We often pray most honestly and faithfully when we are facing difficulties of some kind. The challenge is to pray like this in our daily lives.

Jesus orders us to be baptized for the forgiveness of sins. Baptism is the betrothal (similar to “engagement”) ceremony in our relationship to Christ.

As children, we learn to play “hide-and-seek” with our siblings, parents and friends. Many of us continue to play this game with God as adults. Kevin Johnson challenges us to turn to God with our whole heart and receive God’s mercy and grace.

Psychologists use Rorschach tests to reflect what is inside a person. How we see the world and even how we read Scripture works in a similar way.

Ephesians 3:14-19 is perhaps one of the most powerful descriptions of love we find in Paul’s writings. The love Paul speaks of is so great he is forced to press the boundaries of language to express it.

In the parables of the lost sheep, the lost son, and the lost coin, it becomes clear that it is we who are lost and God who seeks to find us. Those in the position of danger are the ones who presume upon their relationships with God.

In the parable of the lost coin, the woman calls her friends and neighbors together to rejoice with her when she finds it. Greg explores why she was so excited to recover a single coin of seemingly limited value.

In the story of the prodigal son, the focus is typically on the younger son who runs away and squanders his father’s wealth frivolously. His sin is as obvious as his disobedience. The elder son is also relating badly to his father, but in a more subtle way.

Typically, we call the famous parable by Jesus “The Prodigal Son,” but that title is actually a bit misleading. The point of the parable is not the younger (Prodigal) son’s recklessly extravagant living. Instead, it’s about God’s recklessly extravagant love.