A Guest Post from Our Friend, Danette Thrush: I do not like the cycling and spiraling adrenaline rush and crash of shock, trauma and grief. Peter is experiencing all these when he goes fishing in John 21. Total trauma. From others. From himself. Peter's buddies, experiencing the same, tag along. Muscle memory takes care of the fishing tasks, but can't shut off Peter's mind. He's hyper-processing an arrest he couldn't prevent, accusations he vehemently denied, crucifixion horrors he witnessed with all five senses, the debilitating grief of separation from Jesus for a dark-dead weekend, the ..read more

A Post by Darlene Wagler of Olive Tree Counseling in Seattle What in the world do we do with our emotions? The messages I hear every day are conflicting. “Do what is right for you” “Don’t follow your emotions.” “Follow your heart.” “Your feelings can’t be trusted.” “We just fell out of love.” “Don’t let your emotions overcome you.” While the message of the church not to follow our feelings might be a necessary response to the overemphasis of following our feelings in other spaces, I believe that neither message is necessarily correct nor incorrect. While I am no Hebrew or Greek scholar, a qui ..read more

A good fantasy story often captures something about life that we would miss unless we entered into another world. I used to think fantasy stories were strange. Honestly, I still do…and there is good reason to think that. Orcs, wizards, and animals that talk are otherworldy to us. When we dive in and immerse ourselves in the strange, new world of a good story we forget our own world for a few minutes…and it frees us up to see our world in a way we often miss. Good stories will do that for us. One of my favorite parts of the Lord of the Rings books is how the characters become friends, a “fellow ..read more

1 Kings 18:17–18: When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?” And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the LORD and followed the Baals. (ESV) It is as if I (Wes) have two competing desires wrestling around in me. The first desire is the desire to stay on the sidelines, not get in the fight. I want to keep the status quo and- to say it another way- “keep the peace.” Then there is another desire that barks and fights against the first: the desire to be a troublemaker. Becau ..read more

Ezekiel 47:1-12, is a poetic and symbolic picture of what life with Jesus is intended to be. Ezekiel is taken by a river that flows from the temple of God and told to measure it. This river is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Ezekiel examines what he sees, the river gets deeper and deeper. At first it is manageable, barely a trickle. As it flows on, it becomes so deep that it would sweep the prophet away if he gave himself over to it. I’ve been swept away down and actual river like that. It is scary. Having something (or someone) take over control of your life is panic inducing. We get anxious and ..read more

Hebrews 13:7: Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.  Can I tell you a secret? My college degree was in “Practical Theology.” Okay, that’s not a juicy secret. Its a boring one, honestly. I can hear what you are thinking because many have the same response: “How can theology be practical?!” At the time I started, I didn’t give much thought to the degree’s name. I just had to choose a course load I was interested in. So…”Practical Theology” it was. In this case, what “Practical” meant was to train us ..read more

"It will cost something to walk slow in the parade of ages, while excited men of time rush about confusing motion with progress. But it will pay in the long run, and the true Christian is not much interested in anything short of that." A.W. Tozer Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! (Psalm 37:7 ESV ..read more

Romans 15:18: "For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed…” The Confession: There is Pain in Living Life In Our City One of the reasons I want mission teams to come is because I can see our city and our life through their eyes. I love taking them to Gas Works Park where they get to see the beauty of our city from far away. But, looking at the gleaming downtown towers and the idyllic lake, they only get hints of what it is really like to live here. But then I send them out walking the streets. Th ..read more

Be still and know that I am God: A Post by Darlene Wagler As I meditated on these words, I began by breathing in the word “God”, reflecting on who he is. Next, I added in the word “know” and took in the ways of knowing God. How does it change when we know God in our felt sense, in our bodies? When we know God, not as an abstract idea, but whose very breath and life runs through our veins. When we know God like we know a comfortable and familiar grandfather who always took time for us and delighted in everything we did, just because we were his. Like new parents watching their newborn baby brea ..read more

“Bring those I contact to decision. Let me not be a milepost on a single road; make me a fork, that men must turn one way or another on facing Christ in me.” Jim Elliot, from his journal. Yep, I do write titles (like the one above) to grab your attention. Honestly, I am not trying to be cute or clever, but just to say something from scripture that we would normally ignore or yawn at. I think we should constantly look at what God has said to us from a different point of view. We are disturbing. For real. Or at least we can be disturbing. This is what I mean: No one who has ever encountered Jesu ..read more