When I was three years old, I decided to dress up as Snow White for Halloween. I was so excited about wearing the pretty dress and shoes, pretending to be a princess for the evening, and running through our neighborhood to trick-or-treat. As I prepared to take off on our adventure, though, my mom brought …
Author Archives: Pastor Melissa
Subtle Reminders
About eight months ago I saw a spark of red flash across our kitchen window. I followed the color, and found a cardinal perched on our roof. Since then, the cardinals have multiplied, and we have begun seeing blue jays in our backyard as well. On an almost daily basis, I find myself spending a minute …
Stewardship, Politics, and Genesis 9
This morning I chose to use a coffee mug that a church gifted me a few months back. The side of the mug displays the words of John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” It’s …
What Every Christian Should Know About Genesis 4-8
This week we continued on our journey through Genesis. We covered a lot of material, so I want to give a brief synopsis for those of you who want to stay on track, but haven’t had the chance to read the most recent posts: We first addressed the creation of Seth in Genesis 4:25 in …
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The New Adams
Yesterday we discussed The Flood narrative in Genesis 6-8. Toward the end I named a pattern that we see over and over again throughout the Bible: God reconciling our relationship with Him, us breaking that reconciled relationship, and then God having to fix whatever we broke to reconcile us all over again. We will see …
Sinners In The Hands Of A Heartbroken God
Last year my church began reevaluating the images we used to decorate the children’s department. I remember specifically debating whether illustrations of Noah’s Ark should remain on the walls. It’s an easy Bible story to use as decoration — there’s a boat, water, and animals — all very fun images for children’s ministry. Reading the …
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What Are Nephilim?
Do you remember those Staples commercials that came out a few years ago with the “Easy” button? Someone would be struggling with a task, then hit a big red “Easy” button, and miraculously the problem would be solved. Yesterday while I waited in line at a grocery store, the credit card machine malfunctioned for the …
Grief, Loss, And The “Replacement” Of Abel
My mom and I love watching sad movies together, and Steel Magnolias is one of our favorites. Toward the end of the movie, Sally Fields gives one of the most heartbreaking and powerful speeches about the loss of her daughter. It brings us to heavy tears every time. As I read the text for today, …
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Recap: What Every Christian Should Know About Genesis 1-4
This week we covered a lot of material from the first four chapters of Genesis. Because these chapters are so compact, I want to do a quick summary to highlight the main points that we covered. I also included a lexicon for those who want to keep track of the Hebrew words we’ve been learning. In our …
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The Silent Stories of Genesis 4
You know that moment when you’re reading the Bible, and understanding most of what’s going on, and then you hit a long list of names that seems to never end? It can feel frustrating and confusing, I know. The Bible has a number of genealogies that seem to run on for pages and pages, leaving us wondering, …
Pastor Melissa 