Posts with the category “cornerstone-blog”

The fall of 2022 was a very difficult time for our family. My husband Sam and I had recently moved to Marion after stepping away from a ministry position that we loved. We were dealing with deeply roo...  Read More

Friends and family are hands down what keeps me steady in this crazy life—other than God, of course. Over the years many have come and gone, but the ones who have remained all have one character trait...  Read More

Gardening runs in my family. My grandparents had big gardens. My dad also had a garden every year until he passed. My mom has such a green thumb; she loves trying to see what she can grow and is worki...  Read More

Chances are that if you have ever been driving your car and waved at me, I didn’t notice. Now, that is not because I am oblivious to what is going on in traffic—quite the opposite. I can get so hyper-...  Read More

Last Sunday morning, I was all around church as the service was happening. I ended up with my two little girls in the Family Room as Pastor Michael was nearing the end of the message, and what he said...  Read More

Discipleship: It’s for Everyone!I spent at least thirty years of my life wishing I could be discipled. I don't think I'm alone in this desire. For many years, there were older women that I wanted to s...  Read More

Connection within Community: Church Small GroupsNoah Webster, in his 1828 dictionary, defines connection as “a state of being knit or fastened together.” In this definition, a bond is formed. All the ...  Read More

Connection: How to Resist the Winter Blues I leave work at 5:00 p.m. It’s already dark, it’s raining for the fourth time this week, and the trees are bare and shriveled. I pull out the weather app, an...  Read More

Love God. Love Others.One of the great take-aways that I have received from Cornerstone has been the “Up, Out, and In” principle of love. Loving God is upward, loving others is outward, and loving our...  Read More

1 Corinthians 13 is one of the most well-known and quoted passages in the entire Bible. It’s often read at weddings or taught at youth events. It reads: “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy o...  Read More

“Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bl...  Read More

New beginnings can be exciting and overflowing with anticipation, yet simultaneously intimidating and steep with challenges. As followers of Jesus, we are blessed with a different perspective on the n...  Read More

“Like a drama unfolding, the curtain was opening; / an audience of angels was holding its breath; / a census, a manger, two travel worn strangers; / the stage was finally set; / Angels folded their wi...  Read More

Welcome to Advent week 2! As I read the texts leading up to the Birth of Jesus, I try to place myself in the shoes of those that God is interacting with. Sometimes that takes a lot more cultural and h...  Read More

I grew up as a true Southern Baptist—I’m talking a monthly-potluck-eating, wooden-pew-sitting, Alabama-boondocks-living Southern Baptist. I thought I knew everything there was to know about church by ...  Read More

Reading the Bible, Hearing the Voice of God  As I am writing this, I look as shelves of books. Hundreds of books, ranging from classic novels, to systematic theologies, scores of Biblical commentaries...  Read More

Don’t Skip the SunscreenThe Temptation of Jesus. We often pass over the first few verses of this experience and jump straight into stones becoming bread, the promise of kingdoms, and some sort of ange...  Read More

In the first of three The Lord of the Rings movies, Frodo and his closest hobbit friends (the Fellowship), along with three humans and a wizard (Gandalf), embarked on a journey to Mount Doom to destro...  Read More

Joshua was afraid to take on the task God called him to do. And who can blame him? Moses, the friend of God, was his predecessor, and he left Joshua with impossible-to-fill shoes. Sure, Joshua had bee...  Read More

I love the fact that Cornerstone encourages personal expressions of worship. While our leaders often encourage expressive forms of worship - raising hands, bowing in God’s presence, even silence durin...  Read More

Face to Face with Jesus John 4:16-26In Olivia Lane’s song, Woman at the Well, she sings, “I heard a story from the Bible, When I was just a little girl, About a broken-hearted woman, Who met the Savio...  Read More

Simon Peter, also known as Cephas, was one of the first followers of Jesus Christ. At times most of us can identify with him. He had one of the most unique personalities of all the apostles. Peter was...  Read More

The Cross and Our Growth HabitsTrees. That’s one of the images that comes to mind when I think about Jesus hanging on the cross. For some, this may seem abstract or odd, and for others this may harken...  Read More

Extreme situations tend to rip the doors off the carefully concealed places of our hearts and minds and expose what's deep within us. The crucifixion did just that for Jesus—what poured out of Him was...  Read More

If you have been around Cornerstone in the last few weeks, then you have probably witnessed the unprecedented heartbreak and shock that came with the firing of one of our executive pastors. My husband...  Read More

I knew that I was sick in November of 2021. It was terrifying because I could feel that something was wrong, but I struggled to articulate it. Even though I armed myself with an ever-growing list of a...  Read More

Throughout Jesus’ ministry, He makes it clear that the Kingdom of God does not look like what we would think or expect. I believe that He continues showing us this in John 13 when He washes the feet o...  Read More

Have you ever had a friend or family member call you up and share a circumstance or situation out of their life that has left them shaken? SHAKEN. RESTLESS. CONFUSED. ANXIOUS.As you listen to them sha...  Read More

Work is a gift from God. It doesn't always feel like it, but according to the Bible, it is. God gave Adam work in the brand new world. God gave Noah work--a job that made absolutely no sense to him. G...  Read More

Fulfillment in a Vaporous LifeBefore diving into Part III, be sure that you have read Part I and Part II of this blog post so that you have an understanding of what I mean when I refer to the word heb...  Read More

Hebel Applied Before diving into Part II, be sure that you have read Part I of this blog post so that you have an understanding of what I mean when I use the word hebel. Qoheleth, the author of Eccles...  Read More

IntroductionHebrew wisdom literature explores the way the world works in order to instruct readers in how to live. It seeks to “make wise the simple” (Ps. 19:17) and to make our paths straight (Pr. 3:...  Read More

It would be difficult to find a passage in Scripture that scared me more as a child than Matthew 7:21-23. Every year or two, a good old-fashioned Baptist revival would roll through my hometown, and th...  Read More

The Will of GodThe final thing we must address is back in Matthew 7:21 when Jesus says that only those who “do the will of my Father” will enter the kingdom of God. This naturally poses the question, ...  Read More

Good vs. Bad Fruit If a false teacher is known by their bad fruit, then it makes sense that true disciples of Jesus would be known by our good fruit—but what is this good fruit? Obviously, the first p...  Read More

Mr. and Mrs. Arrington were old when I was a kid. Although physically they were slight people, they are still some of the mightiest people I’ve known. Shortly before my family went to Ecuador as missi...  Read More

I grew up in church. I am quite confident that I had been taught the Golden Rule or at least had heard of it, but it wasn’t until the 5th grade that it started taking shape in my life. My teacher, Mrs...  Read More

I have a confession to make: I'm a closet worrier, and the thing that causes me to worry most is car accidents. Yes, I know. We're not supposed to worry. I know that if (or when) something happens, Go...  Read More

“How is being hungry going to make me any closer to Jesus?” You cannot always tell why someone asks a question. Maybe this person felt her pastor asked his church to engage in a senseless task. Perhap...  Read More

I was 13 months old when my mother, my older brother, my twin sister, and I were out on our daily walk. It was an average, unassuming morning until we were struck by a negligent driver carrying a trac...  Read More