If the Jesus story is encouraging to us, think about what it did for the people whose lives were intertwined with his. "Jesus was radically reconfigured and redefined by resurrection," said Eugene Peterson. “And now they [the disciples] were being just as radically reconfigured...

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One Saturday, on the day of rest, Jesus and his disciples were walking through a field of wheat. The disciples were hungry, so they plucked off some heads of grain and rubbed them in their hands to eat. But when some of the Pharisees saw what was happening, they said to him...

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In the first two verses of Luke chapter 9, Jesus gives His twelve newly called apostles three instructions: preach the gospel, heal the sick and cast out demons. These are the twelve people closest to Jesus in His adult life..

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Goodness and mercy will follow me forever? Really? I want to believe it, but many days it feels like anxiety and fear follow me around. Goodness and mercy—they seem like fictitious...

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There’s a picture in a pile of old family photos that’s worth a thousand words. I’m about six years old, my brother, about seven and a half. We’re sitting in front of the Christmas tree with our newly opened gifts. Me with my new doll and my brother Jeff with his GI Joe truck. Only one of us is smiling...

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One of the biggest challenges about the anxious thoughts we have is that there is some truth in them. That’s why they can be so powerful. If there was absolutely no truth to our thoughts, we wouldn’t be tempted to dwell on them. But half truths are only half true...

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One sunny afternoon in 1981, I walked to our neighborhood supermarket to buy some Chips Ahoy! cookies—my favorite snack. After I made my purchase...

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Early one summer morning, my sister Jay and I drove down to the little Maryland farming community of Sykesville to visit Grandma Clark. She wasn’t really our grandmother. She and Jay had become friends at the tiny stone church on the hill, and we had been invited...

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This Thanksgiving, many Americans are hurting. Though most of us have what we need, millions are either without work or struggling to make ends meet and provide for their families. Even as we thank God...

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Our place as sons and daughters settles our present and our future. It designates us as partakers of the life-transforming benefits of grace. Children who feel secure enough to call God “Abba, Father” are not worrying about...

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