The Periodically

In 1997, Ed Welch wrote a book titled When People Are Big and God Is Small: Overcoming Peer Pressure, Codependency, and the Fear of Man. 1 The fear of man is not an uncommon struggle. Indeed, it is a struggle, we may say, that everyone faces to some degree. Welch writes, “Fear of man is such a part of our human fabric that we should check for a pulse if someone denies it.” 2 Furthermore, this struggle manifests itself in numerous ways. Consider the following questions:   Have you ever struggled with peer pressure? Are you over-committed? Do you “need” something from your spouse? Is self-esteem a critical concern for you? Do you ever feel as if you might be exposed as an imposter? Are you always second-guessing decisions because of what other people might think? Do you get easily embarrassed? Do you ever lie, especially the little white lies? Are you jealous of other people? Do other people often make you angry or depressed? Do you avoid people? 3  Of course, we could a...

What a blessing it will be, Lord willing, to bring Psalm 139:13-16 before you this Sunday--on Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. When preparing a sermon, there is so much to say, but one cannot get to everything. I'm leaving a small portion of my sermon here on the blog in case I can't get to it on Sunday. What is below is a screenshot of my manuscript. The screenshot speaks to how to lovingly and graciously talk to our friends who may have a pro-choice standpoint. Notice I say "friends" because they are made in God's image as well. They have a soul that we want to see come to know Christ as their Savior. With that in mind, I've come across the acronym SLED. Hope it is helpful! Ben Davidson

It was the end of the week and my paper was due on Monday. I had about 25% of my paper done; the rough draft that is. I had studied and mapped out the passage I was writing on in Ephesians chapter 5, but inevitably things came up and my laptop closed. With an appointment a few towns over - and in an effort to remove myself from distractions in my home - I decided to leave early and go to a coffee shop there. I set up my office-away-from-home and planned to spend several uninterrupted hours writing my paper. I had roughly 3 hours to spend at the coffee shop until my appointment would necessitate I leave. I was nearly one hour in with a lot of work yet before me when I noticed a woman in front of me. From my table I noticed her at the checkout aisle asking a lot of questions with her strong accent to the barista. After ordering, while she waited for her food, she began taking pictures of the coffee shop and menu with permission from the workers. When her food came she began taking pictur...

For some, Christmas is a wonderful and joyful time, filled with family and friends and many fun festivities. For many, though, Christmas holds a mix of emotions including joy and pain. The mix of emotions is certainly true for our household. During the merriment and fun with our two children there is the reminder of two others who are not with us this Christmas. On our beautifully lit and decorated tree is an ornament placed annually as a testament to their absence. Even as I'm preparing this post and writing these things out, the emotions rise and tears flow as they always do when I get close to this subject . . .  The loss of loved ones comes in many different forms and with this holiday having such a family element to it, it is almost impossible to not experience some of the weightiness amid the joy. Honestly though, I remind myself that in some ways, this should not really be a surprise, for even the wonder and joy of the very first Christmas was the foreshadowing of suffering ...

A couple of years ago, Jeff decided to get a pizza oven - his mid-life crisis purchase. He has enjoyed learning how to make pizzas and sharing his new found love with family and friends. This summer we prayerfully decided to do a once a month neighborhood pizza night in our driveway as a way to get to know our neighbors. We have lived in our home for 11 years and shamefully had not met many of our neighbors. We invited everyone on our street and those behind us on the other street. We put flyers in their doors not knowing if anyone would be interested. The first night, as we were setting up chairs and tables, we were anxious and felt a bit silly wondering if anyone would come. We were shocked to have 8 households show up and several we had never met before. We were surprised at how much they enjoyed meeting each other. We had neighbors and even their children asking us when the next pizza night was. The last pizza night of the summer, so many came that we ran out of pizza. I think Jeff...

I stared down at my growing to-do list wondering, "How will this all be accomplished this week?" I reviewed the tasks, both big and small, that filled the lined paper on the counter before me. Maybe you can relate to strategizing when you will run errands, get the groceries, arrive at the events, practices, or meetings, pay the bills, and more. Conveniently for us, there are some things that enable us to spend less time engaging in some of these activities. We can do things like setting up recurring payments for bills, opting for store pickup for our groceries, choosing autoship and door deliveries, mobile ordering our coffee for pickup and more. This allows us to make pit stops rather than full blown excursions before turning to the next thing on our list. Before you think to yourself, "I know what's about to come next; " but ... "that precedes the condemnation of our modern conveniences and full schedules." Allow me to share a few points of clarifica...