Tsehay Tolessa – Through a Fiery Furnace When, on July 28, 1979, the Lutheran pastor Gudina Tumsa was abducted at the end of a church service, the troubles for his wife were far from over.[1] Kidnapped at the same time,…
When was the last time you failed to follow God’s call to holiness? Maybe you knew you should give a gracious answer, but instead responded to a friend, spouse, or child with anger. Perhaps you knew you were to be…
When studying God one quickly has to answer challenging questions. How far does God’s authority extend? How much of what happens in this world is God responsible for? For those who take Scripture seriously God’s eternal decree cannot be avoided.…
Most theological and moral failures can be traced back to a wrong view of God. We charge God with being unfair only if we think he must submit to our concept of fairness. We will contentedly live one way in…
One of the things we most want in life is to be loved. We want our parents and siblings to love us. We want our friends and extended family members to love us. We want our coaches and teachers to…
Think of the one area in your life right now in which it seems that it will take everything you have to make it through. Maybe it’s a class in graduate school or seminary. Perhaps it’s a season of struggle…
It was 8 a.m. on a Saturday in Southern California while I was settling to watch my four-and-a-half-year-old son play basketball when I received a call from a sister in the Lord, Anne, dying in Minnesota.[1] We never met,…
“I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means!” – Romans 11:1 The fear of rejection is perhaps one of the more influential considerations in our decision making. The choices we make, the conversations we choose to have or…
The United States Secret Service is the federal law enforcement agency primarily responsible for protecting high-profile government figures and for conducting investigations into criminal activity targeting the country’s financial infrastructure. In the 2021 fiscal year, the Service spent around $2.5B,…
In the midst of suffering, I often pray, “Lord, help me to suffer well.” What I mean is that I want to suffer in a way that glorifies God. But what does it look like for the believer to suffer…
