The Story of the Christian Canon
A Baptist buys a Bible without wondering who decided these books belong together. A Catholic opens a hotel Bible and senses something missing. A student discovers extra pages in the “required” Bible for class and panics. Canon questions have been hiding in plain sight. Canon once meant a reed — a measuring stick — and eventually, a standard. The canon is the Church’s straight edge for truth.
Gratitude and the River of Life
Gratitude doesn’t start as a feeling for me. It starts as a decision to look. To slow down long enough to notice beauty still offering itself: a warm coffee cup, December sunlight, a quiet house. Fear tells me everything is fragile — my body, my people, my time. Gratitude doesn’t deny that; it refuses to let fear narrate the whole story. It reminds me I’m held, even here.
Reversing the Explosion: Playing the Big Bang Backward
When we play the universe backward, everything rushes toward a beginning it never had to have. Space tightens. Time collapses. Possibility narrows to a single point where nothing should exist — and yet something does. Existence itself becomes strange again. And wonder returns when we remember the world is not inevitable, but given.
Further Up and Further In
Some places wake something in us we didn’t know had fallen asleep. They remind us that beauty is real, desire is good and the story is not winding down but opening up. The gospel does not shrink our longings; it redeems them. The invitation still stands: further up, further in — toward more wonder, not less.
The Weight of Being Yourself
There’s a rare freedom in people who know who they are without needing to prove it. They live open-handed — rooted, unashamed, fully present — able to carry both joy and grief without closing down. This kind of identity isn’t self-made or self-protected. It’s received. And when we stop grasping for ourselves, we begin to feel the steady weight of being truly alive.
Why Dreams and Why Now?
Dreams have always been part of how God reaches his people, but something about this cultural moment seems to have opened the floodgates. The rising noise of our world — the screens, the speed, the constant pull — leaves little room for a whisper. Yet in the quiet of sleep, when defenses fall away, God still speaks. Not to confuse or obscure, but to draw his children closer, invitation wrapped in mystery.
The Both-And of Self-Kindness: Why Loving Yourself Isn’t Selfish
Self-kindness, for A.C., began not as a trendy practice but as a terrifying assignment: speak to herself with the same gentleness she’d learned to offer everyone else. Slowly, Scripture and therapy together reframed kindness as part of bearing God’s image, not betraying it. Naming old, shaming messages and letting divine compassion seep into those bruised places became less self-indulgence and more quiet agreement with how God already loves her.
Quiet Saints: The Practice of Living Quietly
Quiet living isn’t withdrawal or escapism; it’s the steady confidence that God fights for us even when we can’t. Scripture keeps circling back to this — Moses at the Red Sea, David waiting in silence, Paul urging a peaceful, dignified life. And every generation has its quiet saints, the ones whose gratitude steadies whole rooms. Their stillness isn’t passivity; it’s trust that the Lord’s love is enough to quiet any storm.
A Primer on Logos Bible Software: A Seminary Library in Your Pocket (Copy)
In our digital age, with countless apps vying for attention, one stands out for its potential for transformative impact: the YouVersion Bible App. This powerful tool, created by Life.Church, has become indispensable to millions of Christians globally.
“The Divine Conspiracy” — The Book That Helped Us See the Kingdom
Readers often describe The Divine Conspiracy in the same breath as "slow" and "life-altering." This is not a book to skim. Willard writes with the patience of a professor and the tenderness of a pastor, inviting you into what he calls a "conspiracy" of grace—a quiet, subversive work of God teaching his people how to live.
Who Counts? The Revolutionary Ethics of God
The old question still echoes across every border and every room: Who counts? Every culture draws its circle, letting some people in and leaving others out. But the story of Scripture keeps pressing that circle wider. Ruth steps in from the margins. Boaz risks reputation to welcome her. Jesus goes further still, stretching love past every line we draw. In his kingdom, the neighbor is always the one we’re tempted to ignore.
The Power of a Single Seed
A single seed can sit in the dark for years, looking like nothing much at all, and still hold a future you’d never guess. That’s how God works with us. We plant what feels small — an act of faith, a quiet prayer, a conversation we almost didn’t have — and he grows it into something with reach and shelter and blessing. You never know which seed will outlive you. So plant with hope.
One Body, Many Parts: What Is a Church?
Somehow God builds a church out of people who’d never choose each other on their own. Corinth was proof of that — sailors and scholars, the devout and the jaded, all learning to live as one body. Paul’s image still holds. A church is less a polished institution than a family gathered around a table, each person wanted, each part needed, every difference woven into something unexpectedly whole.
Anchored in the Eternal: How God Becomes Our Safe Harbor
Peace doesn’t rise from our efforts, or from searching our own hearts for something solid. It comes from knowing the God who has already moved toward us in love. At the cross, we see his heart laid bare — holiness without harshness, sovereignty without distance, justice wrapped in mercy. Let that glimpse of God steady you. Anchor yourself there, where his character becomes your calm.
Everything is Spiritual
There is no part of life untouched by the Spirit of God. Work and worship, rest and recreation, labor and laughter — it’s all his domain. The sacred doesn’t start when the music does on Sunday morning; it starts when you wake up, when you breathe, when you create, when you serve. You’re not living in two worlds, one holy and one not. You’re living in one — and it’s charged with the presence of God. Everything is spiritual.
Storytelling: The Power of Our Testimonies
Every one of us carries a story that only makes sense when seen through God’s eyes. The heartbreaks, failures and long detours — He’s been in all of it, redeeming, reworking, rebuilding. When we tell our stories truthfully, the light gets in. Others see him, not just us. And somehow, our scars start to heal. Because with God, every story turns toward glory.
From Wonderblind to Wonder-Full
Wonder begins when we stop assuming we already see. Jesus’ invitation — come and see — is a summons to wakefulness, to reimagine the world as shot through with divine beauty. Every moment, every face, every leaf in sunlight hums with his presence. Apprenticeship to Jesus restores our sight — turning us from wonderblind to wonder-full, alive again to the shimmering grace of all things.
Your Many Siblings: God Could Not Be Satisfied with One Child
God wanted more than one Son. The Word became flesh so that the only begotten might become the first among many. Love moved him — not to multiply servants, but to multiply sons. The cross was his way to family, his means to glory. Christ our Brother, God our Father, and we, his children — justified, glorified, gathered home together.