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Featured image for “Advent: Hope”
December 20, 2014
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Devotions

Advent: Hope

by Gabe Eliserio
…have hope in Christ because it brings glory to God. When someone trusts you, they’re saying you are trustworthy. This is an honor. The same is true when we put our hope in Christ and His future promise. Having hope in Christ brings God glory! As those in the Old Testament hoped in the coming of the Messiah, we are to hope in the second coming of Christ and the fulfillment of salvation. Hopefully the response is to make the spiritual preparations…
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Featured image for “The Reformation and the Cause of the Gospel”
March 13, 2017
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Essays

The Reformation and the Cause of the Gospel

by Richard Mouw
…the Catholic community. I don’t see that gratitude as a betrayal of my Protestant commitments. I’m pleased that people like them choose to remain Catholics, even though I could never be one myself. And I can claim some measure of support for my gratitude from none other than John Calvin. It is an understatement to say that the great Swiss Reformer had little respect for the Catholic Church as such. He was so convinced that the authorities in Rome…
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Featured image for “Leadership Development in Student Athletes”
June 10, 2016
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Essays

Leadership Development in Student Athletes

by Jeff Schouten
…strong leaders whether it’s in the workplace, families, church, or general community. Many of the examples I witnessed from our players show me that they will continue to learn and build on their leadership strengths. For some players it was easy to lead a team devotional, pray before the whole team and encourage someone who was emotionally spent, or push someone to get through a 6:00 am training session. Some led by their words and some led by th…
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Featured image for “Advent: Emmanuel Brings True Peace”
December 10, 2019
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Essays

Advent: Emmanuel Brings True Peace

by Chandra Crane
…son) and “O Come All Ye Faithful” especially. But, if I have to choose, “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” is in the top spot. In addition to the fact that I apparently have a soft spot for Christmas carols with the symphonic “O” in their title, I love “O Come” because it is achingly beautiful. The minor key quiets my frenzied brain even as it stirs up deeper longings in my soul—a hunger and thirst for righteousness, to see Jesus face-to-face. When I liste…
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Featured image for “Good News to Mary”
December 23, 2016
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Devotions

Good News to Mary

by Kristi Kiel
…gs would be set right. Good news to Mary. Not such good news for the self-centered, the proud, the rich, the successful, the powerful. People like me. What would Mary have thought about a person like me? Would she even be able to process the idea that a woman could have so much and could be so free to pursue her own goals and dreams? As much as I like to think that I can identify with Mary, when I read her song, I realize that I am not much like h…
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Featured image for “Finding Hope in a Bleak Midwinter”
December 29, 2022
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Culture

Finding Hope in a Bleak Midwinter

by Bruce Kuiper
…ven cannot hold him” but whose new residence is a stable…” This contrast becomes the song’s focus. Here we have the Creator of the universe, someone so vast and beyond comprehension that “heaven cannot hold him” but whose new residence is a stable … and I’m guessing that the stable itself is hardly enough of a refuge against the harsh winter, let alone sufficient to house the earth’s true Lord. We all know this mystery, of course, and many other s…
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Featured image for “Sphere Sovereignty”
August 20, 2014
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Essays

Sphere Sovereignty

by Neal DeRoo
…alls through the cracks between the distinct spheres. As such, the state becomes a sort of ‘last line of defense’ to protect those who have been failed by other institutions. It also functions to oversee those things that work across institutions (like transportation systems, for example, which serve businesses, schools, and recreational purposes, to name a few). In such a view, the state can intervene in economic issues only when businesses (the…
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Featured image for “Directing Attention: Facilitating Flow (Part 2/2)”
November 10, 2022
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Essays

Directing Attention: Facilitating Flow (Part 2/2)

by Dawn Berkelaar
…fully absorbed in a challenging but doable activity. Flow seems to be most common in the context of work (defined by Dr. Kevin Majeres, a psychologist at Harvard University, as “ordered and sustained attention”1) because for many of us, work requires specific skills, is goal-oriented, plays by specific rules, and requires us to pay focused attention–all of which are important for flow. As a mom who stayed home with my children, and as an educator,…
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Featured image for “Why Doesn’t the U.S. Mandate Paid Leave?”
June 12, 2018
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Essays

Why Doesn’t the U.S. Mandate Paid Leave?

by Donald Roth
…U.S. do indeed lag substantially behind other nations. However, even this comparison is complicated by trying to make complex bureaucratic schemes uniform, and parental leave itself is often spread out over multiple years of eligibility, which only further complicates things. The last wrench I’ll throw at this is that using these benefits is always in place of getting paid for work, and this means that anytime benefits are substantially below a p…
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Featured image for “Fighting For Our Soul”
November 3, 2020
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Books

Fighting For Our Soul

by Caleb Schut
…your lifetime, and when you find yourself there, you will be grateful that communion shaped your community every week for years. I’m grateful for the ways that weekly communion shapes the congregation I’m serving. The sacramental reminder of who we are is the sword of the Spirit we desperately need during this pandemic. Communion reminds us that those receiving the body of Christ in front of us and behind us, no matter how differently they engage…
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Featured image for “Stories from Nejapa”
April 27, 2015
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Essays

Stories from Nejapa

by Kathleen Van Tol
…s something beautiful about having a room full of children stand up and welcome you and ask God to bless you. After looking at the work that Maria was completing with her partner and touching base with her teacher, I moved on to another classroom. At recess, though, I saw Maria again. She came up to me, two friends in tow. One of her friends is American and Maria wanted her to come and speak to me in English. I chatted with this young girl for a f…
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Featured image for “Not If But How”
January 18, 2017
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Essays

Not If But How

by Peter TeWinkle
…and our fear of death. A formal Profession of Faith only adds to that same testimony. It is a public testimony of our trust in Jesus as a Savior and our loyalty to Jesus as Lord. It’s possible to do apart from all of the doctrine and apart from the institution (though not apart from Jesus’ body). But remember, it’s not if you profess your faith, but how and in what. It’s not whether if you worship, but which god you worship. You will seek “salvati…
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Featured image for “Life as a Writer”
July 5, 2016
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Essays

Life as a Writer

by Kendra Broekhuis
…latforms who are already selling loads of books. You hear women talk about comparing themselves to each other and competing with each other through their work as wives, or as moms, or as Jesus People. And this is where it is easy for me to get entrapped in that game too. I follow other writers on social media to learn from them professionally, but it can be hard to remember my goal is not to become them or to duplicate their journey of faith. Ther…
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Featured image for “Top 5: Books to Read Aloud”
July 8, 2022
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Culture

Top 5: Books to Read Aloud

by Kayt Frisch, Donald Roth, Ruth Clark, Justin Ariel Bailey
…to share with you, readers, in the format of Top Five Fridays, switching up our themes each week. Did we recommend any of your favorites? Share a comment if you echo our recommendations or with a title we missed….
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Featured image for “Top 5: Movies to Watch with Teenagers”
September 2, 2022
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Culture

Top 5: Movies to Watch with Teenagers

by Josh Matthews
…movie focusing on one commandment—or does it? Set in late-communist Poland, director Krzystof Kieslowski weaved the particular situation of communist-era Poles with universal questions of morality and how to apply it in thorny, ultra-complex scenarios. Few movies have come close to depicting the confusion and richness of lived experience like The Dekalog.   Dig Deeper If you’d like to check out more movie reviews, follow Josh Matthew’s work here o…
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Featured image for “My Oldest Friend: The Impact of Intergenerational Friendships”
July 11, 2022
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Essays

My Oldest Friend: The Impact of Intergenerational Friendships

by Mariellen Van Nieuwenhuyzen
…s not perfect (frequently blaming God for her misfortune)1, yet her life becomes a powerful testimony of God’s faithfulness. She experiences great losses in the time of the famine with the death of not only her husband, but also her family line. Still, we see God’s faithfulness in providing a kinsman-redeemer at the end of the book of Ruth. Though they were distinctly different not only in age, but also in culture, together Naomi and Ruth learn Go…
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Featured image for “Finding Wonder Woman”
January 21, 2017
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Devotions

Finding Wonder Woman

by Eliza Cortes Bast
…ttitude. This Sunday, one of our teaching pastors talked about Jesus being completely free from fear. Jesus would echo Psalm 27:3 when he tells the storm to calm down. When he walks through a murderous mob. When he willfully went to the cross. The measured steps of a fearless man. What do he and Wonder Woman know that I have forgotten? What’s the secret? The writer of Psalm 27 spends the next few verses talking about what it’s like to dwell with G…
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Featured image for “The Road of Faith”
January 2, 2017
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Devotions

The Road of Faith

by Jamin HĂĽbner
…ust like that, I hit the road and drove to the Black Hills. It was the greatest “act of faith” I had ever taken. All of those passages in the New Testament about God taking care of basic needs—food, shelter, clothing, etc.—unfolded before my eyes in countless ways. It was remarkable—no less remarkable than how God was faithful to those in this Hebrews text. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was apparently very much alive in my time, too! And wi…
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Featured image for “Top 25 Most Influential Books Read in 2014”
December 12, 2014
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Spotlights

Top 25 Most Influential Books Read in 2014

by Meagan De Graaf
…ion to Mason’s. When I saw “The Bible” in the list, I thought someone felt compelled to include it. Like every influence on a good Christian has to come second to “Jesus and the Bible,” as we used to say as kids. (Always a safe answer.) Maybe it’s the short synopsis here that is confusing. Was it intended as humor? I could see that. Shortest book description, but this one is about your salvation and God’s plan for everything. That ‘s what comes in…
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Featured image for “Repairing Broken Fellowship in the Church”
June 3, 2021
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Essays

Repairing Broken Fellowship in the Church

by Joel Kok
…can express them in Christlike ways by living out Paul’s instruction: “Welcome one another, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God” (Rom. 15:7). For Paul and for all members of the body of Christ, unity in the church and the glory of God are a “both-and” that go together. To experience Jesus and to hear Paul in ways that speak directly to conflicts in our own times, we can listen to a fascinating witness named Will D. Campbell, in…
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Featured image for “Seeing Christ in Philosophy”
July 17, 2014
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Spotlights

Seeing Christ in Philosophy

by Neal DeRoo
…as a human being, possessing certain inalienable rights, like the right to free public education and the chance to freely make a life for ourselves). With philosophy, we can start to articulate those assumptions and cultural moods to better understand what we’re doing, and then evaluate them to see why we do them, and whether they are in keeping with God’s loving design for his creation: are these the best ways of understanding things like humans,…
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Featured image for “It is Well”
March 7, 2016
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Essays

It is Well

by Sarah Roth
…impact those around me—but since working at a senior living facility, I’ve come to know death differently. Although our community has a younger and more active population that results in a lower mortality rate than many similar places in the area, there still is quite enough that the specter of death is never too far out of mind. I know it sounds cliché, but it’s true that each death is unique. I’ve watched one of our residents “rage, rage against…
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Featured image for “Fear Defeated, Joy Greeted”
December 23, 2016
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Essays

Fear Defeated, Joy Greeted

by Dawn Berkelaar
…and shame in your life—but remember that they do not need to lead you, or define you. Remember that in Christ, you are loved, forgiven, and set free before God. If you are feeling discouraged, read Romans 8:28-39. God has made us right with himself. Now, nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. “I am absolutely sure that not even death or life can separate us from God’s love. Not even angels or demons, the present or the future, or any po…
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Featured image for “Community Found by Perspective”
April 29, 2016
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Essays

Community Found by Perspective

by Renee Buikema
…ight not actually be comfortable… …but discomfort produces growth, whereas comfort breeds complacency. Being unable to control a situation and unsure if/where you belong are some of the most uncomfortable feelings we can have; yet, more often than not, they are both inevitable in new situations. For months, this is how I felt. The devil shot lies at me that made it hard to press into relationships because they heightened feelings of insecurity, fe…
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Featured image for “Miracles and Superheroes”
June 20, 2016
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Devotions

Miracles and Superheroes

by Howard Schaap
…done to you.” Gulp. I think I grew up—like many in the church—with a faith complex. “If only I had more faith, my life would go better,” I thought, or “If only I had more faith, God would take this or that problem away.” When I read, “According to your faith it will be done to you,” it seems to be a line about my deficiency. Again if you’re like me, there are a couple of problems with thinking this way. One of those problems is that it’s a type of…
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