As a mom to three children, I long for all my children to learn to talk with God easily and freely. In my own personal life, I’ve seen firsthand how prayer is a spiritual discipline that grows when cultivated. While only God can work in a child’s heart to produce true regeneration and authentic love, there are many things we as adults can do to help children grow and develop the habit of taking everything to God in prayer. Here are five ways to help young children learn to pray. ... continue reading
What if we didn’t have to choose between an intelligent faith and a passionate one?... continue reading
Many, if not most, of my friends are at churches regarded as being among the best in the country for Bible teaching. But the repeated feedback I keep hearing from so many is that things feel dry. Sermons are warm but predictable. The text is handled faithfully, but there’s often a lack of connection with real life.... continue reading
I want truth on fire. And that is exactly what God wants for me, and for you, as well. After all, didn’t Jesus say that the most important command in the whole universe was that we cultivate a love for God that includes all our heart and all our mind (Mark 12:28-30)?... continue reading
Prejudice and discrimination are ongoing human problems and talking about them (especially with regard to the church) often makes us very uncomfortable. But God’s word addresses this issue in many ways and in many places, so God’s people need to think about it.... continue reading
Right now a lot of people are turning away from or changing their beliefs, not based on theology but based on compelling narratives that they’ve heard. Stories are literally shaping the way people think about God and sex and sin and money.... continue reading
Get a sneak peek at some of the books we’re excited to share with you this fall. We made note of a few tips for how to best enjoy or share each book, as well as any bonuses to look for!... continue reading
Dear God, your eyes see the images our eyes see—of falling bodies, of desperate mothers, of children tossed over razor wire. You see. You know.
Dear God, your eyes see the violent and vicious, the evil and barbarous, who roam now through neighborhoods in places we, in the West, like to put out of our minds.... continue reading
Writing about the Bible effectively for children is hard work. Depending on the age, you have to scale the vocabulary, the conceptual ideas being used or articulated and the number of ideas that kids can hold in their heads at any one time. Plus there’s the whole issue of how you handle gore and sex and death—subjects that frequently come up in the Old Testament in particular.
I encountered many cultural and story-telling problems while writing about the strange book of Esther for Esther and the Very Brave Plan.... continue reading
It struck me what enormous fun it must have been as God the Father and Jesus the Son spoke the universe and our world into existence. The deeper we go, and the more we are able to examine the structure, mechanisms and physiology of our planet and its creatures, the more we see a God who delights in the world he made.... continue reading
