JulieAnn Pratt

So – we’re human. And we’re ALL that the label means. We often believe that perception is reality and get ourselves in trouble as a result. I believe that there is spiritual warfare going on that creates this in our human world. The enemy works overtime on a regular basis to tempt us to believe things about the people around us that may not be true. It’s important to remember that God created us to be in fellowship – both with Him and also with each other. (more…)

1. I write this, dear children, to guide you out of sin. But if anyone does sin, we have a Priest-Friend in the presence of the Father: Jesus Christ, righteous Jesus. 2. When he served as a sacrifice for our sins, he solved the sin problem for good – not only ours, but the whole world’s. 3. Here’s how we can be sure that we know God in the right way: Keep his commandments. 4. If someone claims, “I know him well!” but doesn’t keep his commandments, he’s obviously a liar. His life doesn’t match his words. 5. But the one who keeps God’s word is the person in whom we see God’s mature love. This is the only way to be sure we’re in God. 6. Anyone who claims to be intimate with God ought to live the same kind of life Jesus lived. 7. My dear friends, I’m not writing anything new here. This is the oldest commandment in the book, and you’ve known it from day one. It’s always been implicit in the Message you’ve heard. 8. On the other hand, perhaps it is new, freshly minted as it is in both Christ and you – the darkness on its way out and the True Light already blazing! 9. Anyone who claims to live in God’s light and hates a brother or sister is still in the dark. 10. It’s the person who loves brother and sister who dwells in God’s light and doesn’t block the light from others. 11. But whoever hates is still in the dark, stumbles around in the dark, doesn’t know which end is up, blinded by the darkness. 12. I remind you, my dear children: Your sins are forgiven in Jesus’ name.

I saw the first signs of Autumn today. I decided to go do my weekly grocery run at 6:45 this morning (crazy, huh?? I admit I loved it and will definitely go at that time more often). As I stepped outside, it was decidedly chilly, and as I drove down the road, I saw that the leaves were beginning to fall.

I love this time of year. Although it is technically a time of “death” it is, to me, symbolic of the christian life. (more…)

I was at church Sunday night when I heard the horrible news of the passing of Scott Jett, a classmate from my college years and now a colleague from our sister college, Central Bible College in Springfield, MO.  He was on faculty, teaching particularly in the field of youth ministry. Scott was killed in a motorcycle accident just a few miles from his home on September 12th.   (more…)

It’s back…

Have your kids ever suffered from it? The Undone Syndrome? It’s hit my house again. We seem to experience it in cycles. Sometimes we’re able to go for quite awhile between attacks. And then it comes raging in like a storm. And it never just takes out one child. Not surprisingly, it’s a 3-fer deal. And, well, it’s hit like a storm. (more…)

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.” Hebrews 10:38

 

One of my favorite moments in “The Sound of Music” comes when Maria’s perky “I Have Confidence” song suddenly ends at the sight of the Von Trapp mansion. She gulps and just manages to squeak, “Oh, help.”

This last week presented me with some similar moments, as I got off the proverbial bus and discovered this road is not (at least at this point) what I expected or am familiar with.  (more…)