How we think about God and our world is critical for living in the story He has for us. These articles by Ron Tewson will challenge you to consider and reconsider your understanding of God,  deepen your faith, and build your confidence.

I was hit with something in the summer of 2020 that took me to one of the most challenging places of my life. On the morning of July 7, it felt like there was something in my eye. The next morning found me at our family doctor, and then on to the ophthalmologist (eye specialist). The diagnosis? Shingles on the cornea of my eye. It soon spread to the left side of my face and head, and within two weeks the lights went out—literally. Exposure to light of any kind triggered inten

I meet people from time to time who say they’ve defriended God because He didn’t do what they thought He should. The sick grandmother they prayed for didn’t get better, and tragedy took the life of a loved one. Where was God? If He’s really powerful and in charge, He’d fix everything. Right? Well, no. Everybody Jesus fixes ends up dead. Not exactly a winning record if that’s how you keep score. God chose to create our world in a framework of time and space, which means everyt

I’m a follower of Jesus, so I guess that makes me a person of faith. I attribute the presence and power of God to many things that go on in my life. Yet some would argue these have nothing to do with God, but is merely the result of luck, chance, or coincidence. I guess that’s always possible. But when you think about it, luck and coincidence are nothing more than alternative forms of faith. Webster defines luck as “a force that brings good fortune or adversity” and coincide

I've never been much of a runner. Expending a lot of energy to go in circles and end up back where you started is just not my thing. But I dabbled in it a bit when I was working with students at Texas A&M University. I trained to run the Straight Shot (6.2 miles) because I figured it would help if I set a goal. I was psyched on the day of the race and had friends and family positioned along the route to cheer me on. Even though I didn’t finish in the top ten—or even the t

Some say God isn't speaking today because the divine revelation, the Bible, has been completed. If they're saying God is no longer speaking through men and women to make authoritative statements to the world that are not found in Scripture, I agree. But there is no question God is still speaking and has been since the beginning of time. While His communication is always done against the backdrop of the Bible, you can often hear His whispers between the lines. Something I've

We're all up to something all the time. We live planned lives that revolve around the story we're writing, one affectionately known as The Story of Me . And when things mess with the narrative, we don't like it. But there's a problem that has become common for many of us who call ourselves followers of Jesus: we've forgotten whose story we're in. The Bible opens with the words, "In the beginning, God…." The story God is writing doesn't begin with you and me. We'd like it if i

Stealing a Bible is not good. Stealing anything is not good. But it happens all the time. Much of the Bible is a narrative—especially the Old Testament and first five books of the New Testament—chronicling specific times, places, peoples, and events. These make fascinating reading because we see God working in real-time with real people in real-life situations. As God gave specific instructions and promises to people, and they risked trusting Him, they experienced His f

When we read about prayer in the Bible, sometimes it can feel like we're getting conflicting messages. In one place we're told if we ask for anything in His name we'll get it, but later we're told we only receive what we ask if it’s according to His will. Then we're told we don't get what we ask for because we ask with wrong motives, but we also don't get what we want because we don’t ask at all. We’re reminded that prayer is powerful and accomplishes much, yet when the Apost

Hurricane Michael hit the panhandle of Florida in October of 2018, destroying nearly everything in its path and doing extensive damage to Mexico Beach. As the news networks converged to cover the story, I remember a CNN feature about a house that was still standing when all those around it had been leveled. The first question they asked the owners was this: "Why did your house survive?" Their answer told the story: "We put a lot of work into it. [When building it] we paid att

Most people have a hard time believing God—or anyone else—really loves them. Our daily interactions confirm our suspicion that love is conditional, has to be earned, and can be lost if performance drops below expectations. Yet what we find in Jesus is something very different. Rather than making us earn His love, He moves in and earns it for us. This sounds way too good to be true because it's counter to our human experience, but these words from the New Testament tell the st

It’s common for electronic devices to come with programmed default settings from the factory. If we want them to respond differently, they have to be reprogrammed. Each of us comes from the womb with a boatload of default settings that affect how we think and live. But many of these don’t work as followers of Jesus and need to be reprogrammed if we are to step into the life He has for us. Redemption is at the core of who Jesus is. Sin—trusting our ways over God’s and walking

The other day I read a great article encouraging churches to be more intentional about reaching children with the life-changing message of Jesus. It quoted the Barna Group’s report that what people believe by the age of 13 will likely stick with them the rest of their lives, and that unbelieving adults over 19 have just a 6% probability of becoming Christians. International Bible Society added their findings that 83% of Christians make their first commitment to Jesus by the t

We all think we deserve more: it’s an entitlement thing. But when was the last time we stopped to ask ourselves why we have so much? While there’s no question there are those with more, most of the eight billion people on our planet have less. Why is this? Does God love us more than others? There’s an interesting little phrase in the New Testament that's often connected to God's blessing: so that . What it's telling us is that God blesses us not only for our own benefits but

The disciples were flying high as they celebrated the Passover a few days after Jesus' rock star entrance into Jerusalem. It was a night to remember! But when they later walked to a garden that evening, things went terribly wrong. Soldiers appeared from the darkness, seized Jesus, and took Him to the home of the high priest for a long night of interrogation. The next morning found Him before the Roman authorities, and before the day slipped into darkness, His lifeless body ha

Most of the New Testament letters were written to those working to integrate the realities of their new faith into everyday life. But some found themselves mistreated and even shunned for following Jesus. That's why nearly every letter reminds them of the certainty of heaven: Don't cave in because the best is yet to come. Let's look at two of these. The first comes from the Apostle Paul, who often let his readers know his life was filled with challenges: Five times I receiv