Christine's Blog (2,684)

Paul prays the perfect prayer . . .

Several weeks ago, I asked for your prayer as I endeavored to ‘launch’ Fellowship of Christian Athletes at my nearby…

A treasured letter.

Twenty-one hundred miles from home … and upon my arrival, not knowing a single soul.  It was quite an experience—mostly a good one.  See, I had chosen to go to a Christian liberal arts college in…

Most people do not pray with authority.  Most people do not even know they have authority and power to access when they pray.  So here’s the scoop, Christian—at the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry, he told the people to pray for things ‘in his name’.  In his name there is authority, to be sure; but in his name, there is also…

I had been looking ahead, anticipating talking about love in today’s Morning Briefing … Paul’s love for the Philippians, and because of his heart full of good will for them, how it was his earnest desire that their love would continue to grow and deepen and … well as he said himself, “I pray that your love may abound more and more…” So yesterday, I sat there on the stationary bike…

Good Morning!

Who notices when you aren’t there?  I mean, maybe besides your family…does anyone really care how you are doing?  Who encourages you to keep the faith when the going gets tough?  When you are sick, does anyone call to…

The heart of God is so full of love we have no way of comprehending it.   

The heart of God desires one thing—to love and be loved by humanity.…

Peace is a sought-after thing—often elusive in this day and age.  Now I am not talking about the absence of war, or the absence of violence, but rather the state of inner tranquility, of serenity.  Actually, peace is peddled in many ways, and people are willing to do just about anything to get it!  Aromatherapy, self-help books, yoga, relaxation, stress-relief techniques,…

Back on August 30th, in a Morning Briefing entitled “The Deeper Life”, I wrote that I believe God is calling you and me to live just that—the deeper life. To let our roots go down deeply into the rich foundations of the living Word of God, like the Psalm One man. “He delights in the teachings of the Lord and reflects on his teachings day and night. He is like a tree planted beside streams—a tree that produces fruit in season and whose leaves do not wither. He succeeds in everything he…

Are you ready….ready to sink your teeth into Scripture?  ‘Ready to open your heart to the Holy Spirit and let him grow you?  ‘Ready to have some set-apart time to spend with your Lord?  First, let’s get our bearings….where we are with Paul in Scripture, and on the historical timeline.  Where did we leave him? Well, a couple weeks ago, we closed out Paul’s letter to the church…

The last week has made one thing crystal clear to me—God is in control, and I am not. Plus, there is no one like our God.



Even if the students will not admit it, there is something exciting about the first day of school. For the large public high school, where my son is a junior, this year’s first day proved to be just a little too exciting. About an hour after school started, the students were made aware of an emergency on…

Not so quick!  It would be easy to glance at the last chapter of Romans and think, ‘oh, Paul is just greeting a number of folks…we can pass on that.’  There are some great things to note; take a look:

“Before I commend to you our…

It seems that Paul has always been a man with a plan.  And as we draw to the close of his letter to the Romans, he makes his plans known.  His calling has been to preach the Gospel where it had not been taught and leave the rest to someone else.  He has a plan for the current space in time, and what comes next.  Paul also values the support of fellow believers, enlisting…

“Oh, I just the love Old Testament!”  I heard one woman exclaim to another—‘especially Deut-, Deut-…how do you say it?’  “Doo-ter-on-o-me,” her friend replied.  “Well, yes, I especially love Deuteronomy—you know the part in the Bible where the people wandered around the desert, and whined, and…

This is a good one—I hope you’ll read it and meditate on it.



Paul closes out Romans 14 by making an appeal to the Roman church to do what it takes to get along with one another. “Make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food… Whatever you believe about these things [food or wine] keep between yourself and God …” (There is no need for you to peddle your convictions about opinions/gray areas to other…

Come and let me tell you bout a man named Michael.



Michael. I stepped up to the Post Office window and said, ‘do you by any chance have any lavender stamps to match these invitations? See, they are for Bible study, and women really like when things match…’you know what I mean?’



‘Bible study, huh?’ the postal worker said. To which he said, ‘You know, Heaven is a place of wonder, color, and beautiful music …’



‘Uh-huh…I think I need about 120 stamps,’ I said,…

Do you often judge other people?                                                                   Are you quick to see what’s wrong in someone else’s…

We all do it. We size up people, based on what we see, then we make judgments on such, even if not mean-spirited or critical. But things are not always as they appear.



For instance, I know people who have a really hard time with obese individuals—the assumption being that the person has no self control. They find it hard to respect them as a manager or leader . . .but, could it be that there are things totally out of the ‘big’ person’s control that have led to the individual’s own…