When the Years Feel Heavy and the Father’s Shadow Is Long There is a song that has followed me for a long time—Simply Red’s “Holding Back the Years.” It is not a gospel song. Mick Hucknall wrote it as a teenager about a childhood marked by an absent mother and a stern father. Two lines…
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There are two sentences a man can hear from God, and they do not cancel each other. Nathan the prophet looked at a king who had taken a woman and arranged a death, and he said, “The Lord also has put away your sin.” In the same breath he said the sword would not leave…
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God closed the case. The second judge is often you A word for the recent convert who can finally see who they were — and cannot sit still under the pardon. The first clean morning after you come to Christ is not always peace. Sometimes it is sight. You wake up and the old life…
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A Biblical Guide for Discerning Prophetic Ministries “Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good.” — 1 Thessalonians 5:20–21We will never stand in this ministry and say, “Thus saith the Lord” over next week’s headlines. That is not our calling. The calling we do have is older and quieter: point people to the Book that…
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How you get to the altar can change. What a thin yes costs does not. A word for anyone who grew up in a quiet, unhappy house and is being asked to marry before they have healed — and for a church that knows how to decorate a wedding better than it knows how to…
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Christianity is not a flag you hoist so a civilization can survive. It is a Person you kneel to so a sinner can live. A meme has been moving through Facebook this week. Enough of you have sent it that it needs an answer from the church, not another share. I am not going to…
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Children are not a prize for adults. They are a heritage from the Lord. “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.” (Psalm 127:3) When we speak about adoption, we are speaking about one of the most solemn trusts a society can give: the care of a child…
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A child’s gift is not a parent’s god. A message for the parent still living in the stands You already know why you opened this. Not because you needed another lecture on parenting. Because something in the house has gone tight, and you have been calling the tightness by softer names. Support. Pride. Investment. He…
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Hard Road, Living Redeemer — Week 3 Your worst chapter does not own the deed. You have been living like it does. You keep a private ledger of everything ugly — the nights, the words, the doors you left open, the years you spent what belonged to God on something that could not love you…
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