Tag: The Rabbit Room

Links for the Weekend (2025-05-23)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

How do I find hope when I struggle with persistent sin?

I appreciated the answer to this question by CCEF counselor Lauren Whitman. She talks about the struggle against sin and points us to hope in God’s mercy. (This link is to a video, and there is a transcript on the page as well.)

So where sin is persistent, our Jesus is more so. When sin is persistent, Jesus’s love will not stop. He will persist in remaking you. He will prove to be doggedly more persistent than your sin. He is the most persistent person in the universe and he will have his way with you, and his ways are good, they’re for your good, and he will prevail over your sin. So every day, look to the one who has loved you and loves you with a persistent love. He is not giving up on you, and he never will. 

How to Support the Caregivers in Your Church

If you’ve never been a caregiver for someone who needs long-term help, you might not know the best way to support such a person. I’m glad that Simonetta Carr wrote this post to highlight some of the most needed areas.

The best thing to do is to be present as faithful friends, ready to stick around, listen, and learn. Getting involved in the lives of caregivers and their loved ones may seem like a sacrifice, but it’s well worth it for everyone involved. If we are convinced that “the body does not consist of one member but of many” (1 Cor. 12:14), and each is necessary for the building up of the church, we will treat each other as such and—in the process—grow in maturity, love, and wisdom.

The Windows

Our poem of the week: The Windows, by George Herbert. This poem, written by a Christian poet in the 1600s, is about how our words must be combined with our life to point to God’s grace.

Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

Links for the Weekend (2025-05-16)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

Why Does God Make Us Wait for Good Things?

Mark Vroegop says this is a fair question with uncertain answers. He helps us refocus, from wondering about why to looking at who. Waiting is for our good. (There is a video at this link as well as a transcript, so you can watch/listen or read, according to your preference.)

Waiting is part of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. It’s part of what it means to trust that God knows what he’s doing. And so when you’re waiting for something good and it’s not coming, the hope and the comfort that the Bible offers to us, like from Psalm 27, is that our hearts can take courage as we wait on the Lord.

The One Virtue Every Young Man Needs

Trevin Wax writes about self-control, and he frames this virtue in terms of sanctification instead of stoicism.

The gospel takes the ancient virtue of self-control and transposes it into a new key. It’s not first and foremost about you. It’s about God. It’s self-control in service of love. Love depends on self-control, yes, but love also deepens self-control. Love turns self-control upward and outward, toward God and toward others. It’s not about independence of self but dependence on God. It’s not about self-mastery; it’s about Spirit-mastery. It’s not about controlling yourself for your own sake; it’s about being controlled by Christ for the sake of others. It’s yielding to the One who loves you with an everlasting love and who wants now to love others through you.

Two Poems

I’m sharing two poems this week, both courtesy of the Rabbit Room Poetry Substack.

  • Mary and Eve, by Michael Stalcup — This poem is inspired by the illustration from Sister Grace Remington which imagines a meeting between Eve and a pregnant Mary.
  • Tell No One, by Elizabeth Wickland — This poem describes some of the wonders of spring and insists that they must be experienced (not just heard about) to be truly enjoyed.

On the WPCA Blog This Week

This week on the blog we published an article written by Maggie Amaismeier called Books and Podcasts, May 2025. If you haven’t already seen it, check it out!

Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

Links for the Weekend (2025-03-14)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

Life Will Not Get Easier

Stephen Witmer uses the book of Nehemiah to puncture the lie that life will just get easier if we can get past the current challenge. He shows how this story offers help for our current seasons of life, not just the future.

You’ve probably seen medication commercials featuring ridiculously fit and happy older people with silver hair and perfect teeth playing tennis and laughing in a carefree fashion. That’s the lie. It’s not true. In many years of pastoral ministry, I’ve seen numerous people work hard and honor God through their childrearing years and careers only to retire and face increased challenges. Friends move away. Misunderstandings with grown children occur. Spouses die. Medications multiply. Often, retirement isn’t a quiet harbor but the open ocean.

How to Be Confident in the Resurrection: Look to Its First Witnesses

With Easter happening next month, it’s not too early to think about the resurrection of Jesus. This is the center of the Christian faith, and one of the best arguments for the resurrection is the testimony of those early witnesses.

How can anyone be confident that the resurrection really happened? The first followers of Jesus didn’t claim their leader rose from the dead because of gullible ignorance or blind faith. They knew dead people stay dead. Especially after they began to be persecuted, they had nothing to gain by persisting in their claim that Jesus had returned to life.

Yet some of these women and men had encountered an event so momentous they were ready to die rather than deny they saw a once-dead man alive. These initial eyewitnesses declared what they experienced, and in some cases they died for what they declared. At least a few of their firsthand testimonies eventually found their way into the New Testament.

dalliance

Our poem of the week: dalliance, by Chris Wheeler. This short poem is about a morning commute and the ways we pass by one another.

Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

Links for the Weekend (2024-12-27)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

Beauty & Brokenness

This author reflects on the beauty and brokenness in the world and writes about Christmas in this context.

There is so much that is beautiful. And there is so much that is broken. This is the case in the particularity of our own lives as well as at a global scale. Just today I have been a recipient of beauty: good food on my plate, the wind stirring up the waves at the beach, my wife. There has been brokenness too: the trail of litter along the street from the takeaway stores, neglected gardens, ugly things I can detect in my own heart.

What Did Mary Know? Maybe More Than You Know

This post looks at Mary and her famous song and deduces that she knew quite a lot of the word of God.

Poems of the Week

Not one or two but three poems this week, all by Angela Alaimo O’Donnell: The Body in Advent, Upon the Winter Solstice & Fourth Sunday of Advent Falling on the Same Day, and Solstice Poem.

Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

Links for the Weekend (2024-11-15)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

How Pondering Death Fuels Our Faith

Pondering one’s own death might not be popular these days, but Jenny Marcelene argues that it strengthens our faith.

But when I ponder the finiteness of my days, I’m drawn back to what matters most—Jesus. I’m propelled to carve out more moments to soak in God’s Word. To redirect my heart to pray on the way home from dropping kids off at school or at a stoplight. To take those extra moments to listen for the Lord’s voice before declaring my daily devotional time “done.”

Is Every Psalm About Christ?

What is the relationship between Jesus and the Psalms? Can Jesus pray every psalm, even the ones that involve confession of sin? Here’s a solid answer, in video format.

Sardis

Our poem of the week: Sardis, by Tania Runyan. It’s a poem about serving in the church nursery.

On the WPCA Blog This Week

This week on the blog we published an article I wrote called Reading the Bible for the Ten Thousandth Time. If you haven’t already seen it, check it out!

Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

Links for the Weekend (2024-11-08)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

The Practice of Accepting Disappointment

Tim Challies has a good word for us about disappointment and how we can use it to point ourselves to what will truly satisfy.

Instead of being discouraged by disappointment, would it not be better to allow it to remind you of the state of this world and, better, the state of the world to come? Would it not be better to allow it to remind you that this world is not meant to completely fulfill you and not meant to satisfy your every longing? Would it not be better to let it increase your desire to be with God in that place where all disappointments will be taken away? And then to enjoy life as it is, not as you long for it to be?

What Future Judgment Will Christians Face?

John Piper shares some helpful thoughts about future judgment for Christians.

So, if there is a judgment that will not condemn Christians, what other kind of judgment is there for us? That’s what’s being asked, I think. There is a dimension to the judgment that does not call into question our eternal life but determines what varieties of blessing or reward we will enjoy in the age to come.

The Bottle Collector

Our poem of the week: The Bottle Collector, by Liz Snell. This is a poem about a woman who gathers recyclable materials for money. Those final two lines!

Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

Links for the Weekend (2024-10-11)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

Church is Our Evangelism Strategy

What does it look like to bring Jesus into your conversations?

Church is the main event. Church teaches us how to live. The Church is where we learn to be ‘kingdom people;’ which really just means ‘what you learned and were trained in inside church done outside church.’ The Church is God’s plan A to rescue the world and for the Father to transform the world into the image of the Son by the Spirit.

The False Guilt We Feel When Our Quiet Time Falls Short

Here’s a video (with transcript) from Crossway in which Kristen Wetherell talks about daily devotional time.

This is our idea of quiet time and then when we don’t reach it, we feel guilty and we feel like we failed. The reality is there is no command in the Bible about having a daily quiet time—at least not as we think about it. God wants us to prioritize Jesus and spending time getting to know who he is through the power of his Spirit.

Angels Aware (A Villanelle)

Our poem of the week: Angels Aware (A Villanelle), by Ryan Elizabeth. The villanelle is a challenging form of poetry, and this example is just beautiful.

Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

Links for the Weekend (2024-09-27)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

Running and Rest Aren’t Opposites

Trevin Wax builds on a good perspective about running and rest that he heard from a good friend.

Running and rest are to be kept in healthy tension, Lim says, so we’re sacrificially ambitious in our kingdom service and securely anchored in Jesus and his love for us. Right rhythms are the key to ensuring running doesn’t become just a mask for restlessness, and rest doesn’t turn into a spiritualized form of resignation.

The Autonomy Trap

I’m not sure how better to describe this article than that it is both beautiful and moving. James Wood writes about his childhood, his parents’ divorce, his relationship with his father, commitment and the idea of freedom, and how a community of Christians brought him to Christ. This is on the longer side, but it’s worth it.

I come from a stock of relationship-quitters. During my childhood, pretty much everyone in my life had divorced at least once, extended family connections were strained, long-term friends were nonexistent, and moves were frequent. Over time I came to adopt a conception of freedom that had destroyed the lives of many around me, and which would threaten to destroy my own as well: the popular idea of freedom as unconstrained choice. Since this is impossible, the default was a more achievable version: the ability to drop commitments and relationships at any point when they become too complicated. Freedom as the license to leave when things get tough.

Love (III) — George Herbert

Our poem of the week: Love (III), by George Herbert. This poem provides one answer to the question: What does it look like for God to love sinful people?

Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

Links for the Weekend (2024-09-13)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

4 Reasons You Might Think the Bible Is Boring

If we’re bored with the Bible, we might need to question the way we’re approaching it.

The Bible is the Drama of the ages, the Story of all stories. In this book we read of the living God’s acts of creation and redemption. We see the true story of the world. It rivals all other epics and transcends ancient myths. The Bible is not like any other book.

If you’re bored with the Bible, have you wondered why? A variety of explanations exist, and any (or several) of them could identify the problem. Let’s consider four possibilities.

Will You Love Jesus in Five Years?

David Mathis uses the metaphor of training in this article—how can we condition our souls to love Jesus now and in the future?

The question is not whether we are training our souls right now or not. Oh, we are training them. Unavoidably so. With every new day, in every act and choice. With every thought approved and word spoken and initiative taken. With every desire indulged or renounced. With every meditation of our hearts in spare moments. With every click, like, and share. With every podcast play, video view, check of the scores on ESPN, or browse of the headlines news. With every fresh opportunity to show love and compassion received or rejected. In all the little moments that make up our human days and lives, we are constantly becoming who we will be and ever reshaping what our hearts pine for and find pleasing. The question is not if we’re reshaping our souls but how.

The Shallows

Our poem of the week: The Shallows, by Michael Stalcup. This is an arresting poem about God’s creation as beautiful art—with a wonderful final line!

Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

Links for the Weekend (2024-07-26)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

Savor Christ in Every Psalm

This article feels especially appropriate with our current sermon series on the Psalms. Christopher Ash writes about how we can sing the Psalms best when we see Jesus as the chief psalm-singer.

But with Christ, I rejoice that, first and fundamentally, Christ himself is the blessed man of Psalm 1; Christ is the righteous man of Psalm 15; Christ has the pure heart called for in Psalm 24. It is Christ who fulfills the high calling of the Psalms, Christ who can sing them with perfect assurance, Christ who ascends to the Father, and Christ alone who brings me there. The Psalms set before us unnumbered blessings. Each one of them is yours and mine in Christ.

The Lord Sees: Learn to Rest in God’s Justice

The fact that the Lord sees all can be terrifying or comforting. Trevin Wax fruitfully meditates on this theme.

“El Roi” is a name given to God in the Old Testament, a source of comfort and peace in times of distress. It first falls from the trembling lips of Hagar, the enslaved woman driven into the wilderness after being caught up in the sinful designs of her master and his wife. There she kneels, despondent and despairing, ready for life to come to an end. And there in that desert of sorrow, the Lord sees. Transformed by the gracious presence of the God of all justice and mercy, Hagar speaks with surprising confidence. She names the Lord who spoke to her: “In this place, have I actually seen the one who sees me?” (Gen 16:13)

Prayer (I)—George Herbert

Our poem of the week: Prayer (I), by George Herbert. This is a delightful poem to read out loud (even if I’m not sure what exactly all of it means!).

On the WPCA Blog This Week

This week on the blog we published an article I wrote called The Word of the Cross is the Power of God. If you haven’t already seen it, check it out!

Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here.