Posts by GEM Spiritual Life

“But Ruth said, ‘Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”(Ruth 1:16 ESV) I’ve been thinking a lot lately about pace. Not the pace of…

“A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” (Proverbs 18:24 ESV) I met my best friend (the one that’s not my wife) on the first day of Hermeneutics class in our freshman year of university. To give some context, I was rigid. I had…

“Friends come and friends go, but a true friend sticks by you like family.”  (Proverbs 18:24 MSG) As a global worker I find it difficult when I make new friends and then they quickly move away because of whatever reason. I remember about 20 years ago, there was a new person at our church in Prague. I…

“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” (Proverbs 17:17 ESV) I had a conversation recently with a friend where I apologised for having been a bad friend. Basically, I was sharing some personal struggles and failures with him not because I wanted the support of a friend, but because…

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. -1 John 4:8 Making mixed CDs was all the rage when I was in middle school. There was something so enjoyable about collecting songs on your computer, selecting and arranging them, then copying them onto CDs to share with friends. If I put…

“But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”(Lamentations 3:21-23 ESV) Much of my life, I have treated love as transactional—like the formation of a hypothesis lived out. If I do…

“…I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.“ (Jeremiah 31: 3 NKJV) It was a difficult communion for me. I was being especially hard on myself. It happened many years ago during a training weekend for leaders in an Austrian ministry. We usually ended the sessions on Sunday with communion.…

Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. (Deuteronomy 11:18) I’ve never considered myself to be very good at memorizing Scripture. I also struggle to think of exact Bible verses if I have a Scripture I want to reference. When…

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding. Acknowledge Him in all your ways, and He will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5–6 NET) I love commitment. I love the security of a promise and the firm embrace of a covenant. Yes, it’s weighty but it’s like…