• ship in storm/ walking on water
    Faith - Featured

    Walking on Water: Celebrating Risk and Failure

    - By 

    In rereading the miracle of Jesus walking on water, I notice a couple of things I hadn’t before. The first is that the water Jesus walked on was stormy. The image I had in my head previously was of Jesus walking across smooth waters, the light dancing across the little ripples. But no, Jesus traversed wind and waves, apparently without any trouble. The second thing I notice is that Peter, not Jesus, initiated the whole walking on water fiasco. Peter challenged Jesus to prove himself. And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come…

  • kid reading the Bible
    Childhood

    Symbolic Unfoldment: Why Kids Need Bible Stories

    - By 

    The term symbolic unfoldment refers to how stories and symbols can bring revelation about ourselves, God, and others. For example, Genesis begins with two trees in a garden. One brings life, and the other, death. Later, we find Jesus executed on a tree. That tree, which spells his death, is our path to life. Finally, the Bible ends with a tree whose leaves heal the nations. Other references to trees lie scattered throughout the Bible, offering touchpoints of metaphor. The righteous man planted like a tree by the water in Psalm 1 comes to mind. So what do all these…

  • hope
    Devotional

    Knowing Shalom: Restoring Hope

    - By 

    Knowing Shalom: Restoring Hope I learned something about hope today from a coworker. He talked about a behavioral experiment on rats. First, scientists placed rats in a bucket of water to see how long they would swim. Generally, they would swim for about 15 minutes before giving up. Then the scientists added another layer to the experiment. They pulled the rats out of the water after several minutes and dried them off. Then they put the poor rats back in the bucket. This time they could swim for 60 hours. The difference? Hope. The rats could last much longer if they…