Words to Live By | Seasons

Jessie Carter January 16, 2026

Some people have a “life verse” or passage that has helped them deal with life or defined what they live by over the course of their lives. I think I have “seasons of life” verses. Three different passages of the Bible have stood out to me in different parts of my life so far:

Psalm 103 - Love
This was my first favorite verse/passage/chapter (in my young life and first marriage). I found it because a Bible I had at the time had a list of topics at the end of it that listed verses/passages that addressed them. I think I was dealing with shame at the time, and I just felt off somehow. I looked through the list of topics and found the word “depression” and it led me to Psalm 103. Instantly it was my favorite passage, and I loved the whole thing. It felt like a love letter from God.

One section that stuck out to me was verses 2-4: “Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits– who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion…” Being super into the world of epic literature and fairy tales at the time, I loved the imagery of God rescuing me from the pit of shame, and the symbolism of Him putting a crown on me. Not just some piece of metal with jewels. A crown of love and compassion.

And that led into the other section that I loved, verses 8-12: “The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” Again, I love the imagery here. I can picture the sky above and how vast and far away it is. God’s love for us is as big as that! And it’s big enough to forgive us–as far as the east is from the west! That’s forever away, now that we know the earth is round! Our transgressions are gone. This whole chapter in the Bible always encourages me.

Acts 2:28 - Joy
After my divorce, I felt like I was in a new phase of life, and needed a new “life verse” to live by. It was a lonely but interesting season. Up until then, I’d lived in the Willamette Valley, but in those days, I had been teaching overseas and working for social services in South Douglas County. By the time I moved back to the Willamette Valley, I’d become a bit of a sojourner, traveler, and explorer. Then I found Acts 2:28 - “You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.”

Instantly I loved it. Just like Psalm 103, it won me over with its vivid imagery. I was a bit scared of being stuck in the city I grew up in, living a boring life. But God promised to lead me to “paths of life.” This sounded soulful and vibrant. And joy in His presence! I needed that. It didn’t matter whether I was married or single, living an exciting life abroad or quietly teaching in my hometown. With God, I would live with adventure and joy. So what did I do? Got it tattooed on my arm! With a compass rose, of course. My longtime friend Sarah and I went to get tattoos together for our 40th birthday, and now I can’t forget this verse even if I wanted to. Side note: this verse references Psalm 16:8-11.

Psalm 121 - Peace
I’ve loved this chapter and the worship song based on it since I was a young adult. When I was in Afghanistan, I used to go up on top of the high school building and look around at the hills that surrounded the city (foothills of the Hindu Kush, a branch of the Himalayas) and sing it: “I lift my eyes up, unto the mountains, where does my help come from? My help comes from You, Maker of Heaven, Creator of the Earth.” Now that the world seems to be going crazy (even here in the US), I look around at the hills and mountains surrounding the Willamette Valley, and I think of that passage and song. It gives me comfort and peace. This world isn’t at all peaceful. But He is the Prince of Peace. He gives us peace in our hearts now, and promises total peace to the world someday.

As I was writing this, I realized that the three verses/passages I’ve considered “life verses” have the following three major themes: love, joy, and peace. Three things we need most desperately. Praying that you all find love, joy, and peace in your lives, whatever verses you read or love. Here’s a song that I wrote during my divorce that has these themes and more. Like the verses I love above, it’s full of imagery that helps me picture these things.

Fill Me

Verse 1:
Fill me with Your peace like a mountain stream
Fill me with Your joy like the sun
Fill me with Your love like the ocean blue
Fill me, Lord fill my heart with You

Verse 2:
Fill me with Your grace like a waterfall
Fill me with Your hope like the sky
Fill me with Your strength like a thunderstorm
Fill me, Lord fill my heart with You

Bridge:
I need You like a fish needs water, Lord
I need You like a bird needs wind
Fill my soul with Your Holy Spirit, Lord
Fill my heart with Your love so true
Fill my heart, draw me close to You
(repeat verse 1)

About the Author

Jessie is a novice writer, with several books in various stages and a blog about travel and the journeys of women. She is very excited to be a part of the CitySalt blog team. She has been blessed by a few communities of Christian writers that have encouraged her dream. She lives with her sweet husband, Chris, their 5 funny kids, and 1 fluffy cat in Springfield. She loves hiking and other outdoor and indoor adventures with her family.

Words to Live By | The Rock I Stand On

John Rice January 2, 2026

Scripture can provide a foundation that keeps us grounded and steady throughout our lives. While we ride the roller coaster of joy, grief, success and failure that life is sure to throw our way, we are invited to dwell on the truths we find written in the Word of God. Over the coming weeks, each blog team member will share a meaningful verse, parable or bible story that has served as an anchor throughout their lives. Perhaps it will inspire you to think of which scriptures have provided that stability for you as well.

Our theme for the CitySalt blog this season is “Life Verses”. We blog writers were asked to think of a verse, a parable, or a Bible story that is “the rock we have built our house on” as Jesus advised us to do in Matthew 7:25. It could be a challenge to come up with a life verse, couldn’t it? There are so many good ones! And truth be told, I couldn’t come up with just one, but if I put three together, that seemed most like the rock that gives me a foundation for my life and my faith.

Here are the three scripture passages that come together to form my rock:

Ephesians 3:14-21
For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge —that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

John 15:5, 8-11
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

John 15:12
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

Now I know there is a lot to unpack in these three passages, so I will summarize to make it simpler and hopefully clearer:

God’s love is absolutely gigantic and there’s nothing outside of it.
Because of God’s great love, if we choose to live in it by centering ourselves within it, we have access to all the love and power that God has.
If we love Jesus, we will follow his command which he made very clear:
LOVE EACH OTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU!

Wow, there’s a lot of love talk in there, isn’t there? Jesus states these things simply and directly, but we know by experience that living and doing all this love is not a simple, easy task. It truly does require God’s Spirit moving through us (1) to even see how to love and then (2) to follow through with the action of love. But as difficult and elusive as this task might be, we get to do it completely encompassed by the life-giving, powerful love of God. That seems like a pretty good deal to me and why these are my life verses.

About the Author

John lives in Pleasant Hill with his dog, Gunnar, and a multitude of guests who enjoy the peace and beauty of the Cascade foothills. With three children and three grandchildren all living in Oregon, he is continually blessed with their company and the good food that always accompanies their get-togethers!

Beyond the Binary | Room for Everyone

Jessie Carter October 24, 2025

“If you’re not with me, then you’re my enemy.” - Anakin Skywalker

“Only a Sith deals in absolutes.” - Obi-Wan Kenobi

Star Wars, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

My husband and I have discussed the irony of Obi-Wan’s response to Anakin (the future Darth Vader) because it is just as much of an absolute as Anakin’s binary-thinking. But we get the point he’s trying to make: not having room for nuance can have a devastating effect on your worldview, which affects your relationships and actions. As we’ve seen in recent history with assassinations and mass shootings, it can have a devastating impact on the world around us, too.

We have a fairly good idea of why our human tendency leans toward black & white thinking. It’s easier for our overloaded brains to handle. It puts things into neat categories to help us understand the world. It helps us justify our prejudices and predilections. Etcetera, etcetera. But do our religious texts contribute to this as well? Jesus made a couple of statements that seem very binary, although they also seem to contradict each other.

Matthew 12:30 “He who is not with me is against me…”

Mark 9:40 “...for whoever is not against us is for us.”

Which is it? Who is on His side? Or did he make both of these statements to show us that there is nuance and context to situations? I read a commentary (of a commentary from nearly 1,000 years ago) that discusses the context of those passages.(1) This says that the first one I listed is regarding the spiritual world (ideas, angels & demons, etc.), while the second one I listed is about people, especially lay ministers. The commentary believes that that passage shows us that God is biased in favor of people.

I love that. I think Jesus made it very clear that people are not the enemy. He said in Matthew 5: 44-45 - “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in Heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

In our very “Us vs. Them” culture right now, it is just so convenient to blame all of our problems on a person or a group of people. I’m not saying that there aren’t people out there who are causing problems for other people. But I’ve caught myself blaming everything on certain people or groups, and I know I’m not the only one. This mentality taken to its extreme has led to acts of violence.

Fortunately, there is an antidote: love and forgiveness. There is a recent article by David French in the New York Times that brought tears to my eyes.(2) In it, he discusses how the Mormon church responded to the mass shooting: by fundraising support for the family of the shooter. Dang. I’d use a different word but this is a church forum. That is true godly love. He also mentions the forgiveness offered by the widow of a political figure. It makes me think of the love and forgiveness offered to Nazis by Corrie ten Boom. Only God can empower us to give that kind of love. And it is this amazing love of God that redeems the world.

Father God, please remind me daily that humans are not the ultimate enemy. They are all made in Your image and are loved by You. Please help me remember that it is love that conquers evil. Your amazing love died for us, while we were yet enemies of You. Please help us to pass that love on to all around us, even those we see as enemies.

There is one thing that I believe is absolute truth: God loves the world. Everyone in it. Even the Sith.

(1)Bible commentary that I read about the first two passages:
https://www.kencollins.com/answers/question-43.htm

(2)David French article: (you may need a subscription to read the whole thing)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/05/opinion/hope-grace-michigan-shooting.html

About the Author

Beyond the Binary | Mystery is a God Thing

John Rice October 10, 2025

The older I get, the more I recognize and appreciate how mysterious God is. It’s a funny thing, but when I was younger, especially in my 20’s and 30’s, I was pretty sure I knew everything there was to know about God. I had read the Bible a number of times cover to cover, heard hundreds of good sermons, participated in retreats, workshops, Bible studies and conferences led by many gifted and seasoned Christians. I was very sure that I had it all figured out and was ready to defend my position from anyone who thought otherwise!

As I got older and life became less predictable and controllable, my assurance in having all the answers to life’s questions and in knowing who God is and what He/She/They would or would not do, became less and less solid. I am forever grateful that our particular brand of Christianity as a Charismatic church taught me to be open to the movement of the Holy Spirit. I believe this provided a doorway into a world where the experience of God’s presence became more important than just having the “right” theology and the right ideas about who God is and what we are allowed, or not allowed, to believe and do. The practice of the presence of God has helped me focus on the priorities that Jesus spoke about, to love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength and to love my neighbor as myself. Another priority, summarized by the prophet Micah, tells us that all God requires of us is to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God. I really love it when thousands of pages of a book are summed up in a couple of guiding principles! Not that it is a simple thing to do to follow these principles, but the “loving God and people” thing is a lifelong challenge worthy of undertaking. And for me, anyway, it opens me up to be more patient and curious about people who believe differently from me. It helps me respect their journey along the road of life and not need to judge them, correct them, teach them my way of believing, as if it’s the only right way. It’s such a freedom not to be pressured in this way! It’s way more interesting, rich and fun to “live and let live” and learn from others no matter their race, ethnicity, religion, gender or political viewpoint. This allows God to be more mysterious than I ever used to think of Him and even to see Him in, around and through all sorts of other people (and in animals and nature too😊)

God is so much bigger than we can imagine, isn’t He? He is bigger than any book, even the Bible, can fully describe to us. Though the Bible and good teachers/authors/pastors have a lot to teach us, the “walking humbly with our God” thing requires us to stay open, to seek Him daily, to be willing to be surprised, to allow God to be mysteriously awesome and to walk around in great love and respect for all that He has made.

About the Author

Loving Our Enemies Within | Everything Belongs

Terry Sheldon July 4, 2025

We’ve all likely heard the instruction to love your enemy, but how often do we apply that to some of the more unlikeable parts of ourselves? There are aspects of ourselves that will inevitably cause us frustration, shame, disgust, or confusion. Is there an opportunity to act lovingly to those parts, rather than ignore them or hide them? How does God invite us to love ourselves as he does?

Our bible has many references for enemies - in the Old Testament especially. It helps us to understand it all within the backdrop of ancient Hebrew culture, one of a forceful foreign occupation and struggle, with the resulting violence. The many stories understandably contain human outrages and laments with the injustice of it all. Then New Testament Jesus brought a stark contrast with the divine goal of a radical, forgiving love. In our times, enemies can be people in our world and in our lives, while at the same time a relational cancer that preys on us all.

It’s the enemy within.

Yes, we all hear the deceiver’s lies, and we cringe as we observe the evil and suffering in the world around us. Our tender hearts seem to frequently be under attack. And haven’t we all heard about the get-tough language of waging spiritual warfare and “kicking out the devil?” I am certainly for standing up to evil and the evil one, but maybe we’re missing something. So yes, go bold.

But also softer, gentler and more intuitive.

We all know that surrounding our many manifestations of feeling human - guilt, fear, shame, grieving, showing emotion, etcetera - are cultural assumptions and even rules about how we are to behave. Yeah, those stigmas that we think we should all be over with by now, are still lurking deep. Harmful thoughts and feelings may be newly imagined, or latent and smoldering over time, from past wounds. They stop us.

An African proverb goes like this:

“When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.” A great concept, but what do we do with the enemy within, toss it out with a choice scripture?

Or a more nuanced approach.

Abraham Lincoln said:

“The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend.”

Hmm, now we’re on to something. I love the idea that everything belongs in our lives. The good and the not so good. The sweet times and the struggling. God uses it all. ALL of it. He speaks to us in it all and changes us through it. He redeems it.

Instead of being so hard on ourselves, how about this attitude: Our spiritual lives are an adventure, and our overriding task should be the seeking and knocking. That takes curiosity and an open mind. And courage (but great reward)! Beyond stigmas, let’s give ourselves permission to FEEL the hurt, maybe identify the whys, and lean into the change.

Let's press in harder to get to know the heart of Father God, and ourselves better. The softer and gentler approach seeks understanding of our own insecurities and triggers, but without the shame and those tired, cultural expectations.

The end goal of our relationship with God is seeking our (and His) deepest desires - simply put, learning how to love and learning how to be loved.

Luke 6:27 The Message
“To you who are ready for the truth, I say this: Love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst.”

About the Author

Terry is a man in constant motion to explore new horizons. He has a thirst for new places and faces, and a deep love for the natural world - with a weakness for waterfalls and sunsets. All of this venturing out helps to both ground and inspire him, because it opens him up to people, with their vast, collective array of experiences, outlooks and responses.

He finds all of this fascinating and sees that it has encouraged the growth of something crucial in his Christian development: empathy and compassion toward his brothers and sisters on this planet.

The Evolution of Our Faith | Raw Grace

Mollie Havens May 21, 2025

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness.”
~ C.S. Lewis

At times I am tempted to build a wall around my heart. I feel safe behind my barrier of accomplishments and harden my heart towards past pains. I put on a facade and hide behind a fake smile. Over time, however, I have learned to break down this wall through letting God’s love, grace, mercy, peace and joy shine a light through the cracks and tear down my Jericho.

Love and grace go hand in hand. I have found that to truly love someone, I must hold tightly to grace and humility. Christ is the supreme example of this. Philippians 2:8 describes how Jesus humbled Himself through laying down his life for all mankind. Somehow, through faith and His sacrifice of unconditional love, we may know the encouragement and comfort Christ brings. The consolation of love may fully be felt in the fellowship we experience with the Spirit. It is in this fellowship that our hope deepens, our joys are fulfilled, and His affection and compassion for us are experienced. This love prompts me to recall one of the Hebrew words for love, which is Hesed. This encapsulates His profound lovingkindness, steadfastness and loyalty towards humanity. His affections are bound to us through His covenant fulfilled in Christ. His display of faithfulness for us enables me to mirror this Hesed love towards those in my closest circles of relationship. It is there that I partake in a fathomable, real love and grasp the heights and depths of His and their love towards me.

Over time I have learned to differentiate grace from mercy. Grace is His unmerited favor or blessings that we receive freely with no requirement of repayment. Mercy, on the other hand, is when He withholds the negative repercussions of our choices and spares us from the natural consequences of our mistakes. The promise in Romans 8:28 reminds us of how God, who deeply loves us and is concerned greatly for us, causes all things to work together as a plan for good according to His amazing purposes.

In 2 Corinthians 12:9 Paul writes of how the Lord has said to him, “My grace is sufficient for you, My lovingkindness and My mercy are more than enough, always available, regardless of any situation.” For my power is being perfected and completed through showing itself most effectively in weakness. Therefore let us rejoice in our weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may completely dwell in us. I have found much solace also in Hebrews 4:16, which describes how when we approach the throne of grace and God’s gracious favor, with confidence and without fear, we may receive mercy for our failures so that we may fully experience His amazing grace to help us in times of need.

One of my life verses is Joshua 1:5b-9, which reminds me to approach life with a courage that only the LORD can bring and restore. In this strength I can boldly follow wherever He may lead and run this race He has set before me with endurance. He lifts me up on eagle’s wings and enables me to soar to new heights and discover all that He has in store for me.

About the Author

Mollie is married to her wonderful husband Dustin. She is a Wound Care RN at McKenzie Willamette Hospital. She enjoys being creative, getting outdoors and spending time with friends and family.

Who is Our Rock? | Christ, the Solid Rock

John Rice October 9, 2024

The chorus of the well-known hymn begins with the lyrics: “On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.” This is the topic the City Salt Blog Team wants to explore in the coming weeks. And what a timely topic this is, given the unrest in the world and in our own country. Where do we place our ultimate trust? Where do we stand? Where do we build our house, on shifting sands or solid rock? As Jesus says in Matthew 7:24-27:

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it crashed with a great crash.”

Jesus says we are to both hear his words and put them into practice in order to have a firm foundation. But what were these words Jesus was referring to? Well, there were a lot! Starting in Matthew 5, Jesus begins his most famous Sermon on the Mount by turning the world on its head and revealing who is blessed (and by contrast, who is not.) Then he mentions many other topics:

Salt and light, the fulfillment of the law, murder, adultery, divorce, oaths, an eye for an eye, love for our enemies, giving to the needy, how to pray, how to fast, where our treasures are, do not worry, judging others, asking/seeking/knocking, the narrow and wide gates, true and false prophets, true and false disciples….and THEN he mentions the wise and foolish builders. Apparently there are a lot of words Jesus wants us to hear!

But in another Scripture passage, Jesus simplifies all this for us by responding to a teacher of the law who asked Jesus what the most important commandment was. In Mark 12:28-31, we read:

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this. ‘Hear o Israel; the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

If you look back at all those words Jesus spoke during or after the Sermon on the Mount, you can see that all these topics would be finer details stemming from the greatest commandments!

The point of all this is that if we want to build our house on a firm foundation (metaphorically speaking), we need to start by loving God, following him with all we’ve got, loving our neighbors (which means e.v.e.r.y.o.n.e. (Look at the Good Samaritan story in Luke 10:25-37) and, last but not least, loving ourselves in a good and healthy way.

In many places right now, the world is on fire. We in the USA are not immune from the dangers of fire. In fact, we have our own version ablaze in politics, culture wars, religious beliefs, racism and all the other “-isms.”

Surely, we have to decide where we stand in these areas in accordance with our beliefs and convictions. But do we place all our confidence and energies in these outcomes? With American politics as an example, is the next elected president (whoever that may be) our true Savior? Will the world come to an end if So-and-So is elected? Or will that person solve all our problems and be our deep peace that is beyond all understanding, as the Bible says? No! To be good citizens involved in our democratic system, we should do our research, weigh the options and vote. But if that is our only hope, that’s like building our house on sand. God alone is the solid rock and our firm foundation. We can be “in the world” by participating in it, as Jesus indicated when he told the Pharisees to “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s” (Matthew 22:21). But we aren’t “of the world” in the sense that our home is truly with God and in his kingdom. That’s our deepest home!

This brings us back to the second half of Jesus’ admonition: putting his words into practice. In the political example mentioned above, this might mean showing respect for those who vote differently from you, no matter how strongly you disagree. How hard it is to follow Jesus’ command to love our neighbors, even more so our enemies! But if we believe him, he will make it possible and we will experience our home standing firm when the storms come.

About the Author

Trusting Our Mysterious God | The Wonder of It All

Jessie Carter March 24, 2023

Isaiah 55:6-9 (NIV)
Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on them, and to our God, for He will freely pardon. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is My word that goes out from My mouth: It will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the Lord’s renown, for an everlasting sign that will endure forever.”

In the chaos of the world we live in, it is difficult for me to trust God’s sovereignty. Global and local news breaks my heart. How could God let these devastating things happen? It’s even more confusing to me when He answers my little prayers for personal needs, so unimportant compared to what I read in the news. Why is He so good to me sometimes when A) I don’t deserve it, and B) the world seems to be falling apart?

I don’t know. I know what I’ve been taught: that the world is broken because of sin. God gives us free will instead of making us all robots (and we’re human and make mistakes), so bad things happen ranging from malicious actions to lazy neglect and even miscommunication with good intentions. I’ve experienced or been guilty of many of them. But He has mercy on us, thanks to His love and the sacrifice of His Son. Why did He do that? It makes me think of an old praise chorus that I learned in my youth:

Oh, the wonder of it all
That Love should die for me
Oh, the wonder of it all
That He gave His life for me

Into the darkness precious life has come
Into a broken and weary world
God gave His only Son

Oh, the wonder of it all
Amazing love
(repeat a few times)

To me, this Good News is a mystery. I don’t think I’ll ever fully understand how or why He loves us so much to sacrifice this way, or why He lets events in the world unfold the way they do. His thoughts and ways are beyond me. But I’m grateful for that because of what it means for us when we turn to Him. He gives us hope and a future, pictured poetically in the Isaiah passage with joyful mountains and junipers in place of thorn bushes.

My job is not to understand the whole mystery of God. It is to seek Him and call on Him, turn away from my unrighteous thoughts and toward Him. And to thank Him when He does answer my little prayers, because they are signs to me to help me trust Him. Best of all, they help me know His amazing love.

About the Author

Fruits of the Spirit | Love - The Best Fruit

Terry Sheldon December 9, 2022

I am fascinated by fruits.

But it wasn't always so. I have to admit I may have taken them for granted, because in this land of plenty, fruits are always close at hand. The party-bro to the more pedestrian vegetable, fruits are easy to like with their bright, appealing colors, inherent sweetness, and grab-and-go ease.

I also appreciate Apostle Paul's fruit of the spirit comparison, and the greatest of these - love. These character fruits are the highest bar of personal and spiritual wholeness - the gold standard of what we should partake in and become, as followers of Jesus. The comparison is rich with allure - life-giving nourishment, sweetness and goodness to share.

But then there's the science.

Our God is certainly an innovative creator, and to me seems a kind of restless genius - always tinkering. Over a millennia, as His plants evolved to fit expanding people groups, fruits played an essential role - in so many ways and in so many places. And inspired by our creative heritage, we all have influenced plant propagation as well.

With fruit, it's all about sugar and seeds. And birds.

Among all edible greenery, vegetables and fruits certainly contain essential nutrients. But a fruit’s specialty is sugar, attracting hungry attention. Their larger and more accessible seeds become reproductive tools, and animals and humans alike multiply and distribute the plants - by land and sea, and by air on the wings of birds.

Hang on, there is a point to this.

Galatians 5:22-23 now seems to me much richer and more dynamic, like an apple that becomes a vast orchard of spiritual possibilities. The fruits of the spirit are within everyone's reach, and are spread by believers who practice them, and by the subtle but efficient flight of the Holy Spirit.

The humble apple is our world's most common fruit, and perhaps not just a random choice for the symbol of mankind's fall from grace. In that light, Paul's fruit metaphor seems to be pure genius, from a literary standpoint and also a spiritual one. Just like Jesus' parables, God's most essential truths are always ripe with meaning and easy to grasp when served up with simple symbolism and story.

Which brings me back to love - the best commandment.

When I read Galatians 5:22-23 with its wonderful array of fruitful attributes, I can't help but notice that ALL of them point back to love. We can't be joyful without love. We can't enjoy true peace, and we can't have the patience to trust in God's heavenly outcomes without love - in Him, in ourselves and in those around us. To truly love and allow ourselves to be loved is the highest attainable personal and spiritual goal. It is the prize fruit on God's tree of life.

And it's best when shared.

Galatians 5:22-23 ASV
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control; against such there is no law."

Galatians 5:22-24a The Message
"But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard - things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely. Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way."

About the Author

He finds all of this fascinating and sees that it has encouraged the growth of something crucial in his Christian development: empathy and compassion toward his brothers and sisters on this planet.

Ephesians 4 | Re-Sensitized by the Spirit

Aaron Friesen July 29, 2022

I remember when our kids were little, they were quite sensitive to the background music playing in stores in a way that I was not. There were multiple times where I noticed my one-year-old child bopping to store music while sitting in the grocery cart when I hadn’t even noticed that any music was playing. Over time, I guess my brain learned to filter out the music. Apparently, the playlist on the overhead speakers at Fred Meyer wasn’t nearly as important as other things like which kind of cheese to get or finding the garbanzo bean aisle. But the brain of the child sitting in the cart right in front of me wasn’t doing that kind of filtering. They were noticing and hearing every note played and word sung, and it was causing their whole body to move to the beat.

Just like my brain now has a deadened sensitivity to store background music, we can have our senses deadened to other more important things. This is the reality that Paul describes in Ephesians chapter four. Paul says,

17-19
So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.

Here, Paul describes a significant problem that he has observed among the Gentiles. He says that they have lost all sensitivity. Sensitivity to what? If you look at the whole chapter, it becomes clear that what Paul is concerned about is a loss of sensitivity to how one’s actions - words, sexual practices, spending habits, work ethic, etc. - can tear down or build up other people. Paul says that this desensitization, over time, has separated them from the life God intended for them - a life of “good works” (2:10) and “works of service” (4:12). Paul goes on to explain that this desensitization has led to all forms of greed (wanting to take more for oneself at the expense of others), unwholesome talk (words that tear people down), and sexual practices that are impure (focused on one’s own pleasure at the expense of another).

Sidenote: the NIV translates a phrase in v.19 “given themselves over to sensuality,” but that may not be the best translation because it can give the impression that one’s bodily senses are bad and lead us astray, which seems to contradict the “loss of sensitivity” Paul describes in the previous verse. The Greek word there is “aselgeia,” which literally means “self-abandonment” or “a complete lack of self-constraint.”* The idea is that the Gentiles have lost sensitivity to how their actions affect other people (the common good) and have given themselves over to an attitude and way of life where certainly bodily urges are leading the way without boundaries or restraint. Paul’s point is that our bodily senses are good and helpful gifts from God, but when they are put solely in the service of what makes me as an individual feel good in a moment, they will destroy the very things that God intends to build up in my life.

Paul contrasts this way of life with the new kind of living toward which God leads us in Christ. One way we could summarize this new life is a renewed sensitivity to how our actions and decisions are connected to and affect the plight and wellbeing of other people. The Holy Spirit reactivates our senses (senses that God has given us all from the beginning but that have been deadened over time) the way Jesus’ senses were activated – re-tuning our ears to the needs and cries of the people around us.

Think about how many times Jesus stopped and paid attention to people that had become background music for other people. Remember the story when Jesus was walking in a sea of people and suddenly, he stopped and asked, “Who touched me?” His disciples were like, “What are you talking about? Everybody is touching you!” But Jesus, whose senses were not so deadened, knew different. He knew something significant was happening to somebody in the moment and he stopped to find out who it was and address it.

This is the kind of re-sensitizing that the Holy Spirit is ready to do in us if we are open to it! The Holy Spirit inside of us wants to awaken our senses to the reality that we are on this earth to build up others, to encourage others, to care for the needs of others, to lift others up, to be agents of healing and hope, and to love one another honestly and deeply. Paul’s urgent plea to the Ephesians, and to us as the church, is that those who are moved by the Spirit in a new direction with these new sensitivities should take on new actions that are consistent with them.

I’m confident this is the way the Holy Spirit slowly and surely builds a community of love in our midst:

Individuals become re-sensitized to God’s love through Christ
They catch a vision of what life could look like if it was governed by Christ’s love
They learn ways of being, acting and decision making that do and do not correspond to that way of love embodied in Christ
They begin to align their way of living to this new way of living – the way of love, the way of Christ

The good news is that the Holy Spirit intends for this re-sensitization to happen within community. We need apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, and evangelists to teach us and show us, in different ways, how our lives are connected to the lives of others so that we truly are prepared and equipped for works of service (4:11-13). Each, in their own way, help us to do this. The apostles among us, like Paul, help us to catch a vision of what could be in the world if we each take the call of Christ seriously. The prophets among us help to uncover individual and systemic injustices that do not truly embody Christ’s love. The pastors and teachers among us come alongside to elucidate, clarify, and demonstrate this new way of love. And the evangelists among us remind us that the community of Christ’s love is intended to be ever-expanding and growing to include more and more people.

During the past two years, I think the Holy Spirit – through the input of many prophets, apostles, evangelists, teachers, and pastors – has been re-sensitizing me to certain needs in our larger community that had become background music. It’s amazing to me that as I’ve become more attuned to certain needs around me God has also helped me to see how I can play a small part in addressing those needs. This is how God works!

*Frederic W. Danker, Ed. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature, Third Edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001.

About the Author

Aaron is a passionate seeker of God and truth, and he enjoys encouraging others in their own pursuits of the same. He especially likes to think about how God is at work in the most ordinary and mundane aspects of our existence. He loves going on adventures to new places with his wife, Heather, and four kids and his perfect day would involve an excellent cup of coffee (or two!), a hike to somewhere beautiful and serene, and some good conversation over a pint at a warm pub. He currently serves as an adjunct instructor at Portland Seminary and a licensed minister in The Foursquare Church.

Advent | Prince of Peace, King of Kings

Ursula Crawford December 19, 2021

I need to confess something and I hope you’ll keep reading even if your opinion differs: I strongly dislike football. I do, American football that is. Soccer, aka football-to-the-rest-of-the-world, is okay. I have tried to watch football many times, but it turns out I’m not interested enough to learn the rules. If I’m going to watch men dance around in tights, my preference would be ballet. It’s very boring to me, and the games are so long. And why is it called football when the ball is rarely kicked?

If you do like football, would you still consider being my friend?

What if we weren’t talking about football at all, but about public health policy or (insert political issue here)?

The circumstances surrounding the pandemic and our current political climate have been challenging and divisive. We’re exhausted. Our relationships have been strained and some of them have not survived this season. I’ve heard the pandemic referred to as “the relationship accelerator,” because it led many new couples towards marriage and some long-term couples towards divorce.

This season has also led me to re-examine and question my relationship to American Christianity. Christians have been a significant contributor to the divisive environment we find ourselves in today, and I am very saddened by this.

If you, like me, are disturbed by the divisiveness we’re seeing now in our culture and the Church, perhaps the solution can be found by going back to the basics of our faith.

Isaiah 9:6
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. And the government shall rest on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

During the season of Advent, we remember the miracle of Christmas: that God loved us enough to come and dwell among us in the form of baby Jesus all those many years ago. He was and is and always will be, the Prince of Peace.

If we seek to follow the way of Jesus, this Prince of Peace, what should that mean for us? In the book of Matthew, Jesus says, “Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit…by their fruit you will recognize them.” (Matthew 7:17, 20)

Later in the New Testament, Paul revisits and expounds the metaphor of fruit, when he writes, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22)

I believe Jesus would caution all of us from pointing fingers at other believers who we perceive as part of the problem, without first examining our own hearts and (in)actions. How have our own actions demonstrated the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, or not? What about the large and small ways that we’ve chosen not to act? Have you ever wanted to tell someone that their joke or comment was inappropriate, but lacked the courage to do so? How well have you loved your neighbor?

To follow the Prince of Peace means to follow the path of love and to turn the other cheek when we are insulted. And yet, I do not believe that the call to follow Jesus is a call to become a doormat, to let others walk over and take advantage of our kindness.

Bringing peace necessitates restoring broken relationships. I believe that broken relationships can only be restored when we stand up for truth and justice, and people are held accountable for their actions. Following Jesus and working to bring peace through restored relationships and accountability is a difficult and scary process. It takes strength and courage. Perhaps that’s why C.S. Lewis chose to depict Christ as a lion in the Chronicles of Narnia.

“‘Aslan is a lion — the lion, the great lion.’

‘Ooh,’ said Susan. ‘I’d thought he was a man. Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.’

‘Safe?’ Said Mr. Beaver. ‘Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the king, I tell you.’’

- C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Jesus isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the king, I tell you.

About the Author

Ursula and her husband Spencer have two young children, and their family enjoys playing hide-and-seek and dancing in the living room. She works as a communications and events coordinator with the University of Oregon.

You can read more from Ursula at motherbearblog.com.

Advent | Everlasting Father | The Road Back

Terry Sheldon December 12, 2021

I will admit that I’ve been late to the party with our annual Advent celebration, distracted by the cute calendar with the little windows. Is this culturally related to the 12 Days of Christmas? Not sure. Anyway, Advent has been a delightful revelation to me in recent years as I've discovered it anew.

I love that the very idea of Advent is so rich with meaning. Not at all static, and not just history, but a beautiful story of redemption that keeps on redeeming. Our modern Advent is alive and therefore full of the same hope and joyful anticipation, 2,000 years later. The story is active love stretched out over our time, and into the future. Yes it is a remembrance of the events of that time, but please, let's not stop there.

It's so much more. It's about family.

God's marvelous plan for healing up our diseased and hopeless souls was staged in a far away culture, and ushered in by shepherds, farm animals, a carpenter and a virgin. A perfect and oh so humble beginning for what was to come. In some ways, Joseph, Mary and Jesus were our real first family.

Like a massive glass prism, God is so many facets at once. He is the Creator of this beautiful, vast and complex world. He is the humble servant Jesus. And he is our personal messenger and counselor, the Holy Spirit. He is alive, eternal and timeless. And he is a father. Ours. That isn't just theology, my brothers and sisters, it's why we are all here. It's relational in the absolute largest sense of the word. His existence, and therefore ours, is wrapped in the historical, yet timeless framework of family. God is our father. We are his sons and daughters - literally his spiritual offspring!

He's not just a Dad, but an Everlasting Father.

That title is my absolute favorite in scripture. It encompasses all - a grand design, a spiritual lineage, strong and thoughtful care and the best possible love. It's the ultimate fatherly ideal - a perfect mix of strength and tenderness. Even so, all that God is, quickly becomes too big for us to comprehend. I think he needed to simplify his story for us, and make it real. Yes we needed a savior, but who? Someone we could relate to, and with, on the most human level. A father and son!

I have known about Jesus all my life. I have sung countless songs and have heard so many historical accounts of his actions, and the reactions of people around him. The ideas his parables spelled out have helped me with my own relationships in life, but to be honest, it all didn't fully resonate with me until I experienced fatherhood. With all the joys and heartache.

I have a father. I am a father.

These days, I am feeling closer and better connected to Him, on my step-by-step pilgrimage back. The prodigal son's return. I'm getting to know him again. The work is hard, because of my failures and because of the collective wounds shared all around me. But now those hurts serve to give me perspective, and empathy. And my love is stronger.

Our paradox: we are all entangled in our closest and most essential earthly relationships - for the great, the good, and the not so good. But for now, I think it’s supposed to be that way in a family. All roads back to the Father are lined with the people closest to us, whom we are to interact with, and who partially hold the keys to our eventual fullness. We've learned how to harm. Now we can learn to love.

It's complicated and it's messy.

We may not always connect closely and agree, but as we learn how to love and be loved, the lessons learned and the Spirit's fruit basket reward will make it all worth it. And we will be freed. I believe that!

May we push forward with the Holy Spirit to continue our work, and let Advent stir up our hearts this season!

About the Author

He finds all of this fascinating and sees that it has encouraged the growth of something crucial in his Christian development: empathy and compassion toward his brothers and sisters on this planet.

Rhema | Listening For God

Mark Beardsley November 26, 2021

For me, it is sometimes hard to see the Word of God active and alive in the world. There are conflicts and wars and pandemics and it all just seems to be too much. All of these noises and distractions can drown out all the signs of the Word and that Still, Small Voice.

But it does not drown it out completely. The Word and The Voice are steady and strong, if I take a Selah breath and listen. If I pause the video and stop bringing up the TikTok and the YouTube views and playing on the PlayStation, I can hear His Voice and feel His Presence. In this space, I can think back through the day’s events and see God’s Word at work.

I see it in the interactions I have at work with customers (even frustrated ones) and my co-workers. We celebrate each other more, I think, than when we could be physically in the same space together. This week we are helping a coworker to raise funds for her daughter’s sports trip to Europe next summer.

I see it when we meet up with family, in spite of some differences in opinion around the Pandemic. We can interact with and appreciate one another. My brother-in-law was rather talkative at our last gathering. It was good to chat him up and hear about his life.

I see it as we are helping my mother-in-law find a new place in town. Really, this effort has all been on my wife and mom-in-law as they look around town at the many communities available, but I’ve tried to step it up and make dinner more often and keep up the chores as they look.

And I see God’s Word alive in the people around me. The way they have hearts for people and joy in life in spite of the trials they face. Like the terrific people of our church body when they love on each other and the community we serve.

What it all comes down to, for me, anyway, is going back to Matthew 22:37-40, which, in the briefest of terms is: Love God, Love People. When I feel like I’m not hearing God, or the world is just too much, I try my best to love God and the people I interact with. And, I feel for myself, this brings me in alignment with God enough that I start to hear Him again and to feel His Presence.

Take care of yourselves and take care of those you interact with on a daily basis and, I believe, you will start to hear more clearly from God.

Matthew 22:37-40
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

About the Author

Mark lives in Oregon with his lovely wife, Darla and enjoys reading, writing, playing games and working to make the world a better place. He currently serves CitySalt church as a sound engineer and on the church council.

Advent: He is Love | The Love Language of Inclusion

Sara Gore December 18, 2020

Everyone has a different way they receive love from others. For some, love is perceived as sharing a delicious home-cooked meal at a friend’s house, for others it’s an agreed upon splurge purchase with the family credit card. For me, I feel loved when my friends invite me to share part of their day. It can be as simple as helping my friend weed their garden, allowing us to have a conversation while we pull weeds. Just welcome and include me.

When I think of Advent, I remember that one of my favorite parts of the Christmas story is the Angel’s annunciation of Christ’s birth to the shepherds in the fields. God included them in the events of that incredible night.

Luke 2:8-15 TPT
“That night, in a field near Bethlehem, there were shepherds watching over their flocks. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared in radiant splendor before them, lighting up the field with the blazing glory of God. And the shepherds were terrified!”

Shepherds belonged to the lowest working class, which was due, at least in part, to the poverty associated with their humble vocation. They learned to live and work on the outskirts of town and community. It must have been a lonely life. God knew His announcement would be a shock, considering the limited nature of the shepherds’ understanding, and He sent His angel to mercifully prepare them. Out of God’s infinitely abundant love, they received a calming message with the wonderful news of the arrival of Jesus, our Savior.

“…the angel reassured them, saying, ‘Don’t be afraid. For I have come to bring you good news, the most joyous news the world has ever heard! And it is for everyone everywhere! For today in Bethlehem a rescuer was born for you. He is the Lord Yahweh, the Messiah. You will recognize him by this miracle sign: You will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a feeding trough!’”

Because the joyous news was for all people, God included the shepherds, and brought the announcement to them by special delivery! They were not left out. Their presence at the stable was evidence that Jesus’ birth was for every human being, no matter their station in life. Even the lowly shepherds were on God’s invitation list.

“Then all at once, a vast number of glorious angels appeared, the very armies of heaven! And they all praised God, singing: ‘Glory to God in the highest realms of heaven!
For there is peace and a good hope given to the sons of men.’”

Since the candlelight Christmas services of my childhood, I’ve enjoyed imagining what this part of the story looked like. The Message version phrases it as “a huge angelic choir singing God’s praises.” In my mind I can “see” the golden light of God’s Glory surrounding the angels as they floated, flew, or maybe even danced to the sound of their praise songs to God! The image of the golden light against the deep blue of the night sky must have been a breath-taking sight! And God gave this spectacular experience to the shepherds!

“When the choir of angels disappeared back to heaven, the shepherds said to one another,
‘Let’s go! Let’s hurry and find this Word that is born in Bethlehem and see for ourselves what the Lord has revealed to us.’”

After a lifetime of feeling shunned and excluded, the shepherds lost their inhibitions long enough to want to see the great event with their own eyes. God’s redemptive love and mercy gave the shepherds a place in history. We do not know their names, but their mention in the biblical account of Christ’s birth has been read by a countless number of people for over two thousand years. God saw to it they were not forgotten. I am so very thankful for this further evidence of God’s eternal and inclusive love.

I think this story remains one of my favorites because it reminds me how our God sees us and includes us all in His gift of redemption. And our loving Lord also gives us an endless amount of opportunities for renewal by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

About the Author

Sara has attended CitySalt Church since 2004, the year it was founded. She studied Journalism, wrote for her college newspaper, and is a member of Oregon Christian Writers. Sara also enjoys singing hymns with friends: “there is a sermon in every hymn waiting to be discovered and enjoyed.”

Common Ground – Practicing P.L.A.C.E.

John Rice May 15, 2020

One of the first things I learned as a child was to make distinctions: a boy is not a girl, white is not black, ugly is not beautiful, healthy is not sick, fat is not thin, Christian is not Jewish or Muslim, American is not Russian or Japanese….and, of course… Texas is not like anywhere else!

To be sure, it’s a pretty common thing to learn about something by learning about its opposite, or if not opposite, at least something different. We like to contrast things. It helps bring things into clarity.

As I got older, though, I realized that these dualistic contrasts were not always helpful and could be sometimes downright harmful. And why is that? Well, I think it is because it’s all too simple, and to keep it simple and easy to understand, you have to do a lot of generalizing and stereotyping to make things (and people) fit into little boxes with clear rigid sides. This way we have a sense of some kind of tidy control over our categories. We can file them away in alphabetical order on the shelves in our mental library. We can even do this with God, or at least our ideas about God.

The problem, as I see it now in my life, is that life isn’t so tidy, predictable, able to be categorized. And when we only think dualistically, we tend to judge “the other” as something not as good as the thing we are, or the thing we understand best. I guess that’s a piece of human nature. We tend to judge and fear things that are unfamiliar to us.

This is not very helpful when we want to live out Jesus’ mandate to love God and to love other people as we love ourselves…. even our enemies! How do we do that well, if we are suspicious and fearful of people even a little different from ourselves?

It might help us if we did some “exchanging”. We could practice P.L.A.C.E. (patience, listening, awareness, curiosity, empathy).

Maybe we could exchange our impatience for patience. Maybe we could quit talking so much about ourselves and our opinions and do a lot more listening and asking questions. Maybe we could exchange our judgement for curiosity about “the other”. Maybe we could look for ways to be empathetic rather than critical. Maybe we could exchange our fear for a new kind of courage that allows us to stay put in unfamiliar or uncomfortable circles.

I read in the teachings of a very wise man that it usually takes either great love or great suffering for our little neat boxes to be expanded, to be transformed. When we experience deep, healthy love (human or godly) or we experience great pain and suffering, our horizons open up in a way they couldn’t otherwise. Isn’t this a mystery? Maybe this is what Jesus was getting at when he said, “Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Suffering is bound to happen to us if we are human. It is common to the human condition in this imperfect world, so no one escapes it. But it seems to me that living a life of love might be more of a choice. We get to choose whether to love God or love other people. We can choose to just live a life “looking out for #1”. Some people are energized by anger and power over others. But at what cost? As Jesus put it, they would gain the whole world but lose their souls.

There are actions that bring life and there are actions that bring death. It seems to me that being more open, accepting, including, helping, loving… and just plain walking alongside people of any persuasion (whether racial, social, economic, sexual, religious, national, etc.) is life-giving to us and to them. The contrary to this brings a kind of death energy. And I have a strong feeling that walking alongside “the other” will expose more commonalities than differences among us. We are, after all, nothing more or less than ….human …created in the image of a most loving God.

Matthew 22:37-40
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

Matthew 5:3-4
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those that mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Matthew 16:26
What good will it be for a man is he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?

About the Author

John has been an essential component to the life and development of CitySalt since 2004 and, presently, serves as an associate pastor with a focus on prayer, discipleship and spiritual direction in addition to being a regular part of the teaching team. He enjoys the outdoors, water sports, music, reading and especially spending time with his wonderful family and chocolate lab, Gunnar.

The Advent of Revolution | Grandeur in The Little Things

Leona Abrahao November 29, 2019

“When I look at the clues that indicate the nature of Jesus – born in a barn, questionable parents, spotty ancestry, common name, misdirected announcement, unattractive looks, reared in a bad neighborhood, owning nothing, surrounding himself with unattractive co-workers, and dying a shameful death – I find his whole approach unable to fit into the methods that automatically come to mind when I think about “winning the world.” His whole approach could easily be described as nonthreatening or nonmanipulative. He seemed to lead with weakness in each step of life. He had nothing in the world and everything in God and the Spirit.”
― Gayle D. Erwin, The Jesus Style

In 2010, my husband and I decided we were going to leave Oregon and spend a month and a half in Costa Rica. We felt like it was a God-guided choice and we would find wonderful things awaiting us: a mission and place to serve, a community to be connected, a growing and developing faith and relationship with the Lord. At least that’s how I imagined it. Our church community prayed for us, God opened opportunity and gave us visions and certainty, and soon we set off to find whatever it was that God had waiting for us.

We arrived and one of the first people I met and connected with happen to be the local pastor’s wife. Hallelujah! God had great things for us! My mind started spinning and I asked her about her church, searching for God’s place for me in it. The big magic would seem to end there. My husband was hesitant to jump into anything. He was even hesitant to attend church. In my fervor to grow in my faith, I honored my husband as best I could with as little arguing as I could and focused on prayer and the Word. Fast forward a year and I was attending church once in a while, mostly just with the kids. But I was helping the pastor’s wife build a preschool/kinder as a teacher's assistant. This wasn’t the big fireworks project either. It ended after one year, but it was a year that I embraced God’s guidance. I was reading my bible nightly and my coworkers (2 ladies) were a light in my life. We would meet to discuss school and take 30 minutes of each meeting to study the Word together. It sounds simple and “regular.” Isn’t that just what all “good Christians” do? But it was wonderful and together with the quiet time at night where I was reading the Word on my own, it was a season of deep and personal connection to the Lord that guides my path to this day.

A friend came down to Costa Rica with her family for a while during this time and joined us in a book club, reading David Platt’s book Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream. How fitting. We were rebelling against the American Dream just by being in Costa Rica and living in a different culture. My husband and I had moved out of our apartment and arrived in Costa Rica with only what could fit in our suitcases. Over a year later we still needed nothing more and I began to realize the big fancy mission project or Mother Teresa worthy life wasn’t necessary either. I was building my personal relationship with the Lord in a way I never would have, had I depended on a community of people, other people to give me answers, showy events or acts to brag about. God was telling me WAIT in such a powerful whisper that it slowed me down and opened my ears and my heart to listen. God was saying SURRENDER to what is - don’t chase after the picture I painted in my head, however righteous that picture was. God was saying LOVE in a way that is difficult and only feels good when you’re through it. God said GRACE, for experiences and people that I longed to live up to the greatness I envisioned. God moved my heart ever so slightly in the smallest and most powerful ways, highlighting the little things that make all the difference. And He still does. And I still only need what can fit in a few suitcases… what matters is what I carry in my heart.

I came across the book The Jesus Style by Gayle D. Erwin. I carried it with me. I sort of read it a few times, or more. I’ve slowly been getting back through the chapters and it challenges me in such simple, deep, and at times difficult ways. I continue to struggle with my desire for greatness (lingering remnants of the American Dream) when I think about my goals and my vision for my life. But if it is to follow Jesus, I must wait, surrender, love and have grace, over and over and over again. These are daily reminders I need for the little things, the choices we make regularly. One of my coworkers in that school and a bible study friend shared with us one day how she prays about everything. A casual disclosure in a short chat over snack time with the kids that stuck with me for all these years. When she makes her grocery list and again when she is walking around the store, she prays about what to buy, that it’s the right choice financially and for the health and well being of her family. Small prayers and small actions that are God-focused are truly the grandest of all things. A quote on my desk right now shares this sentiment:

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world” ― Anne Frank

This reminds me that even to make a big difference, small prayers and small actions that are God focused are truly the grandest of all things. How wonderful that small choices bring us closer to God and our waiting on the Lord can be a simple act of remaining connected and realigning when we stumble. In November, it is a great thing to remember to be grateful. Then comes December and what a great thing to celebrate Jesus. But let’s not make it a “season.” And let’s not get lost in the lights, but turn deep into our hearts as we wait on the Lord, drawing closer to Him in patient, loving and graceful surrender. His arrival is not our party to plan for, but our gift to be ready to receive.

About the Author

Leona is a wife, mother and traveler who is intrigued by how different people live. Her latest project is exploring ways that different walks of life can simplify, in order to live a fulfilling journey.

The Advent of Revolution | Revolution of Love

Terry Sheldon November 1, 2019

Jesus started a revolution, but not in any kind of political sense. He came to challenge the way we relate and respond to God and how we live with each other. Our motivations and methods were all wrong.

Any kind of rebellion, religious or otherwise, was a hot button for this non-conformist growing up (under the surface anyway). Family and religious adherence, of course, was the thing. There really wasn't much grey area between "compliant" and "rebellious".

We live in a world of rules, I was told, and much of my early Christian experience was about the 10 Commandments, where rebelliousness brought consequences. And all too often compliance was a social currency, where the guilt was heavy and the reward for good behavior was at best, a dose of relief.

I was a child in the 1960s and 70s. Out my cultural window, so many kids older than me were actively and even violently rebelling from long-held social norms and because of that, breaking from their parents too.

In my teen years, even my Christian experience was starting to simmer on the social stove. My family's church was conservative and stale. Then a new church sprang up across town in a converted school, and although it was filled with beards and long hair, Faith Center had a dynamic pastor and an energetic, fresh culture of love and grace. And they embraced the Holy Spirit.

As with the outside cultural revolution, this spiritual movement was birthed and travelled by young people. Me and my sister’s exodus started by attending a bible study in a packed out home nearby: 25+ wide-eyed hippies loving Jesus. Seeing young people passionate about God perplexed my parents. And they were curious, so instead of fighting any of this gentle rebellion, a funny thing happened. My conservative parents were swept into it as well.

Soon the Sheldon family six were literally sneaking away from our old church to this new one - double services on Sunday morning. It was surprising to me and doing this as a family made me a bit peeved because my parents were infringing on our teenage cool. This was not their crowd and not their rebellion. It was ours!

That experience started a lifetime shift in me from rules to grace, from theology to love. I started to see and experience the relational aspect of my Heavenly Father and eventually saw WHY that was essential. Sure, the Law is important, scripture makes that clear. But Moses brought the tablets down as a last resort for a rampantly corrupt and marooned generation. The God/Man/Woman relationship was horribly broken and the way back was unclear.

Yes, consequences are motivators and so is guilt and fear. But to what end? All of it has little to do with relationship, the whole reason for redemption in the first place - and the ultimate endgame. If we build our lives on those negative motivators, we don't sustain long term compliance. And we are left STILL alone.

Jesus didn’t pass an edict, but like a caring physician, he made a house call. He was revolutionary, but mostly, relational! He personally showed, in word and deed, the Father’s never-ending love. But he didn’t just make himself a martyr - it was not merely symbolic. He walked and talked and fished and certainly joked and cried and sang and hugged his family, friends and even strangers along the way.

Now in our modern day, he teaches us how to love and to be loved - the ONLY formula for emotional healing, correcting destructive behavior and reconnecting our vital relationships. Desiring long-lasting, loving connections is a universal human trait. Without that, we truly are powerless to change.

About the Author

He finds all of this fascinating and sees that it has encouraged the growth of something crucial in his Christian development: empathy and compassion toward his brothers and sisters on this planet.

4th Sunday of Advent | Love: Mini Advents: Spreading LOVE & Making Space for God

Leona Abrahao December 21, 2018

1 John 4:7-8 NIV
"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."

Because God is love.
For love comes from God.
Dear friends, let us love one another.

I was not raised by religious parents. Celebrating traditions in Christianity were not part of my childhood. Yet I am so incredibly grateful – every, single, day, - for the life that the Lord has given me; hardships included.

As I search for guidance on what to write for the fourth advent week, I can’t help but pause at the pattern of the four weeks. It is a familiar pattern that I believe is meant to be a model for our lives.

This pattern begins by wishing, wanting, hoping for something. Still, we don’t get overwhelmed in our desire, rather we find peace in our faith that our hope will one day be realized. This knowing brings joy to our hearts and as joy helps to open our hearts, Love can flow freely from above, to around us, and back up in gratitude.

I am humbled by our lack of understanding when faced with God’s greatness. I cannot pretend to comprehend His great design, but God must have not designed this process lightly. There must have been much care and attention put on this process; both in the worldly structure (hope for provisions, success, relationships) and within us as His creations (hope for His guidance, His gift of eternal life). Regardless of what we are hoping for, with peace and joy, Love can spread and grow within us.

Are we constantly living mini advents year-round? Do you hope for things? Believe in them and live in faith for those things? Does this bring you joy? Do you spread Love when you are experiencing joy?

“Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God”

Could this be a recipe for making space for God in our lives? For God’s pattern was this - Jesus came, gave us hope in salvation and left us with peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Max Lucado seems to have said something similar. In the article, “Max Lucado Launches John 3:16 Movement” his take on John 3:16 is discussed:

Max Lucado, author of 3:16: The Numbers of Hope, calls the well-known verse “a 26-word parade of hope: beginning with God, ending with life, and urging us to do the same.”

“John 3:16 has always been that one verse that I thought summarizes, encapsulates, [and] carries the heart of the Gospel like no other verse,” Lucado said Monday on Christian Broadcasting Network's The 700 Club.

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life, John 3:16 states. (Christianpost.com)

For God so LOVED the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Because God loved the world, He sent us hope, the Prince of Peace, that whoever believes and holds this hope, will have eternal life.

The last key step in bringing God and love to our lives, to this world; we must now choose to make space in our lives for the Holy Spirit to thrive and spread Love.

For no cake was ever baked without the action of making it. While God is all powerful, He wants our participation in the kitchen.

This month (and beyond) I will look for His presence and make space for it in my life by having hope and living in the peace and joy of that hope.

This way I can both honor God’s gift of Jesus and prepare for His return, by living in Love, by living with God here and now.

Peter 1:22-23
“Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.”

About the Author

Tension | Walk the Line

Jessie Carter October 18, 2018

The concept of tension is one of those things we know we must live with, but we don’t usually like it. Why? It’s uncomfortable. Why do we have to live with it? Because this is an imperfect world, filled with imperfect people.

Think for a moment of all the ways we feel or encounter tension in our lives, or even in just one day. We come into conflict with people whose behaviors or beliefs are different than ours. We have conflicting ideologies even within ourselves, which could be political, theological, or any other value or belief system.

I walk in this tension all the time, being conservative on some issues and liberal on others. Being a Christian around non-Christian friends and family. Having a different definition or demonstration of patriotism to my nationality than some of my coworkers do.

Then there’s the moral conflict within all of us. We struggle with the desire to do what is right, while also wanting to do what is wrong or not good for us or others. Like the apostle Paul says, “I don't really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do what I hate.” (Romans 7:15, NLT).

And of course, one of the most difficult paradoxes in Christianity to live out: “Be in the world and not of it.” This last one is actually not direct scripture, but is rooted in some verses like John 15:19, John 17:14-19, 1 John 2:15, Romans 12:2, and others. For some interesting articles on this subject, check out https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/lets-revise-the-popular-phrase-in-but-not-of and http://coldcasechristianity.com/2017/christian-worldview-what-does-it-mean-to-be-in-the-world-but-not-of-the-world/.

Living as citizens of Heaven while in this beautiful mess of a world that God loves and has us in right now is hard. We know that He doesn’t love the hurtful things that people do and experience. But we also know that He loves all the people in it passionately, as well as all the beautiful things He’s made in His great creativity. So how do we live in this tension?

We live in tension by walking with God. We can’t do it in our own power. Ask any counselor or trauma therapist, or person who has lived in a war zone. It’s exhausting and potentially harmful to live in a constant state of tension. But He offers us all that we need in order to do just that. He shares our burdens and gives us rest in Him. He gives us wisdom, endurance, and peace.

And best of all: He gives us His love.
Love to fill our own needs and desires.
Love to share with others.
Love to forgive ourselves and others when we mess up or have conflict.

We won’t all agree this side of Heaven. We will feel out of place in this world that wants things other than God’s will. But someday, those who love Him will feel right at home, in the country of our true citizenship, worshipping Him together forever. Completely at peace with ourselves and each other and the world we’ll be living in. Amen! (And just in case you don’t know, this expression literally means “So be it!”)

And in the meantime, we can remember that even though tension is hard, it is a good thing. It keeps us alert and focused on Jesus.

About the Author

Jessie is an educator, currently in the role of academic advisor at a charter school after teaching there and overseas. She is also a novice writer, with several books in various stages and a (long-neglected) blog about the journeys of women. She is very excited to join the CitySalt blog team. She has been blessed by a few communities of Christian writers that have encouraged her dream. She lives with her trusty sidekick cat, Arwen in the foothills of South Eugene, where she can go hiking within minutes of the sun coming out from behind the clouds.

Seeing the Other | Love Looks Like Something

Pam Sand May 11, 2018

Thursday. The fourth grade classroom. You are headed in for your weekly time to help. You walk up and see a boy sitting alone outside in the hall where his desk has been moved. He has a really straggly mullet haircut, his jeans are too short, and he is slouched down. He’s obviously already pushed the teacher far enough to be removed from the class. You are tempted to think, “Phew, I don’t have to deal with him in my reading group today.”

Last week, he was late to your group. He was disruptive from the moment he sat down. He messed with the kid beside him, continually distracting everyone. When it was finally his turn to read, he read surprisingly well. His reading was clear and confident, until suddenly he seemed to lose interest. He began to mumble, and then switched to a funny voice all together. You gave him 2 warnings and then had to move on to the next reader, as he went back to banging his feet against the leg of the table.

He’s on your child’s soccer team. The parents constantly rumble about him. He is overly aggressive and can’t seem to really control his body. He too often escalates to tears, which is frustrating, or anger, which honestly is concerning. Someone has to always have an eye on him. In practice or on the sidelines, he is pushing kids and distracting the team or sulking by himself. You watch him walk up and pretend to give your child a high five, and then kick him in the shin guard instead. Your child has already told you he hates when he does this.

He is awkward and never knows what to say. He is so moody. He is so much work. It is so tempting to wish he wasn’t in your child’s classroom, that you didn’t coach the soccer team, that you didn’t have to put in the time and patience it takes to just be around him.

But you know. You know his story. You know his Mom, whom you’ve never met, had 3 kids before him whom she lost to the state. You know that he was taken from her, for his safety, when he was just born. You don’t know her and realize your heart would probably break for her story too, but every day you see the impact of it on him. His Grandma has told you how he never sees her, and how he cries himself to sleep almost every night missing her. You watch as about twice a year he smiles all day, his face glowing, because she has promised to pick him up from school. And that she has always called and canceled right before school is out. You’ve seen his face as his grandma walks in to tell him the news. Disappointed once again.

You know. You know that earlier this year, she had another baby, whom she was able to keep. He doesn’t understand. Why can the new baby be with his Mom? Why does she want the baby and not him? And you know that in reading group, he was reading along with a strong voice until he came to the part talking about a Mom making a snack for her son. When he started reading that part, he couldn’t do it, and to hide his tears he started being disruptive and changed the subject back to his behavior yet again. That’s easier than the pain.

You know his Dad, who struggles with agoraphobia & PTSD, has such a fear of life and people and the world, that he doesn’t often leave his house. His Dad often gets triggered when he is out in public, and has outbursts that are scary and embarrassing for his son. The boy knows his Dad loves him, but can’t handle him. When he is with his Dad, he walks on eggshells.

He has been raised by his Grandma, who loves him and does her best, but is tired. She already raised her children, and has to work full time, and has health problems that limit her ability to move and erode her patience.

And again, you know the result of this. You know he is heartbroken. You know he is also hard work. He is disruptive, and socially awkward. He doesn’t pay attention, he seems to want to get in trouble, and he is rarely approachable. You are tempted to avoid him, to be relieved when you don’t have to interact. To sigh in frustration when he is being difficult, and to be relieved when it’s time to leave him.

But you’ve known him since he started kindergarten with your child. You’ve seen glimpses, few and far between, of his heart. His tenderness used to leak through before he learned to cover it so well. His sad tears used to fall before he learned to change the subject. He used to try, before the patterns and the self-defenses started kicking in, taking over automatically.

What will happen to him? It’s hard to say. The road he has started down is a tough one. And what can you do? You aren’t around him enough to have a major impact on his behavior. You know your direct influence on him is only here and there.

But you believe love looks like something.

So you’ve prayed for him. You’ve asked God what He is doing, how you can partner with Him to love this child. You can’t “save him” and know you are limited. But God! God asks you to love the one in front of you, to see the other. And that is him. So what does that look like, you wonder?

And God has shown you. He told you to pay attention. And He showed you the gold He has put in even this child. You’ve seen, after someone walks away, the sulky defensive look lift off his face and sometimes he smiles. You’ve caught him daydreaming, and asked him what he thinks about. You’ve listened to his response. You have decided to relate to him at his potential, not his behavior, and you’ve seen him rise up to the challenge. You’ve noticed him, smiled at him, made sure to say hello to him by name. And it breaks your heart that these small, little acts of love have made a difference. You see the sponge of his heart soak them up, not always trusting them, but desperate to receive any drop. Desperate to believe he can be seen, he is valuable, that he is worthy of love. You’ve seen love at work. And it’s broken your heart and humbled you.

And God is so good. He’s also shown you how others are doing the same. God loves this child, and has surrounded him by people who are willing to see the other, to not disregard even this child. God has shown you that this child is not your responsibility, he is God’s, and that you get to trust that. But also you’ve seen the proof that love looks like something! And when we stop to see the other, the one in front of us, and we are willing to play a part in God’s love, that it matters!

Thank you, God, for giving us eyes to see the other. Let us live a life that sees the ones right in front of us. Thank You for this child. And for so many like him in the world. They are desperate for love. And love looks like something. Thank You that as we listen to you and are willing to say yes, that we can participate in love that makes a difference. Give us your heart for the one in front of us. Thank You.

“Ministry, however, is simply loving the person in front of you. It’s about stopping for the one and being the very fragrance of Jesus to a lost and dying world.” –Heidi Baker

John 15:12
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

About the Author

Pam is a fun and encouraging team-builder that brings the best to those around her. She loves young people and is committed to serving and mentoring kids with opportunities to grow closer to God and each other. She joined our staff team in 2012 and oversees the ministry of ages from birth to eighth grade. Pam and her husband, Jared, have been married since 2005 and have three boys.

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