Winter can feel lifeless and stagnant. The trees are bare, the ground is frozen, and it seems like everything is locked in the cold teeth of death. Yet beneath the earth’s surface, life abounds. Rabbits are burrowing, worms are tunneling, and tree roots are plunging ever deeper. In fact, most of a tree’s root … [Read More…] February 5, 2023
They say it takes a village to raise a child. Our family is living out that proverb this week. Krista and I are in the second year of our doctoral program at Wheaton College, and each semester we have a one-week intensive class in person. This is where the village comes in. As … [Read More…] January 29, 2023
Each year, two important days fall within a week of each other: Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. Both are important occasions for us to draw out the implications of the Gospel for the broken world in which we live. After all, a Christian understanding of racial justice and … [Read More…] January 22, 2023
A friend and I decided to grab a couple days of skiing this week. As I write this morning, I’m looking out on a wooded meadow with tall evergreens bowed low by freshly fallen overnight snow. Everything is calm, brilliant, and untracked. It’s gloriously pristine. I’m reminded of David’s prayer of confession in … [Read More…] January 15, 2023
Each year I have such good intentions. My New Year’s resolutions seem reasonable and achievable. I make a chart and begin with vigor! But then reality sets in. My self-discipline isn’t what I thought. Bad habits are stubborn things. Everything goes back to normal. And it’s only the second week of January! I’m … [Read More…] January 8, 2023
Happy new year, everyone! I can’t think of a better way to get 2023 off to a great start than to immerse ourselves in God’s Word and prayer. In many ways, these spiritual disciplines are like breathing. We breathe in God’s Word to us as we read the Scriptures, and we breathe out … [Read More…] January 1, 2023
Merry Christmas! Today we celebrate the moment when God broke into space and time in the sending of His beloved Son to live among us. The chasm that separated a holy God from a sinful humanity was crossed in the coming of the incarnate Christ, who has come to reconcile all things to … [Read More…] December 25, 2022
Wow! What a wonderful Christmas Concert we had last week! Christ was honored, souls were stirred, and the good news was proclaimed in Chicago! One of my neighbors who came for the first time sent this text to our neighborhood group: “Good evening, Pastor Philip, thank you for the early alert on the … [Read More…] December 18, 2022
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us). —Matthew 1:22–23 Immanuel is my favorite name that God has revealed for Himself. To me, it captures the … [Read More…] December 11, 2022
“Pause…and let the wonder in.” For many years now, my heart’s longing for the Christmas season has been to pause and let the wonder in. There’s so much busyness. It’s all so hectic. So many distractions. Relentless expectations. And if I’m not careful, I’ll miss it. But somewhere in the stillness, a … [Read More…] December 4, 2022
