by Daisy Reynolds | Feb 28, 2024
Barry covers Psalm 71, highlighting that in David’s very best moments, what might have looked like his apparent strength to others was actually his dependence on God. In this description of David’s “strength” we see a golden nugget: the further we seem to be from...
by Daisy Reynolds | Feb 21, 2024
Barry covers the very good news of the gospel: God loves you. This love is the grounding for the commandment and invitation to love others. This “others” will include all kinds: those who are easy to love, those we are afraid to love, and those who don’t love us. If...
by Barry Creamer | Feb 21, 2024 | Devotionals
“Against you, you only, have I sinned…” (Psalm 51:4). The omission of that statement is as culpable as the person who expresses it “when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba” (Psalm 51: superscript). The acts amalgamated into this sin are...
by Daisy Reynolds | Feb 14, 2024
On this Valentine’s Day, Barry starts a series focused on love. How important is this thing anyway? What is it not? What does it produce? And what drives it? God answers all these questions in his son, and we ought to be taking notes in preparation for how we...
by Barry Creamer | Feb 14, 2024 | Devotionals
“Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it And spills the upper boulder in the sun, And makes gaps even two can pass abreast. The work of hunters is another thing: I have come after them and made repair Where they...
by Daisy Reynolds | Feb 7, 2024
Barry walks us through an addendum to the On Purpose episode (131), highlighting the differences between being human and being a human. While all humans are equally valuable, God’s purpose for each sets them apart. Scriptures: Psalm 139, 116; Gen 9; Lev 19; Acts 3, 2...
by Barry Creamer | Feb 7, 2024 | Devotionals
Almost everyone is familiar with the opening phrase of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. Da da da dum; da da da dum. The motif is now ubiquitous. Some riffs, rhythms, and even lyrics ensconce themselves in the mind so tenaciously it is hard to imagine a world without them:...
by Daisy Reynolds | Jan 31, 2024
We may prefer our day-to-day experiences, to understand and measure out our lives with coffee spoons. But Barry reminds us that God is beyond understanding. The fact that our relationship with God is the most fulfilling thing we can experience means we must also be...
by Barry Creamer | Jan 31, 2024 | Devotionals
Already turned back from two trails by deep water, I took one covered by only a few inches of slow overflow from the nearby creek. Now pedaling inconsistently at a snail’s pace, I looked down to see a small frog cross just in front of me, swimming unevenly,...
by Barry Creamer | Jan 24, 2024 | Devotionals
The attached painting is by 19th Century German Romantic artist Caspar David Friedrich: Cross and Church in the Mountains, 1812. As a movement, Romanticism paints emotion, mystery, belonging, and nature on the Enlightenment’s rationalism, science, individualism, and...
