In the gospel of Mark there is a profound scene where Jesus calls four of his apostles.  This scene is the essence of what Christians call discipleship. The text says:“16As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 18At once the...

      There is a surprising story found in the gospels.  John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus, found himself in prison awaiting his execution.  In that prison he had a serious moment of doubt.  He sent some of his followers to Jesus to ask, “are you the expected one or should we look for someone else?” (Luke 7:19).  What?  The prophet whose primary job was to announce Jesus is Messiah is not ...

      Dr. Curt Thompson says, “to be human is to suffer” (The Deepest Place, xii).  As we go through life, suffering will have different faces—disease, divorce, conflict and disappointment.  There is a character trait that is required to survive and even thrive through the suffering we all experience; it’s perseverance.  Perseverance is the continued effort to do or achieve something despite the d...

       The apostle Paul wrote, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer” (Romans 12:12).  To be joyful in hope is absolutely crucial in a dark and broken world.  Hope is simply confident expectation in God.  One doctrine that helps us live in confident expectation is God’s sovereignty.  Christians believe that God does not cause everything, but controls everything.  He has com...

     For three and a half years I worked on a suicide intervention phone line.  Six nights a week people would call me drowning in hopelessness, sometimes literally with a gun to his head or a bottle of pills in her hand.  My job was to share hope, to help people find enough hope to keep moving forward.  Hope is simply confident expectation, and it is essential.  As a Christian I believe that Jesu...