Love – CrossPoint

16 03, 2021

“Falling in Lent”

“Falling in Lent”

By Crosspoint Ministry|2021-03-16T09:25:22-04:00March 16th, 2021|Lent, Love, Surrender|0 Comments

Have you noticed the danger inherent in the phrase, "falling in love?" I like the love part, but not the "falling" part. I've taken some really bad spills as a kid and as an adult. Winding up bloody and bruised is no fun. Couldn't there be a better term than "falling" to symbolize the beauty and excitement of romantic love? The answer is 'no'. Falling is exactly the imagery needed for this transcendent experience. Why? Because the mystery of love requires losing our balance. It requires relinquishing control. It demands the vulnerability opening our soul to another. That is

8 03, 2021

What I’m Doing during Lent

What I’m Doing during Lent

By Crosspoint Ministry|2021-03-08T14:04:34-05:00March 8th, 2021|Beauty, Lent, Love|0 Comments

I (Jim) am reading Jonathan Edwards on Beauty during Lent. Yes, Lent is historically a time when Christians face their need for the cross of Christ as we prepare for Easter week. We give up things in order to feel our compulsions. I'm all for that. But I'm going at things differently this year based on my dad's words to me when I was a kid--if you want to see if a stick is crooked put it beside a straight one. The beauty of the Lord is indeed a perfectly straight stick revealing the bends and crooks in my

21 02, 2018

The Thrill of Overcoming…a post by Jim

The Thrill of Overcoming…a post by Jim

By Crosspoint Ministry|2021-02-09T13:11:07-05:00February 21st, 2018|Decisions, Discipleship, Emotions, Fruit of the Spirit, Grace, Holy Spirit, Imagination, Love, Romans 12, Trust|2 Comments

When I was in High School part of the requirement for our 11th grade Physical Education class was to wrestle other students in the class. I hated it. On a mat in front of the entire class with someone who was stronger than me. My record was pretty pathetic until the one time that I somehow got my opponent in a full-Nelson hold. He went limp and I pinned him for the three second count (never mind that the hold was illegal ... I didn’t know that and had no idea how I wound up getting him in such

28 05, 2017

Desire Changes Slowly…a post by Tom with David Brooks

Desire Changes Slowly…a post by Tom with David Brooks

By Crosspoint Ministry|2021-02-09T13:11:53-05:00May 28th, 2017|Beauty, Desire, Humility, Love, Prayer|0 Comments

All of us want change...just not the painful transition. There is so much I would love to change about myself immediately, yet spiritual progress seems glacially slow at best. If I know what needs to be changed now, then what is the hold up? My desires. A lessor desire can only be dethroned by a greater one. That is the issue. Cognitively I may want to change but affectively my desires are still held in check by lessor loves. It seems that the way forward is to contemplatively steep my desires in love for God, which is more of

23 08, 2016

Perfectly imperfekt…a post by Tom

Perfectly imperfekt…a post by Tom

By Crosspoint Ministry|2021-02-09T13:14:09-05:00August 23rd, 2016|Burnout, Creation, Discernment, Emotions, Fear, Human, Humility, Love, Presumption, Self-Clarity, Suffering|0 Comments

Why can’t anything or anyone be perfect? Why can’t this thing go the way it is supposed to? The long answer involves all the flaws, shortcomings, mistakes, sins, errors, and imperfections in every given person and situation. The short answer is because that every person or thing is not God. Seems like God put Himself in a bind by creating anything because anything created would always fall short of the Creator. After all only God is good. Even without sin entering the picture everything still falls short of the full glory of God! It is refreshing to know that

17 08, 2016

God Paid Attention To Me…a post by Joy

God Paid Attention To Me…a post by Joy

By Crosspoint Ministry|2021-02-09T13:14:14-05:00August 17th, 2016|Animals, Beauty, Creation, Faith, Love, Trust|1 Comment

God paid attention to me this morning in a way that He knew I would love! I opened the blinds of the window in the bedroom. Immediately I saw a bright red cardinal sitting on top of a tall weed in the field of swaying grasses behind our house. I smiled and whispered a prayer of thankfulness. The beauty of the red bird always reminds me that “God is with me.” He shows up at the most amazing times. He may be flying across my pathway as I’m driving, arriving at the bird feeder on our snow-clad deck in December,

10 08, 2016

Olympic Pressure … Olympic Love…a post by Jim

Olympic Pressure … Olympic Love…a post by Jim

By Crosspoint Ministry|2021-02-09T13:14:19-05:00August 10th, 2016|Beauty, Desire, Discernment, Emotions, Faith, Fear, Love, Self-Clarity, Trust, Uncategorized|0 Comments

I’ve never competed at a high level. I felt the weight of spelling competitions in elementary school. And the pressure of going 14 and 0 on our middle school softball team. And the strain of getting sermons ready week in and week out for many years. But I’ve never felt anything like the Olympic pressure of putting everything on the line after years of preparation for that one chance. For the swimming events, the difference between gold and bronze is often just a few tenths of a second. And then there are the women gymnasts on the balance beam.

6 06, 2016

Let the Gospels Define Us…a post by Rich

Let the Gospels Define Us…a post by Rich

By Crosspoint Ministry|2021-02-09T13:14:59-05:00June 6th, 2016|Community, Holy Spirit, Love, Relational Design, Self-Clarity, The Relational Soul, Trinity|0 Comments

A recent discussion with a pastor led to us considering the question, what do the gospel writers emphasize as the message of Jesus? Did the gospel writers emphasize that Jesus brought a message about life or was it about sin. Our perspective at CrossPoint is that the gospel writers believed that Jesus in inaugurating and establishing the new creation through his life, death, resurrection and ascension was bringing a message of life. Perhaps John is most explicit when he records these words of Jesus, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die,

1 06, 2016

Laughter, Laughter, Laughter…a post by Tom

Laughter, Laughter, Laughter…a post by Tom

By Crosspoint Ministry|2021-02-09T13:15:04-05:00June 1st, 2016|Beauty, Creation, Emotions, Holy Spirit, Love, Relational Design, Universe|0 Comments

Do you want to know what goes on in the heart of the Trinity?  I will tell you.  In the heart of the Trinity the Father laughs and gives birth to the Son.  The Son laughs back at the Father and gives birth to the Spirit. The whole Trinity laughs and gives birth to us. When God laughs at the soul and the soul laughs back at God, the persons of the Trinity are begotten.  When the Father laughs at the Son and the Son laughs back at the Father, that laughter gives pleasure,  that pleasure gives joy, that

27 04, 2016

Christ, the Doting Father…a post by Joy

Christ, the Doting Father…a post by Joy

By Crosspoint Ministry|2021-02-09T13:15:25-05:00April 27th, 2016|Creation, Faith, Loneliness, Love, The Relational Soul|0 Comments

This past week-end we have been celebrating the 1st birthday of our grandson, Hayden. Having never been in this position before, we entered the occasion with delight! Travel plans to fly across the country were made, bags were packed, the camera and phones were charged to take lots of pictures and video clips and of course, a birthday gift was chosen, purchased and wrapped. While participating in the preparations for the party, Jim and I were told that Hayden needed a playmate. We, or course, obliged! Watching him explore while crawling from place to place reminded me how far he