I love to meditate on what it means to be sanctified. Once, before I was Nazarene, I wrote a love song called Sanctified. I wanted to write about a relationship, so full of love and innocence that the shadows and light could dance through it in rich healing motion.

This Sunday, many churches around the world will recall the Baptism of Jesus. Jesus’ baptism by John is mentioned in all four gospels, though less detailed in the Gospel of John.

I grew up going to a little church in N.C. where every single service, two on Sunday and one on Wednesday, ended with an invitation. We often sang a verse or two of Just As I Am, (it has six), and it seems like someone always went up to whisper something to the pastor or to kneel at the altar without much prodding.

A colleague of mine recently said, “My friends tell me I’m a terrible atheist.” He was being both humorous and serious. He had tried to doubt the existence of God, but in the end, his belief in God was not as disposable as he thought it might be.

“In love we learn who we want to be; in war we learn who we are.” – Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale
This is the opening line in a historical fiction novel I started reading this week. I was intrigued and paused to think about this statement for a while, to consider why it rang so instantly true…

Someone said, “Life isn’t built in lifetimes; it’s built in moments.”  It’s so true. If you don’t take in the moments, you can miss so much goodness.

A brief departure from the cacophony “The Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness.” Matthew 4:1 I heard myself lamenting the loss of poetry in these times. Ranting disguised as pragmatism is the vapid norm, and it leaves my soul empty in the worst way. So I’ve been doing...

Holy is one of those words that gets tossed around as though it is common, attached to mundane words as an adjective to make a phrase prettier. Holy cow, for example.

Thy will be done.
I think most people still say “Thy” instead of “Your.” No matter how many new translations there are of the Bible, that line still sounds the best in King James’ language.

You deserve to be loved with maxed out big outrageous unflinching love. God loves you like that. Jesus loves you like that. The Spirit teaches you to love like that.