 by Leave a Comment
I love learning different languages. I took French for seven years in high school and college and I absolutely loved it. I knew what I was doing and I was good at it.
Crossroads: What Do You Want?
July 24, 2023 by Leave a Comment
As a child, I wanted to be a singer. I wanted to be famous. I can carry a tune, but I’m not a great singer. But I loved to write songs. A lot of the songs I wrote were about God. I loved to dress up and sing my songs. As I grew up, I stopped writing songs and started grading papers.
Crossroads: God Sees It All
July 17, 2023 by Leave a Comment
As a child, my mom always knew everything I did. (At least it felt that way!) I talked during a fire drill when I was in the first grade, which was a big no-no. I got in trouble at school, and when I got home that day, my mom asked me about school. She asked me if anything had happened and I said no.
Crossroads: The Love of God
June 26, 2023 by
When I was a child, I loved singing the hymn, “I Love to Tell the Story.” I loved telling people about God and this hymn reflects that. As an adult, it is sometimes harder to tell others about God. I am more worried about what they will think of me or how they will react than I was when I was a child.
Crossroads: Our Bighearted God
June 19, 2023 by
When I was in preschool, I had a teacher named Miss June. I loved Miss June. She had a really big heart. She was very sweet. But the thing I loved most about her was that she kept me company when everyone else was taking a nap. I had to do a breathing treatment for my asthma every day after lunch.
Crossroads: We Are Called
June 12, 2023 by
When I was in eighth grade, I had a friend who knew about Jesus, but she didn’t have a relationship with him. Even so, she was open to talking about Jesus.
Crossroads: Sharing Jesus with Others
June 5, 2023 by
As a young teenager, I remember telling one of my best friends about Jesus while we were at a slumber party. She was having a hard time and she was crying. Her parents argued a lot and she was worried about what was going to happen.
Crossroads: Pentecost
May 29, 2023 by
For as long as I can remember, I have loved the French language. And as soon as I got to high school, I started taking French. Because I went to a private, Catholic school, one of the first things I learned was the Lord’s Prayer in French.
Crossroads: Ascension, A New Chapter
May 22, 2023 by
New chapters are exciting, but also a bit scary. Moving to college was an important step for me, and it was part of being able to do things on my own. The disciples face a new chapter of their own that begins in the book of Acts.
Crossroads: Be
May 15, 2023 by
It is difficult for me to slow down, relax, and just spend time with God. In fact, I usually measure the success of my days based on how productive I was and the amount of work I got done. Sitting and just “being” doesn’t seem like a great way to find success.
Time and Patience
May 9, 2023 by
In my work with mediation and conflict resolution, there are two major tools: time and patience.
Crossroads: God Is Our Fortress
May 8, 2023 by
There have been many times in my life when it seemed like a storm was raging around me. Sometimes it was because there were actual storms happening that came with tornadoes. In those times, I prayed for God to protect me and keep me safe. I prayed for God to calm my fears and remind me that God is always there with me.
Crossroads: The Shepherd
May 1, 2023 by
“Don’t talk to strangers.” It’s what my mother told me all the time growing up, and I’m sure it’s what you tell your own children. Strangers aren’t safe because you don’t know them.
Crossroads: Recognizing Jesus
April 24, 2023 by
Jesus tends to break into our lives in unexpected ways. Maybe for you, it’s the bully of the school doing something nice for someone else. Maybe it’s the popular kid sitting with an outcast at lunch. However it is, Jesus usually works through surprising people.
Do Not Resist an Evil Person
April 18, 2023 by
How do you respond to someone who does not behave as a Christian ought to behave, whether they are or are not a fellow Christian? The easy answer is to quote Jesus’ words from the Sermon on the Mount, “turn the other cheek.”
Crossroads: Don’t Be Afraid
April 17, 2023 by
The disciples were afraid. Jesus had been arrested and killed because of who he was. And the disciples were afraid that they, too, would be arrested and killed because they followed Jesus. So they hid, locking the doors and hoping people would forget about them.
A Quiet Life: Living at Peace with One’s Self
April 12, 2023 by
One great embarrassment of Christians is that we talk so much and so loudly. Interviews and conversations of all kinds often remind us of a pride of lions feeding, snapping and snarling, each lunging in for a moment and then getting shoved aside by others.
Crossroads: He Is Risen!
April 10, 2023 by
He is risen! He is risen indeed! Easter is such a wonderful time. The dark, somber mourning of Good Friday has passed and in its place is new life, lots of color, and thankful spirits. The best part of our story as Christians is that we are not grave people—we are resurrection people.
Crossroads: Celebrate the Lord!
April 3, 2023 by
I loved to make up songs as a child. Most of my songs were songs of praise to God. They were celebrating what God was doing in my life. Sometimes, it’s easy to celebrate what God is doing.
Crossroads: My Shepherd
March 27, 2023 by
Most of the time, I associate this Psalm with funerals. I don’t like to read this Psalm because it brings to mind sadness and pain. And yet, this Psalm is all about peace.
Crossroads: Awestruck
March 20, 2023 by
Have you ever been awestruck by something? Perhaps a sight that took your breath away? For me, those times come most often when I am standing on top of a mountain, gazing out into the distance at the creation God has formed. Depending on the season, creation is either lush and green, or alive with color, or waiting in the darkness to spring back to life.
Crossroads: Guilty
March 6, 2023 by
When I was in the first grade, I couldn’t seem to keep my mouth shut. I wanted to tell everyone everything all of the time. So being asked to be quiet wasn’t easy for me. One day we had a fire drill at school and our teacher instructed us to walk quietly outside. Honestly, I tried.
Justice, Kindness, Humility
March 1, 2023 by
One morning in my eighth grade social studies class, the teacher said, “The world is one-third Christian, twenty percent Muslim, and thirteen percent Hindu.” We thought that was the goofiest thing we had ever heard. Where I grew up in Mississippi, there were four religions—Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, and heathen.
Life on the Ark
February 28, 2023 by
We can only imagine how messy and confusing the ark must have been. There were people there—Noah, his wife, his sons and their wives. There were animals there—two of every kind. And there was food there—every kind of food eaten in that day.
Crossroads: Jesus Is Transformed
February 20, 2023 by
I became a Christian when I was seven years old. For as long as I can remember, church has been an important part of my life. I loved going to church as a kid and I loved Jesus (and I still do!).
Crossroads: Anger and Words
February 13, 2023 by
“Sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me.” How many times did we say this to someone growing up? How many times have you heard it before? When I said this as a kid, it was because someone had said something hurtful and mean to me, and I said it to cover up the fact that those words did hurt.
Grateful for Mistakes
February 7, 2023 by
“Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive. Find a way to be thankful for your troubles, and they can become your blessings.” (author unknown)
Crossroads: This Little Light of Mine
February 6, 2023 by
When we accept Jesus, we become a light for God. Our lives change because of Jesus. When we listen to God, we are kinder to others and we show them how much God loves them. In this way, we are a light. It’s kind of like we’re all walking around with candles.
Crossroads: What Does God Want from Us?
January 30, 2023 by
I like to know exactly what is expected of me. If someone asks me to do something, I ask questions to make sure I know what I’m supposed to do.
Crossroads: God Hears Us
January 16, 2023 by
I had a tough year when I was in the sixth grade. One of the hardest parts, though, was not having any close friends at school. I prayed and I prayed for God to help me. And God heard my prayers.
Crossroads: The Lighthouse to the Nations
January 9, 2023 by
My mother loves lighthouses. She loves to collect them and she loves to visit them. So when I was growing up, every time we went to the beach, we tried to find a lighthouse.
Crossroads: Listening to God
December 26, 2022 by
Have you ever felt like God was telling you to do something? There have been times when I felt like God wanted me to call someone on the phone.
Crossroads: Love
December 19, 2022 by
In the book Love You Forever, both the mother and the son sing these words to each other at different times in their lives: “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, as long as I’m living my baby you’ll be.”
Crossroads: Joy
December 12, 2022 by
God takes the dustiness of our lives—the mistakes and the bad things that happen to us—and uses them to make diamonds. In order for coal to turn into diamonds, it must undergo a lot of pressure.
Crossroads: Peace
December 5, 2022 by
When I was a teenager, my family and I went tubing down a river. Before we got in our rafts, the guide warned us to watch for bears. I knew that bears were dangerous and didn’t want to get close to one.
Crossroads: Hope
November 28, 2022 by
When I was a kid, I loved reading about heaven. My mom would read the part in Revelation 21 that talked about heaven. I loved hearing about the pure gold of the New Jerusalem and the gems.
Crossroads: Count Your Blessings
November 28, 2022 by
This is the time of year when we stuff our faces with turkey, dumplings (my grandmother makes the best!), mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, and a lot more dessert than we need.
Crossroads: Music
November 21, 2022 by
The election is this week, and for the past several months, life has felt out of control…. And in the midst of all of this name calling, mudslinging, and other awfulness, the world is at war.
Invitations to Partake
November 16, 2022 by
Some 25 years ago I sat with a two-person video crew and a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship missionary on the dirt floor of a simple, one-room house in a small village in the mountains of Albania.