A Rare Title: Do Hard Things

I started reading Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris (twin brothers of Joshua Harris from I Kissed Dating Goodbye) because I hoped to find some brilliant ideas for inspiring my students. Nothing makes me crazier than perfectly capable young people living beneath their God-given potential. Well, I found inspiration, but a lot of it applied to more than just my students. It applied to ME! The message in Do Hard...

New Every Morning!

It is the start of a new year and yet many of us are all too aware that the world in 2009 is already stuffed with war, insecurity, poverty, and unrest. I find comfort in this passage from Lamentations 3. This lament is actually part of a carefully crafted acrostic poem – beautiful literature, especially  if you can read Hebrew! Michael Card writes about laments in his book A Sacred Sorrow. If you struggle...

The Nativity

My favorite part of Christmas is setting out the Nativity. My mother-in-law bought me all the pieces to our Fontanni set over the course of a few years. The style is very classic, but the pieces are made of resin and won’t break when little people insist on rearranging the figures to suit. Several years ago Jesse insisted on a very particular arrangment: all figures facing the Baby Jesus in concentric circles...

A Rare Find: Advent Conspiracy

This interdenominational group gives specifically to fresh water projects, but you could follow the principles and give to the mission of your choice. Our family is definitely scaling down Christmas this year but probably not for all the right reasons. Still, thinking about giving gifts of presence instead of just giving presents is inspiring. Check it...

Why I Love Rare Finds

I have run the Rare Find feature several times on this blog. I love introducing you to people I believe are living the exemplary life of a Rare Rock. They don’t have to be famous or powerful or outwardly beautiful. These are simply people who are living life according to a higher standard, people pursuing the discipline of God, people embracing the life they have been given with gratefulness and...