Sarah Dixon Young's Blog: Love Much, page 14

Arise!

Jesus wasn’t the first one to cross the Brook Kidron and climb up the Mount of Olives.

As the disciples followed Him there to the Garden of Gethsemane, I’m sure their minds were full of the story of King David, ascending the Mount of Olives to escape Jerusalem when his son, Absalom, tried to wrestle the kingdom from him.

The historian writes those tragic words: “The hearts of the men of Israel have gone after Absalom.”

David told his followers, “Arise, and let us flee, or else there wi...

The Lamb

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We took a field trip to Myrvik Farms in Edmore, ND last week.

Their Katahdin Hair sheep were lambing.

My children held the lambs and learned about their care and routines. 

The gentle faces, soft hair, and wobbly legs brought the startling horror of sacrifice into stark contrast. Why did it have to be the blood of a lamb?

The shepherd, Lance Myrvik, shared about the process the sheep go through after lambing. First, they are separated from the other...

Sinking Prayers

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Sinking prayers twist our gut.

We listened in unblinking suspense as sportscaster Dan Orlovsky prayed live for football player Damar Hamlin after he collapsed on the field.

We watched in growing horror as meteorologist Matt Laubhan prayed during his weather forecast as he realized that a devastating tornado would rip across a small Mississippi town. 

I uttered my own gut-wrenching sinking prayer recently when my youngest son had a choking episode at c...

Take a Stab at Doubt

The Gospel writers all take a stab at doubt.

As they write about life, they put doubt to death. 

A policeman in my community once told me, “You know its Spring when the first stabbing of the year happens.” I would rather think about chicks and bunnies, but his point was that people who can no longer bear the North Dakota winter get restless right around mid-March. 

When people who can no longer bear death get restless, they take a stab at doubt.

It has antagonized and plagued them s...

Apocalyptic TikTok Times

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“What about the red tides?”

“What about the Euphrates River drying up?”

“What about Russia and China being Gog and Magog?”

Worries and fears about the end times are rampant, and social media doesn’t help. Many young people have asked me these questions after seeing apocalyptic posts on their social media feeds. 

All of a sudden, they want to deep dive into the Book of Revelation and theorize about the complicated prophecy there. They want the secre...

Butterfly Rules

We studied the book of Galatians in Sunday School last week. 

I asked the children, “Do Christians have rules?”

Well, of course they do. They shouldn’t steal or lie or hit their sisters. 

Then I asked the children, “Does keeping the rules make them Christians?” 

This one was more difficult, and they scratched their heads just like I do when I read Paul’s words to the churches in Galatia, “a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ…” 

We all wa...

“The Winning of Lady Wisdom” #1 New Release in its Category

Adam sought wisdom in a forbidden way.

When he accepted the fruit from Eve’s hand, the false promise from the enemy was still ringing in his ears:

Your eyessss will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil….

We all inherited the desire to define our own good and our own evil. Even today, the temptation pulses over speakers and screens everywhere:

Good is what makes you feel good. Evil is what makes you feel bad…

It’s the same pernicious lie, but it works.

We ...

The Burden of Justice

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My social media feed was filled with cries for justice this week.

A man was killed, and the suspect eluded authorities for several days.

The community would not rest until it had justice.

When I first moved to my community, I gave a young woman a ride. She was in foster care and had suffered copious abuse; however, it was something else that made her story stand out. She had gotten up one night, after being placed in foster care, and had walked down t...

Beginning and End

“Nothing could ever matter again but the things that were eternal,” missionary Amy Carmichael’s words floated over the heads of the little girls gathered together in the church.

I was telling Amy’s story of leaving her family and home to travel to India to share the Good News of Jesus. The girls from my neighborhood were spellbound by the story, and their eyes sparkled as they heard about Jesus for the first time.

I put a flannel circle up on the flannel board, and we talked about eternit...

Significant Secret

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Our Latin lesson had a quote from Seneca this week: Ars longa. Vita brevis.

Art is long. Life is brief. 

Maybe so, but the crumbling statues and mosaics of Rome prove that even the longevity of art has limitations.

The artists who thought they would find eternal significance in their creative genius and abilities have long been food for worms, and one day, even the Mona Lisa’s smile will be forgotten. Nice try, Seneca.

Why spend our days striving fo...