This is an excerpt from the third chapter of By Water and the Word: God’s Gift of Baptism for You by Brian Thomas (1517 Publishing, 2026), pgs 52-60.
Even when the bitter places sink down deep into our bones, the Restorer never relinquishes his grip on you.
To Live Well is therefore not a general advice book, but a message suffused with the gospel.

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This is the first installment in our Lenten series, Through the Tombs of the Kings, where Steve Kruschel explores God’s faithfulness to Judah’s kings—and to us—through life, death, and the burial of his Son.
The cross traced in ashes isn’t a badge of honor or a mark of our works. It’s a reminder of Christ’s work.
Repentance is not limited to a season.
To be happy is to be the object of God’s love in Christ and to love God and others with the love of Christ.
God is a judge, but unlike you, God is just!
In the upside-down wisdom of God, the place of the cross becomes the place of life, absolution, and triumph.
The wrong god means love remains frail, fickle, or a fiction. The right God means love is the most reliable thing in all the world.
I realized that no matter where I call "home," I won't be able to shake the feeling of homesickness.
Wisdom lurks in the outer places. Rich gratitude sprouts from the impoverished and forgotten.
The gospel gives us faith, hope, and love, all of which proceed from Christ’s death and resurrection.
In Simeon's hands and Anna's gaze, we are reminded of God's promise—not distant, not fading, but alive.
It is impossible to live our lives in a way that would convince God of our value because he already knows our value. He is the one who gave it to us.