Fresh Start Posts

Be sure to check out our latest Fresh Start blog posts. They’re packed with insightful articles that will help you learn more about God and how you can grow in your faith.

  • As the Major League Baseball season winds down, controversy is heating up outside T-Mobile Park, the home of the Seattle Mariners. As the “Seattle Times” reports: If you have been to a game at T-Mobile Park, you have heard them. They are omnipresent. They are......

  • Recently, I was briefly taken in by a biblical myth that apparently has been around for a few centuries. One of my daily devotionals focused on Psalm 51:8: Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Psalm 51 is David’s......

  • Ramona and I had friends over for dinner recently. It was a beautiful evening, and we were grilling chicken, so we decided to eat outside. That changed when yellowjackets decided to join us, chasing us inside. As we scooped up dishes and food from the......

  • We take a lot of things for granted, perhaps no more than the sun. That’s right, the sun. Sure, you complain when it goes missing behind the clouds or when you get too much of it. But when was the last time you marveled at......

  • Jim Marshall, by every meaningful measure, was one of the very best defensive linemen ever to play in the NFL. His 20 NFL seasons included 282 consecutive starts and 127 quarterback sacks. He was part of the feared Purple People Eaters, Minnesota Vikings defensive line.......

  • What is the one sin (committed by those who have accepted Christ) that insults God? Here is a popular guess:Anyone who speaks against the Son of Man can be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, either in this......

  • Years ago, I had a co-worker who would greet me almost every morning with, “What’s the story, morning glory?”  I was reminded of that recently when I read a devotional about the importance of Christ-followers being prepared to share their story. It identified two separate......

  • “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. 9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your......

  • When Jesus appeared to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, He left little doubt about what the rest of Saul’s life would look like. Saul would become the Apostle Paul and Jesus made his mission for the rest of his time on earth......

  • Jesus is often described as a radical. There is no doubt that He was considered a radical by many during His time on earth, especially by the Jewish ruling class. His radical unconditional love, His radical acceptance of Gentiles (non-Jews), His radical challenging of the......

  • I’ve been there. Nine years ago, my life was in shambles. I felt I had messed up so badly that I couldn’t come back from it. More recently, I made some significant mistakes in the ministry where I felt I may have done more harm......

  • Almost every election season we hear people say, “I will choose the lesser of two evils.” They mean that they don’t care for either candidate but will choose the one they consider less objectionable. Choosing between two evils means that either way, you’re choosing evil.......

  • In the book of Galatians, the Apostle Paul shares what he calls “the fruit of the Spirit:” love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. (Gal. 5:22-23) You will note that Paul calls these “the fruit” and not “the fruits.” Why? Because the 9......

  • When I was very young, someone shared a theory with me on the perception of time. You may have heard it. As you age months and years are a smaller fraction of your life, so your perspective changes and they pass by faster. For example.......

  • It is truly an eye-popping passage in the Bible: 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father,......

  • I used to be a sensational complainer. I complained about pretty much everything. If it were indeed true that misery loves company, I would have been the most popular guy in the world. I’m not going to say that I never complain these days, but......

  • Disclaimer: If you do not believe God speaks to us in our dreams, this blog post isn’t for you. In a recent dream, I was in the front passenger seat of a speeding runaway car with no one in the driver’s seat (Incidentally, the car......

  • We love success stories, rags-to-riches stories, person vs. the world and the person wins stories. Sadly, success stories, in fact, success itself, is often monetized in missional ministry. You would like a grant to help the unhoused? How many people have you successfully served? Success......

  • I once heard a pastor say that the only thing worse than waiting on God is not waiting on Him. What he meant was that while it is often very difficult to wait for God to move in your live, it’s a big mistake to......

  • I had a life-changing moment when I was somewhere between 10 and 12 years old. My parents got me a microscope as a birthday present. The instruction manual suggested scooping up some swamp or stream water and putting a drop on the slide. Living on......