“Grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” (Ephesians 4:7)

Our perception and reception of this grace has everything to do with our vision of “the measure of Christ’s gift.”

How much grace can you imagine?

Do you view the measure Christ uses being small and anemic or large and overflowing?

As a brief example, let’s look at Ludwig van Beethoven. Here’s what from The Piano Guys had to...

Many of us treat suffering like a problem to fix. Simply put, we’d rather not suffer at all, but if we do, we prefer it to be short. But what if our pain or suffering linger? What if it doesn’t go away quickly or at all?

We may wonder if God sees us or if we’ve somehow failed God. We may question God’s very nature. If God loves us, why does he allow us to hurt? Today, I’m talking with KJ Ramsey who has suffered with pain every day for the last 11 years....

Welcome to the Unhurried Living Podcast. Today, Alan is sharing an Inhaling Grace audiobook episode. We pray that these might be a few moments of remembering God’s grace that is with you, here and now, as you listen.

Last year, Alan wrote and released Inhaling Grace. One of the big ideas in this little book is that gratitude is exhaling the grace we inhale. A mentor of ours reminded us often that just as surely as we are saved by grace and, of course, we are, we also live by grace, serve by grace, even lead by grace. Today, we share a little practice that has helped us remember this more in our moment-to-moment lives.

As you listen you will enter into a mediation of Psalm 103. We encourage you...

Picture this...you are at the gym and you’re getting ready to lift some weights. It’s been a while, but you’ve decided to go for it. The barbell is in your hands and you are prepared to lift it up over your head.

But before you do so, a guy walks over to you and says, “I bet you can lift more than that. Here, let me help you.” You protest, but he insists and then he proceeds to add 20 more pounds to each side. And then he just walks away,...

Our new book, What Does Your Soul Love?, finally releases next week, September 17. It’s been a long journey and we can’t wait for you to get your hands on it. At the center of the book is God’s invitation to us to “be transformed.” This kind of change is good news, even if it sometimes feels challenging, scary, even painful.

How do we stay on this transforming journey? What does it look like when we get stuck along the way? How might we continue to cooperate with...

The desert has always been my least favorite geography. I live within 25 minutes of a beach and within 90 minutes of the mountains. I am also about 90 minutes away from the desert, but I had to look that up on a map because I purposely do not go there. The desert is hot and dry and sand colored. Plus, there’s cactus. I know that people have worked hard to bring water into the desert and there are plenty of oasis-type places there. But the desert is still the desert. So the question is...

Last week, I talked about a growing community of friends who will be joining Gem and me for An Unhurried Lent. We’ll begin three weeks from today on March 6, Ash Wednesday.

So, again, why Lent? What’s the big deal? Some resist practices like Lent and other similar ones for fear that we’ll think we’re earning something from God rather than continuing to acknowledge that our salvation is rooted in freely-given grace and not in our own works of earning favor.

Spiritual...

The practice of Lent has become a place of grace for me over the last number of years. Some feel that Lent is a failure to recognize that our salvation is rooted in grace. But Lent isn’t about earning favor. It’s actually about recognizing the habits in our lives that keep us from the free grace God is always offering. Lent makes space for the reception of grace.

Simply put, Lent is the period of six weeks (not including Sundays) leading up to Easter. It starts on Ash Wednesday...

There’s an encouraging line in a psalm of Moses that connects prayer and fruitful work. I’ve prayed it often in the face of writing projects or upcoming speaking engagements.

May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us;
establish the work of our hands for us—
yes, establish the work of our hands.
Ps 90:17 NIV

Moses talks about the work of his hands, but a lot of us work more with our minds. Grace can come along whatever work we’re given to do.

God’s...