I’ll put this as simply as I know how to say it. God loves you.
It was a cold November morning with a chill in the air that made its way into my lungs with each short breath. And it was dark. A still, calm dark. It was the middle of the night—the early hours of the next day. About 1:30 in the morning.
I was making the trek between two houses. Maybe thirty yards, door to door. And at the end of that short path, we would, for the final time, say goodbye to Mom. She was already gone. She just stopped breathing. Died in her sleep. Now she was with Jesus and no longer with us.
Sometimes the natural consequence of walking the path toward grace is that you'll become offended by God's staggering generosity and love. God's grace is extreme. And you know you've been offended by it when you make excuses that it can't be that good. We're hard-wired to help God out by trying to do our part.
Prayer is so many things. It’s talking to God, yes. And listening. And just being.
Have you ever felt like God is hard to understand? Shrouded in mystery and cryptic in communication. Yep, I have too. Sometimes God’s personality and the way He works seem confusing. No wonder the Bible might seem confusing too.
Today’s culture embraces the deeply held conviction that we are at the center of our worlds. Consequently, you may view yourself as the most important person alive right now. Life may be all about you—although, maybe not voiced so blatantly. Today, self-infatuation and the obsession with image management have reached staggering proportions. Never have so many people taken so many pictures of themselves.