Pastor Eve Mercie 
Peace in the storm is not the absence of the storm. That distinction matters more than most people realize when they are inside one. The person who is waiting for the circumstances to settle before they allow themselves to feel peace is waiting for something that may not come on their preferred schedule. Storms in … Read more
The Great Commission is not a suggestion for the particularly adventurous. It is the final instruction of Jesus before he ascended, and it was given to everyone present, not only to those who felt called to cross-cultural ministry. Missions is the heartbeat of God made visible in human movement. From the moment God told Abraham … Read more
A family that prays together is not automatically a family without problems. It is a family that brings its problems to the right place. The unity that God designs for families is not the absence of conflict. It is the presence of a shared foundation that holds when conflict arrives. It is the willingness to … Read more
The Bible uses running in two directions, and they could not be more different. There is the running that is flight: Jonah running from Nineveh, Adam and Eve hiding in the garden, Peter running away from the courtyard fire after his third denial. This running moves away from something, and it is almost always away … Read more
Pride is the only sin that God says he actively opposes. James and Peter both quote the same ancient text: God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Not ignores the proud. Not is disappointed by the proud. “Opposes”. The word carries the image of a military formation, God arrayed against the arrogant … Read more
Knowing that someone wants you to fail changes something in the atmosphere around you. It is not the same as an enemy you can identify and confront. The person wishing bad on you might be someone you see regularly, someone who smiles at your face while hoping for your downfall behind it. They might be … Read more
The God of Scripture does not have a category for impossible. He does not look at a situation and calculate the probability of a favorable outcome. He does not weigh your resources against the size of the problem. He is not impressed by the scale of what opposes you, because the scale of what opposes … Read more
Not every departure is a loss. Some departures are answered prayers you did not know you were praying. The person who left your life, the friendship that ended without a clear reason, the relationship that dissolved despite your best efforts to preserve it: sometimes these endings are not failures. They are the work of a … Read more
The cross is the center of everything. Not the center of Christianity as a religious system, though it is that. The center of history. The fixed point around which all other events rotate. Before the cross, everything in Scripture was moving toward it. After the cross, everything moves outward from it. The prophets described it … Read more
Mocking God is not a modern innovation. It is as old as the first refusal to take him seriously. The pattern appears throughout Scripture with a consistency that is difficult to ignore: people who laugh at the warnings, dismiss the prophets, scoff at the idea that their choices have divine consequences, and treat the living … Read more