distraction

Where do we turn when we are brokenhearted? Some of us turn to entertainment to distract us. Others of us throw all our time and attention to a hobby we’re good at. We may call a couple of good friends and share why our heart is broken in hopes they will cheer us. We may take a trip to the grocery...

Wandering eyes are bad harbinger in Scripture. From the opening chapters of Genesis, when Eve looked at the tree and saw that it was good for food and “a delight to the eyes,” humanity’s false reliance on sight is a consistent theme. From Lot to David, whenever an individual sees that something...

The Psalms of Ascent is a collection of Psalms in the Psalter. There are other collection or groupings of Psalms. This collection is not unique in that sense. However, this collection was a well-worn collection. This dog-eared collection was taken by pilgrims to Jerusalem three times per year on...

Recently, Christians have agonized over accounts of false devotion to talented but corrupt church leaders. In outwardly successful churches and ministries, leaders have covered up sin, blamed victims, and blocked investigations to protect gifted but fatally flawed pastors and their ministries. To...

As a mother of four children I’ve heard quite a bit of grumbling and questioning. But as I listen to my children, I’m often convicted at how many times I grumble about a particular circumstance or question why God has allowed something in my life. Scripture reveals that these are serious sins...

1 Cor 15:12 - “If Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection from the dead?” While you may not be using words to say that there is no resurrection of the dead, your lives actually reflect that you think it’s true. The choices we make are...

Lately, I’ve been swamped with temporary though important projects consuming my time and attention. Feeling guilty about delaying or limiting focus on more regular needs, I recalled a booklet in a seminary class: Tyranny of the Urgent, by Charles E. Hummel. The primary lesson from this brief...

We may not always realise it, but the Bible has a theology of conflict. Indeed, when we stop and think about it, we are literally no further than 57 verses into Genesis before we find ourselves in the conflict zone that changed the course of history. And the conflict that emerges there in the...