14 02, 2021

How I Relate Is How I Relate!

By |2021-02-15T12:41:44-05:00February 14th, 2021|Relational Design, Trust and Faith|0 Comments

How I relate is how I relate!  Yes there are different levels of connection ... from civility toward strangers to intimacy with my wife. Mates, children, friends, acquaintances ... each has a different level of connection. But my capacity for communion 'is what it is' whether I am engaging people or God. Christ invites me into rich intimacy with Him. But do I have the capacity to enter and enjoy such a relationship? The answer hinges, in part, on my ability to trust (trust being 'ground zero' of intimacy). I get a sense of my ability to trust by looking at the 'attachment pattern' in which

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8 05, 2019

Welcome to The Roth Family

By |2021-02-09T13:11:06-05:00May 8th, 2019|CrossPoint Ministry Report, Trust and Faith, Vision|1 Comment

Dear Friends of CrossPoint, Greetings to each of you. We are grateful for you and so thankful, that along the way God has brought you into our lives. God, in his faithfulness, has over these years blessed and used CrossPoint in amazing ways as we sought to provide care for the souls of Christian leaders, and equipped others to do the same. CrossPoint’s work is more extensive than ever before and we are thankful for the opportunity to provide such a Christ centered and relationally focused ministry. As I approach my 70th birthday this coming August I am very

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29 05, 2018

God is with me in the shifting…a post by Joy

By |2021-02-09T13:11:06-05:00May 29th, 2018|Character, Clarity, Decisions, Fear, Future, Hebrews 13:5, Human, Humility, Listening, Prayer, Presence, Stillness, Surrender, Trust and Faith|0 Comments

In the journey of Christian Spiritual Formation, when everything is shifting on the inside of our souls, like shifting sands of the sea, there is typically shifting in our external world as well. It can either paralyze us or inspire us to move forward one step at a time. Choosing to sit still to “Be with God” is not a posture of paralysis. It is a position of honoring God, the Father; God, the Son; and God, the Holy Spirit who live within us. Yet, when we are working, serving, or playing, these are also positions of honoring His

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1 05, 2018

Seeing the Unseen…a post by Joy

By |2021-02-09T13:11:07-05:00May 1st, 2018|Attachment Patterns, Clarity, Discernment, Emotions, Listening, Spiritual Disciplines, Thankfulness, Thanksgiving, Trust, Trust and Faith, Vision|1 Comment

About a month ago, my eyeglass frames with progressive lenses broke. Knowing it was time to get a check-up I scheduled an appointment instead of getting my glasses repaired right away. Unfortunately, I had to wait another week to see the eye doctor. Thank goodness for another set of glasses that I use for computer work and reading music at the piano. When the time came, the check-up revealed that my eyes would require a change on my lenses so I would need to wait about 7-10 days for the new glasses to arrive. In the mean while, we

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7 02, 2018

Say anything…a post by Tom

By |2021-02-09T13:11:07-05:00February 7th, 2018|Burnout, Dark Night, Death, Despair, Emotions, Fear, Grace, Suffering, Trust and Faith|1 Comment

Job spoke, saying: Is not man's life on earth a drudgery? Are not his days those of hirelings? He is a slave who longs for the shade, a hireling who waits for his wages. So I have been assigned months of misery, and troubled nights have been allotted to me. If in bed I say, "When shall I arise?" then the night drags on; I am filled with restlessness until the dawn. My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle; they come to an end without hope. Remember that my life is like the wind; I shall not see

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13 11, 2017

Trusting God’s Faithfulness…a post by Joy

By |2021-02-09T13:11:07-05:00November 13th, 2017|Despair, Emotions, Faith, Letting Go, Surrender, Trust, Trust and Faith|2 Comments

As Christ transforms us daily to be more like Him, sometimes He allows delight and sometimes He allows pain to do the transformational work in us. Sometimes being present and vulnerable with the painful challenges in our lives is what creates the most beauty in the long run. Our lives are not about living without pain and struggles. It’s more about how we respond to what happens to us along the way.  Psalm 37:4--”Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”  If our greatest desire is to know God and to

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13 09, 2017

If anyone thirsts…a post by Tom

By |2021-02-09T13:11:22-05:00September 13th, 2017|Beauty, Desire, Faith, Grace, John 7:37, Trust and Faith|2 Comments

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. - John 7:37 I am struck with this simple and beautiful invitation from Jesus. It addresses four important issues. SELF WORTH Anyone…Yes anyone. Including you? Yes. Including me? Yes. As humans created in the image of God we have the dignity and worth to approach the Savior. God desires all to be saved. NEED Thirsts… Feels a need and wants something more. God I am so thirsty in this broken world. I feel

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14 08, 2017

There is no going back…a post by Wendell Berry, the Apostle Paul, and Tom

By |2021-02-09T13:11:33-05:00August 14th, 2017|Burnout, Forgiveness, Grace, Letting Go, Philippians 3:13-14, Trust and Faith|1 Comment

No Going Back by Wendell Berry No, no, there is no going back. Less and less you are that possibility you were. More and more you have become those lives and deaths that have belonged to you. You have become a sort of grave containing much that was and is no more in time, beloved then, now, and always. And so you have become a sort of tree standing over the grave. Now more than ever you can be generous toward each day that comes, young, to disappear forever, and yet remain unaging in the mind. Every day you

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27 06, 2017

Who knew?…a post by Tom

By |2021-02-09T13:11:38-05:00June 27th, 2017|Burnout, Dark Night, Easter, Fear, Loneliness, Questions, Suffering, Surrender, Trust, Trust and Faith, Waiting|1 Comment

The spiritual life is not easy. Our false self does not go down without a fight, and one to the death. This is a really inconvenient battle to wage when it is challenging enough to just live life.  Who really knew what we were signing up for in following Jesus and taking this journey seriously? Who really knew that the path would evolve and feel more like death and descent? The One Who guides us knows. Others who have gone before know. Be encouraged by the following quote from Joseph Benner an American Protestant mystic who seems to know.

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14 06, 2017

Be Still And Know That I Am God…a post by Joy

By |2021-02-09T13:11:43-05:00June 14th, 2017|Clarity, Discernment, Emotions, Fear, Listening, Prayer, Solitude and Silence, Spiritual Disciplines, Stillness, Trust and Faith|0 Comments

“Being Still” can be one of the most challenging things we do in the journey of Christian spiritual formation. In our culture, there are so many distractions. Some of them are good distractions, such as our jobs and tending to our families and friends. Others are distractions of guilt, shame, or fear that keep us from even considering “being still” much less actually “doing” it. Scripture doesn’t say to us, “Be still and be perfect” or “Be still and God will love you forever,” or “ Be still and God will protect you.” Psalm 46:10 says, “BE STILL and KNOW

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