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John 1:45-51 tells the story of another person from another place off the grid. In the text, Philip was talking to Nathanael about Jesus from Nazareth. Nathanael questioned Jesus’ identity as the Messiah because of his place of origin. He was not from mighty Jerusalem. He was from a small insignificant place, so Nathanael was […]

Mother’s Day has always been a rough day for me. Even though my mom is alive, because she went into the military when I was six years old, I was raised by my Great Grandaunt Carrie. When I was growing up, Mother’s Day was the day I was reminded that Mom was not there. Today, […]

Sometimes, all we need is rest. This sounds counter-intuitive to us. The culture of our nation does not allow us to rest. It tells us to keep going and going and going and going. We sleep because, eventually, our bodies won’t let us continue. That is if our minds don’t keep us awake with worry […]

In Psalm 119:105, there are two comparisons in the verse. The first comparison is lamp vs light, and the second comparison is feet vs path.  God’s word is both a lamp and a light. God’s word is a lamp, a focused source of light, that helps us take the current step. We can only see […]

Have you ever had a time in your life when you just didn’t feel like you knew enough, had enough, or were enough for what God or someone else wanted or needed you to do? Have you ever questioned your abilities because of some past failure or because of a lack of formal education? Have […]

Have you ever received a gift from someone that made you feel like the most blessed person in the world? Have you ever received a gift from someone that made you say to yourself, “If I never receive another thing, I’ll be just fine?” Have you ever received a gift that you absolutely positively know […]

For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, “Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.” Luke 18:4-5, NRSV When I grew up in rural […]

From the very beginning, there were people who had issues with Jesus. His greatest pushback came from super religious people. In Jesus’ day, the Pharisees and the Sadducees were among the religious folk that had beef with Jesus. According to Google, the Sadducees and Pharisees comprised the ruling class of Jews in Israel and had […]

We’ve probably all heard this passage preached quite a few times. There are many ways to interpret what Jesus meant. Most times, we focus on the young man’s riches. Those of us who are not rich can easily think that it doesn’t apply to us.  What if the thing we treasured was not material? What […]

In Mark 9:14-29, we find the story of Jesus healing the boy with the mute spirit.  Imagine you are in the crowd. You are a bystander – not one of the disciples, the scribes, or the father. What do you see? Let’s take a step back and get perspective. I imagined myself to be Mary […]