Spiritual Growth

How do you deal with unmet desires? Those longings you’ve held for years? Those empty places in your heart that never seem filled? It turns out those unmet desires can be a key to spiritual growth. It’s a lesson I learned on a shopping trip.…

More than 500 years ago Martin Luther nailed 95 Thesis to a church door in Wittenberg, Germany. And we might be thinking, “So what?”  Luther himself probably did not realize the importance of this simple act. The church door in a German town was like…

Are you in a period of suffering? A time of questions without answers? The book The Louder Song meets readers in the pain and ache of life. It answers the question of what to do when you’re in a period of Suffering and Not Yet.…

The book All Shall Be Well serves as a perfect companion to my year of aiming to notice God. At the beginning of 2019, I chose the word “notice” as my word of the year, hoping against hope that focusing on this act of noticing…

Picture hundreds of children dressed in red velvet dresses and adorable red plaid vests running around a room in a church basement. Grownups shout out, “Quiet down! It’s time to line up!” But little boys and girls barely hear the instructions. They’re too busy comparing outfits…

On Christmas Day at our church, we have a traditional carol-sing. During this time, members of the congregation can request any Advent or Christmas song found in the hymn book. We all love this tradition and look forward to it every year. If no one…

Last week the leaves on my Burning Bush turned from an ordinary green to an extraordinary red. But here is an amazing fact: the leaves were actually red all summer long. I didn’t see the red color until a week ago, but it was there.…

Type in “self-help books” on Amazon and you will be met with 194,329 options to choose from. With just a purchase of a book you can be on your way to Overcoming Depression, Learning to Listen, or Overcoming Paranoid and Suspicious Thoughts.  Or you can…

I regret last summer. I always start the short-Chicago summer season with great anticipation. Finally, warm weather! We’ll go to outdoor concerts, do some hiking, maybe even go on a picnic or two. I’ll take some time to do some organizing projects and read a…