When a Christian leader you'd looked up to and learned from screws up royally (and unfortunately it's not a matter of if but when you'll experience this), I know what you'll want to do. You'll want to block them on Facebook and delete their pictures on your Instagram account and burn their books and reject every truth they ever taught you but apparently didn't live themselves. A flood of emotions will bombard you from all sides—anger, disbelief, revulsion, guilt for not having seen through their hypocrisy. Your stomach will hurt, your head will ache, you'll feel like throwing up. You won't be able to understand how they could've preached against…

I totally forgot to send out a Freebie Friday post last week. My bad! To make up for my slack, we are giving away two books this week. Yep, TWO books! It's a Freebie Friday double whammy! Since we are focusing on the gospel this month on the blog, our giveaways this week have a gospel focus. Here is this week's swag. ESV Gospel Transformation Bible The goal of this Bible is to help readers see Jesus in all of the Bible. This study Bible will help lead you to Jesus over and over with notes that point you to the gospel and give you practical application for God's Word. If you…

There's no denying it. Summer is winding down. Textbooks and school supplies are in your near future. It's time to head back to school. (Some of you already have!) God doesn’t so much care about where you’ll spend your school year but what you will do with the year ahead. Maybe you love school and are excited about the return to regular routine. Maybe you hate it and are dreading the school year ahead. Either way, I think God has a mission for your school year. It doesn't matter if you're in middle school or college; home-schooled, private-schooled, or public-schooled, God doesn't so much care about where you'll spend your…

We're focusing on the gospel all month here on the blog. Since the nature of the gospel can be hard to understand, and even harder to believe, I'll let Romans 5:8 give us a quick recap. But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The gospel means: We are sinners who cannot stop sinning. The penalty we deserve for our sin is death. Jesus died for us, even though He knew all about points 1 and 2. His death made a way for us to be reconciled to God. If we go to church very long at all, we can…

Who are you? I don't mean your name necessarily. I mean, what makes you, you. If we were meeting for the first time, we would both introduce ourselves with the good stuff. We might talk about our families, our jobs, our hobbies, our school . . . We like to polish our identity up to a high shine, but that's not the whole story, is it? The reality of who we are is very bad news, but there is good news. David has a way of writing with a brand of brutal honesty that I love. Here's one way he answered the question, "Who are you?" Have mercy on me,…

I've never been good at math. Maybe that's why when I discovered the answers in the back of my high school algebra textbook, I was giddy. True, only half of the answers were there, but they turned out to be practically the only answers I go...

I was fifteen years old when I first met Dannah Gresh. She was leading a girls' retreat for my youth group about sexual purity. I'd heard the message before that I shouldn't be having sex, but Dannah transformed my view of sex, romance, and God. ...

A few days ago, I found myself in the middle of a storm. You may have heard about the massive dust storm that covered Arizona last week. (If not, here's a crazy video of it.) While that storm sent people into their homes looking for cover, I was stranded on an airplane, sitting on the runway, waiting until it was safe for ground crews to direct us toward a gate. To be honest, I was pretty oblivious to the storm at first. It was late at night, and I was dozing. But when we were finally allowed to disembark, a new storm started raging in my heart. I suddenly found…

Are you living like a princess or a daughter of the King? Answer true or false to the following questions to find out. T or F: I love being the center of attention. T or F: When making a decision, I don't usually consider the truth in ...

If you're lucky, you've got a few more lazy days of summer left, but it won't be long before nothing-to-do turns into how-will-I get-it-all-done. As you look ahead to the new school year, you need to know about the Rule of Three. What Is the Rule of Three? The "rule of three" is a strategy used by the United States Marines. In a nutshell, the rule is this: each Marine has three things to worry about. Marines are divided into teams of four individual Marines (three team members and one team leader). Teams are divided into squads. Each squad is made up of three teams. Three squads make up a…

As far as I'm concerned, there's only one way that movies should ever end. Having faced whatever challenge the movie plot was about and won, the couple (because there is always a couple) should kiss. The camera should spin, and they should be transformed into a bride and groom kissing on their wedding day. The rice gets thrown. The Mr. and Mrs. ride off into the sunset, and happily ever after begins. Sigh. Movies that end in a wedding should win the Oscar every time. But maybe, just maybe, when you see a wedding on the big screen you feel a pang of something like panic. When you go to…

This week's Freebie Friday giveaway is Girls Gone Wise in a World Gone Wild by Mary Kassian. Check out this great promo video for the book, and then sign up for your chance to win a free copy. Answer the questions...

I brought a new friend to church with me recently. She'd never been before and when the communion tray was passed, she leaned over to me and whispered, "What is it?" I wasn't sure what to say, exactly. For someone like me who has grown up in the church, communion can seem ordinary because it's so common. I know it matters, and I know Jesus took it, but why? What's the point of that little cup of juice and tiny cracker? What should I have said to my friend who has never seen the communion tray before? Let's dig into God's Word together to find out. An Object Lesson To…

We could all use a little help in the relationship department from time to time. Here are twenty-five "rules" for friendship, straight out of the book of Proverbs. Rule #1: Don't get mad over nothing. Do not contend with a man for no reason, when he has done you no harm (Prov. 3:30). Rule #2: Don't try to change a friend who is unwise. Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you (Prov. 9:8). Rule #3: Hatred leads to more fighting. Choose love. Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses (Prov. 10:12). Rule #4: Don't be two-faced.…

Quiz time! Look at these word pairs. For each one, make a mental note of which one best describes you. Relaxed or totally stressed out? Happy to be single or gotta have a guy? Good with what ya got or ugly? Forgiven or guilty? D...

the·ol·o·gy noun : the study of God We study God through His Word each Thursday on the blog. Our goal is to present the truth of God in a way you can digest and apply. This week we will look at what God's Word says about baptism. Laura was one of my closest friends in high school. She invited me to church long before I became a Christian. Once I turned my life over to Christ, she was a friend I ran to often with my questions about God and the Bible. But something about Laura bummed me out . . . She didn't want to be baptized. We talked…

the·ol·o·gy noun : the study of God We study God through His Word each Thursday on the blog. Our goal is to present the truth of God in a way you can digest and apply. This week we will look at what God's Word says about baptism. Laura was one of my closest friends in high school. She invited me to church long before I became a Christian. Once I turned my life over to Christ, she was a friend I ran to often with my questions about God and the Bible. But something about Laura bummed me out . . . She didn't want to be baptized. We talked…

the·ol·o·gy noun : the study of God We study God through His Word each Thursday on the blog. Our goal is to present the truth of God in a way you can digest and apply. In honor of our nation's birthday, this week we will look at how God feels about America. God bless America, land that I love . . . America, America, God shed His grace on thee . . . 'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land! God bless the USA! Tomorrow you may gather with friends and family to eat all-American food like hot dogs and potato salad off of red, white, and blue…

This week we are giving away Seeking Him by Nancy Leigh DeMoss and Tim Grissom. I'm so excited to get it into your hands, because it's a Bible study that has had a huge personal impact on my own walk with Christ. (I've gone through it twic...

the·ol·o·gy noun : the study of God We study God through His Word each Thursday on the blog. Our goal is to present the truth of God in a way you can digest and apply. This week we will look at what makes God angry (and what doesn't). I got sent to the principal's office three times in my entire school career. I never got in much trouble (talking in class was my offense), but the memory of waiting to see the principal is forever burned into my memory . . . Sweaty palms. Pit in my stomach. An overwhelming urge to hide. I was terrified the principal would be…

Think of a quiet place. Go on . . . surely you can think of one spot in your world that is totally quiet? No? Hmmm . . . that must make it hard to be this kind of girl: But let your adorning be the hidden person of ...