Mature Living

Spiritual Springtime When God’s Word digs deeply into the human heart, His Spirit awakens us to new life. by ELLEN VAUGHN EACH SPRING the miracle happens. After the gray winter months and the cold, short days, the sun warms the frosty earth. Green shoots emerge from the dead soil, and our hearts renew as the […]

This Place Called Heaven What we know makes us want to know more. by BILL PATTERSON BEFORE MY GRANDBABY learned to talk, she learned some signs. Claire often used the sign for “more,” usually when she wanted additional milk or cereal. I would scoop her up in my arms and take her onto my screened-in […]

Myth or Reality? The truth of the resurrection of Jesus is life-changing. by BILL PATTERSON CONVINCED ATHEIST, Lee Strobel faced disruption when his wife became a Christian. Her changed life convinced Lee to study the resurrection. This investigative journalist for the Chicago Tribune tried to prove Jesus did not rise from the dead. Strobel failed. […]

Easy to Love An Astonishing Story of Living with One’s Enemies by Ellen Vaughn MANY OF US know a bit of Elisabeth Elliot’s story. Ah, yes, the courageous missionary to Ecuador back in the 1950s. The widow whose husband, Jim Elliot, was killed by the Waodani, a violent, unreached people group. The courageous woman who […]

Making a Difference in the Shadows Unnamed and unnoticed, a powerful band of believers are doing kingdom work. by JEFF IORG SHADOW CHRISTIANS are people who work in dimly lit margins, in the shadows created by the spotlight shining on others. They are believers who serve quietly, often anonymously, doing the work that keeps churches, […]

Forgetting the Past and Moving Forward We can’t change what has happened, but we can resolve to be more Christlike. by CAROLYN TOMLIN HILE ON A WINTER road trip to visit their grandchildren in New England, a couple suddenly realized they had taken a wrong turn. Ending up on a secondary road covered in ice […]