Cassi Writes Some Words

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Faith and Fear in Decision-Making

Life is a series of decisions. Whether big or small, we are constantly encountering choices. What should I eat for lunch? Can I afford to take this vacation? When do I tell my kids yes and when do I tell them no? Should I accept the job if they offer it to me? What do I say when I’m worried someone is making a big mistake? As Christians, our instinct should always be to go to God’s Word. The problem – as we see it – is that the Bible doesn’t always speak explicitly to our specific situations. There is no chapter or verse that tells me which college God wants me to attend or which medical specialists I should see. There is no script that tells me precisely how to love someone who is withdrawing from me. Over and over again, I have found myself counseling my own heart to remember one simple filter: Am I being motivated by faith or by fear? THE DICHOTOMY BETWEEN FAITH AND FEAR The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record a story that perfectly illustrates the dichotomy between faith ...

When the Burdens of Life Overwhelm Us

Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never allow the righteous to be shaken (Psalm 55:22, CSB). The more life we live, the more we understand what it is to feel burdened. We face multiple deadlines that somehow all need to be met at the same time. We have to schedule yet another appointment and pay yet another bill. We find ourselves picking up the slack for others. We encounter forks in the road and stress about which decision is the right one. We worry about the well-being of our loved ones. In a sense, I think it’s right to have things weighing on us. The burden not only indicates that we have been given responsibility, but that the responsibility matters to us. In another sense, there are times when the burdens of life simply feel like too much . Our shoulders throb and our knees buckle under the sheer weight of life. It feels like one more traffic-laden commute, one more urgent problem, or one more request will cause us to snap, to collapse, to fall....

Beauty for Ashes: Making an Exchange

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted . . . To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes . . .” (Isaiah 61:1, 3, NKJV). I don’t know about you, but in the time and place where I live, I don’t encounter ashes very often. Not only do HVAC systems make wood-burning fireplaces irrelevant, but in the Valley of the Sun, we don’t depend on our heaters as much as people in other parts of the world. However, I have sat around my fair share of campfires, and I have seen the powdery gray residue left over after the fire dies out. The ash is all that remains of what has been burned. It was once wood, but now it’s dust. Ashes are a symbol of grief. They are a tangible sign of loss. After a campfire, you can’t scoop up the ashes and reform them into wood. When a building burns down, it’s impossible to gather the ashes and turn them back into the structure th...

Reflections on 2025

“Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit'—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that'” (James 4:13-15). This advice from James is applicable every year, but the sentiment that “you do not know what [this year] will bring” rings particularly true as I reflect on 2025. This was not the year I expected. It was a bittersweet year. It was a year for plucking up what was planted and then tilling the soil to prepare for new things. It was a year of waiting. It was a year that strengthened my faith. Here is a synthesis of my reflections on the year that is now behind me. THINGS THAT WORKED FOR ME Developing personal guiding principles. I got this from Matt Perman in his book What’s Best Next . I have eight principles: be g...

Rahab: An Extraordinary Faith

Rahab is a fascinating historical figure. We know relatively little about her, but what Scripture does tell us is remarkable. Yet I wonder whether we have a tendency to magnify the minor details about her and miss the point that Scripture emphasizes. The first thing we learn about Rahab is who she was: And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there (Joshua 2:1). Rahab lived in Jericho, and she was a prostitute. When the events of the book of Joshua were recorded, the author considered this the most succinct way to identify Rahab. The second thing we learn about Rahab is something she did: And it was told to the king of Jericho, “Behold, men of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land.” Then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they h...

Meditation: "Letting the Bible Brew in the Brain"

“How can we turn our knowledge about God into knowledge of God? The rule for doing this is simple but demanding. It is that we turn each truth that we learn about God into matter for meditation before God, leading to prayer and praise to God” (J. I. Packer). All true Christians agree that regular and intentional exposure to the Bible is an important part of living the Christian life. We believe that all Scripture is breathed out by God (2 Timothy 3:16) and that it is living and active (Hebrews 4:12). If anyone claims to be a Christian but thinks that the Bible is inconsequential to their lives, then I’m afraid they have some serious examination to do. However, there are differences of opinion and practice on what regular and intentional exposure to the Bible looks like. Scripture itself does not prescribe, for example, how many verses should be read in corporate worship services or what time of day the Bible is to be read individually. I would argue that the baseline for a Christi...