His empty eyes caught my attention the second I stepped foot onto the school bus. As we rode to our field trip destination, it would have appeared that I was the one misplaced in that giggly and energetic world of third graders. But I could tell that he was...

Friends, I have to confess I’ve experienced a great deal of conviction over the last four weeks of our Jonah study. Reading his story has held up a mirror to the spoiled brat in my heart. I whine when things don’t go my way. I wonder why God won’t do what I want. I...

In most of the prophetic books of the Bible, the focus is the message of the prophet. But in the book of Jonah, the focus is not so much on the message, but on the prophet. Jonah himself is the message. His actions remind us that man is not like God. Jonah is a...

It was a cold, wintery afternoon when I received the letter. This was back when people actually wrote letters. There was no return address - no indication of who wrote it.  I scanned the letter until the words jumped off the page, “God has forgiven me, and I pray that...

It’s the end of the first week of school around here. Everyone’s tired. Everyone’s grouchy. And I had one of those afternoons with my kids where my patience was thin and I had just had enough. Enough of telling them not to fight, and to pick up toys, and to find their...

I'm a sucker for second chances. I guess that's because I've needed them so many times in my own life. From forgetting a dear friend's birthday to not watching my words and tone when "discussing" an issue with my husband, or not having the patience I needed with one...

These days I'm in a beautifully refining stage of parenting. My kids are getting older, and daily life lessons are shifting beyond the playground. We're navigating culture together, resulting in the development of deeper Biblical world views. The questioning "whys"...

Jonah 2 is the famous part of Jonah’s story where he gets swallowed by a great fish. It is while he is in this smelly belly that Jonah cries out to the Lord. Put yourself in his shoes for a minute. He has been thrown overboard, which in and of itself must have been...

If you've ever wondered if God can hear your prayers when you're deep in the consequences of your sin, look no further than today's verses. Make no mistake; Jonah had sinned and run away from God. He allowed hatred and fear toward a specific group of people to poison...

Think about a time in your life where you wish you could have just disappeared. I can think of many occasions where I have felt awkward and uncomfortable and wanted nothing more than to be far away. Other times I have felt immense dread of something I knew I had to do...

Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same...

Nineveh was a wicked, wicked city full of people who were known for their cruelty in war (Nahum 2:12-13), evil plots against God (Nahum 1:9), and exploitation of the weak (Nahum 2:12)...and Jonah hated them. Have you ever hated someone or a group of people so much you...