Articles for tag: Rest

August 17, 2020

Stuart Powell

Community of Outcasts

By Stuart Powell In the Old Testament book of 1 Samuel, we read about King Saul, who, filled with delusional jealousy and hatred, set out to kill David, whom he feared would take his throne. David escaped to safety and refrained from starting a rebellion. But during his time in exile, many people became connected to the young man who would become the next ruler. Scripture says, “All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around [David], and he became their commander. About four hundred men were with him” (1 Samuel 22:2). The people who first

June 1, 2020

Michael C. Mack

Ask the Lord . . . to Send Workers!

By Michael C. Mack We planned the articles for our August 2020 issue on March 20, the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 916 points and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the nation’s largest city was “now the epicenter of this crisis” in the U.S., with 5,151 coronavirus cases and 29 deaths at that point. We were a nation looking for some sense of hope in the midst of a crisis we didn’t even understand. People’s anxiety was palpable and pessimism itself took on pandemic proportions. On that day, publisher Jerry Harris and I talked on

June 1, 2020

David Faust

Application for June 7: Down in the Dirt with Your Friends

By David Faust My barber is my best friend. You see, my wife cuts my hair. During our first year of marriage, I was on the receiving end of a particularly bad haircut—a near-scalping experience in a smoke-filled barbershop. Arriving home afterward, I asked Candy, “Could you cut my hair from now on?” She gazed at my freshly shorn cranium and replied, “I can do at least as well as the barber you just visited.” The rest is history. We’ve done the math. According to www.mistershaver.com (yes, that’s a real website), the average price of a standard men’s haircut in

May 11, 2020

Christian Standard

Perspective

By Jon Wren One evening more than 2,000 years ago, Jesus and his followers huddled in a house in Jerusalem and shared a meal we now call Communion. We don’t have any details about what the house looked like or who owned it. But in that house that night, a small group of fishermen and outcasts huddled together for a meal while hiding out from the authorities. Today, untold numbers of tourists from around the world visit Jerusalem to visit places where scholars think that house might possibly have been. Think about that for a moment. When Jesus’ followers took

December 25, 2019

Christian Standard

Christmas Poems from 1877

(Christian Standard featured poetry for many years. This Christmas Day we share three poems by Marie Radcliffe Butler. All of these poems appeared at the top left column of the front page of the December 22, 1877, issue of the magazine. Fun fact: Butler’s poem “The Christian Standard — on the Field of Armageddon” was in the very first issue of Christian Standard, April 7, 1866, and occupied that same top-left position.) _ _ _ (Written for the Christian Standard.) CHRISTMAS POEMS. _ _ _ MARIE RADCLIFFE BUTLER. _ _ _ WHEN SHILOH CAME. (Luke i. 7.) A light in

October 9, 2019

Christian Standard

Rural Church Sees a-Maze-ing Opportunity in Cornfield

By Chris Moon Rinehart Christian Church in Missouri is surrounded by cornfields . . . and that’s a good reason to celebrate during October. “This is a very rural area,” senior minister Kevin Moyers told Christian Standard. But the church of about 200 people has a heart for families. It wants to see them come to know Christ and to spend quality time together. And so RCC created a corn maze on a 10-acre patch of land adjacent to the church property and is hosting a fall festival for people in the surrounding communities from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

June 22, 2019

Christian Standard

Get Moving

By Stephen Brownlow I was new to the desert and didn’t know what to expect, other than what I’d always heard: “It’s a dry heat.” I parked my car at the base of the mountain and looked over my supplies: backpack (check); copious amounts of water (check); sunscreen (check). I opened the car door and stepped onto the scorching-hot pavement. I thought the soles of my boots might melt before I reached the trail. The climb was hot—very hot. I paused in the shade of a saguaro cactus, an unexpected but welcome relief. I drank water though I wasn’t thirsty.

March 25, 2019

Christian Standard

It’s God’s Kindness

By Vince Antonucci One time after a church service a lady bounced up to me and said, “Hey!” I said, “Hey!” “My name’s Sandy,” she said very quickly, “but not for long it isn’t. I’m changing it! It’s been a bad year for Sandys—Hurricane Sandy, Sandy Hook Elementary.” I nodded, a bit confused. “So, hey!” Sandy continued, “I just wanted to thank you for keeping it positive.” I asked what she meant. “I went to church a few times growing up, and I’ve gone a couple times as an adult, and I hate it. Hate it!” Sandy said. “You always

October 16, 2018

Christian Standard

My Heart Pounds within Me

By Vince Antonucci When our kids were younger my wife and I took them to a big waterpark. Our son was 5 and our daughter was almost 3, so we spent the day in the kiddie pools. Each pool had slides and all kinds of fun stuff. We played in one for a while, then walked about 100 yards to a second kiddie pool where we let the kids splash around. We then walked another 100 yards to the next one, where my kids repeatedly slid down one big slide. My wife walked over to the other side of the

October 5, 2018

Christian Standard

Decisions, Decisions

E2: Effective Elders Blog Editor’s Note: Each Friday we publish a new blog post from our partners in ministry, E2: Effective Elders. We publish it here simultaneous to E2’s posting on their site. The leaders of E2 write an article for our print and online magazine every month as well. Those articles are full of wisdom and practical help for elders. Please check them out! _____ By Rod Nielsen Decision-making in a church can be a blessing or a curse. Often, the decision itself is not as problematic as the process of coming to a decision. Major decisions—such as entering into

April 27, 2017

Michael C. Mack

No Repeat Group Prayer

By Michael C. Mack Do your group or class members get so caught up in “saying a prayer” and putting it into the right format with the right words that they miss having a conversation with one another and Jesus? Do people refuse to pray aloud because they think they”ll get it wrong? Does your group take prayer requests and then pray them back to God as if he isn”t present? Do people give answers to people”s problems or try to “fix” them during prayer requests? These activities make it clear on whose power the group members are most reliant.

January 18, 2017

Christian Standard

Habits””Better Than Resolutions

By Jim Tune We”re not far into the new year, but our resolutions have already started to fade into the background. “I”m opening a gym called Resolutions,” someone quipped. “It will have exercise equipment for the first two weeks and then it will turn into a bar for the rest of the year.” We start out well, but our best intentions don”t survive the realities of life. Resolutions aren”t bad; they”re just not enough. According to James Clear, a writer on behavioral change, we should forget goals and embrace systems. “Goals are good for planning your progress and systems are

January 9, 2017

Christian Standard

I Love the Church . . . Because of What I See the Church Doing

By Scott Ancarrow “This is why we planted a church here.” That phrase ran through my head as I tried to rest in the midst of the unrest in our city in April 2015. As peaceful protests following Freddie Gray”s death turned into a night of violence captured and shared on video all over the world, our family knew that moments like this are why we were where we were. A hundred times I had repeated the refrain “the local church is Plan A for bringing hope to bear in the world.” I said it every time I talked to

October 29, 2016

Christian Standard

Unforced Rhythms of Grace

By Laura Dingman Bzzzt. Bzzzt. Bzzzt. Your alarm clock interrupts the rest you desperately need. It”s time to rise and shine. Well, rise anyway. You can”t shine until you get some coffee. You drag yourself through the morning routine, readying everyone else you”re responsible for as well as yourself. The day”s agenda floods your mind. Drop-offs. E-mails. Meetings. Conversations. To-do lists. A rhythm ties it all together. Even if we move through it unaware, there is a beat and a pace guiding us. It”s been this way since the beginning . . . In the beginning, God was. Through Him

October 26, 2016

Christian Standard

Vine-Ripened Disciples

By Jim Tune When I was a boy, my dad and I grew a vegetable garden together every summer. Our tomatoes were amazing. Grown in nutrient-rich soil, staked, and ripened to deep-red, sunshine-infused perfection, it was love at first bite! Our tomatoes were never perfectly round or uniform in shape. Sometimes they were so ripe they would spontaneously split during the 30-yard stroll from garden to kitchen. There”s something about a homegrown, sun-ripened tomato. Bite into one and you can taste the sunshine as the juices burst into your mouth””a delicious surge of flavor tantalizing your taste buds. Years ago

June 29, 2016

Christian Standard

An Enemy at the Gate

By Jim Tune Paul Kalanithi, a nonsmoking neurosurgeon, was diagnosed with late-stage lung cancer at the age of 36. He chronicled his experiences in his memoir, When Breath Becomes Air. Kalanithi wrote: Death, so familiar to me in my work, was now paying a personal visit. . . . Standing at the crossroads where I should have been able to see and follow the footprints of countless patients I had treated over the years, I saw instead only a blank, a harsh, vacant, gleaming white desert, as if a sandstorm had erased all trace of familiarity. Death makes life seem

July 30, 2015

Michael C. Mack

10 Ways to Get Out of the Way of God Building His Church

By Will Mancini Nearly 30 years ago, Joe Ellis wrote in The Church on Target: “Sometimes the voice of Jesus saying, “˜I will build my church,” can hardly be heard amid the babble of human voices affirming, “˜We will build the church. Our plans, our organizations, our resources will accomplish it, and we will have it the way we want it.”” More recently, “clarity evangelist” Will Mancini wrote similar words, describing 10 ways we often get in the way of God building his church, and what we can do about it. 1. Rely on God”s wisdom, not human wisdom by

July 29, 2015

Christian Standard

Plausible Deniability

By Jim Tune In the United Kingdom, members of Parliament have long been allowed to bill taxpayers for the expense of maintaining a second home because they are required to spend time in both London and their home districts. The office responsible for deciding what was reasonable approved nearly every request. Consequently British members of Parliament (MPs) treated it like a big blank check. And because their expenses were hidden from the public, MPs thought they had it made, until a newspaper printed a leaked copy of those expense claims in 2009. Not surprisingly, the MPs had behaved abominably. Many

January 3, 2015

Christian Standard

Do You Have Eyes But Fail to See?

By Tim Harlow I will never forget getting glasses for the first time. I was in fifth grade and was evidently in worse shape than anyone realized, because I was blown away by the clarity I suddenly experienced. I distinctly remember telling my mom, “I can see the leaves on the trees!” Until then, I had no idea there were actual individual leaves on trees. I just thought it was a big green blob on top of a brown trunk. Clarity was amazing. I was reading in Scripture the other day about another blind man, and he had an experience

December 31, 2014

Christian Standard

The War on Sleep

By Jim Tune Have you ever heard people brag about how little sleep they require? An article in The Spectator magazine highlighted this problem in modern America: Our war on sleep is hard to miss. TV interviewers ask today”s hard driving achievers how long they sleep. . . . When the guest leaves, the interviewers bat the question around with each other, boasting about pulling “all nighters” or claiming “I”m OK with five,” revelling in a festival of one-down manship. If the standard recommendation of eight hours a night gets mentioned, it is treated with genial contempt. Napoleon, Florence Nightingale,

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