Kidnapped, enslaved, and forgotten—until God spoke in a dream. The story of Patrick isn’t just history; it’s an invitation. What happens when we say yes to God, even when it leads us back to the places we’d rather avoid?
“Jesus is coming back soon!” my friend said as tears swelled up in her eyes like they always did when she got into this topic. “We need to be ready!” It’s hard to know how to react. After all, Christians have been saying this exact thing for two thousand years, and while I hate to…
There are a few Old Testament passages that get quoted in the New Testament with regularity, but I think the most surprising one is Isaiah 6:9-10. “Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes;…
When I was younger, I thought supernatural miracles were non-existent at worst or seldom at best. I never really heard any prayers for people to be healed—just prayers that God “guide the doctors hands.” But history is jam-packed with miracles even into today. In fact, to qualify as a saint in the Catholic Church, the…
It may sound strange, but occasionally the lives of non-Christian bystanders are going to get caught up in the blessings of your Christian life. For example, the 276 prisoners and guards aboard Paul’s boat to Rome may have very well been killed in the storm they encountered. The fact that they were caught in the…
After a woman came into our church and declared to everyone that she had a dream that I would cast out a demon, I soon found myself doing just that. I worked with a person for the next two months, pushing through every confusing roadblock we came across until we finally had a big victory…
What’s your Christian topic that shuts down the people you’re talking to? I’ve got a few of them. For example, if I just toss out a statement like, “This one time I was casting out a demon…” mostly everyone goes quiet and nods nervously, trying to decide if I’m insane or not. Paul also had…
There was a movie that came out recently that told a medieval court case from three different perspectives: a husband’s, a lover’s, and a wife’s. From the husband’s perspective, he was a great provider that protected his wife. From the lover’s perspective, he was a passionate and romantic man that was saving the wife from…
A few years back a popular pastor released a new book that supposedly tried to do away with the Old Testament. While I understand that the Old Testament has a lot of problematic material in it, doing away with it as though Christianity is its only separate thing apart from Judaism, is hardly the answer.…
One day I decided it might be good to check out a City Council meeting so that I could learn what kinds of concerns our community had and try to address them at our church. The most I knew of such meetings I had learned from the TV show Parks and Rec, and it was…
Jamin Bradley 