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The Big Questions!

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Welcome to Real Life. The only stupid question is the one we fail to ask. Who am I? Why am I here? What is life for? What is beyond this life? I was sixteen and sitting in a social studies class when I first heard these questions. A fellow student posed them to our teacher. After a long pause, she replied, “I don’t know. These are the big questions of life. Everyone is searching for the answers. You must find them on your own.” I still remember how her answer (or lack thereof) left me feeling empty and dissatisfied. What is the meaning of life? If my older and wiser teacher had no answers, how could I find them? How would you answer these questions? It’s interesting. Many of us will live our entire lives—distracted by the busyness of daily routines and responsibilities—and never stop to ponder the reason for our existence. Believe it or not, within a year of sitting in that social studies class, I found the answers. I was invited to a church. For the first time, I heard the Good News t...
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The Power of Active Listening

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Welcome to Real Life . Can you hear me now? Being heard is so close to being loved that for the average person, they are almost indistinguishable. – David Augsburger [1] “Please look at me when I’m talking to you!” I would often say this to my sons while they were growing up. Because if they were playing and distracted, they might hear my words, but until I looked into their eyes, I couldn’t be sure they actually grasped what I was saying. We adults are not much different. We’re busy and distracted. We hear words all day long. But are we actively listening? Jesus Christ was incredibly busy in his earthly ministry. Yet he took the time to listen. At the pool of Bethesda, he asked the paralytic, “Do you want to get well?” [2] When his friend Lazarus died, Jesus listened to Mary’s and Martha’s words of disappointment and grief; and he wept with them. [3]    When the blind beggar Bartimaeus called out to him, Jesus stopped and asked, “What do you want me to do for you?” [4] Jesu...
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Healthy Relationships: The Key to a Happy Life!

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Welcome to Real Life . Got friends? “Friendship is born of that moment when one person says to another, ‘What? You, too? I thought I was the only one.’” –C.S. Lewis We are meant to live in community. God created us to need one another. You and I are not meant to travel this journey of life alone. Relationships are integral to a healthy existence. In his earthly ministry, Jesus surrounded himself with twelve disciples. They walked, lived, and served together for three full years. Of the twelve, Peter, James, and John became his closest friends. Jesus both needed and modeled healthy relationships. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends , for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. (John 15:15 NIV emphasis mine) In recent decades, our culture has shifted in some pretty dramatic ways. It has become more difficult to build and maintain healthy relationships. “Our ability to connect e...
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The Right Plan | Acts 9

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Welcome to Real Life . Whose plan are we following? “I'm sorry, did I roll my eyes out loud?” –Anonymous We are living in an era of anger and hostility. Someone aptly described it as the “age of outrage.” People are easily offended, and quick to cancel —punish, shame, humiliate, or terminate—those who offend. Outrage, of course, is not unique to our times. In the days of the early church, Saul of Tarsus was fueled by righteous indignation. He knew the Scriptures. He had studied the Law and the Prophets under Gamaliel, the most highly respected rabbi of the first century. Saul felt a personal responsibility to guard the Jewish faith and traditions from heresy. He considered the disciples of Jesus Christ to be dangerous and offensive. For he believed they were deceiving Jews with their message of grace, forgiveness, and salvation through faith in Christ rather than in meticulous obedience to the Law. He set out to cancel the Christians. Thus, Saul began zealously persecuting the ear...
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Peace on Earth | Luke 2

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Welcome to Real Life . Got peace? And in despair I bowed my head: “There is no peace on earth,” I said, “For hate is strong, and mocks the song Of peace on earth, good will to men.” [1] It is Christmastime, a season of hope and happiness and...peace. Except this week, our peace was shattered when a school shooting left three dead and six more injured in Wisconsin. The perpetrator was a fifteen-year-old student who took her own life. This happened in a Christian school. A place where the true meaning of Christmas is known and celebrated. A place where faith, hope, and love are taught alongside reading, writing, and arithmetic. How could this happen? When our Savior Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, a heavenly host of angels filled the skies and declared, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace , good will toward men. [2] Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace. He came to bring us peace. Of all places, a Christian school should be a refuge of safety and peace. But the reality is e...
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Greater Things are Still to Come

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Welcome to Real Life . God is not finished with us yet!  “If I'm not dead, you're not done. Greater things are still to come.” [1] If you are an Appalachian Trail enthusiast, you may have heard of Grandma Gatewood. [2] In 1955, at the age of sixty-seven, this mother of eleven and grandmother of twenty-three was the first woman to hike all two thousand miles of the trail straight through. And then, she did it again at age sixty-nine and seventy-two! Grandma Emma Gatewood I read Gatewood’s story at the precise moment I needed it. Because I suddenly and unexpectedly lost my job. Though I am near retirement age, I didn’t feel quite ready to close my laptop. “Is this all?” I began asking, “Am I done?” Then I picked up the book, Grandma Gatewood’s Walk . Emma Gatewood was no super-athlete. She was a mother and grandmother who loved to walk and enjoyed spending time in the woods. Gatewood set out in a pair of Keds tennis shoes with a homemade denim bag slung over her shoulder and mad...
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The Soaring Life

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Welcome to Real Life ! Am I crawling or soaring? “He turns coal into diamonds, Sand into pearls, Worms into butterflies. He can turn your life around, too.” -Toby Mac During their fall migration, monarch butterflies travel thousands of miles south from Canada to Mexico. This majestic aerialist begins its life as a humble caterpillar, a creature who can barely crawl across the sidewalk without getting squished. The dramatic metamorphosis occurs when the caterpillar enters its chrysalis and dies. It then emerges reborn as a beautiful, free, soaring monarch. Monarch Migration, Wendy Park, Cleveland, Ohio Like a humble caterpillar transformed into a soaring monarch, those who place their faith in Jesus Christ also experience a dramatic metamorphosis. They are born again! Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV) Before the new life comes, the old life must pass away. But what if a caterpillar refus...
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