Happy Elevated Friday! Today we highlight a story that most would have considered a blessing to one man, but turned out to be a blessing to someone else. Howard Kirby recently purchased a secondhand couch for his man-cave, but after getting it home and sitting on it, he found it strangely uncomfortable. His daughter ended up unzipping the cushions and – lo and behold – the reason it was so uncomfortable was that it had thousands of dollars in cash stuffed in it! In total, $43

Politics is a dirty game that plays out before us everyday in the news. Cold calculations and feverish arguments are hallmarks of “success” in politics. As the ones such behavior is directed towards, it is easy to be swept up in partisan furor when things don’t go our way and someone is speaking loudly the things our brain likes to hear. But these are not the things are hearts want to hear – our hearts want more of the things of God, not men. While we cannot change the nature

The nation is dealing with two tragedies that are nothing but heartbreaking, the death of Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven others as well as a boat dock fire in Alabama that killed eight. Events like these remind us that life is uncertain and fragile. They can also confuse us when we think about our own lives and what we can do against such seemingly random tragedies. It is in these moments of doubt that God is there to lift us up and show us our next steps. Psalm 34 tells

The tragic death of NBA great Kobe Bryant, his daughter, and seven others rocked the nation this past weekend. When such tragedy strikes it often just seems completely senseless. How can we make sense of the senseless? We can’t. There are forces at work in this world that are beyond our comprehension; but the most powerful of those forces is that of God. God is glorified in our weakness and our deliverance comes when we surrender control of our lives to Jesus. But our God is

Monday’s bring work to do, tasks to complete, and stress to manage — but these do not have to be the only things Monday brings. Joy and peace can overflow each morning when we live by the Word of God and not depend on the affirmations of man. But the reason so many do not experience the full joy and peace of the Lord is because they only know the Word of the Lord but do not live by the Word of the Lord. With the Super Bowl coming up, think of this distinction this way: those

Happy Elevated Friday! Today we highlight a story of a chance meeting that is only possible because of an act of God. 56-year-old Karen Harris of the UK was adopted early in life and since her 18th birthday has been searching for her birth parents. It’s been a very difficult search as she had very little to go on. She found her mother ten years after she began her search with the help of a social worker, but finding her father has proven a challenge. After decades of searchin

We all have the inherent bias that we are right and others who disagree with us are wrong. Because of that bias, we naturally tend to group with others who think like us. But does that make any of righteous? Does it even make us right? Righteousness isn’t a result of the collection of opinions we hold; it is the result of choosing God’s way over our own. When we choose God’s way over what our opinions would lead us to, we walk on the path of righteousness. Today, place your t

National news covered a gun-rights protest in Richmond, VA on Monday that, contrary to what many believed, was entirely peaceful. There is always heightened risk of something happening when tens of thousands of people gather in the same place, but one of the biggest examples this peaceful demonstration showed was the power of prayer. Countless people across this nation prayed for peace and calm during this event and God answered that prayer. Too often we pray hard for our cou

There is a lot of news today that can grab our attention and ignite our passions. While we can, and should, stand for what we believe in, we must always be careful not to allow our bedrock belief in God to be usurped. We make a choice each day as to what is our “rock.” Some choose money, some choose earthly relationships, but others choose Jesus. Jesus is the only one truly fit to be the rock on which we build because he is the only one who will never change, never forsake us

This week will be a big one for the nation and the news media as the impeachment trial of President Trump begins in the Senate. There is sure to be heightened partisan debate and full throated arguments in every direction. There’s also sure to be cynical and sometimes cruel internet memes and posts that are tempting to share. There’s very little that any of this accomplishes other than ginning up fervor on each side. Political understanding and civic duty are good things, but