Back in my college days I trained for a marathon. The day before the big race, I was nervous as all-get-out. Would I make it to the starting line on time in the crazy early-morning Chicago traffic? Would I embarrass myself by flaming out at mile twenty? Would I even be able to finish? One of … More A People Prepared * 10 Minute Devotional
On Monday I came home from a wonderful weekend at a Christian camp. My little boys and my husband and I got to worship in God’s beautiful creation, spend time in prayer, talk about what Jesus is doing in our midst. Instead of preaching, we received. Instead of leading, we rested. Instead of being “on,” … More Let Us Confess It * 10 Minute Devotional
Adapted from a devotional previously shared on this blog on May 19, 2016. “Gentlemen, this is a football.” That is how Vince Lombardi, started each season on his team’s practice field. Lombardi, the former coach of the Green Bay Packers who led them to victory in the first ever Super Bowl (and the one after … More This is a Football * 10 Minute Devotional
Sometimes there is nothing left to do but take the next obedient step. When strategizing and brainstorming comes to an end, when finances run dry, when a medical diagnosis isn’t good, when the weight of grief is too much to bear, sometimes there is nothing left to do but take the next obedient step. Remember … More The Next Obedient Step * 10 Minute Devotional
We read a children’s Bible to our 4-year-old every night before bed. He always asks a lot of questions, both because he’s genuinely interested, and because each question he asks allows him another minute or two of bedtime delay. A few nights ago we read the story of the Red Sea from Exodus 14 and 15. You … More The Impossible God * 10 Minute Devotional
I’m a pretty frugal person. It probably started when I was born in Wisconsin, a state where thou-shalt-live-humbly. Everyone drives Toyotas and Fords and Subarus. Millionaires live in log cabins. As an elementary schooler I literally didn’t know people could buy clothes from the front of the store. I thought those were just for show, since everyone I knew always headed straight … More Faith, Frugality, and Feasting * 10 Minute Devotional
UCC Pastor Lillian Daniel, co-author of An Odd and Wondrous Calling, wrote a Huffington Post piece that went viral a few years ago. In it she vented about her irritation with those who claim to be “spiritual but not religious.” Daniels writes: Being privately spiritual but not religious just doesn’t interest me. There is nothing challenging about having … More Personal, not Private * 10 Minute Devotional
This week at our house: Me: What do you want for breakfast? Preschooler: Peanut butter pancakes. Me [fifteen minutes later]: Here’s your breakfast! Preschooler: WHAT IS THIS?! I HAAAATE PEANUT BUTTER PANCAKES!!! Me: [silently Googling how old a child has to be to go to boarding school overseas] Kidding. Mostly. Pre-kid, I sometimes felt at … More What’s at the End of Your Rope? * 10 Minute Devotional
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
Back when I trained as a hospice chaplain, I was often surprised at how much our team–doctors, nurses, social workers, chaplains–laughed together. It wasn’t that we didn’t cry, too. We cried a lot. We cried plenty. Watching people die, supporting them at the end of life, ministering to their families and friends, it made each of us … More A Gospel Paradox * 10 Minute Devotion
Courtney Ellis 