Early Childhood

I remember when my first son was a baby. I told my sister about all my worries: Was he eating enough? Would he ever sleep? Why was he crying so much? What was I doing wrong? She said,...

The second my daughters get in the door after day care, they’re asking for a snack. I’m usually cooking dinner already, and often I’m nearly finished. Do you think that matters to my...

“Dad, do we have to go to church?” “We don’t have to—we get to!” Anyone who has ever had to convince their kids or grandkids to go to church has probably said something like this, and...

I was reminded recently that I’ll soon be entering a stage of life where my children will deal with bullies. Time has removed me from the days when I was on the receiving end of bad...

If you had told yourself ten years ago where you’d be today, would your old self believe it? Maybe you never expected to have a large family, but here you are. Maybe you never expected to...

We live in a broken world. It doesn’t take too long to see that. As we all have aged, we’ve had to learn how to do our best to live in this reality in a God-pleasing way. We fail often,...

How often do you think about your thoughts? Hmm, let me think about that. Thoughts matter a great deal to God. The Bible says, “the word of God is living and active, . . . discerning the...

The day I was baptized was a cold day in December. It was five days before Christmas and nearly 17.75 years after my earthly entrance. My pastor helped me to keep the Fourth Commandment...

Ten years ago, my mom and I were tying pieces of silky purple ribbon to the top of dozens of lovely wedding bulletins. It was a few weeks before my wedding, and she and I had had so much...

Classroom Bible learning is more than just memorizing facts—it is helping students connect with God’s Word in a way that strengthens their faith and deepens their understanding. Beyond...

It’s a tough season for my family. It’s not the toughest it could be. We’re all (mostly) healthy. We’re not looking to move or leave our jobs anytime soon. We’ve settled into a rhythm of...

“Everything will be okay.” “Don’t worry. Be happy.” “Hakuna matata.” These feel-good yet frothy phrases center around an issue that is near and dear to my sinful heart: worry.

“I don’t want to pray right now,” my two-and-a-half-year-old says. I know that these words don’t actually mean she doesn’t want the comfort of prayer, but she doesn’t want to go to bed....

My three-year-old and one-year-old had just thrown F5-level meltdowns for the first fifteen minutes of church (some of it in the pew, some of it in the nursery, some outside … you get the...

We long for deep community. We strive for healthy and helpful relationships with family members, church people, and neighbors. But if we’re honest with ourselves, especially as parents,...

Like any country, sometimes we are blessed with God-fearing leaders, and sometimes we are not. Sometimes our land experiences prosperity and peace, sometimes war and disaster. Sometimes...

We are now entering the one time of year in our world that is focused on being generous, giving back, and serving our neighbors. Bell ringers at stores, social media posts of friends...

Psalm 119:15–16 states, “I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.” When I read this verse, I cannot...