The Israelite matriarch Rachel is renowned for her beauty. She was the younger daughter of a man named Laban, and the woman Jacob hustled for seven years to marry—only to double down for another seven years after Laban tricked him into wedding Rachel’s sister Leah instead. It’s a wild story. But when we first meet Rachel in the book of Genesis, before we learn about her beauty, we read about her vocation. Rachel was a shepherdess.
Read MoreMy car speakers are on a regular loop this week that includes “Jesus is our Guide,” “He is The Light,” and “I’m Trusting You,” a song that opens with a growling lion and monumental drumbeat. While 20-something me would have rolled her eyes in musical elitist disdain, I could not be happier to learn the dance moves and sing along with my children about how God makes a way in the wilderness.
Read MoreBetween the SBC report and Robb Elementary this week, it feels surreal to be safely sitting on my couch watching Beauty and the Beast with my nine-year-old daughter…
Read MoreI once heard a famous older preacher admiring a promise that his wife made when they married: she vowed to never miss a day of reading her Bible.
Read MoreA period is a monthly reminder that our bodies were designed to create life. Are you ready to talk about it with your daughters? For all my fellow mamas, aunties, and big sisters, I offer three themes to get the conversation started about body changes and the path to womanhood.
Read MoreRepost from Cornerstone WLA. As we've walked through some of the famous Old Testament stories in our summer sermon series at Cornerstone, I am struck by the power of story to help us better understand God and ourselves.
Read MoreIn the book of Proverbs, Wisdom is personified as a woman. She speaks a powerful message full of rich imagery and timeless advice that colors our perspective on the book’s theme as a whole. My recent seminar at Cornerstone West LA walked through the text of Proverbs 8 and 9 to explore what Woman Wisdom can teach us about living wisely in our world today.
Read MoreRepost from Cornerstone West LA. I’ve been on a bit of a reading kick lately. From novels with my Kinder moms book club and middle elementary audio books on the drive home, to parenting books by neuroscientists and heady theological commentaries on the usage of a particular Greek term prior to 312 AD—I’ve been all over the place. Somewhere between Moscow, Havana, and Ancient Israel, I got to thinking about how we read what we read as Christians. How do we decide what to read, which authors to trust, and what is worth our time?
Read MoreThis summer I culminated the last few years of research into a seminar for Cornerstone West LA that offers a framework for how to tackle stories in Biblical narrative, an area of Bible reading that I’ve often shied away from. I’m proud of the work it took to pull that hour and a half together, as well as the opportunity to teach the topic…
Read MoreReposted from Cornerstone West LA. “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’”
Read MoreReposted from Cornerstone West LA. We are a camping family. So periodically we pack down the car with our tent and sleeping bags and head out into the middle of nowhere to enjoy God’s creation. No screens and no wifi, instead there is hiking and a lot of dirt and sweat and sore muscles. At the end of each day, after the kids have exhausted themselves and are tucked in for the night, we enjoy a few meditative moments watching the campfire flames flicker in the dark. Fire is a great servant, but a terrible master...
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