The Joy of Having Faith in a Perfectly Faithful God
by Stephanie Kuiper
…t low for our sake. The Centurion was a man who was highly esteemed in his community. He had power and wealth. Yet, in verse six, he says he is not worthy to have Jesus even enter his household. There is an important lesson of both trust and humility to be seen in the Centurion. Not only did the man not think himself worthy of being in the presence of Jesus, but he also trusted the power of Jesus enough to ask the Lord to heal his servant from whe…
God, Human Nature, and Psychology
by Mark Christians
…d entered it into our minds and hearts is Peace = Truth + Love + Justice + Freedom. If Pastoral Counsellors, in some way or fashion can plant this seed into those who suffer, only good can come of it. God Bless one and all. Little sunshine 🌞 Thank you for posting this article…. I have always been confused if psychology is as evil as people often say…. God bless you I just hope I am not going to be ashamed if I grabbed the textbook again……….
by Kara Lepley
…ribly gory and terrible! As the verses of Genesis 7:1-24 portray, Noah was commanded to enter the humongous Ark that he had built, along with his entire family and a large amount of animals. As the story goes, seven days after the animals and people boarded the Ark, the rain started and kept going until the entire land was flooded. Any living thing that was not on the Ark was no longer—entire groups of people and many numbers of animals were simpl…
Walk Humbly with your God
by Charles Veenstra
…most no compassion for any immigrant — Syrian or otherwise. In fact, self-centered approaches almost always exclude compassion. Check how well your candidate demonstrates compassion. Christians need to lead the way with the famous Micah passage as our guide. We need to show others how to listen and how to show compassion. By the way, the news media often likes to run stories that illustrate compassion. One more urgent final requirement. II Chronic…
Advent Hope: Disculpa os pido, no os reconocĂa
by Kate Kooyman
…by those I had learned to pity and to pass by. Less in the blessings of my comfort and wealth, and more in the One who hides in the face of the stranger, awaiting welcome. Perhaps the hope to be found at the border today is the very truth we so desperately need—that despite our failure to earn it, to be worth it, to even accept it, God’s love persists. Despite our repeated rejection, God’s promise is born. Despite our blindness, the Christ child a…
by Jeff Ploegstra
…us 17:6) In a barren place, a stone was struck and salvation poured forth. Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. (Psalm 95:1-3) “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who str…
by Katlyn DeVries
…re trying so hard to do the right thing; when we feel like we’ve finally accomplished something, only to have it thrown in our face. Maybe we have a tendency, like Elijah, to complain about or to blame others. Maybe we, like Elijah, adopt a false perception of reality, thinking, “I’m all alone in this.” In short, maybe we get stuck in thinking, “It’s all about me.” At Mount Carmel, God showed up in a blazing fire of glory. And as Elijah waits on t…
The Weight of Words (Part 1)
by Rachel Hibma
…onders? Maybe you felt joy. Maybe gratitude. Maybe hope. Maybe something completely different; but hopefully you felt something. Because that is what a poem does—”it stirs up emotions,” as Tate says. What is it about poetry that holds our vulnerable hearts in its hands, pressing here or there and molding it to feel this or that? In my experience, poems begin with a feeling—a big feeling. Before I write any poem at all, I first experience some…
In Defense of Halloween, or in Defense of the Better Story
by Howard Schaap
…that valley. At Dordt’s recent performance of A Wrinkle in Time, a friend commented how she was opting for the play over the upcoming movie, since there were certain scenes from the book that still so moved her that she wasn’t sure she could handle them cinematically. We certainly have different capacities for story to disturb us, but I stand by the claim that it’s when a story splashes through the placid water of our lives that truth gets in. Co…
by Aaron Baart
…esus encounters and the reader is left asking each time, ‘Will this person come and truly follow him? Do they get it?’ We meet candidate after candidate who don’t really get it (including the disciples) until the last possible follower is encountered immediately before Jesus is about to enter Jerusalem and the passion narrative is about to start. And when Jesus meets blind Bartimaeus his only question to him is, “What do you want me to do for you?…
Race and the Demand of a Reformational Worldview
by Chelsea Maxwell
…prayer. It was during the summer I was a regular attendee that a young man entered Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina on the evening of June 17, 2015 and killed 9 people who had gathered for a Bible study. The shooter was a white supremacist and confessed that he committed the act of violence with the intention of starting a race war. Walking into church the following Sunday, I was unsure what to expect. I had…
Remember That You Are Dust
by Liz Moss
…fessing that righteousness can only be found in God and God alone. “Do not enter into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you.” (verse 2) “Teach me to do your will, for you are my God,” the psalmist confesses. (verse 10) For, “I am your servant.” (verse 2 and 12) Psalm 143 is a psalm reminding us of the faithfulness and righteousness of God. “I remember the days of old, I think about all your deeds, I meditate on the…
by Gwen Marra
…ousands of years. We know that God promised a Savior many times in the Old Testament. For example, he made promises to Noah in Genesis 9: 1-17. If you take time to read the story of Noah (Genesis 6-8), you will remember God’s faithfulness and Noah’s trust and obedience. Noah was told to build an ark because a flood was coming, and he was obedient—even though it was not raining. Noah trusted God when he was told to enter the ark with his family and…
Bible Stories No One Talks About
by Mark Verbruggen
…er the biblical text. I don’t have space to take this subject into the New Testament where there are teachings from Jesus and the apostles that might be hard to understand. Suffice to say, the Bible is not just a story book for children featuring good, moral examples, nor are its teachings always easy to understand. This is the Word of the Lord that must cut its way into the messiness of human life in this world that has fallen into sin. But we ar…
by Erin Olson
…eed each other, and don’t survive long without social contact. We all have common basic needs when it comes to how we feel in relation to the “others” in our lives, specifically those closest to us, including our friends and family members. Christian therapists Mark & Debbie Laaser in their book, Seven Desires, identify desires that they believe are common to all people and which, if left unmet, can lead to problems with intimacy and interpersonal…
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…scenter@dordt.edu. Comments Current settings for Comments (and Pingbacks): Commenters must enter a name and email address. Replies on comments can go 5 levels deep. Comments are paginated with 5 non-nested (top-level) comments per page. Once there is more than one page of comments, the last/most recent page of comments is shown first below the post. Suspected spam goes into a spam queue automatically. Check it periodically or it will be automatica…
The Relationship Between Faith and Art
by Ryan Stander
…), 103. ↩ Psalm 24:1, 1 Corinthians 10:6 ↩ Douglas F. Ottati, Reforming Protestantism: Christian Commitment in Today’s World, (Louisville, KY., Westminster John Knox Press, 1995), 65. ↩ Ottatti, 65. ↩ H.R. Rookmaaker, Art Needs No Justification, (Downers Grove, IL. Inter-Varsity Press, 1978), 32. ↩ “Things and actions and human endeavor only get their meaning from their relationship to God; if Christ came to make us human, the humanity and the rea…
Reflections on Prayer in a Time of Panic
by Kayt Frisch
…ough the end of April and universities are finishing out the academic year online. My university has sent the students home, and cancelled all events until commencement (but postponing that decision until early April). Public meetings, like church, are not happening, and there are rumors of a shelter-in-place order coming from the Mayor. The fear is everywhere. It’s easy for me to do the same thing as everyone else (panic). It’s how we’re wired. F…
We’re in the Kid Business
by Josh Bowar
…ears and came across this reaction all the time. Now having been in Sioux Center for eight years, had I become soft to it? I think so, and the interview was a good reminder. At SCCS, our mission is to disciple God’s children by equipping them with a knowledge and understanding of Christ and His creation so that they can obediently serve God and others as they work and play. In today’s world, that means helping students serve God and others in a gl…
by Dawn Berkelaar
…to be more focused on knowing about; this is the kind of knowledge that is tested on standardized tests. I can think of several reasons for an educational focus on head knowledge. First, it is easier, in almost all ways, to convey information through books, lectures, or digitally. In a classroom situation, less hassle and expense are associated with these approaches than there would be in coordinating a class trip to learn first-hand about a subje…
How Teaching Has Changed in the Last 36 Years
by Ed Starkenburg
…ly planted within each person. Teachers still pray for wisdom from the greatest teacher so they will be able to perceive and accomplish what needs to be done for the students in their care. Teachers still rely on the wisdom and creativity of others for rich ideas on how to teach both the exciting and boring. We spend time online now rather than in paper journals and printed books to find ideas that expand the ideas in our curriculum and in our own…
by Tanya De Roo
…e decision and threatening to ban the stores. Pranksters had fun at the protesters’ expense. It was an online spectacle. Perhaps you agreed with Graham that our use of the colors pink and blue is how we best celebrate that “God created two different genders,” or, like Walsh, you are offended by any decision in which “the sensitivities of the 0.0001 percent outweigh the concerns of the 99.999 percent.” Perhaps you celebrated the decision to allow c…
A New Asceticism: Who Defines Excess?
by Chandra Crane
…ery bodies. Yolanda V. Acree, blogger and founder of the Black Minimalists community, also laments that “when I first started exploring minimalist resources online, I noticed that many of the popular people advocating minimalism…were white.” Her website is clean and streamlined, with artful pictures of brown hands and black bodies; I was saddened to realize that the reason I found it so visually refreshing was that it is the exception to the rule,…
Tables Instead of Platforms
by April Fiet
…nstead of platforms, God calls us to build tables. God commissions us to become a community.” Instead of platforms (whether our list of all the good we’ve done, or our online presence), God calls us to build tables. God commissions us to become a community. God’s way isn’t a “do it myself and prove my right to be here” kind of way. Instead, Jesus tells a story about a banquet where people are brought in from the streets and from the places people…
Culture as Divine Gift: The Future of In All Things
by David Henreckson
…itable disputation. We will not minimize the disagreements that divide our communities. At the same time, we intend to feature writing that examines the cultural and spiritual roots of our most profound differences. We hope this last point is already evidenced in some of our recent pieces on topics such as race, gender, systemic injustice, the refugee crisis, the shifting boundaries of evangelicalism, and the ways that conservatives and minority c…
