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Shaping Your Thoughts
When Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase “the medium is the message” in 1964, personal computers were unknown, mobile phones were science fiction, and the Internet didn’t exist. Today we understand what great foresight he had in predicting how our thinking is influenced in this digital age. In Nicholas Carr’s book The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, he writes, “[The media] supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. Whether I’m online or not, my mind…
Seeing ourselves as others see us
The poet Roberts Burns once said, “Oh the gift to see ourselves as others see us.” Today on Discover the Word, special guest Adele Calhoun joins the group to discuss the gift she received when her husband told her the brutal truth . . . that she interrupted people! So, what happened when she gave up […]
Cooperating in the sanctification process
“I can’t help it, that’s just the way I am!” How often do we say that, and why do we say it? Today on Discover the Word, the team, and author Adele Calhoun, digs into our collective psyche, exploring the excuses we give for the way we are. Learn how to cooperate rather than resist in the […]
Repair Your Soul
No matter what your circumstances, God has a plan. If you’re beat up and feel like you have nothing left to offer, let the Master take control. He knows your purpose, and He will see you through.
Be willing to participate
Today on Discover the Word, the team and special guest Adele Calhoun continue their series on “Invitations from God” by turning to John chapter five and the story of the broken man at the pool of Bethesda. Explore how, just like with us, Jesus’s invitation to make him different included a willingness to participate on the […]
Fear of missing out
Do you suffer from F.O.M.O. . . . the Fear Of Missing Out? Maybe that’s why you say, “Yes” to an invitation when you should be saying, “No!” Well, today on Discover the Word, we along with our special guest, Adele Calhoun discuss the role invitations, and our responses, have in shaping the course of our lives. […]
God’s Sandpaper
My friend’s words stung. Trying to sleep, I battled to stop mulling over her pointed comments about my strong opinions. As I lay there, I asked for God’s wisdom and peace. Several weeks later, still concerned about the matter, I prayed, “I hurt, Lord, but show me where I need to change. Show me where she’s right.”
My friend had acted as God’s sandpaper in my life. My feelings felt rubbed raw, but I sensed that how I responded would lead to the building of my character—or not. My choice was to submit to the smoothing process, confessing my pride and…
“Time heals all wounds” . . . or does it?
It’s a common expression “Time heals all wounds,” but is it really true? Today on Discover the Word, author Jeff Manion maintains it’s not time that makes the difference during times of transition but the choices we make while we’re in that “Land Between.” Jeff rejoins our team to talk about that precarious land where […]
Language of Love
When my grandmother came to Mexico as a missionary, she had a hard time learning Spanish. One day she went to the market. She showed her shopping list to the girl helping her and said, “It’s in two tongues (lenguas).” But she meant to say that she had written it in two languages (idiomas). The butcher overheard them and assumed she wanted to purchase two cow tongues. My grandmother didn’t realize it until she got home. She had never cooked beef tongue before!
Mistakes are inevitable when we are learning a second language, including learning the new language of God’s love. At…
Our Way of Life
I was struck by a phrase I heard quoted from a contemporary Bible translation. When I Googled the phrase “our way of life” to locate the passage, many of the results focused on things people felt were threatening their expected way of living. Prominent among the perceived threats were climate change, terrorism, and government policies.
What really is our way of life as followers of Jesus? I wondered. Is it what makes us comfortable, secure, and happy, or is it something more?
Paul reminded the Christians in Ephesus of the remarkable way God had transformed their lives. “God, who is rich…
Leaving the Past Behind
Chris Baker is a tattoo artist who transforms symbols of pain and enslavement into works of art. Many of his clients are former gang members and victims of human trafficking who have been marked with identifying names, symbols, or codes. Chris transforms these into beautiful art by tattooing over them with new images.
Jesus does for the soul what Chris Baker does for the skin—He takes us as we are and transforms us. The Bible says, “Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Cor. 5:17 nlt).…
Our New Name
She called herself a worrier, but when her child was hurt in an accident, she learned how to escape that restricting label. As her child was recovering, she met each week with friends to talk and pray, asking God for help and healing. Through the months as she turned her fears and concerns into prayer, she realized that she was changing from being a worrier to a prayer warrior. She sensed that the Lord was giving her a new name. Her identity in Christ was deepening through the crucible of unwanted heartache.
In Jesus’ letter to the church at Pergamum, the Lord…
Grace: Accepting God’s Gift to You
Ephesians 2 uses the phrase “dead in your sins.” But what does that really mean? Dead means lifeless, powerless, inanimate. It means we were incapable of doing anything to change our situation. But God is loving and merciful, and He chose to give us new life. That’s the beauty of His grace—we’ve done nothing to […]
Paddling Home
I like Reepicheep, C. S. Lewis’ tough little talking mouse in the Chronicles of Narnia series. Determined to reach the “utter East” and join the great lion Aslan [symbolic of Christ], Reepicheep declares his resolve: “While I may, I sail East in Dawn Treader. When she fails me, I row East in my coracle [small boat]. When that sinks, I shall paddle East with my four paws. Then, when I can swim no longer, if I have not yet reached Aslan’s Country, there shall I sink with my nose to the sunrise.”
Paul put it another way: “I press on toward the…
