I love the freshness that comes with the beginning of a New Year. As a creature of habit, much to the dismay of my wife and kids at times, I function best when I align myself with healthy rhythms in my life. One such rhythm is that of seeing the New Year as a season...
Over the past number of weeks, I have had the privilege of more thoroughly studying the book of Zechariah, a minor prophet in the Old Testament, written half a millennium before the birth of Christ. One commentator notes that Zechariah was arguably one of the most...
By Alyssa Swanson September, 2018 *The following was written by Alyssa, through the eyes of her father. Watching your child grow up and prepare to leave home makes you think about all the precious memories made over the years. The years that feel like they just...
*The following blog was written 8 years ago in the fall of 2010. Today I was confronted with one of the most basic, yet comprehensive teachings of Jesus – love God and love your neighbor as yourself. One would think that after years of studying His Word and trying to...
In early July we had the good fortune of moving into our new office space, a project we have referred to as Katapheugó, a Greek word meaning “to flee to a place of refuge.” Since the inception of this project, it has been a desire of ours to rebuild, renovate, and...
Over the past 12 months it has been apparent to me that CLDI has been undergoing a season of transformation. Needless to say, a lot has happened since June of 2017. For one, we started the renovation of the old Labor Building (otherwise known as Katapheugó) in August...
When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not...
Did you hear? The Basye clan is moving overseas… or so we thought. Going back as far as our dating relationship, almost 17 years ago, Shelly and I have discussed and prayerfully considered our role in taking the gospel to the nations. In fact, we moved to Montana with...
Moving to the South Side has not been what I expected. To be honest, I’m not quite sure what I expected! It must have been something along the lines of becoming best friends with all our neighbors and having deep conversations with them all the time. So far we’ve only...
As we welcome another New Year, we do so on the heels of a season commemorating the birth of Jesus. For the past few days I have been contemplating the power of the incarnate – God came to dwell in the flesh as a babe born in a manger. During a Christmas Eve service,...