Recently, I moved to "limbo land." Do you know how to find that address? Maybe, it is where you have encountered something serious and the doctors have used that dreaded word cancer over your life. Or, maybe moving to limbo land is something good like having raised your children, but then grandchildren are only a distant promise. Maybe, you have been laid off from work or...
Type: Article
Author: Jan Shrader
At first, Vickie was convinced he was preaching heresy. How could her pastor do this to her sweet little church? As she stared at the stain glass window above the pulpit, she hastily picked up her bulletin and began fanning away, trying desperately to capture her thoughts. If she was perfectly honest with herself, Vickie had to admit the man of God was backing everything he...
Type: Article
Author: Jan Shrader
Topic: Preaching & Teaching
Expectantly, Emily looked over the shoulder of her precious grandchild doing a connect-the-dots picture in a coloring book. The seemingly random dots held such mystery. What was hidden from her on this page? Amazingly though, as her grandchild drew, a figure began to take form. Now Emily could clearly see a mama bird high in a tree feeding her new babies a worm. Studying...
Type: Article
Author: Jan Shrader
Have you ever made a promise you didn’t keep? Have you ever rushed to judgment? Have you ever felt like walking with God has become harder and harder? How do you stand strong in your faith over the long haul? Ray was shocked at how quickly he crumbled. He suffered unending criticism from the retired clergymen in his congregation when he pastored his first church. After...
Type: Article
Author: Jan Shrader
Scripture: Ephesians 6:10 - 10:18, John 10:10-10, Ephesians 3:14-19
Abraham’s faith is inspiring. Chasing the grasslands of Canaan as a nomadic shepherd Abraham was free to survey the Promised Land his family would one day possess. Catching each vista must have built his faith and his anticipation. How did others in his entourage experience the endless treks through Canaan’s hills and valleys? How did Sarah handle being uprooted at 65...
Type: Article
Author: Jan Shrader
Scripture: Genesis 16:1-6, Genesis 22:1-19, Hebrews 11:17-19, Genesis 10:12-20, Genesis 20:1-18, Genesis 17:15-21
Why do flight attendants give parents flying with young children the instructions, “If there is a change in the air pressure in the cabin and the oxygen masks are deployed always put the oxygen mask on yourself first and then on your child,”? It’s because if the parent puts the mask on the child first they might risk passing out. Flight attendants can’t place the oxygen mask...
Type: Article
Author: Jan Shrader
When my family traveled from our small-town home to Tucson for a doctor’s appointment or a back-to-school shopping trip, we always stayed overnight with my mother’s best friend Bea Solley. There we would find a fun lady who was busy cooking for us, and a card shark. Bea loved to play cards. She had an easy laugh, wore bright red finger polish and was always creatively...
Type: Article
Author: Jan Shrader
When my children were young, one of my sons came into the kitchen while I was doing the dishes, and nonchalantly asked me, “Mom, do you know how to tell a good angel from a bad angel?” I wasn’t sure where my budding theologian was going with this question, but my curiosity was piqued, so I said, “No. How do you tell a good angel from a bad angel?” “Oh that’s easy,”...
Type: Article
Author: Jan Shrader
Scripture: Luke 1:13-17, Luke 1:30-33
Sometimes misery comes in waves. For me that was the year both my parents died. I also lost both our dogs that year; my oldest child left for college and my pastor husband was in charge of moving our church of five thousand members from a fifteen-acre campus to a new eighty-five acre site on the week of our twentieth wedding anniversary. Did I mention I was working on a...
Type: Article
Author: Jan Shrader
It is amazing how quickly a reputation can be ruined! I had been asked to be the speaker at my home church’s women’s retreat one fall. The more I prayed the more I felt like God wanted my messages for that weekend to come from Luke, chapter 6. After sharing this with the worship leaders, they also began reading and meditating on Jesus’ ”Sermon on the Plain” in Luke,...
Type: Article
Author: Jan Shrader