Burning Brambles: Encountering God. Discovering Life.

There are plenty of blogs, articles, and websites pervading the internet which cover an innumerable amount of topics and ideas. Self-help blogs, cooking blogs, travel blogs, religious blogs, political blogs, and how-to blogs saturate the digital world. Some are written by extremely learned people making helpful contributions to public thought. Some simply add static noise to the constant stream of conversation. With all of this content it begs the question, why should I set out to add to it? What could I bring to the table? I am not exceptionally intelligent, I don't consider myself a wordsmith, and I don't have a large platform of readers. But there are two things that I do have: a message and a passion for sharing it. So at the risk of being just another voice in the crowd I have begun to collect previous articles of mine as well as write new ones and gather them here for the purpose of sharing the message.

Why Does This Site Exist?

My desire is to make maturing disciples of Jesus Christ by encouraging and equipping family members to grow individually and together in their walk with Christ to bring glory to God and enjoy Him now and forever. The only way to accomplish my desire is to help people encounter God through Christ the Son. That is why I have to tell people my message.

What is the Message?

The message is called the gospel, and it is the only way to have a relationship with God. It is the message of the historical fact that Jesus of Nazareth is God's Son who came into His creation and lived a perfect sinless life, was crucified on a cross, and rose from the dead three days later. Why did He do all of that? To pay the price for our sins so we can have everlasting life with Him. All we have to do is trust in Jesus. That is really good news!

What Does Burning Brambles Mean?

Why is this site called Burning Brambles if it is all about encountering God? The name, Burning Brambles, is intentional and personal in nature. My surname, Van Doren, comes from the Netherlands and means "from the brambles." If you recall, Moses encountered God in a burning bush, a bramble if you will. So my hope in life is that God would use me like that lowly bush to help others encounter Him and find true and abundant life.

How Can You Help?

If you agree with my mission and desire to do likewise, then please feel free to subscribe, comment, share, reach out with feedback, and join me in praying for God to work in people's lives. Also take the resources I have here and use them to help you make disciples in your context. May God bless you in your walk with Him, and may you help others encounter Him as well!