There are famous people in the Bible and then there’s Jezebel. Hers is a name that transcends Christianity and it wouldn’t surprise me if many people didn’t know a) who she was beyond her being a wicked woman; and b) that she’s from a Biblical story. The name Jezebel conjures up a very specific meaning; …
God Can Use Us Just As (and Where) We Are
Each fall, my church set aside a specific week as Missions Week and as a kid, I thought it was big fun. For starters, the sanctuary was lined with dozens of colorful flags to represent the countries in which our church had a part in funding missionary work. That made going into “big church” look …
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Our Unlikely Redemption
Jonah and the whale is one of the Bible’s great fantastical stories. It’s got drama, it’s got stunts, it’s got a giant fish—it’s practically a Disney movie. To that end, I imagined the famous fish looked something like the enormous whale in Pinocchio and for three days Jonah sat inside its cavernous belly on a …
The Fab Four of Faithfulness
I spent half of my childhood wanting to be a lion tamer. Every other day, I watched a VHS recording of a Ringling Bros. special my parents taped for me and all I wanted was to be the guy inside the cage with the lions. There were tigers too, my favorite of which was the …
An Enduring Culture of Violence
I find the story of Joshua and the Battle of Jericho fascinating, probably because it involves shouting, one of my more pronounced spiritual gifts. Jericho’s demise is the hallmark of Josh’s story but in truth, it was merely one battle in a seemingly never-ending series of wars. Joshua was addicted to war in the same …
