I recently had an article published in Christian Leader Magazine. I was blessed in writing it. I hope you’re blessed in reading it.
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March’s song of obsession:
Provided to YouTube by TuneCore Let You Go · Will Reagan · United Pursuit Tell All My Friends ℗ 2017 United Pursuit Records Released on: 2017-01-20 Auto-generated by YouTube.
When I started babysitting my best friends’ little boys 2 ½ years ago, I didn’t realize how much I’d learn from children’s books.
Most children’s books are designed to teach something—whether a lesson, a moral, animal sounds, or counting. However, most of the time, the lessons I learn from the books aren’t the ones the books intended (unless of course there is more than one way to interpret the story, which I guarantee there is).
I was reading (well, actually, singing) We’re Going on a Bear Hunt to Monkey and Hedgie (these aren’t names to protect their identities, but actual nicknames for my best friends’ little boys), and was struck by the story’s profundity…
For one of my Bible classes, students are required to write their final paper on the letter to Philemon in the New Testament.
The paper asks students to trace Paul’s argument, or rather, petition, for a runaway slave named Onesimus, with a specific emphasis on several verses. One of which is verse 15 (NRSV), “Perhaps this is the reason he was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back forever.” The word I have students focus on is perhaps.
It’s a small word, which is used only one other time in the New Testament (Romans 5:7). It comes from the Greek word, τάχα, an adverb meaning “possibly” or “peradventure.”
However, it packs a big theological punch.
My husband and I are landscaping novices.
In February of this year, we trimmed the tree directly in front of our house, in an attempt to eradicate a rat from our attic.
Let me rephrase that—we had a tree trimming company trim the tree directly in front of our house because our pest control company told us we needed to…