January 31, 2012
"The gospel, applied to our hearts every day, frees us to be brutally honest with ourselves and with God. The assurance of His total forgiveness of our sins through the blood of Christ means we don't have to play defensive games anymore. We don't have to rationalize and excuse our sins. We can say we told a lie instead of saying we exaggerated a bit. We can admit an unforgiving spirit instead of continuing to blame our parents for our emotional distress. We can call sin exactly what it is, regardless of how ugly and shameful it may be, because we know that Jesus bore that sin in His body on the cross. With the assurance of total forgiveness through Christ, we have no reason to hide from our sins anymore."...
January 6, 2012
I'm at a season of life where it seems like it's time to slow down. Nothing is working quite right anymore. I need glasses for aging eyes and anti-inflammtories for aging joints. I forget names and what commonly used household gadgets are called. Solitude invites me to steal away (which I enjoy doing at times!) while a growing family and new church lovingly require me to get even busier than ever. The commercials say Benny and I should be anticipating retirement after all the years of being in the throes of parenting and pastoring. Sometimes I envy those who can....
August 31, 2017 | 1 Comments | Tags: loss; God's sovereignty;
Sometimes during our Florida winters I just have to see the ocean. No jokes, northern friends, it gets down into the 30's and 40's and I just need to be reminded that I'll soon be photographing little people on the beach again. As Benny and I strolled down the beach one winter afternoon a few years back I started noticing bird feathers and realized I should collect some f...
Keep ReadingAugust 31, 2017 | Tags: Suffering, counseling, trials, friendship, counseling in the church
When Hurting People Don't Need Words: Part One Editors note: Sheree is married to our Senior Pastor, Benny, and has been involved in caring for hurting people for over 40 years. She also has 7 kids who have needed care through many personal and family struggles. 4 years ago she decided to get some counseling training from CCEF (Christian Counseling and Education Foundatio...
Keep ReadingAugust 31, 2017 | Tags: Suffering, counseling, trials, friendship, counseling in the church, helping hurting people, same-sex attraction
When Hurting People Don't Need Words: Button Two Last Friday I talked about how caring for a suffering person makes the discerning person aware of how their pain results in pain in us. Even as we want to lovingly minister to others, we are affected by their suffering and often don't realize the urge to quickly talk is partly motivated by the urge to dispel the growing pai...
Keep ReadingAugust 31, 2017
Sometimes the urge to comfort a hurting person results in us prematurely sharing lessons learned from our dark journeys. ...
Keep ReadingAugust 24, 2017 | Category: Friendship: Caring for One Another | Tags: Suffering, counseling, friendship, depression, counseling in the church, caring for hurting people
When People Who are Hurting Need Questions: Button Three Editor's Note: This is part three of a series on how to care for suffering people. If you haven't yet read the first two parts I encourage you to do so before reading this post. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Grace, a woman who I had just met the day before, was describing through tears the horror of stand...
Keep ReadingAugust 17, 2017 | 2 Comments by | Tags: Redeemer Church, Lake Nona Church, lake Nona, Racism, culture, Redeemer Church at Lake Nona, Jim Crow, Trump, alt-right, ethnicity, white panic, Charlottesville, KKK, neo-Nazi
Jacob Phillips on the alt-right, white panic and the ways in which we subtly affirm our cultural values as preferential to others. ...
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