Remember the Fallen
One of the traditions of Memorial Day has been the backyard barbecue, and hitting the beaches. Please enjoy the holiday, but try to keep some perspective as well. There are many men who died storming beaches in service of their country. Another of the traditions of Memorial Day has usually been to honor and remember all who served their country. We repeat the same thing on Independence Day as well, and last year it had me thinking. It is a great tradition, but at the risk of sounding critical, it is not what Memorial Day was really meant for. Memorial Day is a day to remember, not who served their country, but those who served and died in service to their country. It is not wrong to honor all servicemen, for all servicemen make great sacrifices in...
Remember Not or I Forgot
I was reminded by a friend over the weekend about the forgetfulness of us as humans. Let’s face it, we all forget to do things. For some of us, it is a greater problem than for others. For others, forgetting is specific to an issue, such as names. For the public at large, it could be a gender thing, which explains why a guy can remember the player names, jersey numbers, and box scores from both teams from the 1985 World Series, but has trouble remembering his own kids names. To forget is a human failing. Good thing God never forgets. In fact, “forgive and forget” is not really a Bible principle at all, for God tells us in the Bible that He will remember our sins no more. Heb 10:17 “And their sins and iniquities will I remember...
P R I D E – it's all about "I"
Out of all the top sins in my life, I don’t think pride would have made my top 3 or even 7. Yet in the six (yea, seven) things God hates, “A proud look” makes the first on His list. (Proverbs 6: 16-17) In the New Testament, pride shows up again as one of three on a list as “the pride of life”. I John 2:16 Ever notice that the Bible also makes some very emphatic and exclusive statements and conclusions about pride? “Only by pride cometh contention: . . . ” Proverbs 13:10 and “Pride goeth before destruction, . . .” Proverbs 16:18 If God takes the issue of pride so seriously, why don’t I? The only answer I could come up with: my pride. As I began to delve into my own research to be able to teach...
Right and Wrong
Thanks to tmamone for turning me onto The Sarcastic Lutheran. It’s now one of my favorite blogs. A new post came up earlier this week that really touched me; it was Nadia Bolz-Weber’s sermon in honor of the baptism of a child in her congregation, House for All Sinners and Saints. It’s about the promises God makes to His children and his steadfastness in honoring them, and about the importance of dying daily to self and the joy of returning to God. I posted a link to this on my Facebook page, and a good friend of mine with whom I often disagree pointed out a specific passage: “Don’t listen when people say that following Christ means being right. To follow the crucified and resurrected one is to live as a people who get to be...
Doing My Part
Most of the time I feel certain that if it weren’t for other people, all of us would have a much stronger Christian walk. If that guy hadn’t cut me off, I wouldn’t have cursed at him; I’d have no problem forgiving that friend of mine if she hadn’t done such a horrible thing to me; I would easily be able to love and respect people if they didn’t act so stupid. Maybe that sounds obvious or ridiculous, but really, isn’t that how we think? Two years ago, a speaker at a ladies’ retreat I attended talked about this propensity we have to lay the blame for our own behavior on others. She said that since we can’t control what other people do or say or think, our only concern in all things should be that we do our part. Fundamentally, her lesson was pretty...
Little Salvations
This is my first post on FS, and since I’m the first girl here I thought I would write about submission, or love, or Deborah, or Esther, or the status of women in the Bible in general. You know, either something “feminist” or something “girly.” But I don’t feel like writing any of that now. My two-year-old daughter is sleeping peacefully upstairs after two days of fever that peaked at 104.4 degrees. My mother-in-law, who is one of the kindest people I know, spent yesterday morning taking care of her for me. My mom and dad, who moved here last year just to be near us, came over this morning to help out. My sister-in-law, another of the kindest people I know, was thoughtful enough to call on her way home from work to check and see how the midget was...