Tracy's Blog

Earlier this spring I was at a fenced-in dog park with our dog, Pepsi, and our toddler, Timmy. Pepsi is a Retriever (part Golden and part Labrador) so he loves to play "Fetch". I was tossing a floppy rubber disc for him to fetch when I accidently sent it flying over one of the fences. After settling Timmy in a safe place, I grabbed onto the chain-link fence, hoisted myself over, picked up the disc, threw it back, and climbed back over. Two thoughts rushed into my mind: "Wow, that was easier than I thought it would be!" and "With my God I can scale a wall". As I pondered the first, I came up with some ideas that may be applicable to the psalmists' words. Why was it easy for me to climb over a 6 foot fence when in the past I've found it hard to do that sort of thing? The answer: Timmy, my two year old. For two years I've been holding and carrying around this boy who has gradually increased from 8 to 28 pounds. My strength has increased little by ...

Walking into Walmart the other day I found that the section at the front of the store is now devoted to school supplies. The sandtoys, waterguns, and frisbees have been replaced by pencils, binders, and glue sticks. With the approach of school, I started to think of the old 3 R's "Reading, wRiting, and 'Rithmatic" and realized that there are also 3 R's the can be applied in our Christian life as we deal with our sin. Repent : Admit that you have sinned, that is is against God, and that you don't want to keep living like that anymore. That's the confession part of repenting (1 John 1:9). There is one more step - changing your orientation. Imagine yourself facing the sin that you have been participating in. You stand up, turn around, and walk in the opposite direction - towards obedience, towards life! When Jesus called people to repent (Mark 1:15), it was a call to a new life in the kingdom of God through the gospel. Receive : Open yourself up to receiving ...