“Foolishness is bound in the heart of the child”. I’m pretty sure I just heard every parent ever shout their agreement to that. There’s a good deal of disagreement about the wisdom and/or morality of the second half that verse (Proverbs 22:15, btw), but Solomon sure nailed the first half, right? This week has been…
Author: Hannah
Enter the Holy Place
The reading plan I follow in my daily Bible reading had me in Ezekiel recently, and a few verses in chapter 44 caught my attention. The last 8 chapters of the book deal with visions of a new temple and instructions for Levitical priests who serve in that temple. Chapter 44 in particular contains specific…
Recent Reads, Volume IV
A brief summary of what I’m currently reading or have recently finished, why I read it, and whether I’d recommend it. Although really, it’d have to be truly terrible for me to bother writing about a book I wouldn’t recommend…… Rebecca (Daphne du Maurier) – a Gothic crime-mystery-slight-romance-psychological-thriller novel. I had set a reading challenge…
His Mercy Endureth Forever
For as long as I can remember, my mom has read Scripture aloud at meals every day – from Psalms at breakfast, and from Proverbs at lunch. As one might imagine, this practice means that we have a greater familiarity with those books than one might expect, and also a greater affinity for some chapters…
Light of the World
It’s fitting, I think, that Christmas comes so closely on the heels of the winter solstice. We celebrate the birth of Jesus just days after the literal darkest day of the year. I don’t know what this year has held for you. It may be that this has been a dark year, a dark month,…
Come Quickly
Christmas is a week away, and if you’re like me, you’ve already heard just about all the holiday music you can handle. There’s been more than enough Mariah Carey, Santa Baby, and Santa Claus is Coming to Town (as well as a host of other equally trite and irritating ditties), and the world really does…
A Roaring Refuge
My private devotion time recently has taken me into the minor prophets, and I was struck by one verse in particular. Joel 3:16: “The Lord roars from Zion, and utters His voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth quake. But the Lord is a refuge to His people, a stronghold to the people…
The Balancing Act of Holiday Survival
I don’t know about you, but I’m already a bit weary. The stretch between Thanksgiving and Christmas always feels simultaneously too long and too short – far too many days, but also far too many activities. So it seemed an appropriate time to talk about how to survive the holidays relatively intact. (And to be…
Perspective on the Holidays
As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving and look ahead to the holiday celebrations throughout the month of December and the beginning of January, I find that I frequently need to recalibrate my expectations and perspective. I originally wrote these thoughts a few years ago in the midst of broken and strained relationships that drastically altered…
Samson, Part 4 – Application
This is part 4 in a series of posts based on the manuscript from a 2018 talk on the life of Samson. Parts 1-3 provide an overview of the place of Judges in the Bible and the life of Samson in general, and cover some of the more difficult areas of interpretation. All posts in…