-
Why God Uses the Weak
Out of all the people Gandalf could have chosen to take the Ring of Power to Mordor, he chose a handful of helpless hobbits. To be honest, it seems a little ridiculous. Why didn’t he pick someone more powerful? Someone brave and courageous? Someone able to handle the task on their own? He had no shortage of formidable characters that could have easily taken the Ring. Aragorn certainly was a good option. Or Legolas, Boromir, or Gimli. Gandalf himself could have handled the Ring. So why did he choose short, neighborly hobbits whose main concerns involve who is stealing their prized soup spoons and when they can eat second breakfast? …
-
Be Bold, Be Kind, And Defend Truth
We live in a world where absolute truth is no longer accepted. Belief in God is mocked. And some people treat Christianity as a fantasy. The world loves to bombard us with lies. Sometimes these lies are blunt and obvious from miles away. But they can also be cleverly disguised and we unwittingly accept them. Have you ever tried to hide a pill from your dog by covering it in peanut butter? Or maybe you’ve tried those “pill pocket” treats. Most dogs figure out this trick and spit the pill out, eating only the good stuff. The world likes to hide its “pills” in peanut butter too—deceitful philosophies show up…
-
New Year, Same God
Everything changes. That’s one thing we can all agree on. Some changes we celebrate, like graduations and weddings. Some changes we mourn, like death and divorce. I’m guessing many of you breathed a sigh of relief when the clock struck midnight on December 31. After what felt like years, 2020 is over. But there doesn’t seem to be a change yet. If anything, it seems to be getting worse. We long for change. Yet we also desire things to remain the same. We want improvements, not disadvantages. However, nothing on this earth will remain the same. People pass on. Pictures fade. Rocks erode. Forests die. And yet there is one…
-
How We Should Live In 2021
What if 2021 is just like 2020? What if all the disappointments from this year are simply compounded? What if we have to go another year without that conference, concert, vacation, or graduation party? What if 2021 isn’t everything we hope it will be? I’ve talked about contentment before. We keep trying to find satisfaction in the wrong things. The only place we can find true contentment is in Jesus. But what does that look like? And how can we be content if we have to endure another year of disappointments? No More Complaining Paul says in Philippians 2:14-15 that as believers we are to “[do] everything without grumbling or…
-
Prepare Him Room
Joy to the world! The Lord has come Let Earth receive her King! Let every heart prepare Him room And heaven and nature sing And heaven and nature sing And heaven, and heaven and nature sing! Every year at Christmas, we are reminded to not let Jesus’ incarnation get lost in the shuffle. And so we try and maybe find a few moments to reflect on His advent before diving into the wrapping paper and cookies. Of course, it’s important this time of year to prepare our hearts to focus on Christ, but we need to do this year-round. Let’s face it. Life is busy. We have deadlines to meet.…
-
The Spurgeon Collection Pt. 2
How absolutely unexpected. Another post about Charles Spurgeon. What can I say? I can’t help it. I’ve been building a stockpile for you guys on my phone and now I get to share them with you! Once again, Spurgeon’s words are in bold and mine are regular text. All Scripture quotations are taken from the ESV. Consider how precious a soul must be when both God and the devil are after it. If a person’s soul matters so much to God that He sent His only Son to die to redeem it, why do we often look with apathy on the people around us? In this age of hate and…
-
The Spurgeon Collection
I love Charles Spurgeon. Scroll through my social media, and you will find a plethora of Spurgeon quotes mixed in with memes and the occasional pet photo. I’m an auditory learner, so I was thrilled to find recordings of some of Spurgeon’s sermons! Obviously, they aren’t actually Spurgeon’s voice, but the reader’s name is also Charles. XD Over the past few months, I’ve built up quite the collection of Spurgeon quotes (in bold below). The commentary is my own. All Scripture quotes are taken from the ESV. Enjoy! The fact is, we oftentimes read Scripture, thinking of what it ought to say, rather than what it does say. Ooo, this…
-
Fuchsia Violin–A Poem
Guess what? I have another poem for you! I wrote this one a couple of years ago at a writing conference. I attended a poetry workshop and we had to write something based on a random color and object combination from a list on the whiteboard. I picked “fuchsia violin.” Swish, swing, A fuchsia violin. It’s zipping, it’s swirling, dancing and twirling, an ecstasy of elation. Joy and power, gentle but strong, the music flows around me, like cherry blossoms in the wind, a rippling puddle of reflection. It’s dipping, it’s whirling, and then, it’s done.
-
Birds–A Poem
I hope you enjoy this writing-inspired English sonnet! This was yet another piece I wrote for my creative writing class. (Can you tell I had fun with that course? 😂) It’s written in the style of Shakespeare’s famous sonnets. It was certainly a challenge to get the rhythms right, but it was a lot of fun at the same time. Quiet clink of metal on glass, a plink, he prepares to press the pen to paper. Figures dance on blank walls, blacker than ink, fantastical shadows cast by the single taper. He scatters words like seeds across parchment. Little birds take the thoughts and entrust them to penthouses and bleak…
-
Upside-Down–A Poem
Good morning, friends! I wrote this free-verse poem for my creative writing course. I hope you enjoy it and it brings a smile to your face! My dad thinks poetry is stupid. He says poets simply decide to hit enter randomly without any good reason. Why can’t this all be one line? What makes this one word so special it deserves a line of its own? My dad likes things like right angles And strategy games And big books of theology And cinnamon cookies And Ohio State football He designs pumps and understands math, but when he reads poems, He wonders if they would make more sense Upside-down
