It was 1985 and Joe Simpson was in big trouble. He’d fallen, his leg was broken, and he was high in the Peruvian Andes. After a freak mountaineering accident, he landed deep in an icy crevasse. At that altitude, in blizzard conditions, a broken leg was basically a death sentence, never mind the fact that he … More You Gotta Go Down * 10 Minute Devotional
A man stopped by my church a few months ago ago. We didn’t know him and he didn’t know us. He came in and simply said, “I’m a Christian and I don’t need anything from you except this: would you pray for me?” I offered to pray with him right then and there, but he said he … More Why Not Ask? * 10 Minute Devotional
I have no real roots in Lent. My childhood evangelical church didn’t celebrate it. My Catholic grandmother did, but I just chalked it up to the other stuff she practiced that I didn’t understand, like wearing long underwear in July. (“I’m cold,” she’d tell us on an 85-degree day.) Yet in college, amidst papers and … More Why I Do Lent * 10 Minute Devotional
There are few things more lonely and scary than God’s silence. I once witnessed a woman throw a rosary into a trash can after being informed her son had died. “I prayed for him to be healed,” she said, her voice firm, her eyes hollow. “Now I know there is no God.” If you walk with … More When God Seems Silent * 10 Minute Devotional
My childhood pastor once told our congregation the story of a man walking down a beach tossing starfish back into the water. If they stayed washed up on the beach they would dry out and die, so he tossed them back as he strolled along the ocean’s edge. The problem was that there were thousands of … More It Matters to This One * 10 Minute Devotional
The first church I pastored was in rural Wisconsin. Farm country. We lived on the town’s main thoroughfare, and our toddler son often stood glued to the front window watching tractors roll down the street. A man in our congregation heard that Daryl had never driven a tractor (why this surprised him I do not know, since Daryl grew … More Waking Up in Anxious Times * 10 Minute Devotional
What is one thing about your life you wish you could change? I grew up reading missionary stories. Hudson Taylor. Jim and Elisabeth Elliot. David Livingston. Missionaries spoke at my rural childhood church often, and I always found myself stuck between horror and awe. What would it be like to leave everything and go to … More Brown-Eyed Girl * 10 Minute Devotional
As told with a little help from the brilliant 1996 movie That Thing You Do… When you first announce you’re headed to seminary, your friends are like, “Well, if you want to make a lot of money, you probably shouldn’t be a pastor.” 2. You spend your seminary years in a library and you’re all: 3. Then … More 10 Gifs That Perfectly Sum Up Being a Pastor
We went to the park last week and I totally forgot to bring snacks. Rule #1 of parenting is always have enough snacks. Always, always, alwaysalwaysalways. My firstborn asked for a snack and I suddenly realized I’d left the bag in our entryway at home. “I’m so sorry,” I told him. “The snacks are at … More Again Tomorrow * 10 Minute Devotional
Denise Levertov wrote a poem called “The Ache of Marriage.” When I studied it in college I wanted to throw it in the garbage. Marriage achy? Pfffft. Another example of a poet writing silly nonsense. Then I got married. That Levertov? She knew some things. Daryl finished his PhD this September. In many ways, his dissertation became a third … More The Ache of Marriage
Courtney Ellis 