As we begin our journey through Holy Week exploring the heart of Jesus, we lead off with a simple, but profound, message: All are welcome…everyone matters and has value in the Kingdom of God. Throughout His ministry, Jesus demonstrated a compassionate nature that welcomed people from all walks of life. He spent time with the outcasts, the marginalized, and the rejected members of society, showing them love and respect. He ate with sinners, healed the sick, and spoke against injustice.

As a line of cars honked their horns, I realized that my driving career was off to a less than stellar start. The issue at hand was whether I looked at oncoming traffic when attempting to yield. I felt I had (and to this day, I still do), but according to my driving instructor, I had not…

God establishes my steps - this implies a sovereign planning and a secure ground upon which to walk. The stability of our walk rests in our willingness to delight, worship, and trust…

My best friend, Rebecca, and I were heading out of town for a much-needed girls' trip. The excitement was tangible as we jumped in the car! A few hours into the trip, we found ourselves in the middle of nowhere - no houses or buildings and very little traffic.

God doesn’t measure up our faith the way we so often do. All He wants is for us to come to Him, regardless of what burdens we are carrying and what mistakes we’ve made. The foremost measure of our faith is not the amount of scripture we can recite, the percentage of our income we tithe, or the consistency of our church attendance (though these disciplines are extremely important and admirable). The extent of our faith is not based on how well we are “performing” as Christians. The health of our faith is measured by our willingness to lay our soul bare before Him. Faith is at its strongest when we continue to come to His feet, even when we feel hopeless, shattered, and plagued by shame.

Since I can remember, I've loved to doodle. In grade school, my creations covered my paper bag book cover. Now, during meetings that go too long, I find myself drawing cartoon characters in the margin of my notes. One of my favorite family game night activities is Pictionary, where I get a tad bit competitive, okay, way too contentious…

“Lord, did I participate well with You?” On Sunday, in our gatherings, we were introduced to this as our prayer for Friday – to seek the Lord, to reflect and to examine our week at its end with this simple, yet specific question.  In our devotional today, Mike will be using the Psalms as a lens for a prayer of confession, as we reflect on our deepest longing to be whole and right before God. 

As I let it slip from my fingers, I smirked at my partner and said, "Let's HOPE we don't make scrambled eggs!" Along with the rest of my science class, we were standing on top of our middle school's roof participating in the classic egg drop experiment…

During my freshman year of high school, a skating rink opened in my town. With limited options for teens to hang out and have fun (at least in a legal way), it instantly became the place to see and be seen…

My world got rocked today. Everything I know is wrong. Since you are wiser than the person wearing the dunce cap (ME), you were probably well aware that it's "for all intents and purposes" and not "for all intensive purposes.”…

Today, let’s focus on eternity. Sounds nice, but this is not going to get the laundry done, the kids to school, the report finished for your boss, or your research paper turned in. Neither will this line of thinking change any of those interruptions and obstacles you are currently facing…

The person in charge of running the meeting was missing in action: no text message, phone call, or email letting us know about his whereabouts. With every minute that ticked off with him still being a no-show, the conversation turned into the legendary college debate…

The other day my wife Jenn and her friend took a day trip to visit (and shop..and shop..) IKEA in Charlotte. The longer it took for her car to pull into the driveway the more I could feel my wallet getting nervous. Fortunate for our budget, she showed amazing restraint by just picking up a few odds and ends…

It’s Wednesday.

The middle we spoke about when we gathered on Sunday.  I invited us then to see Wednesdays as a point of Midweek Connection, a time set aside to reflect on our week so far and to intentionally pursue God’s presence.

I'm not a morning person...at all. Being an "adult," I've learned to adjust out of necessity to kids waking me up from my hibernation or having an early morning work meeting, getting up to exercise, well, not so much…

Living in the suburbs in the 80's, my cul-de-sac served as the activity hub for the neighborhood. Bikes left in the front yard were akin to social media posts that fun was going down. In the warm summer months, we'd play outside from sun up to sun down. Some of the games got quite competitive, especially Tag whenever my friend Keith played…

Don't let my current "dad bod" fool you; I swam competitively for a few years while in high school. Okay, so competitively might be a bit of a stretch to describe my athletic prowess in the water…

The light and the dark. It’s the epic struggle we’ve seen depicted in our stories since the beginning of time. The hero of light struggles against the villain of darkness. We love these stories because they seem to reflect our world. They reflect our own desire that the light will win out over the darkness…

The older I get the more habitual I have become. I wake up in the morning, turn on the coffee pot, drink a glass of water, grab my coffee, and then go straight to my chair for my quiet time. Then dressed and off to work. I talk to my daughter on the ride and my day is underway. I am sure my days are like yours with more mundane moments than exciting ones.

"Where are you, HEART!?!" I quickly realized how loud I expressed my frustration as soon as I looked up and saw everyone in the lobby staring back at me. While waiting for my daughter to finish her doctor's appointment…