Defensive architecture is vital in protecting the prosperity and development of what's inside. The city's inhabitants remain invulnerable to threats so long as the wall of defense stands. Man, we have an indestructible stronghold founded on the strength of God's power and God's love.

The purpose behind the design is better than the art. The message I’m trying to share is that the loving and holy God can reach you wherever you are. It doesn’t matter if you are on a mountaintop looking to see where the earth begins and where it ends. It doesn’t matter if you are in the lowest valley searching for the way out. Wherever, whenever, whatever, or whoever… there’s never an “ever” that goes past God.

How do you picture having a conversation with Jesus? Is Jesus in the room with you? To draw a picture, you must put in ink every curve. To draw a person (even a stick figure), a simple change in stroke changes how the person appears. Attempting to draw sitting with Jesus challenged the abstract silhouette figure of Jesus in my head.

It's not exactly a "no-sweat mission." God has given us an important calling that definitely includes sweat, tears, pain, and hard work. With all diligence and intentionality, we should take on the "task of tesifying to the Good News of God's grace" (Acts 20:24). However, it's easy to start looking at it in the wrong ways, and we really should ask ourselves every so often, "Am I putting pressure on myself in ways God never asked me to?"

We budget money. We ration energy. We count the cost of everything. So why do we treat love the same way? What if love isn’t a limited human resource, but a supernatural gift from God that never runs dry?

Did you know God's plan of salvation is in the very first word of the Bible? God planned to love us since the beginning of time. His love is evident from the first word in Scripture.