Isaiah 42:10-16“Now I will cry out like a woman in labor, I will gasp and pant.”As a child, I listened closely to the story: “In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered.” (Luke 2:1) During Advent, words like virgin, divorce, conceive, or marital relations made my pastor interesting for once. I leaned forward in the pew as he reached Jesus’ birth, ...  Read More

Hebrews 10:32-39“For you need endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised.”The Christian life is not a 100 yard dash, it's a marathon. In this passage we are not shown that we've been given too much, rather we are shown that as Christians we can do this. God has given us a strategy for endurance.First, you have to remember that through suffering you can ...  Read More

Jeremiah 31:31-35“The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the House of Judah…. I will put my law within them, and I will write it I their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”A new Covenant from God! The covenant that’s mentioned in the Old Testament was broken by the Israelites, and now God has made a new cov...  Read More

Micah 4:1-4“They shall beat their swords into plowshares.”Quite a few years ago, when I was closer to the start of my career than the end, I worked with a colleague who was difficult. And that is putting it mildly. This person always seemed disgruntled, picking arguments in meetings for what seemed like no reason. Her general bad attitude frequently turned meetings into battles and kept us from m...  Read More

Tuesday, December 14  —  Isaiah 11:6-9“The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, ad a little child shall lead them.”I think many of us are tired. Exhausted, really— and what we truly want in our lives is peace. Conflicts arise, disagreements between people ensue, nature is weary, and still we push on through this lif...  Read More

Hebrews 13:1-6“Let mutual love continue…”Advent means “coming”. Yes, Christmas is coming!!  But how do we prepare for Christmas?  I buy gifts and wrap them.  I clean the house and decorate it with festive décor. I prepare food and possibly mail out Christmas cards. These tasks seem simple, but I struggle to complete them all. I scramble to buy gifts. Cleaning the house is never really completed. D...  Read More