The Sonder Place

At the beginning of the year, I was on fire. My Bible reading streak was months consecutive. It was an amazing feeling! And slowly, as the year went on, the readings became less. It's an interesting dynamic and one that I'm not proud of. As the year has progressed, it has occurred to me that the value in reading Scripture is irreplaceable. It has nothing to do with checking a box and it has everything to do with continuing the conversation with God. Reading Scripture gives life, it breathes, it encourages, it directs and guides. Psalm 119:103 says " how sweet are your words to my taste / sweeter than honey to my mouth!" I don't read Scripture because I have to. My desire to know God, to be closer to Him, and to breathe in His presence and life is what causes me to read. When I am without it, I am dry. With it, I thrive. This doesn't mean that I don't read when I don't "feel it". But it's that continued pressing in to the Word of

It is so interesting to watch how people engage God in their lives. We do things  for  God, we receive  from  God, we want God to  use  us to accomplish things in the world.  But it is not so much that we think of God wanting to be  with  us.  Isaiah 7:4 says  " Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel".  Immanuel (or Emmanuel) means "God With Us". Even in his name, God is establishing that his disposition towards us is not one of a removed ruler, but of a personally present God.  We often give God distance in our minds and in our lives. For some, it's out of reverence. For some, it's out of fear. For some, it's because they think He is indifferent. But God is actually a God of presence. He is greatly concerned with being able to be in deep, intimate relationship with each of us, and with all of us. Jesus, an exalted, high-above-all God, comes down and lives with