I believe an idol has crept into the church today that possibly started withwell-meaning purpose. Most idols usually do, after all. Self-care has become a popular topic in society lately. I thought about listing a few of the quotes that appeared when I googled self-care, but I'll just let you try it yourself. Many of …
Replacing horizontal expectations with a vertical hope, Part 2
As mentioned in Part 1 of this topic, despite the depravity of the human heart, we tend to go on heaping expectations on each other. And these expectations often go unmet, and we respond with shock, bitterness, anger, etc. about practically everything. Why do we do this? I think the answer can be seen in …
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Replacing horizontal expectations with a vertical hope, Part 1
I recently chatted with a dear friend who is about to move overseas to do mission work full-time. As part of the training she undergoes beforehand, she takes an inventory of her expectations in practically every area. Just hearing about it overwhelmed me, so I cannot imagine what she is feeling about having to do …
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Our 13 Day Colorado RV Vacation Travel Journal
While traveling on our 2021 family vacation, I began a travel journal more as a way for me to remember and record God's goodness as we traveled on our longest trip yet. So many people enjoyed our journeys, so I decided to put it in one massive post here, just for fun. I tried to …
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Freedom in Christ, even in too many bananas
We've been preparing for our longest RV trip yet, which means making far too many pink and orange highlighted lists and checking them a gazillion times a day. When it came time to order groceries (Instacart is my best friend), I requested 12 bananas. My shopper even asked in the chat to clarify, "You want …
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Practical Ideas for Life-Giving Rhythms
Like Jesus, we need to be resolved to have fellowship with our Father. It wonโt simply happen. It doesnโt have to look one single way, but the determination to do it needs to be there. This can even look differently in various seasons, but if we value it, we will make it happen somehow because we …
Pursuing Rhythms of Remembrance leads to Self-Denial and Deeper Dependence on God
I started this blog series with a focus on how we need these rhythms of returning to Jesus' feet for renewal. But let's take that one step further. We also need these rhythms to help us remember. Remember when we walked through Mark 6? Well only a few short chapters later, in Mark 8, we …
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Rhythms of Renewal: Responding with compassion like Jesus to the interruptions
As we endeavor to trust our Great High Priest and pursue rhythms of renewal, there will undoubtedly be times when interruptions come our way. How do we view these and with what attitude can we approach them? Are they actually interruptions? That's what we're going to begin examining this week as we continue our journey …
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Seeking Rhythms of Renewal and Responding to the Immediate
As mentioned in my last post, I want us to take a moment to look at Jesus, our great high priest, and some patterns we see for how he lived his human life, specifically as explained in the book of Mark. This week, we'll begin by digging into what we can observe about Jesus from …
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Pursuing Rhythms of Renewal: Trusting our Great High Priest who calls us to rest and perseverance
In last week's post, I began this topic of habit training for ourselves by focusing on morning rhythms of renewal, and the foundation for understanding our need for this. I know you're likely ready to get to the how of this, but I think it's helpful to continue focusing on the principles behind why we …
