Journal

Author: Erin Clifford

Happy Birthday, Church!

“Just as the resurrection of Jesus opened up the unexpected world of God’s new creation, so the Spirit comes to us from that new world, the world waiting to be born, the world in which, according to the old prophets, peace and justice will flourish, and the wolf...

Prayer Squad Goals

“Prayer is the one prime, eternal condition by which the Father is pledged to put the Son in possession of the world. Christ prays through His people.” -E. M. Bounds Which one of us has not grown weary in prayer and needed someone to intercede for us? In Scripture we...

Grace: God’s Love Language

“Don’t the Bible say we must love everybody?” “O, the Bible! To be sure, it says a great many things; but then, nobody ever thinks of doing them.” — Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin Whether you are a new follower of Jesus, or have been one for many...

Small Surrenders

Thomas Merton said: “We are not converted only once in our lives but many times, and this endless series of large and small conversions, inner revolutions, leads to our transformation in Christ.” As a child, I was considered a Pollyanna in our family. A...

What are we waiting for?

“What are you waiting for?” It’s a question that we might be asked by a stranger as we hold up a grocery story line or to a friend who we want to encourage to step out in faith. It’s normally a question that implies choosing to wait as the lesser choice. Advent, on...

Maintaining a Margin of Faith

Margin. That’s what I like to call it. A margin of faith. For me, one of the great challenges and opportunities we have in following Jesus is in maintaining a margin of faith in our lives. Where in our lives are we required to exercise faith? Where in our lives are we...

Vision and Hope in Albania

Bill and I have just returned from a wonderful two days in Albania with the World Vision staff from Albania and Kosovo. World Vision has an annual global Day of Prayer, and for their particular observance of this day the team decided to have an overnight retreat. This...

The Source of Love

Theologians, philosophers, ethicists, romantic poets, betrayed spouses, dreamy-eyed teenagers and cynical adults, the hopeful and the hopeless have all asked, and are still asking, “What is love?” Whether we know how to define it or not, love is what most of us are...