Blog Archives

During the holiday season, we always hear about going home or other family members coming home. It got me thinking […]

Christmas is hard. Once you’ve lost someone you love, it’s bittersweet at best and terribly painful at worst. It’s a […]

In 1757 Robert Robinson, a self-proclaimed “wanderer,” wrote the penitent words of a poem we know today as the hymn […]

One of my good friends, Alejandro, will sometimes text me out of the blue to just see how life is. […]

Philip Yancey in his book, Disappointment with God, tells of a letter he received from a woman who was struggling with […]

As I stare at my bag of double chocolate donuts, I ponder the question, where does happiness come from? I […]

I have always struggled with my tongue. From arguing to sarcasm to sharp, cutting words. I have memorized and meditated […]

Friendships are often fickle. What’s the secret to keeping friends? I got a story for ya: On an epic day […]

Peanuts characters Linus and Charlie Brown were discussing how to deal with the difficulties of life. Linus tells Charlie Brown […]

Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, gave us a pathway to happiness called the beatitudes. God blesses those who are […]

“Happiness is in the eye of the beholder.” Have you heard that phrase? Usually with “Beauty” instead of “Happiness”? Sure, […]

Are you prepared for a bear attack? Our family recently took a vacation to the picturesque Grand Teton Mountains. The […]

People are not the real enemies. Paul made that clear when he said, “For our struggle is not against flesh […]

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with […]

There are only a handful of times in my life I have thought, “I could die in the next few […]

Sometimes life can be completely and utterly exhausting. I’m talking stress from work, family, or money issues to being mentally […]

Mike: Sin and Brokenness “…Looking back,  I see there was no actual desire to pursue the things of God…  Nonetheless, […]

OUR PRIVATE CHOICES AFFECT EVERYONE WE KNOW Every moral decision that we make is like a brick in a wall […]

The solution to keeping your heart ablaze with hope is redirecting your eyes to Christ.  When your eyes remain fixed […]

We’ve all done it. Stayed up late folding laundry or baking cookies or otherwise serving our kids.   We’ve also not done it. We’ve been […]

It’s a subject no one really wants to talk about. We whisper about it. We know it exists, but no […]

In school you are taught that there are four seasons in every year. However, for the Swart household, there are […]

Be weird. Be random. Be who you are. Because you never know who would love the person you hide. ~ […]

It was probably there inside me just waiting to get out, something about myself I didn’t know was possible. When […]

Video games offer a world for your kids where they are the ones with power. The lure is easy to […]

If you’ve done much reading through the Gospels, you know that Jesus has a long history of picking the most […]

I recently wrote that Augustine, though raised by his Christian mother to love Jesus, was not a Christian for a […]

Through my seminary studies, I recently read about the conversion of Augustine, one of the giants of Christian leadership and thought […]

Shaping our boys is a daunting challenge. It’s one that lies heavy on every parent’s heart. I know it burdens […]

Last year two black men were arrested in a Philadelphia Starbucks after the white manager contacted police. When a video […]

Have you ever wished for a “Redo” button? Have you ever had a day that started off so completely on […]

Around 9:00 every night, my dog Duke stares longingly up at the cabinet above my husband’s recliner. He knows exactly […]

FOMO (the fear of missing out) ain’t dead is it? Like, here I am age 28 and I still scroll […]

In some ways, discipling Gen Z (those born anywhere from 1999-2015) is no different from any other generation preceding it. […]

In an article in the New Yorkermagazine, author Malcolm Gladwell writes that vicious dogs are often not inherently vicious, but are […]

Divorce.  In American society, it has become the norm. In fact, the United States has the sixth highest divorce rate […]

It was one year ago today that my baby girl stepped out of this world and into eternity. “For to […]

Divorce.  It’s an ugly word, isn’t it?  And yet in American society, it has become the norm. In fact, the […]

In 1972 the rapture movie A Thief in the Night was released, but I didn’t see it in a theater. I saw […]

The Bible Confirms Our Struggle The author of Ecclesiastes says that life is “meaningless” almost forty times over the twelve […]

On March 3, 2003 (3/3/3), my cousin Kevin and his wife Beth became parents for the first time when their […]

Overcomer is a feel-good, faith-based movie that challenges you to think about your true identity.  In the aptly named Christian […]

Have you ever watched a reality TV show where they are all trying to live together in a house or […]

by Brandon Cox Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has been an inspiration to me for a number of years because […]

Satan has been sowing seeds of deceit in my family. This is not surprising or unique because Satan is a […]

In Genesis chapter one, the Bible describes the creation of the world. As God paused to contemplate His work at […]

 The day my oldest daughter gave birth is a day forever imprinted in my memory. Since he was the first […]

Every summer, I enjoy my precious bit of free time by reading a few books merely for enjoyment or my […]

Seriously, high school is tough. If it’s not the AP classes and the pressure for more college credits, it’s the […]

Truth. It’s a subject that has evolved and changed.  A topic that has been stretched, questioned and misused over time. Where […]