Orchard Hill Church Blog
Explore. Grow. Engage.
Choose the Right Shoes
Shoes make a statement. And shoes need to fit, or they become painful the longer they are worn. We need to choose the right shoes. So, what shoes do we need? Gospel Shoes of course!
Gathering at the Table
While food obviously satisfies our hunger, gathering at the table with family and friends is so much more than feeding our bellies. It’s an opportunity to open our hearts in conversation.
Grace, Community and Unity
If you’re a follower of Christ, I wonder: How big of a deal to you is Christian community? How about Christian unity? Christian community and unity are inseparable results of what Jesus has done on the cross.
Can You Imagine...Again?
Why did God give each of us the potential to picture things, places or scenarios in our minds? Imaginations aren’t just for the future or eternity, but God wants us to imagine in our prayers for the present.
God's Calling to Love
Love is such a huge part of our lives and affects everything we do. But it can be complex at times. It fills our hearts with joy, kindness, compassion, and hope but can also make our hearts feel broken, heavy and sorrowful. Love is complex, so how do we answer God’s call to love?
Peace in Chaos
Life can be challenging and chaotic at times which leaves us with feelings of disorder and loss of control. We are distracted and tempted by things that draw our attention away from the Lord. So how do we find peace in a chaotic world?
Social Media and Quiet Time
Something I have struggled with (and still do) in my walk with Christ is making time every day to be in the Word and pray. I make the excuse: “I don’t have time to spend 30 minutes with God.” What a LAME excuse!
How Chester A. Arthur Helped Me with Persistent Anxiety
Those of us who battle anxiety are involved in a power struggle with ourselves. Anxiety drives us to gain control over our world. But as we grasp the truth that even the struggles of life are inexplicably in the hands of a good, kind, loving, Sovereign God, we can relax our grip on the desire to control all the variables.
Turn Your Maybe Into Yes
I have much to learn about our great God, but for me there is no “maybe” in knowing the Truth. God wants me/us to live in the “Yes!” of knowing Him.
Why I Pray
Prayer is a vital part of the way I practice my faith on a daily basis, but it wasn’t always that way. If you’ve been in the church for any length of time, you’ve likely heard someone talk about the importance of prayer - and that’s for good reason!
Satisfaction in 2019
The Rolling Stones had a song entitled “I can’t get no satisfaction.” What the song implies is probably what many of us feel on a consistent basis: try as we might, much of life leaves us feeling unsatisfied!
New Year's Resolutions
I write this blog from a condo on the beach of the Gulf of Mexico. Do not be too jealous. I’ll spend New Year's Day driving my family of five 988 miles. I promised myself I would not make New Year’s Resolutions this year. That’s cliché. Instead, I came up with 4 things that I am resolving to do in 2019.
The Pathway to Truly Loving Others
Every time I read the book Meaning of Marriage by Tim Keller, one quote sticks out to me as particularly profound: He writes, “The surest way for any couple to succeed in marriage is for both partners to say ‘The greatest threat to our marriage is my own self-centeredness.’”
Hope Amid Suffering
We who are in Christ are having a home made for us in heaven, where we will be reunited with our wonderful, glorious, tender, and intimate savior, Jesus! But these homes are not for us only, but for all who have gone before us into glory to be with the Lord.
Yeah... But... Nope.
Bernard’s prayer is a kind of “yeah...but...nope” of our heart, mind and soul before God. What is the key to getting rid of the “nope” factor in our prayers? Read more to find out…
Some Thoughts on Practical Worship
I can remember that for a large portion of my Christian walk, I believed that worship was a slow song during the “praise and worship” section of our services. I can also remember growing to believe it was more than just a song, it was anything that we did concerning Christ.
Wellness for God's Glory
True confession: sometimes when I leave my spin class, I feel like a hero. I like to imagine myself as Wonder Woman, strong and resilient. It is amazing what spin has taught me about the Christian life.
You're Not You When You're Hungry
When a soul is hungry, we can search for love and meaning in the wrong places or “feed” on the things of this world that were never meant to fill our souls. Our souls were designed to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
First Things First
Rest. Who has time to rest!? In our busy world, rest is a guilty pleasure for many of us. But is rest a need that we have as human beings, or is it a luxury?
When Time Touches Eternity
By living for the future, we sacrifice the present. We are like a runner whose finish line is always half a lap away. It is in Christ, that our minds are trained to stop worrying about the future or regretting the past.