Missing Out with Bernice
A guest blog by Shawn Blythe The opportunity to make a difference in any one person’s life can often be a singular event. We cross paths with somebody only once and then both parties continue along their respective paths. In some cases, the encounter may be memorable or even life-changing while in other cases the intersection is inconsequential and quickly forgotten. Bernice crossed paths with Paul only once in Caesarea on or around the year 60 AD. She had already experienced a
Scripture is Script
At the end of the last sermon series (the Off the Shelf series), I introduced the idea that the story of scripture is the one true story of the world – that each of our own stories (and every other story) finds its meaning in. As that story, it is something like a six act play, where the majority of the 5th act is missing – and it is our role to “improvise” the rest of the 5th act, playing our part faithfully. I first heard
Jason’s Houseguests
a guest blog by Shawn Blythe We have all experienced the joys and travails of having a houseguest. Sometimes their departure comes with tears of sorrow that your time together is coming to an end, while other times they are tears of joy for the very same reason. There are plenty of occasions where Benjamin Franklin’s statement that “Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days” seems unfortunately appropriate. Although pre-dating this statement by a significant number of years, Paul would
Love: It’s What It’s All About.
Well, today’s Valentine’s Day. If you celebrate, I hope it’s a good one. Amanda (my wife) and I did the math this morning: we started dating on Valentine’s Day in 1997…which means we’ve been together for 27 years! So suffice it to say, for us, Valentine’s Day always is something of a special day (it also provides us with one of the best moments from the vastly underrated Ghostbusters II). Love is always something worth celebrating. Yes, I know it gets muddied up with
John Mark: Margins of Miraculous
a guest blog by Shawn Blythe You’re not good enough. These are words that we have all likely heard at one time or another. They are typically a judgment regarding our ability to complete a task, or at the very least an unfavorable comparison with somebody else who can perhaps do it better. They are never words that we enjoy hearing. Whether it be related to our jobs, family or our ministry - nobody likes to be told that they don’t measure