Hello again, Dive Collective! It has been so long since we’ve seen you, studied with you, sent you any news. So much has happened since we decided to take a break, and we will be telling you a lot about that in an upcoming podcast episode!

Gift Guides are BACK! We know how difficult it can be to find that perfect gift—and how rewarding it is when you find it! We decided to help you out a bit by compiling a list of unique gift ideas, mostly artisan and from small shops. We hope it offers you some inspiration this season, and maybe even makes checking things off your list a bit easier. Happy gifting!

We have no idea the Kingdom outcomes of our lives of faithfulness and acts of kindness in the midst of our raging culture. Read what Judges and Ruth have to teach us about how God acts on behalf of those who long for Him and uses our lives to bring forth light.

This Holy Week we celebrate the promised seed of Abram. The fulfillment of the promise we have been studying all month in the life of Abram. What did Abram do to receive the promise of God? He responded to God’s call. Period.

We’re coming up on Easter. It was just one Easter ago when Covid struck fear into hearts around the world. All of the sudden toilet paper was gone and we suspected everyone of selfishness and hoarding. We questioned the morality of others based on the number of mask layers they wore—none being the most heinous offense. At the heart of it, we seemed to truly believe that our actions and behaviors could extend or shorten the number of our neighbors’ days. As if we have control over our God-given breaths which are known by Him alone.

This Holy Week we celebrate the promised seed of Abram. The fulfillment of the promise we have been studying all month in the life of Abram. What did Abram do to receive the promise of God? He responded to God’s call. Period.

It’s almost spring! How do we know? We observe signs of it all around us in the cherry tree blossoms and the stores with blooming tulips for sale. What about growing something that is good to eat, like your own fresh greens? Things like bean sprouts, lettuce, bok choy, & kale are greens.

Each year I always look forward to planting the garden with my daughter. She loves to help plant, water, and harvest. This is a time that I will always cherish no matter how the garden turns out that year because, let’s face it, some years are better than others. Each year is a learning experience, and every year I try to learn a few new things.

It’s March—the season of sowing. There’s a marvelous beauty in the rhythm and harmonious work of the Sovereign Vinedresser and the man He made, in not just the toil of the soil but of the soul as well.

Love God, love others. Period. Everything else hinges on these two commands; they wrap up the whole law. There are two things that I’ve been thinking through in regard to this.

New Year’s Eve morning in the Groomes Family looks quite different than most as anywhere from 60-80 people (ranging from 6 months to 80 years-old) cycle through our home chatting together while tasting roughly 3 dozen different varieties of pie. We call this Pie Breakfast, and it is our most treasured family tradition. 

The holidays bring people together, and the main events are usually special meals or gift exchanges. What about after the meal when the turkey tryptophan food coma sets in and the phones come out? While backyard football is fun for the ones who are still awake, it may not be something your great-aunt Sandy can do. There is a free way to wake up your guests and bring everyone together: Comedy Improv Games.

And it is the Prince of Peace, who is at once Mighty God and Everlasting Father and Wonderful Counselor, for whom we wait. And when we consider the final Kingdom, I believe what we are experiencing now is a mere picture of the entirety of restored creation filled with His perfect peace. The entire Kingdom will be completeness (in number), safe and sound, healthy and prosperous, tranquil and content, and deep friendship will abound between men as well as between God and man.

God stepped in time and time again to redeem His people, to bring them back to himself. Now, on this side of history, we look back with hearts overflowing with gratefulness for the time when God stepped in once again to redeem His people—this time through His Son, the exact imprint of the nature of God—once for all. In our ultimate redemption though the incarnation and sacrifice the Son, we see the image of the invisible God—our Everlasting Father. 

We know how difficult it can be to find that perfect gift—and how rewarding it is when you find it! We decided to help you out a bit by compiling a list of unique gift ideas, mostly artisan and from small shops. We hope it offers you some inspiration this season, and maybe even makes checking things off your list a bit easier. Happy gifting!

It’s a picture of God as warrior, defender, champion. Mighty in battle. It brings to my mind the image of the God of Armies, named over and over in the narratives of the kings and the prophets. He is protector, avenger, MIGHTY.

Jesus does all of these things but infinitely more. He didn’t live a perfect life to show us how it’s done so we could follow Him in attempting this same perfection. He came and lived a perfect life for us because we simply cannot… With every stripped-down, vulnerable encounter with our Wonderful Counselor (Isaiah 9:6) we are changed forever for His glory. It doesn’t get more wonderful than that.

How often have I ascribed more honor and glory and power to the gift rather than the Giver? How often have I distorted the pleasure of a gift from the hand of my Father into something selfish, something all about me? How often have I gotten caught up in the enjoyment of—then disappointed by—a thing that can never satisfy, rather than remembering that all good gifts point me to the only One who can fully satisfy?