For Matt, life seemed pretty normal. Wife, kids, house, good job, all the usual stuff. But he felt empty. Worse than empty. All the while he kept thinking, “Why aren’t I happy?”
In large part, it was because all those “good” things had crowded God out of the center of his [...]
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Postcards from Exile
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Bible, children, Christianity, Christians, church, despair, emptiness, faith, family, God, happiness, hope, Jesus, kids, lamentation, Lamentations 5, Luke 15, new, parents, personal, random, religion, second chances, spirituality, The Prodigal God, theology, thoughts, Tim Keller on November 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
What If?
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Bible, Christianity, Christians, church, Community, discipleship, faith, forgiveness, God, gospel, Grace, Holy Spirit, Jesus, judgment, Kingdom, love, mission, mission trips, personal, religion, salvation, second chances, spirituality, world on September 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
What if…we started each day with the prayer and thought, “Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God”?
What if…we really let go of our sins and remembered them no more – just like God after we confess them?
What if…we gave faith and/or a [...]
The Reach
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Bible, children, Christianity, Christians, church, comfort zone, daughters, doubts, faith, family, fears, healing, Jairus, Jesus, kids, life, Mark 5, miracles, parenting, parents, personal, reaching, religion, risk, spirituality, thoughts, trust on July 31, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Mark 5
The Reach
“Jerry” was desperate.
His daughter was deathly ill. He needed help fast. He needed a miracle.
Likewise, there was a woman who had suffered for years. But it wouldn’t go away. She had tried everything. She was alone. She was out of money and it wasn’t getting better. The doctors had no answers.
She was at [...]
Completely
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Bible, Casting Crowns, children, Christ, Christianity, Christians, church, cross, debts, family, forgiven, God, Grace, guilt, heaven, hell, holiness, holy, Jesus, justice, kids, mercy, parenting, parents, personal, Psalm 103, random, religion, sin, spiritual, sprituality, thoughts on April 1, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Psalm 103:8-12
Completely
“God is sheer mercy and grace; not easily angered, he’s rich in love. He doesn’t endlessly nag and scold, nor hold grudges forever. He doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve, nor pay us back in full for our wrongs. As high as heaven is over the earth, so strong is his love for [...]
Peace in the Storm
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged anxiety, Bible, boats, cancer, children, Christ, Christianity, Christians, church, economy, expecations, faith, fear, friends, God, health, hope, Jesus, jobs, journey, kids, love, Mark 4, marriage, parenting, peace, personal, presence, religion, sermons, spirituality, storms, teens, thoughts, trust on February 10, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Peace in the storm (remix of Sunday’s message, for audio, http://www.firstgrandville.org/dl.cfm?file=02_08_09_In_The_Storm.mp3)
Back before satellite, Doppler radar and “Stormtracker” technology, it was kind of hard to tell, when a storm was coming, its severity, and when it would be over.
Along our journeys in life, wouldn’t be nice to have a life storm Doppler? The kind of [...]
Amazing!
Posted in Uncategorized on April 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
First of all thanks to Jenny for posting updates as well. So many stories. Never in my life did I imagine that I would be sitting on a bench in a village in Africa with all the members of a little village, praying for them and telling them that people whom they have never met [...]
Continued Prayers
Posted in Uncategorized on April 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The news from Nigeria is very encouraging! The team has been able to gain access to villages and distribute many, many Treasures (audio Bibles). To quote Christopher’s most recent E-mail, “Wednesday was even better than Tuesday! We were in a village and God was so present there in so many ways!”
I personally can’t wait [...]
Thank you for the prayers – live from Yola, Nigeria
Posted in Uncategorized on April 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Hello: Just a quick note to say we are all safe and doing well. And to say that your prayers and God’s power are really at work here. We have met with bishops, pastors and village chiefs who have said “Yes!” enthusiastically to accepting the audio Gospel called The Treasure. We are in awe of [...]
Pray With Me
Posted in Uncategorized on April 21, 2008 | 1 Comment »
We’ve been doing a mini-series at church on fear, and today, Bill preached on 1 Samuel 12:24-13:14. In the passage, Saul is told explicitly to wait for Samuel’s return before taking action. But in the rush of his own anxiety, Saul decides to go ahead and press forward without Samuel, offering a “burnt offering” to [...]
They’re Off!
Posted in Uncategorized on April 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Hi! It’s Jen. I’ll be writing on the blog while Christopher is in Nigeria. Here is the schedule for the next few days:
Tonight they fly to Detroit, and then to Amsterdam.
They’ll arrive in Amsterdam in the early morning on Saturday (our time).
Then they’ll fly on to Abuja, which is the capital of Nigeria. They’ll arrive [...]
