Dear Heavenly Father
I was only fourteen years old when the man who fathered me walked out the front door of our house, never to return as “dad” again. By the time I was 18 years old I was pretty sure I’d never go to church again, and if I ever did, it would only be to make my kids go because back then I just felt “church is for kids” and there wasn’t anything about the Bible anyone could teach me that I didn’t already know. Today, I am married with two children, and God is a greater part of my life than He has ever been before, yet still the past haunted me. My father was verbally and physically abusive, and for years I have asked the questions many people ask about how God could allow such things to happen. Sometimes I come across some truth that...
Tradition! Tradition!
Every Christmas, my husband and I pick up the mantle of Charlie Brown and decry the misplaced and wrongheaded materialism of the season. One year we struggled with whether to put up a Christmas tree or to build a creche that would take the tree’s place in our house – we decided in favor of the tree. We’ve taught our daughter that Santa is pretend, which goes over really well at daycare, where she has learned not to talk about it because, as she puts it, “some of their parents don’t know.” We don’t spend a lot on presents. We’re not humbugs – I love the celebrations of Christmas, and we play Christmas music all December, put up lights, decorate, and throw parties. We just want the celebrations to come from joy...
The best gift
I was thinking today about the best Christmas gift I ever received (other than Jesus, cuz of course He is the real answer.) When the subject of best gift ever comes up, I am sure most of us have a memory or a story of what our favorite gift would be. I harder question for me to answer is “What is the favorite gift you have ever given?” I had to think a bit on that one. This is supposed to be the season of giving, and yet so often I think more fondly on what I have received than on what I gave. So what do you think? Is it just me or are we all just a bit too selfish? Not to sound to hokey, but I think the best gifts I have ever given are the ones I made. One year, my wife and I made photo frames for a bunch of our family. Another...
Count Your Blessings
I’ll admit that my default setting in life is to look at what I don’t have instead of what I do, but lately I been focusing some on the first chapter of Ephesians. I’m not sure if you know it but below is verses 3-14. ” 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he[b] predestined us for adoption to sonship[c] through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in...
Sellin’ Christ
Jesus never said “join me and your marriage will be blessed, your kids will be smart and you will have a good life.” But that is often how we attempt to sell Christianity. Even though most of us scoff at the Prosperity Gospel, there is still a version of Christianity that is tied in to the American Dream. I bring this up because I feel there has to be a better way to spread the Good News that isn’t trying to “sell” the Good News. It is hard, though. I mean the very nature of trying to tell someone why you think they should follow Christ is to try to convince them that it is better for them than what they are doing now. And within our culture we know, practice and have perfected the art of persuasion! It is so...
In the world
I’m searching for balance. Believe it or not, it seems to be much harder than you’d think, because it is admittedly so subjective. In living the Christian life I see extremes. Here are some themes I see as extreme: 1. Liberty in Christ without responsibility. The thinking goes along the lines of “I’m saved so I can do whatever I want. You cannot judge me. Only God can judge me.” There is no accountability there, and no responsibility. 2. Saved and Separated and out of touch. This is the more conservative side of Christianity where the saved take defensive positions within church walls and have no contact with the lost. They see the world as it truly is, a desperate and sinful place, but fail to see their place in...