Deep-End Discipleship

“The truly happy person doesn’t follow wicked advice, doesn’t stand on the road of sinners, and doesn’t sit with the disrespectful. Instead of doing those things, these persons love the Lord’s Instruction, and they recite God’s Instruction day and night! They are like a tree planted by streams of water, which bears fruit at just the right time and whose leaves don’t fade. Whatever they do succeeds.” -Psalm 1:1-3 CEB- Have you ever had to make a really difficult choice? It can be very difficult to decide between multiple options for a situation, and decide which one you are going to choose. Sometimes these choices are between multiple good things, and sometimes it’s between good and bad. There are so many things that influence the things that we do every single day. TV shows, friends, parents, social media, peer pressure and many other factors come into play everyday as we decide how we act and operate in our daily lives. It is sometimes crazy, and scary to me how influenced w...

Jesus responded, “If you recognized God’s gift and who is saying to you, ‘Give me some water to drink,’ you would be asking him and he would give you living water.”  The woman said to him, “Sir, you don’t have a bucket and the well is deep. Where would you get this living water?   You aren’t greater than our father Jacob, are you? He gave this well to us, and he drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks from the water that I will give will never be thirsty again. The water that I give will become in those who drink it a spring of water that bubbles up into eternal life.” John 4:10-14 CEB As I’ve noted before, the Gospel of John stands out among the gospels. One of the ways that John is different is found in this chapter and the story of the Samaritan woman. From the beginning of this story in John 4:4 to the end in John 4:42, the Samarit...

The  Lord ’s voice is over the waters;      the glorious God thunders; the  Lord  is over the mighty waters. The  Lord ’s voice is strong;     the  Lord ’s voice is majestic. - Psalm 29:3-4 CEB - The clapping of ocean waves under a vast night sky is one of the most powerful scenes I have ever encountered. I feel small and humbled on the beach of an ocean that looks like it will never end and under a sky filled with seemingly infinite stars. When I witness this I often feel small, but I am filled with awe at the creative power of our God. The ocean is great, vast, powerful, beautiful, terrifying, and full of life. It fills me with awe. Even more than this, I am filled with awe as I reflect on the God who created such a magnificent piece of art. Since it is beautiful, how much more is God? Since it is full of life, how much more is God? This powerful part of nature shows us a glimpse of what our God is like...