The holidays bring people together, and the main events are usually special meals or gift exchanges. What about after the meal when the turkey tryptophan food coma sets in and the phones come out? While backyard football is fun for the ones who are still awake, it may not be something your great-aunt Sandy can do. There is a free way to wake up your guests and bring everyone together: Comedy Improv Games.

And it is the Prince of Peace, who is at once Mighty God and Everlasting Father and Wonderful Counselor, for whom we wait. And when we consider the final Kingdom, I believe what we are experiencing now is a mere picture of the entirety of restored creation filled with His perfect peace. The entire Kingdom will be completeness (in number), safe and sound, healthy and prosperous, tranquil and content, and deep friendship will abound between men as well as between God and man.

God stepped in time and time again to redeem His people, to bring them back to himself. Now, on this side of history, we look back with hearts overflowing with gratefulness for the time when God stepped in once again to redeem His people—this time through His Son, the exact imprint of the nature of God—once for all. In our ultimate redemption though the incarnation and sacrifice the Son, we see the image of the invisible God—our Everlasting Father. 

Years ago, I read about the most enchanting holiday tradition in Iceland. It is called Jólabókaflóð and translated means “Yule Book Flood.” On Christmas Eve, it is customary to give loved ones a book as a gift and then proceed to read the new book all night long. Sign me up! Seeing that we are still in the middle of a pandemic, Christmas is sure to look a little different this year, so why not adopt a new tradition of gifting books to those you love?! Here are my recommendations for readers of all ages and literary preferences. 

We know how difficult it can be to find that perfect gift—and how rewarding it is when you find it! We decided to help you out a bit by compiling a list of unique gift ideas, mostly artisan and from small shops. We hope it offers you some inspiration this season, and maybe even makes checking things off your list a bit easier. Happy gifting!

It’s a picture of God as warrior, defender, champion. Mighty in battle. It brings to my mind the image of the God of Armies, named over and over in the narratives of the kings and the prophets. He is protector, avenger, MIGHTY.

Jesus does all of these things but infinitely more. He didn’t live a perfect life to show us how it’s done so we could follow Him in attempting this same perfection. He came and lived a perfect life for us because we simply cannot… With every stripped-down, vulnerable encounter with our Wonderful Counselor (Isaiah 9:6) we are changed forever for His glory. It doesn’t get more wonderful than that.

This Thanksgiving I want to share this message: The darkest seasons and the hardest days are the times when God draws so very near to us. “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18). His presence is more precious than anything. There’s simply nothing on this earth that compares to the nearness of Jesus. And I must confess, there are times I long for hard seasons just to feel that intimate proximity.

Holiday cups have dropped at Starbucks which means one thing—the Christmas season is upon us! If you are like me and enjoy curling up next to the Christmas tree under a warm blanket with a good book, I hope one of these holiday picks will add a little extra joy. 

How often have I ascribed more honor and glory and power to the gift rather than the Giver? How often have I distorted the pleasure of a gift from the hand of my Father into something selfish, something all about me? How often have I gotten caught up in the enjoyment of—then disappointed by—a thing that can never satisfy, rather than remembering that all good gifts point me to the only One who can fully satisfy?

God wants us to tell our stories to others, and not just the parts that make us feel good. In fact, God is invested in writing our stories so that the bad parts highlight His goodness and mercy. In other words, the bad parts are the best parts! From Israel recounting the times they were forgiven and restored, to Jesus sending the sinful and the sick back to their communities with deliverance on their lips—our God desires that we take our true stories and give them away to others so that they can see what He’s like and what He can do. 

In a world dominated by social media, Christians are under a microscope like never before. We’ve put ourselves out there to be criticized by others and looked at with scrutiny, but on the other hand, this could be the greatest opportunity to show Christ’s love.

When was the last time you had a conversation with someone you care about and you know disagrees with you on something important? (Facebook doesn’t count.) Take a moment and truly think about the last time you had a healthy dialogue of disagreement with someone you love. What was it about? How did it end? Was it with another Christian? How did everyone walk away feeling?

If we already know today that half of our country will be feeling intense emotions like anger, fear, disgust, and distrust once the results are announced, how might we be the light of Christ? No matter the outcome, let’s determine to enter into these next weeks with our flag poles firmly planted in the Kingdom of Heaven where our citizenship truly lies (Philippians 3:20). And while we wait expectantly for our King to return, let’s put our own feelings aside and consider our neighbors (Mark 12:31) before ourselves. What will we do the day after the election?

Immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine. This part of the Story reminded me that I often underestimate what my God is capable of—I ask too small—especially when it is His reputation at stake. But He wants my extravagant requests. Elijah knew that God could do more than just light the spark; He could send the fire that would consume it all. Elijah asked and God met Elijah there. 

As a country, we’re all in this together. As Christians, we’re all in this together. Or, we should be. But are we, actually? We, believers in and followers of Jesus Christ, the God-Man who came and turned the world upside down with His radical teachings, should look and behave differently than the world. But when it comes to politics, we often are just as divided and just as divisive. We wanted to find some resources that would be helpful in this election season, and what we found has been helpful in re-orienting our perspectives, re-aligning our thinking and our actions with our worldview

Jesus has just been transfigured before the disciples (Mark 9). I learned from one of my Dive Study buddies that the word transfigured means He’s been transformed from the inside out; not just physically, but His entire being has changed and is displayed before Peter, James, and John in its fully glorified state. He’s conversing with Moses and Elijah. Do you wonder what they’re talking about? I do.

Our main goal here at Dive Collective is to make the Bible accessible. We want to equip you to study God’s Word on your own. Thankfully, we live in an era where access to printed copies of the Bible is available everywhere, often with just the touch of a button. We have a few favorites that we’ve been using around here, and we wanted to share them with you.

Bible versions. There are literally hundreds of them. As leaders of Dive Collective, we’ve been asked this type of question multiple times: Which versions do we use? Why? For what purpose? We wanted to address this topic with a basic overview of how Scripture is translated and some pros and cons of the various options.

For weeks, I’ve been praying for more of Jesus’ love—to experience it, to be filled with it, to overflow with it toward others. For weeks, we’ve been studying Jesus in the Gospel of Mark and I’m amazed that the crucifixion was only part of Jesus’ suffering. The flesh of Jesus endured constant jostling by the smelliest, dirtiest, nastiest people in the land (so much so that he didn’t know he was touched by a woman who had been vaginally bleeding for 12 years); suddenly, I realize how much I hate to be touched! I don’t even like to be bumped around by people I married and gave birth to and who have showered every day! And I’m claustrophobic!