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Featured image for “Advent: Alpha and Omega”
December 4, 2014
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Devotions

Advent: Alpha and Omega

by Ross Douma
…e from all avenues of life who struggled with their humanness is even more comforting. Numerous stories are chronicled in the New Testament where Jesus went against the social norm to reach out to struggling individuals. Like the birth of our Savior, this newness needs to still be played out today by Christians as we seek to restore a broken world Christ was born into and died for. Furthermore, as struggles continue to transpire in the Middle East…
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Featured image for “A Minute to be Mindful”
August 11, 2020
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Essays

A Minute to be Mindful

by Hannah Buteyn
…nderfully faithful. I can finally see it, feel it, hear it all clearly and come home. God says “come back to Me” again and again. “I’ll give you what you need. Don’t worry about tomorrow, come seek and find me. Abide in me. Be mindful of my abundant presence.” Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid (John 14:27). Abide in me, and I in you….
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Featured image for “Visual Art: Cultivating Christian Viewers”
October 29, 2018
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Essays

Visual Art: Cultivating Christian Viewers

by David Versluis
…ttle differences all fitting in together.4 Carl Sandburg once wrote in his Complete Poems that, “Poetry is the opening and closing of a door, leaving those who look through to guess about what is seen during a moment.” With this passage in mind, it takes a certain kind of humility to view an artwork by not “reading into it,” but better yet, taking time to cultivate a process of “drawing out” the significance of the artwork. Dig Deeper Interested i…
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Featured image for “O My Soul”
March 29, 2017
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Devotions

O My Soul

by Hannah Barker Nickolay
…stranger bowed down under forbidding looks that simply say “you are not welcome here” he lifts up. He is the restorer, the maker of new things. IV “loves the righteous” You are not righteous. Neither am I. None of us are. None of us can be. And yet. You are a beloved child of God. A child that he has called his own. Paid for with blood, oh so precious. A life lost for you to be made righteous. That same life restored so that you might be restored…
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Featured image for “A Walk Through the Poem: “Believing Green” by Christian Wiman”
April 26, 2017
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Essays

A Walk Through the Poem: “Believing Green” by Christian Wiman

by Shelbi Gesch
…our minds, only to be intercepted by our inner censor and translated into common language for the sake of more efficient communication. But what is lost in our drive for efficiency, Wiman showcases by reinhabiting his younger self and inviting us along to wander through the magic of a childhood memory. His experience has an approachable quality about it that’s unique, but relatable: that one person we knew growing up who gave us an upside-down, t…
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Featured image for “Beautiful Feet”
August 13, 2017
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Devotions

Beautiful Feet

by Jeff Ploegstra
…filiation. My impression was that as he moved into more culturally diverse communities and was able to see the Christian community through their eyes, he did not like what he was seeing; arrogance, condemnation, and abuse. Reading Romans 10 with this conversation fresh in my mind is like someone pushing his or her finger into an open wound. “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom…
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Featured image for “3 Reasons Why I Take the Church Year Journey”
January 28, 2020
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Essays

3 Reasons Why I Take the Church Year Journey

by April Fiet
…d asks me if I’m making the most of my days. Pentecost shakes me out of my comfort zone when I am feeling uncertain about my gifts and reminds me that the Holy Spirit was given to men and women, young and old. Holy Saturday frustrates my desire to jump over the grief of Good Friday, and invites me to sit and weep outside the tomb. The liturgical calendar consistently sends holy interruptions to wake me up and get me back on track. 2. The liturgica…
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Featured image for “People of Goodwill? Race, Lukewarm Acceptance, and the Christian Reformed Church”
May 18, 2017
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Essays

People of Goodwill? Race, Lukewarm Acceptance, and the Christian Reformed Church

by Mark T. Mulder
…vironment in which racialization and the racial caste system festers and becomes ever-more insidious. Even in their lukewarm acceptance, people of goodwill can be complicit. Michael Emerson and Christian Smith, Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), p. 122. â†© Acts of Synod, 1957 (Grand Rapids, MI: CRC Board of Publications, 1957), p. 20. â†© Acts of Synod, 1968, p. 19. â†© M…
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Featured image for “Dismantling the Question of “How much screen time should my kid have?””
April 19, 2018
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Books

Dismantling the Question of “How much screen time should my kid have?”

by Kayt Frisch
…then synthesizes the examples and research into practical guidelines. For example, she recommends “sponsoring” a kid’s interest in tech just as one might an interest in soccer (being a “Minecraft Mom/Dad” like some are a “Soccer Mom/Dad”). She also advocates finding approaches that use media to facilitate communication and closeness within the family and in the broader community. The final theme, parent usage of media in front of and about their…
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Featured image for “Beacons of Light in Christ’s Kingdom”
September 6, 2018
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Essays

Beacons of Light in Christ’s Kingdom

by Derek Buteyn
…real sense in board rooms, in the classroom, on the stage, and behind the computer screen. We need to open our eyes to this reality, understanding that our service in the workforce is not only to make a living, but also to participate in the cause of Christ, raising a banner for his Kingdom, occupying our places as beacons of the Light. While we live in the tension of the “already and not yet,” we need to be taking steps forward, reclaiming and r…
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Featured image for “Tourism with Worldview”
July 27, 2017
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Essays

Tourism with Worldview

by Derek Buteyn
…ssful “tourism” is to live into the feelings of discomfort; to learn to be comfortable with the uncomfortable. I get the sense that in our independent, self-assured American culture, we tend to project even more confidence when we lack control, dominating as if to conform the situation ourselves, rather than letting ourselves be okay with the feeling of uncertainty. What do we desire to experience in travel? Is it a version of our destination that…
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Featured image for “Can Christians Really Do All Things?”
April 18, 2016
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Essays

Can Christians Really Do All Things?

by Neal DeRoo
…d for the good of others, doesn’t mean that nobody can. After all, my shortcomings are not everyone else’s shortcomings, just like not everyone shares my strengths. And so, the fact that I would be led into temptation by something need not mean that other people would be if they were to do the same thing. We are not carbon copies of the same model, but unique members of the body of Christ. We cannot all do the same things with the same skill or wi…
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Featured image for “Fostering Cultural Inclusivity in our Church Music”
October 4, 2018
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Essays

Fostering Cultural Inclusivity in our Church Music

by John MacInnis
…n experiences the freedom to be themselves individually and, moreover, the freedom to become something new together. In striving to outdo one another in showing honor (Romans 12:10), each culture defers to others with the greater obligation placed upon those with the most security and established power. Judging from the many churches that have adopted the Belhar Confession, I know I am not alone in finding these ideas to be fitting and desirable,…
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Featured image for “Glory in Ordinary Living”
May 18, 2022
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Essays

Glory in Ordinary Living

by Mariellen Van Nieuwenhuyzen
…, this wasn’t just a command that God gave to His exiled nation in the Old Testament. It is a testimony that He himself lived out in the flesh. In her book Liturgy of the Ordinary, Tish Harrison Warren reminds us that “Christ’s ordinary years are part of our redemption story. Because of the incarnation and those long, unrecorded years of Jesus’ life, our small, normal lives matter…. If Christ spent most of his life in quotidian ways, then all of l…
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Featured image for “Welcome the Stranger”
March 24, 2015
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Spotlights

Welcome the Stranger

by Rikki Heldt
…prayer, and encouragement from my host family, friends, and the Christian community. A community that took me, the alien and stranger, into their open arms. I never in my wildest dreams thought I would be the German citizen teaching Spanish at a Christian Reformed college in Northwest Iowa. It wasn’t my plan to be separated from family, friends, and a language and culture I understood and fit into. But it was God’s plan. God used immigration, fir…
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Featured image for “5 Tips for a Successful Parent and Teacher Relationship”
February 6, 2015
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Spotlights

5 Tips for a Successful Parent and Teacher Relationship

by Gwen Marra
…ill others may not be ready for homework until after your evening meal. Be open to trying different times based on your child’s behavior. Often children come home from school and they are worn out. They have “held it together” for the past seven hours and sometimes they let their frustrations out when they walk in the door. Allow them some space. Allow them some time to unwind. Tip #3: Be available, but don’t badger. If your child wants to share a…
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Featured image for “Thirst and Gratitude”
December 14, 2016
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Devotions

Thirst and Gratitude

by Chelsea Axford Reynhout
…God is my survival. I forget because I have never had to remember. I drink freely, habitually, and ungratefully of God’s presence. So today I sat in a nest of blankets and pillows with my Bible open, holding a tall glass of water. I began reading Psalm 42, and at every verse I lingered and took a long, slow sip from the glass. I noted the temperature, that it seemed to me to be the perfect level of cold. I tasted the sweetness that I imagine can o…
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Featured image for “How (and Why) to Give the Gift of Rest”
July 9, 2015
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Essays

How (and Why) to Give the Gift of Rest

by Leah Zuidema
…y on a need-to-know or need-to-participate basis. This prevents a flood of communications, meetings, and information, and it minimizes long, complex interactions over routine items that could be handled without everyone weighing in. Sometimes informing with a summary after the fact is more helpful than adding numerous people into a meeting or sending constant email cc:’s, forwards, or reply-all messages. Practice the 24-hour rule. In especially ch…
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Featured image for “A Father’s Heart”
July 27, 2017
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Devotions

A Father’s Heart

by Brandon Huisman
…our own family or discipling one walking through a confusing time. The greatest story we have to share is a redemptive narrative of hope that shines light in the darkest places. This journey is not meant to be walked alone, but together—in covenant community. Lord willing, Erica and I will learn to share this truth with our children and you will share this truth with those under and around your care. Following my dad’s example as he followed his f…
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Featured image for “Heart of Stone and Heart of Flesh”
October 6, 2015
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Essays

Heart of Stone and Heart of Flesh

by John Visser
…ven political reform. Scripture also reminds us that stewardship is best accomplished in community. Not only can we do things more efficiently and effectively when we work together, we are told that when the people of the world see this kind of love and unity in the Christian community they will not only praise God, but will also be drawn to Christ. And, since the Christian community transcends geographic and political boundaries, other options op…
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Featured image for “Joy’s Place”
June 5, 2017
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Essays

Joy’s Place

by Harlan VanOort
…was a place here for them. Of course the ultimate place is the one being prepared in heaven. (John 14) There God’s presence is full and complete. All competing voices will be no more….
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Featured image for “Will You Hear Me?”
May 16, 2017
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Devotions

Will You Hear Me?

by Chelsea Axford Reynhout
…u said any of this to God?” No, I had not. I had made the wise decision to open up to a few trusted friends about what was going on in my head and heart. As someone familiar with seasons of depression, I know better than to keep too much locked inside for too long. But no, I had not said any of this to God. In fact, I couldn’t remember the last time I had prayed. What could I possibly say if I did say any of this to God? “Hey, God. Just wanted to…
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Featured image for “Our Journey Through Pregnancy Loss”
January 27, 2017
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Essays

Our Journey Through Pregnancy Loss

by Madison Mayberry Hofmeyer
…as this God’s plan for our family? What felt like my greatest burden has become my greatest blessing as I’ve had the opportunity to share and connect with women from all walks of life who have experienced the sadness and loss of infertility and miscarriage. It shaped and softened me, given me a perspective that I otherwise lacked. That’s what suffering does to us, isn’t it? My husband and I were very shocked yet pleasantly surprised when we discov…
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Featured image for “Longing for God”
July 28, 2017
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Devotions

Longing for God

by Ashley Bloemhof
…ple display themselves in verse 131 as the psalmist professes to “long for commandments” so profoundly that “I open my mouth and pant.” “Pant” may strike one as a rather mammal-like term. After all, dogs pant in need of water on a hot day, and horses pant in need of rest after a strenuous ride. In both cases, these animal are in need and their bodies are desperate for relief—and they know it. Turning to the condition of the soul, then, how thirsty…
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Featured image for “Fact-Checking Claims about Winners and Losers with New Tax Reform (Part II)”
April 12, 2018
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Essays

Fact-Checking Claims about Winners and Losers with New Tax Reform (Part II)

by Donald Roth
…nia nearly entirely in his presidential bid. It’s also not unreasonable to come to this reading based on the lingering open hostility between the President and the governing officials of California. However, the fit is not exact, and, if we look at the three factors that cause analysts to judge blue states as losers in the new law, we can have a better appreciation of what the target really is. The three factors that led some to conclude that this…
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