No Matter What Happens In Life, The Bible Answers 'Why'

The year 2020 was difficult for many humans in many different ways as government and media ramped up global control over our lives. Isolation, illness, income loss and inability to care for ourselves and our families in ordinary ways left few emotions or mental states unvisited as effect.

Like many, November, 2020, left me feeling unmoored from humanity, adrift in a world of questions without answers that shattered the bedrock of understanding I'd formed about my country, politics, psychology and human relations over the course of my adult life.

What If Doing Unto Others Actually Practicing Narcissism?

Do unto others...Luke records Jesus' words from the Sermon On The Mount a bit differently than Matthew. Luke provides the phraseology we so often use to advise our children - as I was advised by MY parents; "And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise." (Luke 6:31) Recently, I've been thinking on this edict and I have to say that, today, this admonition doesn't stand like it did decades ago when my grandparents - and even parents - used it.

Are You Using New Year's Resolutions To Pacify Behaviors and Issues Better Addressed During the Year?

And so we begin today knowing that tomorrow looms etherially on the horizon as the start of a new year waiting to greet us at the midnight chime of the clock.

For centuries, human beings have made the "new year" a holiday to itself. The age old renderings of 'baby New Year' assure us that we humans, we mere mortals, can redirect our lives at that point in time and begin again anew for yet another year.

The 2016 Election; A Victory for Middle American Values?

The election is over.  Trump has won.  Celebrities are running for the hills, rioting and protests have broken out in major population centers across the country, and I heard from a friend watching, that a talking head at Good Morning America (the Thursday after the election) felt the need to explain the vote as a reality not a nightmare.

It is NOT the Government's Duty To Provide People With ANYTHING But Liberty

I read the saddest, but most realistic post from what I can only assume – from the pictures on his Facebook page visible to the public – is a millennial-aged guy.  Here are the most important excerpts of that post:

“It’s the government’s duty to provide people with the chance for the pursuit of happiness.  We have this tendency to differentiate between what is a Christian’s individual duty to society and what is a government’s duty.  But, the trust is that it is the duty of both to promote the general welfare of society.”

“Hand-outs are the job of both the Christian and the government.”

I Can't Support Jen Hatmaker's Method of Ministry

A recent blog by Matt Walsh on the Blaze has been making the rounds. I have not previously followed Jen Hatmaker - I'm gonna say that right up front. In fact, I've only heard her name through friends of mine she inspires.

Church Attendance Is Not A Necessity For Christians

Look out - I'm about to make an argument against attending church. 

I know how unreasonable this might sound, but it's a topic with which I've been struggling lately, so I've got some definite thoughts bubbling up to share here. 

Anthropomorphizing Earthquakes

Oklahoma just had one of the largest earthquakes in recent record. 

Immediately, I began to see Facebook posts pinning the cause of this quake on fracking. 

First, fracking has never been the issue; injection wells (a separate part of the process) have been implicated in the cause of minor, localized earthquakes, but this in no way describes this 5.6 magnitude event felt as far as Wichita, Kansas and Houston, Texas. 

Heavy Heart Syndrome...

For the last several weeks I have been suffering from 'heavy heart' syndrome. 

A previously-healthy, sweet friend of mine is in the hospital struggling to regain her health, and her family and friends are concerned for her condition. I hear the prayer list at church and so many of our older members are struggling with health problems or dealing with spouses who have memory issues as well as those affecting their overall health, and they are tired and worn out. 

We Are The "Fragrance" of Christ To Others

I read this morning's devotion with much conviction. First, it was Friday's study that I'd not made time to read Friday and, second, because it reminded me that it's not just the people we meet on the street to whom we are the Bible. Above all, we are the Bible to our family.

A Band-Aid For the Soul

My husband and I are early risers. We've never gotten up past 7am - unless we're sick - and we're rarely to bed past 10. Weekday mornings Dave is up at 4:30am and I'm up at 5:30. Even on Sunday mornings when we'll be off to church by 9, we're still up at 6, preparing to go out and plant a few things that didn't get in the garden, taking care of animals, fence lines or other chores, before coming in to get ready for church.

"Beware, a storm is coming", signed SCOTUS

This is a still from the end scene of the first Terminator movie. Sarah Conner has just been told that machines will rise to prominence and begin subjugating and killing all humans. As she drives toward the mountains of Mexico where she must hide for safety, a storm rolls in - a fitting allegory for her future. 

How Do Christians Continue In The Face Of A Changing America?

A Facebook friend​ tagged me in this video this morning