♪Have you heard this preacher tic? “I know we’ve all heard this story many times before but let me tell you about David and Goliath....” Why do we preachers say this so often?

♪My (nonexistent) artistic career came to a definitive end at Bible camp. Each summer, my friends and I would carefully select the skills we wanted to participate in during our fun-filled week. The craft option was always the most desirable choice, in our juvenile estimation.

♪As we begin another year, the world we live in encourages us to start new habits, set new goals, and accomplish new achievements. Whether this approach helps you or not, living with purpose takes intentionality, including engaging in spiritual disciplines.

♪I don’t have a smartphone. Never have. My lack of smartphone does not make me better than others. I know full-throttle phone addicts who are more present, patient and prayerful than me. Pope Francis apparently had 50 million Twitter followers. But, while my status does not confer moral superiority, it does give me a rare viewpoint.

♪God is a worker. The first thing God reveals about himself in Scripture is that he is a creator and a worker. God chooses to work, and the work of his hands is good. According to Genesis, we were made to be workers to reflect the image of the ultimate Worker.

♪Due to negative stigma, many Christians distance themselves from the title “fundamentalist,” and I cannot blame them given the current cultural perception. Yet are we right to so readily abandon this designation? While I may have distanced myself from adopting this title given the modern-day interpretation and definition, I am also wary of throwing the proverbial baby out with the bathwater.

♪When resolutions and goals can feel rigid and restrictive, with a pass or fail element to them, there’s a pull toward the freedom to be found in a one-word theme to guide the coming year. While I haven’t chosen a word for the year, “abide” recurs as a theme for this issue.

“As a believer, and an image bearer of God,” Nita says, “my goal in my imaginings is that the life-giving nature, the truth and beauty of God would be made manifest in my work.” Nita’s imagination expresses itself through stained glass.

I am rarely guided by God in decisions the way others report being directed. God never told me to become a pastor, marry my spouse, or go to school. God certainly never told me to live in Winnipeg. God is rarely my spiritual GPS.