Daryl got on a plane yesterday. He’s headed to a conference in Chicago, one for pastors with PhDs (which I sometimes call his annual nerd-pile, but then again, “nerd” is a compliment in our house). He goes each year and we always miss him but love all the stories and energy he brings back. We … More Life in the Age of Coronavirus
Expect the unexpected. … More Lessons on Grace from Twitter and a Toolbox * 10 Minute Devotional
Jealousy assumes a zero-sum game, but this isn’t the math of the kingdom. … More Room Enough * 10 Minute Devotional
Alex Haley, author or Roots, kept a photo in his office of a turtle on a fencepost. When asked about this odd conversation piece, he’d respond: Any time I start to think, ‘Look how good I am,’ I look at the turtle—me—and realize I did not get here by myself. Sometimes Daryl and I talk about … More Like a Turtle on a Fencepost * 10 Minute Devotional
We’re preaching through Romans at our church right now, and I’ll admit that it’s a challenge. I’m more a John sort of girl. I like an image to hang my hat on, a story to dive into. Romans is short on story and long on multisyllabic words. Unpacking Paul is like opening up a set … More Helpless Christianity * 10 Minute Devotional
Our almost-5-year-old son is in a be-naughty-and-then-feel-terrible-about-it phase. He’s a really good kid almost always, but some days he gets this look in his eye (all parents know the one) and then he’ll disobey, and struggle to move on from the offense. “I’ll never be bad again, Mommy,” he told me a few days ago, … More He Loves Me, He Does * 10 Minute Devotional
I heard Andrew Peterson perform a few weeks ago. The guy’s profound and thoughtful, and I ended up scribbling a bunch of notes on the back of a pew envelope because I wanted to remember all his nuggets of wisdom. He spoke of a season of suffering that he railed against at first. No one … More The Shape of Things * 10 Minute Devotional
I’m a doer. I DO things. I get things done. Anyone relate? In a premarital counseling session with my not-yet-husband over a decade ago, our pastor prayed a metaphor over me. “Courtney is a thoroughbred, Jesus,” he said. (Pastor Kevin has buckets of wisdom and uses lots of metaphors, so I didn’t take the fact that he was … More The Best Thing You Can Do for God * 10 Minute Devotional
My three year old son is rarely blatantly disobedient. Sure, he’ll occasionally steal a toy from another kid on the playground, and I’ve had to tell him more than once that his feet do not belong on his dinner plate. But by and large he’s an easy kid. A good listener. Which is why I … More The Wages of Cin-namon * 10 Minute Devotional
Courtney Ellis 