Everyday Sacred
When people ask me, “What do you do?” I’m honestly not always quite sure what the best answer is. I usually reply something like, “I’m a writer and preacher, and I work with a community center in Costa Rica.” All of this is true; but it’s just the places or ways I do what I […]
Today I Moved
Today I moved. Matt and I moved to Charlotte, North Carolina. While I don’t love the “unload the truck” part of moving, I quite enjoy the packing and unpacking. I don’t think I’m alone in the experience that seeing everything I own, all at once, makes me sentimental and reflective. Like opening the box of […]
Writing What Matters
Sitting down to write this blog, I have so many ideas in my mind. What ought I write about today? I could recap the week’s events, my time visiting friends in South Carolina and preaching at Bloom Conference. The theme was based on Esther 4:14, “…for such a time as this.” The first speaker asked […]
Today I Saw a Capybara
Today I saw a capybara. A real capybara in the wild! Well, kind of. It was at a Garden and Home store in Costa Rica, something similar to the Garden section at a Home Depot or Lowes. Does that count as in the wild? It wasn’t the store’s pet, to my knowledge. And the store […]
The Secret of Abiding
What does it mean to abide? If you’ve read John 15, you’ve probably asked this question. Or maybe your translation says “remain” instead of “abide.” What does it mean to “remain” in God? If we look at this question from a theological standpoint, it honestly seems a bit silly–because God is always with us. You […]
Today I Was Happy
Today I was happy. I made a happy face out of playdough with my nephew. Although this is a very normal activity between kids and adults, today it was special. My nephew is about 2.5, and so he’s still in that phase where he’s learning some of the basics of life. Like we might ask […]
Simple Ways to Cultivate Your Devotional Life
This post was written by Rose McCombs Jordan, a tourism director, park host, worship leader, and mentor. Visit beneaththefigtree.org for more information. Meeting God Where You Are In the end of John 1, Nathanael is introduced to us beneath a fig tree. His friend Philip comes running to him, exclaiming “We’ve found the one Moses wrote […]
Simply Christmas Day 5
Day 5: Read Matthew 5 Our Simply Christmas devotional ends where Jesus ministry begins. Matthew 5 opens with the Sermon on the Mount, and for the next two chapters we read a simple, yet revolutionary invitation to live as Jesus did. So let’s once more make it simple, focusing on the words of Jesus that […]
Simply Christmas Day 4
Day 4: Read Matthew 4 While the first three chapters talk about Jesus, in Matthew 4 we begin to hear more from Jesus. As he was tested in the wilderness, he battled every temptation with words from Scripture. After forty days and nights of fasting and relying on God alone to sustain him, the words […]
Simply Christmas Day 3
Day 3: Read Matthew 3 The story of Jesus jumps decades ahead in Matthew 3. Jesus isn’t a baby anymore, or even a toddler. His teenage years are skipped altogether! Instead, the story picks up with his baptism, so we read a spiritual birth immediately after his physical birth. But we tend to talk about […]