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Related topics: Christian Music, Creativity and Art, For Reflection, Life of Worship, Spiritual Practice
RECENT POSTS
a psalm of david, when he fled from absalom his son
I'll be honest. Just writing this stuff on how to lament is tough. I've gotten feedback as I share on this topic that some people just can't relate. Some prefer to focus on the joy of the Lord, and others on simply finding contentment. And all due respect to other...
lament: a perspective on sadness in the bible
Wanna know something that drives me crazy? Happiness. Not all happiness. I’m very pro-happiness. I just don’t like fake happiness. You know, the kind people show you at church when you ask them how they’re doing. People put on the smile, and tell you, “I’m doing...
Jesus is like topsoil [4 thoughts about our relationship with Christ]
I'm a sucker for a good simile. Especially ones that help me understand my faith. Statements like, "Jesus is like a [blank]," help us to understand various characteristics of his nature. In fact, the Scriptures are full of names for God which all tell us a great...
9 songs that inspire my christian faith
“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.” These are some insightful words from Plato.
the #codexinstagramus initiative: a bible photography project
What if you could only use pictures to tell the story of the Gospel? I've been thinking a great deal about Luke, the writer of his Gospel and the Book of Acts. The influence of his writing is unquestionable. But one thing most people don't know about him is that he...
FEATURED
on trusting God and being fearless: an interview with @group1crew
This interview couldn't have come at a better time for me. I'm experiencing major life changes at an unprecedented pace, and the uncertainty can be kind of scary. But it can also be exciting! As I chat with Blanca Callahan and Manwell Reyes of Group 1 Crew, I find...
they disfigure their faces
Jesus just finished teaching his disciples how to pray when he said to them, “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others." (Matthew 6:16a) I dig how Jesus went ahead and offered...
how taking pictures makes me a better writer
[serialposts]The comment said, “brilliant bokeh Dan.” And I was like, “huh, what?” She continued, “amazing that you captured this with a DROID!” And moving from the confused look to the big cheesy smile look I was like, “oh yeah!” The comment was on one of my...
serving communion
"Body of Christ broken for you." I repeated this simple phrase as I broke off a piece of the loaf that I was serving to each who came forward to partake of the Lord's Supper. It was our last morning together at a Laity Lodge Writer's Retreat; a retreat that I won't...
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
of waterfalls, honey, and mushrooms
The upper falls, they say, is the third largest vertical waterfall east of the Mississippi at over 200 feet across with a 48-foot drop. The river falls at more than 50,000 gallons per second and looks like honey tumbled. “Look,” my husband says. “There’s why.” He...
lessons mom never shared
Storm clouds roll in thick, billowy and dark, blowing small branches and leaves across the field of wildflowers where butterflies make their habitat, laying flat the flowers and thicket on which they find their life and breath. One butterfly frail and tattered lays...
a heart set on a different fortune
If you follow Jesus only because he makes life easy now, it will look to the world as though you really love what they love, and Jesus just happens to provide it for you. But if you suffer with Jesus in the pathway of love because he is your supreme...
when you’re overcome by noise
The sign read “huzzah & welcome.” We walked through the gate and found ourselves in a whole new time and place—the village of Hollygrove in the 16th century. A small group of medieval singers greeted us. Knights and pirates and squires and maidens and men in...
for those who think you need to have creativity all figured out
I had an art teacher in elementary school named Mrs. Barnhorse. Actually that probably wasn’t her name, because Barnhorse? Really? But that’s how I remember it. She always took great care to explain our next art project, moving methodically through each step,...
you are a creative
Henri Matisse once said, "Creativity takes courage." Courage runs in short supply with me. I am much less brave outwardly, than I am in my own head. But like anything else, creativity can be practiced. It's like a muscle we have that when unused, turns slack. At...
when jealousy visits
Jealousy is one of the occupational hazards of being a writer, and the most degrading. And I, who have been the Leona Helmsley of jealousy, have come to believe that the only things that help ease or transform it are (a) getting older, (b) talking about it until...
the eyes of an artist
"If we are to love our neighbors, before doing anything else we must see our neighbors. With our imagination as well as our eyes, that is to say like artists, we must see not just their faces but the life behind and within their faces. Here it is love that is...