The Saddest Story and the True Story
By Donavon Riley
08/27/25
10mins

The Saddest Story and the True Story

Here is the true story, the one worth remembering: You are a gift.
An Excerpt from Untamed Prayers: Psalm 19 and Psalm 29
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
08/26/25

An Excerpt from Untamed Prayers: Psalm 19 and Psalm 29

The following entries are excerpts from Chad Bird’s upcoming book, Untamed Prayers: 365 Daily Devotions on Christ in the Book of the Psalms (1517 Publishing, 2025), pgs. 32, 52.
Eating the Word Again
Bradley Gray
Bradley Gray
08/25/25

Eating the Word Again

Bitterness took root when he began approaching the Word merely as a burden he was called to carry rather than a balm that his soul needed, too.

All Articles

Chad Bird
Chad Bird
12/02/15

Violence and the Church Go Way Back

We are like the spoiled children of kings who spit in the face of paupers on the street. We have been given so much, yet we treasure so little.
Brian W. Thomas
Brian W. Thomas
12/02/15

Father Connection and Christmas

He loved me, to be sure, but in a very nondescript, emotionally detached way, which is the way my grandfather loved him.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
11/29/15

Preaching from a Wheelchair: Dan Chambers and the Unhandicapped Gospel

Dan reminded me—in his words, in his patient suffering, through his unwavering faith in Christ, by his confidence in his baptism—that Jesus Christ does not abandon his own. No matter where they are, no matter what they’re going through, He is there.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
11/27/15

Six Words to Inscribe onto Your Heart

There has only been one baptism in the history of the world: the baptism of Jesus. “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.”
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
11/25/15

The Best Time for a Pastor to Yawn During Worship

What if, while we were admitting all these serious infractions of the divine law, our pastor simply yawned?
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
11/18/15

A Sinning Church with a Preaching Problem

We are a sinning church with a preaching problem.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
11/17/15

From Hitler’s Wolves to Christ’s Lambs: The Chaplain to Nazi War Criminals

What makes this story remarkable is that this man, along with others hanged that day, was among the most hated men in human history. He was guilty of atrocities so horrific only words forged in hell could adequately describe them.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
11/13/15

The Door No One Can Walk Through

The water and blood that streamed forth from Christ, streams us back into him as we are buoyed up by the waves of baptism, through the wound, and into the body of God incarnate.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
11/05/15

Singing the World into Being

As C. S. Lewis, in "The Magician’s Nephew", has Aslan sing the world and all its beautiful intricacies into existence, so the Lion of the tribe of Judah, our Lord Jesus, hymns the heavens and earth into being.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
11/05/15

How Do I Know My Name Is Written in the Book of Life?

Our Father does not bid us to turn inward, but outward, to the Son who is himself our unending Sabbath rest.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
11/05/15

We All Show up Late for Church

When we begin singing the opening hymn, our voices blend with those of angels in heaven, who have been belting out hymns long before we rolled out of bed that morning.
Rick Ritchie
Rick Ritchie
10/27/15

That Sermon Was Perfect For Those People

If there was a proclamation of grace, it was an afterthought, given in the sense of “just in case anyone needs this.”
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