Faith, Doubt and God's Mysterious Timing: 10 Minute Insights with Laurie Polich Short

Tomorrow we celebrate the arrival of the prince of peace. And for that reason, I wanted to post my last Advent podcast to prepare our hearts for his entrance. Just over 2000 years ago on this night, in the midst of political turmoil, in the midst of economic disparity, in the midst of suffering and […]

Use the word “Father” for God and many people cringe. Whether it’s a bad dad thing, or a masculine thing, or an unwanted patriarchal feeling, the name “Everlasting Father” as a reference to the Messiah is not always received as good news. Last week on my podcast I talked about Mighty God, but this week […]

Calling a leader a “counselor”, a “father”, or a “prince” is acceptable language. Calling a leader “God” is usually seen as taking it a bit too far. Yet that is exactly what Isaiah does in his description of the coming Messiah. He will be called “Wonderful Counselor. Mighty God. Everlasting Father. Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah […]

Advent is here— and in the midst of all the decorating, shopping, card sending, and wistful thinking that randomly hijacks our hearts, I decided to STOP… and mark this season with some short meditations on Isaiah 9:6 about the coming Messiah. Who is, of course, the reason we do all this decorating, shopping, card sending, […]

As we count the days until Christmas, we all hold hope for what this season will bring. But hope can so easily become expectation. And expectation often leads to disappointment. Because we have a specific idea for how we want our hope to be fulfilled. So the question is, is it possible to hold hope […]

Grief and gratitude are closer than you may think.  It is not surprising that I’d be talking about gratitude on my podcast this week since Thanksgiving is upon us. But grief is enveloping my family going into Thanksgiving, and I am guessing some of you have grief mixed in with your gratitude too. We had […]

At some point, we decide how far our love can go. Then God pushes us to consider taking it further. No bounds. No conditions. Sometimes uncomfortable. Way too generous. If you feel like you can’t possibly do it, you are probably on the right track. This week’s podcast is on indiscriminate love. The “Everybody Always” […]

It’s post election, pre holiday season, so I am focused this week on soul renewal. (It may also be because I’m preaching on soul renewal this Sunday, and am in the middle of one of the craziest seasons of my life.) Here’s the thing about renewal…in order to be ready to experience it, you have […]

The holidays are fast approaching, when it’s time for joy and warmth and every wonderful and awkward family relationship to be tied up and delivered on your doorstep. On top of that, any new relationships (work related or otherwise) that began this Fall have probably entered “the honeymoon is over” stage, and there may be new […]

When you think of the word “mentor”, who- or what- comes to your mind? My first mentor actually became my mentor without either of us realizing it. His name was Dr Neil Clark Warren, and though he eventually became the founder of EHarmony.com (here’s the proof: http://bit.ly/2JbSI8u), at the time I just knew him as […]