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
03/25/14

God Has a Mom

It all started when out of the nothingness of Mary’s womb, the Word who makes all things, made for Himself a body, human through and through. From the virgin soil of Eden the first man came and from the virgin womb the last man came—came to re-genesis you.
Daniel Deen
Daniel Deen
03/19/14

Christian Intellectual Arrogance

Much like the 2014 Superbowl, the debate itself was lackluster and utterly predictable. However, one aspect of the debate struck me as worthy of commentary; the way Mr. Ham presented himself as a Christian intellectual.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
03/18/14

Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall: Jesus and the "Bad" Samaritan Woman

Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all? You are, who are flesh of flesh and bone of bone with Jesus, our Jacob.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
03/14/14

"I Love You" is an Incomplete Sentence

We love because we find in the beloved something that is lovable. We see, we know, and then we love. Or, at least, we promise to love.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
03/11/14

The Small Huge Gift: A Remembrance of Ken Korby

Though I had studied four prior years at that institution, the one course I had with him shaped my pastoral care more than any other. Ken Korby was this pastor’s name, and when I grew up, I wanted to be just like him.
Jessica Thompson
Jessica Thompson
03/11/14

Proclaim the Good News (to Children)

Why is it that we are so afraid to give the message of grace to our little ones? We bombard their ears with law on a constant basis.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
03/05/14

The Wife Who Gave Up: Mrs. Job’s Beautifully Untrue Words

Of all the words this woman ever spoke, these alone are chiseled forever into the stone of holy writ, and into the church’s memory. Mrs. Job becomes the patron saint of quick-tongued women.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
02/24/14

Smut and Smug: Secret Religious Delight in Society’s Moral Degradation

I think the chief reason that a faction within me welcomes the disintegration of the American ethos is this: it makes me feel so much better about myself. The smut makes me quite smug.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
02/21/14

Look Who I Found in the Grave

God must kill me. He’s got to slay me, put me six feet under, and shovel dirt atop my corpse. Then, it’s like, “Hey, I finally understand! You’re God and I’m not.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
02/19/14

Tripping Helen Keller

Why, given all the things we wish God had told us, but didn’t, does he “waste our time” by stating the patently obvious? Was there, in Moses’ day, an outbreak of violence against the disabled?
Jeff Mallinson
Jeff Mallinson
02/19/14

Ethos Matters

Ever experience a congregation with the word "Grace" in its name that was nonetheless ironically ungracious and legalistic? I have.
Rod Rosenbladt
Rod Rosenbladt
02/10/14

Gift? An Imaginary Dialogue on the Gift of Grace

Sinner: I see. I see for the first time. It’s clear to me. You died for me and for my sin. You took my verdict. God: I did.
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