ALY ALLEN | THE BLOG

last night we attended a "celebration of life" service for one of my husband's assistant coaches who passed away. he was 23 and he actually took his own life. you would've never known a guy like him was struggling. incredibly happy with an infectious personality, he touched a lot of lives. many of the boys on my husband's football team attended the service. he's not at a christian school, so it's anyone's guess how much these boys have been exposed to real gospel Truth... that is, until this service. the gospel was presented clearly and powerfully and the mood of the entire night was that of joy and celebration for this young man's life. sure, he cut it short, but i can only think of how God placed him on the campus of that school, for just about 8 months, to impact these kids, and then become the reason that they would hear the gospel last night. i imagine satan probably figured he'd won this battle. he'd defeated this young man and co...

[public service announcement: make sure to check out this awesome giveaway , which includes $30 to blossom & vine ] i went to a Beth Moore conference [surprising, huh?] a few years ago in Vegas. actually, it was a "Deeper Still" event that included Kay Arthur and Priscilla Shirer, along with Beth Moore. i remember so vividly a point that she made, about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. it wasn't even the purpose of her talk, but it was a side note that stuck with me more than the actual message. we tend to think of this tree as the one that held the forbidden fruit that eventually introduced original sin into the world. God commanded Adam and Eve never to eat of that tree. anything else in the Garden of Eden was free for their enjoyment, but not that tree. the tree of the knowledge of good and evil . how often do we eat of that tree ourselves, today? anytime we share a juicy bit of gossip, we're inviting our friends to eat of it, aren't we...