Commonfolk

All through the Gospels, we see Jesus repeating himself over and over to the crowds and even the disciples. Further, every one of Jesus' miracles was followed by a story of the people lacking faith. It seems crazy that the disciples could lack faith after witnessing what they did, but they were humans, just like us. We do the same thing today. We see Jesus come through time and again, yet we quickly forget what He did. We go throug...

Hey! You may have noticed - we took a little break from recording. In the meantime, we found an episode we forgot to post! Better late than never, right? This conversation took place between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and even though we're well past the holidays, this conversation is just as good for now as ever. Is it bad to be overwhelmed? Not always. But how can we quiet the storms of life during times of being overwhelmed? It ...

There is a wide spectrum of beliefs, opinions, and feelings on a variety things that concern humanity, and the probability of two people agreeing on everything is close to zero. This dichotomy thrives in politics and religion, and a major presidential election may be its most prominent display. As the church, what is our role; our responsibility? The answer to that question may be controversial on its own. So, what does scripture s...

We all need a figurative "barometer" in our life. Something that tests and indicates the "atmosphere" in our life. For Christ followers, joy is a barometer. We are given joy as a gift, and instructed to maintain it and protect it. The presence of joy does not mean that everything is going our way, but rather that we have proper perspective in life. A lack of joy does not mean that things are going poorly in life, but rather that we...

Many of us are familiar with Jesus' words "those who can be trusted with little can also be trusted with much." But do we believe those words enough to adopt that mentality in our faith and life? Many of our struggles are a result of being focused on big things and ignoring the little things. We want to make a big impact or fix the big problem. But Jesus clearly teaches us to place a higher value on the little things. A baseball pl...

We are allured by possessions. We fix our thoughts on what we want, what we deserve, what we strive for, what we can gain, and what we can potentially lose. We take control and make it our sole focus in life. Like the Israelites on the outskirts of the promised land, we become distracted and prideful and lose sight of God's plan for us. Like the Israelites, we learn the hard way that striving gets us nowhere, and we are left tired ...

Let's talk about contentment. It's a God-honoring attribute, right? That depends. Often "contentment" is used flippantly and interchangeably with "comfort." We are comfortable where we are, so we say we're content. But that's not true contentement. The decision to stay in our comfort zone often signifies a lack of faith - much like the Israelites were content sticking with the outskirts of the promised land. Their fear of the unkno...

The individual who goes through a heart bypass surgery often says "I haven't felt this great in a long time," after the fact. We can be unhealthy for so long that we forget what it feels like to be healthy. This same thing happens to us spiritually. Many of us can recall a time when we were "firing on all cylinders" with God, and in doing so, we become aware of the fact that we aren't spiritually healthy. We are in need of renovati...

The possibilities are endless. There are countless ways for us to busy ourselves. And many of us have no problem doing so. Getting things done is the name of the game in our culture where accomplishments are celebrated. But is the drive to get more done always good? With so many options to constantly busy ourselves, what do we say "yes" to and what do we say "no" to? On this episode we talk about a word in scripture, edification, t...

In this episode we have the privilege of reflecting on a life well-lived. In contrast to our previous episode where we talked about the danger of grieving what we no longer have, in this episode we talk about the incredible value of celebrating what was. Fellow believers are a gift. It is a blessing to be impacted by them during their time on earth, and a few of them are so special they continue to impact us after their time on ear...

We hold onto memories. Good ones and bad ones. Happy ones and sad ones. Memories can be the gift that remains from a past season, but also a curse causing discontentment in the current season. God says in His Word "forget the former things; don't dwell in the past; I am doing a new thing!" Reminiscing can be good for the soul when used to cast light onto current circumstances. But how do we toe the line; looking at the past to live...

The recent solar eclipse brought with it no shortage of hype. Whether you got excited about it or not, it provided a good opportunity for us to think about the effects of hype in life. Faith journeys often begin with an emotional experience, often "hype," at a level beyond normal. That's why we are attracted to it - it's different than the "same old normal." Hype is often used as a tactic to get people interested. Many people grow ...