Grace

  • Building Character

      One of the ways God shows His grace is by using His power and presence to build character into our lives.  Character is the mettle and grit that empowers kids to face life's challenges with confidence.  Character is like the studs, joists, beams, and tie downs in houses that give it strength to take on all of the harsh elements...

  • Do our kids see grace?

    How come some parents are more successful at nurturing a long-term faith in their kids? Our research has shown that one of the key variables is how kids are raised to understand the Gospel.Too many young people today live by what philosopher Dallas Willard calls the “gospel of sin management.” This truncates the Gospel to the belief...

  • Shame off you

    Shame comes in many different colors. It’s a silent killer with the capability of even justifying its own existence. It creeps into how we see ourselves, our relationships, marriage, parenting, work life, etc. The terrible thing about shame is that it seems so right. It seems reasonable to doubt our abilities, to be cautious, to kick...

  • Jesus + "something else"

    To be complete in Christ, as Paul puts it in Colossians 2:9-10, encompasses every single facet of our life. The blessings of Jesus should be changing us not only in the most difficult of moments, but maybe even more so in the little moments of life. The little moments tell us a lot about where our hearts really are. The little moments reveal the...

  • God's grace rescues you...from you

    “Pretend that I have a bowl of water in my hands and I shake it vigorously and water splashes out of the bowl. And suppose I ask you why water spilled out of the bowl, and you answer that it spilled because I shook it. It all sounds pretty logical, doesn’t it? But the answer is only partially correct. Why did water splash out of the...

  • 14 Gospel Principles

    In the interest of keeping sight of our ultimate purpose as parents, as well as understanding the big-picture view of God’s plan for us, here are some helpful principles from the book, Parenting: 14 Gospel Principles That Can Radically Change Your Family, by Paul Tripp: Principle #1 Calling: Nothing is more important in your life than being...