katie rose writes

One night, as Jesus finished teaching from a boat many parables, He suggested that He and the disciples go across to the other side of the lake. They left the crowd behind and set sail. As they sailed, a fierce storm suddenly formed. The winds caused massive waves to beat against the side of the boat, and the boat began to be overcome with the water that was coming in. Even the experienced sailors thought for sure that this storm would cause them to sink.  Jesus was in the back of the boat, sound asleep on a cushion, when the disciples shook him awake, saying, " Do you even care that we are about to die because of this storm?!"  Without verbally answering them, Jesus stood up and shouted into the winds and commanded the waves: "Be still!"  And immediately it was just as He ordered. The winds were gone, the waves were gentled. All was calm. He turned and faced His disciples. "Why were you so afraid? Where is your faith?" The disciple...

I tend to have a very "go" attitude. Definitely not a "stay" one. If you know me, even just as an acquaintance, you probably know my heart. More specifically, you probably know the location of my heart. You know where I long to be so deeply that it hurts sometimes, and you also probably know that I'm not there right now. I'm also not in the usual other place, that is, college. Nope, I'm at home. A place I literally have not lived at for longer than a month for 3 years. And right now, I would not have it any other way. Sure, I miss my MC peeps, and I miss a place and a culture over 10,000 miles away. Sure.  Yet I know that right now, I'm called to stay. Called to be. Called to rest. Called to watch God do a work that has forced me to decrease, that he may increase. And I am content. Not a "I have to be content, and I am, but..." type contentment, which is not true contentment, but the contentment that only comes from hope in Christ, because...

I've been doing a lot of random reading in the Word. Some passage will enter my mind, and so I will open the Voice version I've been using lately, and go and check it out. Usually I will read through the whole book instead of just a couple verses. Yesterday, that was the case. I had recently read through Ephesians, and so I went back and read through Galatians.  This couldn't have been a very happy letter for Paul to write to this church...hence the opening that does not include a "I thank my God for you..." He still desires grace & peace for them, but the next usual thanksgiving chunk was not there. The way the Voice opened the spot where that would normally be was, "Frankly, I am stunned..." Because the Galatians have been deceived/deceived themselves. They have begun believing that this gospel is even slightly about them and their works. They have been led astray by those (called the Judaizers) who maintain the ritual keeping of the law (like c...

In Mark 12, there is a gem of a story. One by one, all the religious leaders are attacking Jesus with questions intending to trap Him.  They even try to trap him with things they don't believe themselves. But then a scribe, impressed by Jesus' answers, decides to ask Him a question, not of entrapment, but of a true desire to know Jesus' opinion.  So he asks, What is the most important commandment of God's law? So many scholars in this day thought that they had figured that out--they had created extra laws that, in their opinion, upheld the law. They essentially created a "buffer zone" around the original law, teaching their own commandments as the commandments of God (see Jesus' discussion on this in Mark 7). But this scribe wants the real answer. He has devoted his life to copying down the words perfectly, but here he wants to know the glue of it all.   Bottom line: What is the law all about? We can all quote the answer. Well, at least half of it. T...

Yesterday I decided I was going to start studying through the book of Mark. A wonderful friend sent me a pdf Tim Keller Bible study.  I decided I first needed to read the whole book through and get a feel for what God is going to be teaching me.  I thought I would read it all in one sitting, but God kept stopping me and just showing me things I have never, ever seen before. I've missed these moments when He literally stops me with a word or a phrase. I know that it happened last night because I've been away from the Word for the last few weeks. It's been really hard to study when feeling sick. He was faithful through it all, constantly sustaining me & reminding me of verses and passages and stories. But I'm starting to realize that this journey of not feeling good could last for a while, and I've got to discipline myself to push past it and let the Helper truly fulfill that role in my heart. And that is what last night showed me.  I opened a new translation/p...