Nerd Gospel: You are the CSS to my HTML

In computer programming, there is a language called HTML.  You've probably heard of it.  It's the language that nearly every website is built on.  In fact, if you right-click on this page, and go to "view source," much of what you'll see is HTML.  Since the very early days of the internet, HTML has been a staple.  Through most of the 90's, the adolescent years of the internet, those blocky GeoCities sites, Myspace, and AltaVista were all coded in pure HTML. Then something almost magical happened.  The advent of CSS.  It's been called the "Holy Grail" of website programming.  It ushered in the modern era of the internet.  Sites looked astonishingly better, were much easier to navigate, and gained a level of visual engagement that had never been accomplished before.

At the risk of putting half of you to sleep, I tell this anecdote because it parallels my spiritual journey.  CSS does not replace HTML, it breathes life into it.  There was once a language that was adequate, that no one really minded, that was serviceable, but looking back, was just a shell of what it someday would be.  It took something outside of itself to radically alter the landscape and forever change the experience. 

For a long time, I lived with an HTML spiritual reality, where vanilla was the flavor of the month, every month, and the people around me looked like me and functioned like me, and it was nice.  It was serviceable.  But there were holes in the tapestry (sorry to mix metaphors), there were bugs in the code.  I knew that there were unanswered questions that my spiritual life to that point couldn't address.  If God is a God of wonder and might and amazing revelation, why wasn't I experiencing any of that?  

My code had been written, from the moment of my birth, to experience God.  But over time, that experience became more and more limiting.  The politics of faith, the pretense of every question already asked and answered, the scaffold of a culture built to reinforce the spiritual status quo.  All of this left me with a benign faith.  Then, maybe ten years ago, I got my first glimpse of someone doing faith differently.  It was my CSS moment.  It was the first time I realized that God was not limited by the constraints that we put around him, that my boring faith wasn't a result of a boring Jesus, but that truly seeking him could breathe life, CSS-style, into my HTML existence.  I felt free to ask the questions, seek the truth, and shed the falsehoods I'd long been believing.  

I am still the same person I have always been, just like eBay has always been eBay.  But looking at eBay form 1996, it is more than evident that something is different.  CSS changed everything.  In my life, discovering the Jesus I'd never known, has been the CSS to my HTML.

Always Give Something

I watched his quivering lips and I knew the tears weren’t far behind. He sighed and continued with his story, choking out the words, wanting to communicate in spite of his unpredictable emotions. Yep. That’s why I love him so much--crusty and tough on the outside, a soft, squishy marshmallow within. And he’s not embarrassed by it.

It was Week #4 of our Thursday evening Truth for Living Course. We were presenting a video series, Marriage Oneness, by Tim Lundy, a speaker associated with Family Life Today. Good stuff. Yes, that’s a shameless plug. Our incredible Marriage Team had finished serving a delicious pot roast dinner by candlelight and, over homemade pumpkin cheesecake, our twenty precious couples listened attentively to Tim explain the urgency of oneness in handling family finances.

Before referencing much of Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University material, Tim suggested that nearly all of the Bible’s 2300 plus verses about money could be arranged into four major categories represented simply by four words: live, give, save, and limit. Now I’m not going to rehearse all of Tim’s teaching here mostly because I am hoping you will take the course next fall, but the second word, giving, was about what you would expect. His bullet point read, “Always give something.” The first verses he pointed to were Acts 20:35 and Proverbs 3:9.

“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said,‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”                                                                                                                  “Honor the LORD from your wealth and from the first of all your produce.”

Tim was presenting this important biblical theme of giving…and the tithe in Scripture was ten per cent of one’s income. To encourage those who have never considered this mandate, he suggested beginning by giving something regularly. We need to understand that our wise and loving Father tenderly cares for the needs of His lost, poor, sick, orphaned, widowed, and sojourning children here on earth, the advancement of His Kingdom, and the work of His church through the generosity and obedience of other of His children. That’s why tithing to His church is so urgent and important. To emphasize the point, my dear husband, Kenny, wanted to share a personal story I had long ago forgotten. Soon we both were sniffing through grateful tears.

Kenny grew up here in South Jersey, the second of seven children, all born within nine very busy years. His dad had a steady job but also needed to farm, working long hours to feed and care for his family. Money was tight. Very tight.

Kenny’s mom had grown up in a home where tithing was part of her family’s DNA, but that was not the case in his dad’s family. This difference was occasionally the source of contention between his parents. One day, not long after the family had begun to attend a new church (MINE!), Kenny’s father was convicted in a sermon about his practice of not tithing to the church, not giving back a bit of what God had so often and so kindly given to him and to his family. That day, his father, by faith, not knowing how they would ever afford it, began to give a tithe to God.

Within two weeks, my future father-in-law’s boss called him into his office and offered him a 25% increase in pay—an incredible and unexpected raise that more than covered the money he had pledged in his heart to give away! Plus, there was left-over money for his children and his very happy wife. What a blessing!

I just love how God works…how he affirms our steps of faith and encourages our obedience. And seven wide-eyed children got to witness the goodness of their Heavenly Father in response to the faith of their earthly one. More than fifty years later, with a lump in his throat, one of those kids got to tell the story of how his dad learned to give. A quiet roomful of people listened. And heard.  

Now I don’t tell you this story so you think that there is some magical formula here and you rashly begin to give to get. No, this is one man’s story. Your story is not the same. God knows the motivations of each of our hearts.

I relate it again because of its simplicity and its beauty…and because I believe it explains clearly what the Father thinks about our gifts. They please Him. Our faith pleases Him. Our gifts, I think, are a demonstration, a visible representation of that unseen faith growing inside us.  It shows Him we are not trusting in our money; we are trusting in Him alone to take care of us. That’s just what He wants. That’s just what we need.

The multiplied gifts of His people are a huge benefit to others too. Our contributions finance the ministry and outreach of His local church, the advancement of His Kingdom abroad, and the healing and restoration of broken people everywhere. What a glorious plan!

And it all begins with one man or one woman’s decision to trust God and give.

I can only imagine how my Father-in-law’s tithe, combined with other faithful givers, has been used over these many decades. How many street kids have been fed? How many Bibles have been translated or given?  How much medicine has been dispensed in jungle hospitals? How many lives have been transformed by the Gospel? How many churches have been built? It’s amazing to think about. It’s a great story, a story that influenced at least one little boy to become a giver too.

That begs the question. Is somebody watching you?

“Freely you have received; freely give.”  (Matthew 10:8)   

Let The Redeemed Of The Lord Say So

There is no situation in which we may find ourselves that the redeeming work of God cannot reach. And the distance between our current situation and God’s help is our cry for help! 

I have been reading Psalm 107 recently as well as a devotional book alongside that touches on different applications we can draw from this passage. What an encouraging passage this is! 42 verses packed with different life scenarios where people were facing some form of challenge or distress and they experience God’s help in miraculous ways. The last verse wraps it all up with a very personal exhortation.

Are you in trouble? The Lord can help!

Are you isolated, scattered or exiled? The Lord can gather.

Are you wandering with no place to dwell and in distress? The Lord can set you on a straight path and deliver you.

Are you sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death? Are you a prisoner of either? The Lord can burst your bonds apart!

Is your heart rebelling against God or even despising his counsel? The Lord can bow or bend your heart toward him.

Are your sinful ways making you despise wisdom (another way to describe foolishness!)? 

Are your own iniquities increasing your afflictions? 

Is your current situation generating a lot of fears? Is your future looking pretty bleak? Are the waves beyond you? The Lord has power to raise the wind and the waves, and he also has the power to still them and bring you to a safe haven!

Are you facing impossibilities? Or are you being led by God to enter something that, humanly speaking, does not make any sense? The Lord can turn rivers into deserts and vice versa. He can also help people get established and experience the richness of life in places where signs of life are the last thing you see right now.

Oh but wait, as if this was not enough, God does not put up forever with the oppression of his people. The Lord “pours contempt on princes and makes them wander in trackless wastes” when they oppress his people. Furthermore, “He raises up the needy out of affliction and makes their families like flocks.”

So how powerful can God be over our current situations? Very powerful! Consistent with how he works, “He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction.” (20) Words from God become conduits of his power. He pronounces realities into being. That is amazing!

No wonder the recurring response of those who experience the redemption of God in some way is to thank him for his steadfast love and “his wondrous works to the children of man!”

It is no wonder that the Psalmist ends this passage with the most appropriate exhortation:

“Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things; let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord.” I am not sure if only the wise are positioned to attend these things or if anyone who attends to these things becomes wise. Regardless of what the right conclusion is, the exhortation is the same for everyone: consider the steadfast love of God.

How is God showing you his steadfast love today? Or, how do you need his steadfast love in your life?

The distance between your current situation and his help is just a cry for help away!

Learning to Surf the Waves

I spent some time down at the shore this summer. As a kid, we would spend every summer down in Ocean City, NJ. I grew up with a single mom who had a beautician shop connected to our tiny apartment over my grandparents’ house. We didn’t have much money, so I learned to work for everything I had. Mom tells the story of one Christmas she was able to buy me a saddle for my little pony I had worked for. The first words out of my mouth when I saw it under the tree were, “Do I have to pay for it?”.

In order for us to go down to the shore, I was allowed to have a little brown bank out in her beauty shop that her customers would put tips in all year. When the bank got full, I knew how much extra spending money we would have for the shore. It was exciting to count it out. Then, the best part would come. I would eagerly anticipate what I would do once I got down on the boardwalk. I had to get my raft, the heavy blue canvas one with the bright yellow ends. You may know the one! Then onto the 5 and dime to get my ever so popular shark bracelet. The bright white one that was so cool to wear. I was now ready to take on the waves.

As our family would take the walk to the beach from Plymouth Place, between 7th and 8th Street, I would be so excited to tackle the challenging waves. The bigger the better. Oh, I loved it. I honestly cannot remember any instruction of what I could or couldn’t do out there, except swim in front of the lifeguards. My snazzy raft and I, paddling out to the deep where the waves were crashing in. I would sit there on the top my raft feeling good. I was probably 10 or 11 years old, thinking I was one of those surfers. My board was just softer and safer than theirs! LOL

As I would look out onto the horizon; I would spot the waves rolling in, getting bigger and bigger. The bigger they were, the farther I could ride it in was the idea. Picture it, the white caps rolling in, my heart pounding faster and faster with excitement, and then boom, I hit the top of the wave and start sailing into shore. But then bam, I go head over heals onto the ocean floor, floundering and rolling over and over. Scrapes and little bruises would result, but a fun story would emerge. Battle scars! ‘Time to hit the waves again’, I would say! I was determined to learn how to stay on that raft and surf the waves, having a blast rather than hitting the ocean floor, which was hard, rocky, painful and unattractive.

I never thought that those raft experiences as a child would teach me a basic truth about life. It goes something like this: before I got really serious about following Jesus Christ, I repeatedly hit the hard, rocky, painful and unattractive floor of life. I would stay down there for days, weeks, months and even years. Yes, I went to church. Yes, I professed to be a Christian. But I was not seriously following Jesus into every area of life. Following Jesus meant that I had to ask Him about everything. How I should use my finances, where He wanted me to live, what car to buy, what career path to take, what ministries to serve in. You get the idea. It meant I couldn’t call the shots for my life anymore. I would be handing my life over to Him. I actually thought I had done that when I got saved, but with more inspection, I realized I hadn’t. I was still holding on and not surrendering my whole life to Him. I had to make a decision. Am I going to follow what the Bible says or am I going to continue to pick and choose what I consider comfortable and on the rest I would use my veto power? As long as I used my veto power I would always hit the ocean floor. Not because God wanted that. It was simply a consequence of my choices. When I finally got serious about following Jesus, I began a new healing journey.

During that journey I came to understand that I could learn to surf life’s waves and not get so beat up by life’s twists, turns, ups and downs. Let me explain.

The Bible says in John 16:3 “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

It also says this:

1 John 5:4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

John 16:33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

James 1:12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.

Isn’t that amazing!! It’s like riding on the top of that white cap wave, riding it in when you know full well that the ocean floor is right below you, with the capability to rough you up for a long time.

I am not saying that in all of life’s circumstances you will be able to ride the wave in. There are things that knock me down, so many times and I roll a bit. But I have to grab those scriptures, choose to believe what they say and know what they mean- not just read them and hope something will happen. I have to intentionally choose to believe what they are saying. It is then, and only then, that I am able to climb back up on the top of my life raft, which is built on the solid rock of Jesus Christ and His promises for me. That is how I continue to surf life’s waves and spend smaller amounts of time on the ocean floor.

Last weekend I was down on the beach in Ocean City watching a whole group of surfers. They were really great. When they wiped out, it was quite something, but they loved it. It was evident on their faces. Joy. That’s what I saw. That’s what I want. To continue to learn how to experience that joy the Bible promises, as we are able to grasp.

Revelation 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Amen

Blessings Friends,

Loi

The Gospel That Can Guide Parenting And Change A Family

Recently I came across the newest book Paul Tripp released on parenting (Parenting: The 14 Gospel Principles That Can Radically Change Your Family). I really would like to recommend this book. Paul Tripp has brought into one place many of his key teachings regarding parenting. This time, he is approaching it from the point of view of 14 gospel principles that can, as Tripp affirms, "radically change your family". Click here to read more about this sound and helpful resource designed for those who are parenting, work with children or have a chance to influence children. A free excerpt from the book can be obtained by visiting the link. For a Kindle version click here.

Sincerely,

Diego Cuartas

The Heart of a False Teacher: Wolves Among Us, Part 1

Earlier in the summer, my wife Lisa and I visited a "wolf sanctuary" near Lancaster, PA. I don't particularly even like wolves. In fact, they are probably my least favorite animal besides snakes.  During a small tour of the wolf sanctuary, I learned many interesting facts about wolves and wolf packs. But several particular facts about wolves stood out to me - wolves exist in packs usually with the dominant alpha male. They grew up together and they hunt together and they work together for the sole benefit of the pack. But this amazed me: it is a difficult thing, if not nearly impossible, to introduce a new wolf to a pre-existing pack. The wolf 'zookeeper' have made attempts to introduce an orphan wolf into various packs. If the wolves go at each other face-to-face, there's a good chance that this orphaned wolf can be assimilated into the pack. However, it doesn't usually work this way. More often than not, the alpha male will attack the orphaned lone wolf from behind, aiming for the back or the back of the legs or the hindquarters. If the pack attacks the wolf from behind, this wolf will have to be isolated from the rest of them - or they will kill it. Interesting right? It is clear that the wolf that attacks from behind and not straight on is the more dangerous wolf. Jesus told the apostles that he was sending them out like lambs among wolves. The imagery by Christ is quite fitting. We are his sheep - sheep of the one true shepherd, and wolves do exist. These creatures have instinctive attack and crave to devour their prey. The Old Testament false prophets were wolves - the New Testament false apostles were wolves - the false teachers in the church today are wolves as well. Satan's strategy through time really hasn’t changed much.

When studying the Scriptures, I did not find three nor five nor even ten characteristics of a false teacher. Instead, I found scores of biblical passages and dozens upon dozens (in fact hundreds) of wolf-like characteristics. First, false teachers and false shepherds are everywhere - they are not just on your television or on your Facebook feed. The Scriptures indicate that they have "secretly slipped in and crept in among you." They are not just national or international - they are local and regional. Now hear me here - my bold words are not meant to divide or call suspicion to anyone specifically. But I am making an indictment on false teachers for the sake of truth. We need to be Biblically conscious. Jude tells us that we will have to contend and fight with them. 2 Peter 2:1-3 also warns us about false teachers. In 2 Corinthians 11, Paul uses personal examples about how he dealt with their schemes. In 3 John, the beloved apostle John names the man Deotriphes and calls him out as a wolf who wants to be first. Paul adds further insight to us by dealing with dissenters in Romans 16:17-18 and Titus 3:9-11. Even Jeremiah 23 list the characteristics of the Old Testament false prophets. The Scriptures are not silent about wolves and false prophets and false teachers. The below list is only a function of what the Scriptures have to say about these existing wolves. I couldn't possibly list them all, but here are some traits of these ravenous wolves:

1.  They are 'among you'
2. Subtle and secretly crept in
3. Secretly introduce destructive heresies
4. Bewitch people and mislead with manipulative information
5. Divisive and opposing; usually stand diametrical to something good
6. Denying Christ, which means 'saying no habitually' to the Lord Jesus
7. Many follow their sensualities, appeals and lusts
8. Malign the way of truth and distort the Gospel
9. Warped, perverted, literally twisted
10. Greedy and covetous, instinctively want more, hearts that are trained as experts in greed, replicate Ahab & Jezebel's covetous heart, exploit and make market of people for money
11. Bold, willful, self-willed, self-centered, self feeders, self-absorbed
12. Are a burden to the people financially and relationally
13. They want to be equal with the real shepherds; undermine real authority
14. Masquerade and disguises, pretenders, hypocrites; grand deceivers
15. They exploit people with made-up stories for greed and financial gain
16. Want to be first, desiring preeminent; 'first lust', push themselves to the front
17. Are not humble, truthful, loving or hospitable
18. Accommodate the lies/slander/false accusations & false Gospels, the culture, and sin
19. Reject real shepherds/real apostles/real prophets with hatred and abuses
20. Grumblers and faultfinders; overbearing; critical, demanding
21. Have an instinctive moral twist; literally perverted
22. Provoke fear and scatter the sheep; divide unto disunity
23. They follow evil and use their power unjustly; they use and abuse naive people
24. Strengthen the hands of evildoers and falsely accuse the innocent
25. They spread the contagion of ungodliness
26. They speak visions from their own minds
27. They are not sent by the Lord nor do they speak His Word
28. They give the people false hopes and falls visions and say mostly pleasant things
29. They deceive and lie; they are 'pot stirrers'
30. They do not really build trust, but rather they destroy trust through provoking division by slander/deception/false accusation; they release faulty info and cause great scandals
31. They pursue dishonest gain and turn godliness into a means unto financial gain, which is similar to greed and covetousness; they love money and they want your money
32. They use smooth talk and flattery to gain advantages over the naïve
33. They put obstacles and stumbling blocks in the way of others; causing hindrances
34. They serve their own appetites; bent on instincts and natures and lusts
35. They question authority and refuse to submit; they love to be in charge & in control
36. They are agents of disunity; they polarize and divide and create dissent
37. They are subtle in their operation and create much confusion; misleading
38. They hate being confronted or corrected; they refuse correction and are unrepentant
39. They tell cleverly invented stories that they've made up; they speak visions from their own minds; they promise freedom but really enslave people into blind spiritual bondages
40. They are nearsighted with no real 'Peripheral' for context or a wider view
41. They appeal to the senses (sensual) and provoke various types of lusts (not just sexual)
42. They live in sheep's clothing and disguise themselves as angels of light
43. They counsel rebellion and divide the people and even leaders
44. They propagate and reproduce heresy and error
45. They are not sent by God, and they distort the Scriptures and God's Word
46. -500.....

I just listed 45 characteristics of wolves as false teachers. The Bible lists hundreds of traits for them. God's Word also counters these negatives with positive traits of the true shepherds and true apostles and true prophets. The false one usually seems to be subtle, but usually displays insubordination andis indignant. They are immoral, but it's not just sexual but moral and ethical. They plot evil and revel in their glory and greed.  Again, my goal is not to create suspicion - but we need to be aware and conscious of the fact that there are wolves among us.  They may not display every characteristic that I've listed above, but they will have some, if not many.  Be discerning as a sheep. You Shepherds guard the flock. Listen to the voice of the one true Shepherd, for His call from His voice is in a different direction. He beckons us toward a cross, a resurrection, and an eternal hope that is the antithesis of every wolf. Leaders, guard your flock from wolves. One of our founding fathers, Samuel Adams, said this over 200 years ago, "A strongman is a fool if he lets loose the wolf without first dulling its teeth or pairing its nails. There is no accommodation of a wolf - ever." In our culture of tolerance, we have accommodated wolves. Sadly, many have done the same in Christian ministries and even in churches. And they will feed on sheep. Let it not be so, Lord Jesus. Help us fight off these ravenous wolves who are ferocious. Come quickly, Christ, our one true Shepherd. But the rest of us must contend with wolves, so stand firm and fight for this Gospel and the Savior Jesus who we called Lord.

[I recently preached a sermon on the above topic, which you can listen to here.]

Thor Knutstad, Pastoral Counselor 

My Pictures Look Magical, But I'm In The Trenches!

We started our first year of homeschool this week.

I put all the cutsey, happy pictures up on Facebook and Instagram. But do you want to know a secret? What I really felt wasn't all cutsey and happy, actually. Sure, I thought my girls looked adorable in their uniforms that we chose to have them wear to help them distinguish between playtime and school time. And there were moments when I thought, 'We're really going to enjoy this.'

But most of the week was overwhelming.

One morning I got up before the rest of the family to think about why I was so overwhelmed, and I realized that what I was feeling was that same old feeling that I've felt at other big intersections of being a mother, like: becoming a mom, staying home alone with two girls while my husband went back to work, potty training, sending my daughter to kindergarten (and therefore starting to embark on the 'letting go' stage of parenting).

It's that nagging feeling inside that I'm just not sure that I HAVE WHAT IT TAKES to do this part of mothering.

I remember when I first became a mother I really had to grapple with this. I kept thinking, "I don't know if I'm really CUT OUT for this, for being a mother. I don't know if I have it in me." It was a big doubt for me. I kept questioning, even up until my first daughter's first birthday, if I was 'cut out' for mothering. 

And I still question myself...all the time. Do I have what it takes?

Choosing to homeschool is making me face this question again. Am I smart enough to think through educational philosophies and understand what they entail? Am I wise enough to choose which educational philosophy and how I want my daughters to learn? Am I restful enough, still enough, motivated enough to be able to sit down and spend ALL DAY with my girls? Am I a good enough leader to be able to create a place of learning that is magical and full of wonder for them? Will I be able to explain things well enough to them that they learn? 

So as we climbed the stairs to our little school room this week, our pictures on social media may have looked magical to the world, but the feelings I had inside of me were certainly not magical. They were overwhelmed, concerned, worried, intimidated and unsure.

In the middle of my less-than-magical feelings, I read this little blurb on Instagram about an author that I really enjoy:

So I decided that even though my personal 'trenches' this September aren't as tough as announcing a separation, they are MY trenches. And I want to show up...'in the during.' In the middle of my process. Before I'm settled in my spirit about all the answers and all the comforts that will carry me through the school year.

So, for anyone else out there who is in similar shoes as me, who is muddling through their own 'during,' I'm just going to share some resources that have started to speak to my soul already.

The first is an article from Desiring God blog. I think alot of where I need to come to in my mind over and over and over again is the place of being ok with weakness- because it leads me to a place of needing God and crying out to Him. And relying on Him for all the things: wisdom, patience, energy, parenting discernment...it's such a good place to hope in Him. This article describes the beauty of weakness so well:

Embracing Weakness Will Change Your Life

In a similar vein, the next thing that is encouraging me is found in this blog post, Missional Motherhood. It's a short paragraph that gripped me when I read it. It reminded me of my 'place' as a mother, the ok-ness of my frailty: how right and ordained it is to be weak.

"First, we get a grip on being a jar of clay.

Not one mother can claim to have it all together. Being a fragile, common jar of clay means that we are free to enjoy and appropriate the sufficient grace of God and show the world that “the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us” (see 2 Corinthians 4:7–10). Because Christ’s strength is made perfect through weak moms, we are free to lose the pretense that we are self-sufficient moms. Instead, we can boast all the more gladly of our weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest on us and fuel our contentment (2 Corinthians 12:9–10)."

On the other hand, I ALSO need to come to a place of finding out that, as I call on God, I CAN do the things God has asked me to do...because He is with me and He made me and He has given me what I need to follow Him into these new areas. Essentially, I do have what it takes to walk into this new area, because God Himself promises and provides it. Here's resource number two, straight from God's Word:

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Hebrews 13:20

I can do all things [which He has called me to do] through Him who strengthens and empowers me [to fulfill His purpose—I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency; I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses me with inner strength and confident peace.] 

Philippians 4:13

Lastly, there are a few songs that I've been listening to. I typically am most helped by songs when I actually stop all my other activities and multi-tasking and just lay on the floor...or go for a run or a walk...or sit on my couch and listen to the song. It's like I remember who I am in those still moments. It's like my soul was as dry as a desert and then it's being plunged into a cup of water and just soaking in the truth that it so desperately needs. Here are some that have been a good reminder of truth for me:

So there you have it. Some of the resources and content that have been helping good old "Mrs. Teacher," the new homeschool mom, grapple through this new adjustment, as I come up against the same old doubt that says, "I'm not sure if I have what it takes." 

May they bless someone else out there who is also hanging out in the trenches with me this September. <3

Dear Alathea

Although I have been out of school for years, I may be forever ruined by the school calendar. September always feels more like the new year to me than January. With that sense of newness comes anticipation and excitement for me. Change is in the air. There is a change of weather, change from summer routines and daily rhythms, change in clothing and decorations, new learning opportunities etc. Some years the changes are big. Last year we were anticipating my husband changing jobs and the birth of our second daughter, Alathea. Other years, changes may feel like minor tweaks or refining. Looking back on this year, September to September, I have experienced quite the gamut of both. In a little over a month my daughter will turn one, and with that realization comes all the emotion, memories and lessons learned this past year. The best way I could think to process that and share with you was through a letter to her. So here it goes.

“Dear Alathea,

Oh man. Here come the tears, haha. My little love, I CANNOT BELIEVE that it has almost been a year since you were born. Just this time last year, I still had yet to meet you, and having suffered much with my health during my pregnancy with you I was both thanking God everyday that you weren’t born early and yet wishing the days would speed by until your birth.

Your birthday came soon enough, somewhere between early and right on time. There you were, pink and perfectly beautiful with a cry that often sounded like you were heartbroken. Although you weren’t my first baby, I experienced so many firsts with you. For one thing, I got to hold you and snuggle you right away, and you stayed in my room with me the WHOLE time I was in the hospital. I didn’t want to put you down because I was sure that the doctors and nurses were going to have to keep you longer like when Savanna was born. I was trying to treasure all my little moments with you.

Even though you were the second, you were the first I experienced the newborn stage with. My first times up exclusively nursing in the middle of the night were with you. You were the first to sleep in our bed. After a few nights of little to no sleep, I wasn’t as worried about doing everything by the textbook.

You are the first and only you. Learning your personality and seeing what you bring to our family through your little life has been such a joy! You are such a gift, sweet girl. You are determined, and quietly observant but oh so smiley. You love your big sister. Just the sight of her makes you laugh.

You are so loved. God knew what he was doing when He gave you to us and to me. Your name means truth. And you, beautiful Alathea, are a living Ebenezer, a marker of God’s truth drawing close to us through your life. I feel like I get glimpses of what God feels about me when I look at you and Savanna: great joy, delight and compassion in abundance.

I am also learning again the beauty and significance of little moments. As your mama, sometimes I am tempted to think that my life is passing by in insignificant little moments of picking up messes, wiping boogers, endless nursing and laundry. Oh, the laundry! I get tempted to feel like I am not doing enough. However, since you have been born, I am realizing again (like a child I too am being patiently led by God) that you two girls are my greatest mission, and ‘…little moments are significant because they are little moments. These are the moments that make up our lives. These are the moments that set up our future. These are the moments that shape our relationships’ (Paul Tripp, The Significance of Little Moments). Life really is made up of little moments. God slowed me down during my pregnancy, and most days felt as though they were being lived moment to moment of being faithful to my diet and taking my medications. Day by day I relied on Him for strength. And today still, day by day and moment by moment I rely on Him for wisdom and perspective for my days.

It is my hope that one day you will be able to learn from me what I am being taught by God through being your mama. Alathea, the moments when I follow His voice when no one is around are important. The moments I choose to be fully present with you both over finishing my agenda are important. Life is made up of many moments, and though they may seem fleeting, in the grand scheme of things they are big.

I am so glad you were born.

Love, Mama”

Friends, may God grant us grace to live fully engaged. The “little” moments are significant and make up the richness of our lives.

Today

In my June blog, I wrote a little about my sweet dad. But I didn’t tell you everything. I didn’t confess just how annoying he was.

My dad was a morning person.

Some of my “worst” childhood memories are of Daddy waking me up.

A World War Two Veteran, Daddy loved blaring Reveille on his shiny trumpet at the foot of my warm and cozy bed. Really?

Or, as he shaved each morning before heading off to work, he belted out his favorite hymns loudly enough for all of Elmer to be evangelized and for me to cover my head with a groan. No one should be so pleasant at 6:30 AM.

But I think Daddy’s favorite strategy was to cheerily call from the doorway, “Rise and shine! This is a day that the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.”  Ah, the Bible dart! Straight from the Psalms to pierce and shame me. What’s a kid to do with that?

Daddy wanted us to “seize the day.” He taught us—and lived—that each day was a gift from our Father to treasure and use for His purposes. And we should be thankful for each one, no matter how rudely or how early we were awakened to it. It was almost like he knew he didn’t have a lot of time.

I’ve been thinking about that lately.  I officially joined the ranks of the proud, Medicare-Card-Carriers this month.  A few days later, I attended an unexpected, bittersweet funeral of a dear family member. There’s nothing like a few out-of-the-ordinary life events like these to get one’s attention. So I hit the pause button of my busy life. Speak, Lord. Let me hear from You. Let me get it.

 Words spoken at the funeral service to the grieving family are still echoing through my brain. The pastor reminded those gathered of Psalm 90:12. “Teach us to number our days…” Hmmmm. How am I doing with that? I’ve known to do this since childhood. Days are a gift to be stewarded, to be grateful for, to be lived for Jesus. Have I gotten off track? And, seriously, just how many days do I have left?

Moses, the author of this oldest of Psalms, seems to indicate that this awareness of our allotted time isn’t a natural exercise, that we thick-headed humans need a Teacher, a divine instructor to train us, to remind us that we are like grass that springs up in the morning, blooms and flourishes, but by evening, is dry and withered. He says that we then “fly away.”  Not something too many of us care to think about, is it? But we should. And when we do, we need to cry out for the Teacher who will “teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.”

I want to be wise in the use of my limited number of days, don’t you? If I am carelessly breezing through them with no real purpose or intentional goals, living only for my own selfish pleasures and desires with no thought for tomorrow or for what God has for me to accomplish on my journey here, I am squandering a very precious, priceless gift, one I will never be able to recover. It only takes a few moments to glance at my ink-covered calendar or to open my checkbook or scroll through my iPhone to get a fairly accurate assessment of what I am doing with the days—the minutes and hours—of my brief life.

I don’t want to waste them. And I don’t want to be too busy to be able to meet a hurting friend to talk and pray—or to cuddle my grandchildren or take a walk on the beach or to feed my birds. It’s not about busyness at all...or accomplishing great things. It’s simply about making conscious, deliberate, and informed choices about the best use of each day I have…for my Father.

I think I need planned flexibility. I need to thoughtfully schedule all the important events of each day along with all of my ordinary tasks--while recognizing the Father’s ultimate authority and right to revamp and reorganize my day any way He sees fit. I release my day to Him, discerning He knows what’s best for me, how I need to be spending the moments I have been given. I need to pay attention to His promptings, to the divine interruptions He orchestrates for me. Then, at the end of each day, with a gratifying sense of accomplishing my Father’s will, my heart will rejoice and I will rest in His good pleasure.

Often, early in the morning, I pull my quilt up around my neck and smile. I find I’m waiting for Daddy’s voice (or his horn!) to rouse me from my sleepiness and get me up to “attack the day.” What a precious memory that is now…what a blessing to have been given such an “annoying,” wise dad like him.

So today, I listen for my Heavenly Father’s voice. He, too, wants me to embrace today. I don’t know how many todays I may have left before His trumpet sounds. Now that’s a blast I can’t wait to hear…early morning or not.

How about you? 

Special Alert

B-Being

U-Under

  S-Satan’s

Y-Yoke

Each year I hear parents reporting on how they are preparing for the new school year. Filling up the calendar with important things like school of course, than the other possibilities: whether it’s sports, the arts, or any other variety of things that are offered to your children.

The temptation will be to fill up the calendar with activities for each child or else, in our culture’s mind, you will be labeled as a bad parent.

The sad truth is, I not only hear all of the activities that will be starting in the new school year, I hear these things as well:

• “We only have a chance to connect as a family when we come to counseling for the week because we’re so BUSY”
• “I haven’t seen my kids all week to be able to talk with them about our value system because we are so BUSY”
• “We were too BUSY to do our assignment for the week”
• “I haven’t gotten around to leading the family devotion because we were so BUSY this week”

The list could go on and on.

The belief that children will learn important life skills through having to participate on a team, dealing with conflict and how to be disciplined in a sport or the arts is very true. All of these values are present as I used to participate in team sports growing up. The art of discipline, hard work, dedication. But...when our value system is the Word of God, our culture cannot be the measuring stick that we look to in order to inform our decisions.

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

In order to train a child it takes time. So I looked up the definition.

Time-

noun \'tim\ 

Simple Definition of time

: the thing that is measured as seconds, minutes, hours, days, years, etc.

: a particular minute or hour shown by a clock

: the time in a particular area or part of the world

Hmm....you can ask yourself, how much time am I investing into my children? Or am I unloading my responsibility of training them onto the school, sports or dance?

So what does this training word mean?

Train

noun

Simple Definition of training

: a process by which someone is taught the skills that are needed for an art, profession, or job

: the process by which an athlete prepares for competition by exercising, practicing.

The whole point of this blog is to help you take the time to prioritize your upcoming schedule, keeping at the forefront of your mind how you use this precious gift of time and training up your children. God gave them to you as a gift to train. They are really His and He has entrusted them to you in order to raise up Godly men and women to walk out their purpose on planet earth.

Once again, the Bible says:

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, friends,

Lois Robinso

Profile Of A Workaholic

This week I would like to feature a blog present by Ray Pritchard in the CareLeader website. I encourage you to approach the blog from two angles: seek to understand this life-draining dynamic and seek to examine your own life in light of it.

I can think of times in my life when I turned to "work" to avoid some painful reality or perhaps conversation I wanted to protect myself from. I used work for a purpose God not design it for in my life. This is what I mean by life-draining. 

I hope this blog resources you in some edifying way. Click here to access the blog!

Sincerely,

Diego Cuartas

Tattoos

Tattoos. What’s your take on them?  Do you like them? Do you have one? Do you like the multi-colored ones, or just black?  Flowers? Hearts? Flags? Or don’t you like them at all?

I have to confess; I have two of them. They were done fourteen years ago, when I was 71. But they are really, really small.

They are just two tiny dots to show the radiologists where to aim, because I had breast cancer. I suppose that I should have been more involved with my diagnosis and treatment, but I wasn’t. I was too busy. I did what they said and showed up when I was supposed to, but I just wasn’t really with it. I didn’t have the time or the energy. Because my husband was in and out of the hospital with esophageal cancer, and he really needed me to be there to help make important treatment decisions.  And I was exhausted.

We lived in Manahawkin, and my radiation was being done in the hospital there; he was in Jefferson in Philadelphia, 60 miles away. So I would get up in the morning, do what I absolutely had to do at home, run in to Radiology, and then drive to Jefferson to spend time with him; then drive home in the dark and wake up the next day and do it all over again, 5 days a week. On weekends, blessedly, there was no radiation, and I could spend all day at Jefferson. At the end, though, he came home in Hospice, and the day he died was the next to last day of my radiation. I kept my appointments.

This little short story is just a snapshot of the many times when we face situations we cannot change and don’t see how we can handle. How can we do it? Where can we turn?  I wasn’t   especially strong or especially anything. But I had the greatest thing in the world going for me. I had Jesus.

I know that ‘I can do all thing through Christ who strengthens me’, but that didn’t change needing to be in two places at once. But Paul also said, In Acts 22:33:  Pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

And It’s true. God CAN and DOES step into these situations and make all things possible. You can be frightened, you can be grieving, you can be angry, you can be totally overwhelmed. I’ve been in all of those miserable places and more, but when I prayed, and especially when I remembered all the times that God had already brought me through, I could feel God’s peace running beneath all the pain and confusion, strong and steady. His doctors became available when I could be there. I could do it.

God is so good. I am stubborn. But after enough times when I first tried to battle it out on my own, I finally got smart and gave up on THAT scene, and started to remember to trust God FIRST. And then it became almost automatic, and that was God ‘guarding my heart and mind’. Without this process, it is so easy for us to slip into resentment and bitterness, which is certainly not what God desires for us. His peace really is beyond our understanding, not only because he is eager to offer it to us, but also in its depth and power. And it is ours for the asking.

What a wonderful God we have!

I Remind You: You Are Being Pursued

Recently my wife and I had a chance to participate in one of the annual Summits Celebrate Recovery offered. This one took place in Murfreesboro, TN, which by the way is a beautiful piece of our country! At this event we had a chance to hear the Hosanna Poetry Artist who presented a piece entitled: “Pursued”. It was so moving! It reminded me of how deep and obsessive is the love of God toward me. Not a love I can earn. Not a love I can coerce. Not a love I can even accurately define. 5:21, that is five-minutes-and-twenty-one seconds. This is how long it will take for you to see and listen, from start to end, a beautiful piece of poetry that will remind you, once more, of God’s relentless intensions to pursue you. Yes, you. Click here and enjoy this creative presentation to be reminded of the all time truth that God has loved us first (1 John 4:9-10).

Eat It iPhone: Part II

A few months ago, I wrote a post called Eat It, iPhone! (Putting My iPhone in Its Place). I felt excited for a few days, maybe a week, about implementing the ideas I wrote about for putting some boundaries around my iPhone usage. 

But I have to tell you...after a few days, there I was again, back to same habits, mindlessly scrolling Facebook when I had a free moment. Hiding from my kids in the bathroom, on Pinterest, feverishly searching out my next improvement. Checking my phone as soon as I woke up. 

I'm not saying at all that I shouldn't be on Facebook or Pinterest or my phone. I think you know that. But I honestly just feel like my brain (and my heart) keeps turning again and again to find something to fill me. To fill the void of boredom, of the monotony of life, of the routine moments. To escape from the grind of life. I'm looking for entertainment. I'm looking for rest. I'm looking for something to rescue me from it all.

I'm finding that this issue goes a little deeper for me than I originally thought. 

My husband and I have been having some honest conversations about these things that I'm feeling. I feel tired. I feel like the day is a never-ending list of tasks. And that's part of why I'm looking for some kind of rest, and some kind of filling, when I'm flipping through my phone. But I'm finding that it's not restful at all. It's actually more cluttering to my mind and my emotions. 

It's kind of like how I think I'll be more fulfilled if I have more stuff, buy more things, but then I actually just end up feeling more weighed down by the material things cluttering up my life. Or when I think junk food will be so satisfying, but I end up feeling sick and gross.

So, yes, we've been having these conversations, my husband and I. We've been sitting out on the porch after the kids are in bed, and I've been trying to unravel what I feel inside.

And some of the things we're discussing now are subjects like: what really is restful for me. And how I tend to think that if I'm resting, then I should feel lazy, and therefore guilty. I think I've bought into the lie that my worth is linked to my efficiency and productivity. And so I haven't been intentionally resting, playing, relaxing. I then find myself trying to escape through my phone. Trying to get away from my kids and my family because I'm just so stinking tired.

So, practically, some of things we're trying out are:

·       Me getting up early. I know this doesn't sound 'restful,' but, for me, it really is. I find I really need the space to be disconnected from my children's needs and voices and hands. I need the time to think and process. I feel like I'm drowning throughout the day if I don't have time to think. And be quiet. And be alone. So this includes, right now, time for me to do some kind of connection with God, some kind of thinking about my own emotional state, some kind of exercise (because I also have issues where I end up fluctuating in my emotions about myself and my physical body very extremely if I'm not exercising. Exercising is one tangible way I manage a more healthy perspective about my body), and a shower. All before the girls wake up. The way we've entitled this space in our talks is 'scheduling in margin.' If I don't have 'margin' in my day, I'm finding I just don't do well. I look for it unhealthy ways.

·       A few small technology shifts, such as when I read a book, I'm going to try to read an actual book, instead of reading it on my Kindle app on my iPhone. This helps create needed space between me and the iPhone. And it helps my brain do 'resting type things' that are related to a screen.

·       Setting boundaries around cleaning. This may sound completely unconnected, but, for me, it's in the same stream of consciousness. I end up feeling like nothing is ever clean, like I've never done enough, and that's not very far from believing that I'm never enough. Which leads me to want to disconnect, escape, get away from my family because the tasks are never done, there's never a place for rest, and I'm never good enough (that line of thinking has a name: shame). Pretty nasty stuff. So we're finding that I actually, for now, need some pretty strict boundaries on when and how much I can clean. Crazy! Here's what we're doing: every morning, I set the timer and clean up (and do other cleaning projects) for 30 minutes. Then, after dinner, we set the timer for 30 minutes again and both clean for 30 minutes. So that gives us about 90 minutes a day of 'house-cleaning time.' Whatever gets clean, gets clean. And then we just label the house (whether it technically IS or ISN'T) as CLEAN. It is DONE. It is CLEAN. Regardless of whether I think it's perfect or good enough...it's CLEAN. And this creates an atmosphere for me where I can feel like my day is no longer a never-ending series of tasks that never end, and never get done, and I'm never enough. That just helps me not want to turn to my phone for rest because I'm always working to prove that I'm NOT 'not enough.'

·       A technology sabbath and a regular sabbath. I've always kind of felt like I 'couldn't sabbath' because...'I'm a mom.' I couldn't stop working for a day because 'I have children,' and that's my job. But I've started having this conviction that part of my tiredness is connected to my lack of intentional sabbath (or stopping). My lack of sabbath mentality (as well as sabbath practice). So, honestly, I've only tried two sabbaths so far. But the first one was a wonderful success. I'll tell you why I label it a success. First, I decided that I wanted to make my sabbaths also 'technology sabbaths' (where I'd give my phone to my husband, and tell him, "Could you be in charge of anything pressing that anyone texts, but otherwise, I don't want to see my phone at all today?"). That was so good for me: all week I've felt like that simple act in itself of disconnecting from my phone created the space that I've wanted from my phone, but haven't been able to do on my own willpower. The day of being away from it severed my need for it. I don't know if it will always be that way, but this week, I haven't really had the same draw to my phone that I previously did. And it was SO GOOD for my soul to be reminded that everyone in the world would get along fine without me, without my input. My friends, my family, would be fine without me. God is plenty sufficient for all their needs. It was like my mind had to rest in the bigness of God, simply by letting go of my phone and instant connection to everyone for that one day. I didn't anticipate that. And the regular sabbath part of the day was just plain old good for me. To let myself take a nap without guilt. To read happily. It actually made me want to connect with one of my nieces when I was with my family in a way I wouldn't normally, because I'd typically feel too drained. I had extra space in my heart. 

So there you have it. Some of the things that we're trying to implement for me to dig deeper into this issue of rest and where I find it. Carving out intentional spaces for rest, so that I wouldn't constantly be longing for it and looking for it in unhealthy and non-restful ways, and coming up exhausted. 

If you're at all interested in a few more blogs or resources that I, myself, found helpful in my journey, I'll list some below. They're just regular blogs of regular people:

A mother's thoughts on how technology is influencing her child:

http://www.icanteachmychild.com/the-ipad-is-stealing-my-sons-childhood/

Both of these two blogs are commenting on the need for technology sabbaths:

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2014/05/20/tech-sabbath/

http://mediashift.org/2012/06/why-we-need-a-technology-sabbath158/

A mother's thoughts on how busyness is influencing her family:

http://raisedgood.com/simplifying-heals-whole-family/

Focus on the Family's brief comments on the cultural phenomenon of mothers staying so busy:

http://www.focusonthefamily.com/about/focus-findings/parenting/why-is-mom-too-busy

A few blogs of mothers wrestling with the issue of Sabbath:

http://www.theconfidentmom.com/05/faith-and-family/steps-implementing-sabbath/

http://thescooponbalance.com/serious-about-the-sabbath/

https://formissionarymoms.com/2009/03/05/sabbath-rest-with-small-children/

http://www.familylife.com/articles/topics/parenting/challenges/frazzled-family/a-sabbath-for-mommy

Sarah Howard

Huddle Up: It’s Time For a Pep Talk

I always love a good pep talk. My favorite part in many movies is the part where troops are rallied or the main character gets a jolt of strength from recalled wisdom. These moments seem to give a bird’s eye view in the middle of heated circumstances offering the perspective needed to carry on. In similar fashion, I write this for you, for I have found that even when life seems to be relatively uneventful, the ordinary and mundane can whittle away our perspective if we allow it. Let us not lose sight of who we are fighting for, who we are up against or where we are going, whether we are in the thick of battling the hard things in life or going to another day of work. Let us not forget that we are participants in a great story. Let us not forget who we are.

 We have often heard about the powerful impact our story can have on others as we live openly and talk about Jesus’ presence in our lives. However, I have realized that I have to get good at preaching truth to my own heart and soul before I can effectively share with others. So, here is how my pep talk to myself goes.

Who am I fighting for? What is He like? I fight for God, and He is incredibly powerful. “Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all of these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength NOT ONE of them is missing…Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.” He is incredibly good. “…He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak” (Is. 40:26,28, NIV). He is incredibly gracious and compassionate. “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love…As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.” (Psalm 103:4, 13, ESV).

Who am I up against? “… Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8, NIV).” “…He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth , for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44, NIV). 

Who am I? What is true of me? I am free. “For the law of the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:2, ESV). I belong because I am a child of the most high God. “…you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons by who we cry ‘Abba! Father!’…and if children, then heirs-heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ…” (Rom. 8:15, 17, ESV). I am part of a great heritage of faithful fighters. “We do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved” (Heb. 10:39, NIV).

 So why do I keep fighting for truth and striving to run this race with excellence? I fight and run to win! “I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable” (1 Cor. 9:24-25, ESV). I am a participant a GREAT story where God crushes all my enemies and makes me more like Him. “…He will dwell with them and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away… Behold, I am making all things new” (Rev. 3-5, ESV).

This God who is incredibly powerful, good and gracious saw fit to save me! He stepped in to my family’s history and drew close to my grandparents and parents so that I might have the chance to know him. He rescued me from the power of darkness and my enemy the devil who would seek to keep me bound in lies. He has forever changed my identity to be a free, dearly loved child adopted into a new family of faith. He is too big and has brought me too far for me to quit. Hallelujah!! This is the perspective that keeps me going and the pep talk that gives me the tenacity I need to engage daily. So let’s go! It’s time to get off the bench, out of the huddle, back onto the battlefield and into the game. 

Sophia Howard

Caution: Politics Ahead

Caution: Politics Ahead

There's something happening here.  What it is ain't exactly clear.

A fundamental shift is happing in Christendom, or at least in the North American church.  What is it?  Well, as Buffalo Springfield summed it up, it ain't exactly clear.  Ask different members of the faith, and you will likely get different answers.  The old guard, meaning the conservative Christian or "Religious Right", who has been virtually the only voice speaking for all of us, might tell you it's some young liberal progressives with a broken moral compass.  Christian millennials might tell you it's a rejection of the politicization of religion.  Still others might tell you that religion has become too commercial, or the church too corrupt, or the faithful too hypocritical.  And while statistics show that many young people are leaving the church, many others are choosing the path that was not necessarily available ten or twenty years ago.  They are choosing to remain faithful and use their influence to change church culture, and not everyone is happy about it.

In the 90's, there was not much diversity, politically speaking, in the evangelical church.  Nearly every man, woman, and teenager was a cut-and-dry conservative.  In fact, it was basically a foregone conclusion that the born-again flock would vote in lock-step with Jerry Falwell and James Dobson.  Opposing abortion and gay rights were the only political issues that mattered, and Ronald Reagan was the patron saint of the movement.  I remember having a debate with my high school best friend over who was more conservative.  I wore it like a badge of honor.

Many of my friends, family, and church family are still very conservative on most issues.  In fact, if I divide my friends based on age, nearly all who are older than me are more conservative than I am, while most younger than me are less.  My generation is a pretty even split.  I find myself holding on less and less to the ideas that I once held dear.  You could say I’m becoming more liberal, that’s fair, but please reserve judgment as to what exactly that means.

I have gone into detail at other times, in other posts, about my journey, but that is not my point today.  I believe what might be happening in the church is a shifting focus toward love.  Don’t get me wrong – I am not suggesting that this shifting focus toward love and the shift from more conservative to more liberal values are one and the same.  The fact that my more conservative friends are accepting of a variety of viewpoints within the church illustrates the shift toward love.  We are all trying to be more like Christ.  His message was one of inclusive love.  He loved, befriended, socialized with sinners and outcasts.  In his perfection, he loved the unlovable. 

The “Religious Right” of the 80’s and 90’s tended to focus on bringing people into alignment with Christian values through the political process.  While that sounds like a worthwhile pursuit, it was also alienating.  The movement lives on, for better or worse, in today’s politics.  But the church is changing.  Even as US politics become more left-right divisive, the church becomes more and more diverse and accepting of people and viewpoints once considered outsiders.  I can speak openly about topics ranging from social justice to evolution, and expect a spirited debate with no fear that my faith will be questioned.

We might disagree on a lot of topics, but we can agree that more love is always better and that following the example of Jesus is a good place to be.  Even if, for my conservative friends, accepting a “liberal” like me is as far as they are willing to go, I’ll take it.  We are becoming a church that is more accepting of differences, not because we no longer care about sin, but because we are learning to love well.  If that sounds a little murky, that’s OK.  Just keep in mind that old hymn by Buffalo Springfield.

Jeff Hyson

Father's Day

June is full of special days. There are weddings, recitals, and graduations…and then there is Father’s Day. Oh, how I hated Father’s Day. It almost made me dread the whole month of June.

I didn’t have a dad anymore.  I felt cheated. I hated that others had a dad to celebrate. It didn’t seem fair. I didn’t want to be gracious or magnanimous about it at all. I was jealous and angry. I felt like I had to be a phony all that day and try to pretend the gaping hole in my heart didn’t exist. Sometimes I felt like a self-pitying, whining, ungrateful brat. I hated that too. I wanted to just stay in bed. But my husband had a father and my children did too. I knew we needed to celebrate. It was hard to survive the day, but I worked at it…for years.

When I was in my 30’s, I attended a huge conference at the Civic Center in Philadelphia. In the overload of teaching that long week, a verse sprang off the pages of my Bible, one I had seen before, but this time it felt like David, thousands of years earlier, had penned the words specifically for me.

Psalm 68:5 says that God is “Father of the fatherless…” I know it sounds impossible, but I had never thought of myself in those terms before. I knew I didn’t have a dad, but that awful label, fatherless? Yes, I was! And God cared so much about me (and those like me) and because He knew the sadness, insecurity and loneliness I (and others like me) felt without a dad, He addressed the situation directly in His Word. I was astonished! Here was a Truth, a promise, I needed to grasp. I wasn’t abandoned at all. I still had a Father, The Father. And I was His child!

Believe me, no matter how old you get, you never outgrow the longing for a father. Even when biological fathers leave, wound, betray, or fail us, something in us craves that one-of-a-kind relationship. The very word father conjures up sentimental and emotional responses in my heart even today, and I’m a 64-year-old grandmother. For me, it still conveys the notion of protection, security, leadership, vision, affection, understanding, wisdom, safety, authority, belonging, and love. No, you don’t outgrow that desire to have all these, to have someone who cares enough for you to provide them for you. I think it’s because God puts it there.

I was blessed to have an earthly dad who tried his best to represent the character and beauty of my Heavenly Father and to care for his children as the Father would. I think he was, without knowing he would soon have a massive heart attack, making it easy for me to transition my hope, loyalty, and affection to my Heavenly Father. A good father reflects the love of the Heavenly Father and helps us to know Him. I think that’s every father’s job, isn’t it?  

I have since found many promises and words of comfort and encouragement in Scripture that reference my being a beloved child of the Father. Another favorite one comes from Romans 8:15. “The Spirit you received brought about your adoption…”  Adopted! Paul then adds the Aramaic word for father, a word young children might use, and continues his address. “By him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’” What intimacy I am privileged to have with the Heavenly Father, King of the universe, my Daddy.

So Father’s Day has changed for me. The one in June doesn’t bother me—too much. No, I have come to think of every day as Father’s Day. I celebrate my loving Heavenly Father Who blessed me with a good dad for a short time on this earth and has adopted me now as His very own child. I am humbled and grateful.

And I’m sure my Father can beat yours anytime, anywhere…unless, of course, we have the same Father. I hope so.

Then we can celebrate Him every day together.

Don't Run Into The Cross, Come Under It

I am having one of those moments when one looks back on a given experience, and my own response is to smile. Life has a way of teaching us significant things through our day to day experiences - if we stop to reflect on it. I want to take this further and say, God has a way of using all of life to increase our awareness of who we are, who others are or who He really is.

Darkness has a way of reducing our level of awareness. The other night, as I was searching for a piece of sound equipment, I saw the need to walk further into a corner that was very dark. As I held my cell phone to take advantage of the flashlight feature, I took one more step and bam!!! I hit something with the right side of my forehead. I came to realize after a few seconds that I had run into a cross - a human sized cross that was made out of some rugged, hard kind of wood. I reached to feel the spot on my forehead and felt a bit of blood. I could not believe it; I thought to myself, "I just ran into the cross." After a moment of reflection, it was as if God was whispering something softly into my soul. The message was simple: "Diego, it is better to come under the cross than to run into it." I pondered on this thought and realized how living in darkness often causes me and others to run into the cross (or stumble upon it) instead of living under the benefits of the cross. Ultimately speaking, the cross represents the One who is able to both bless (1 Peter2:24) or crush (Luke 20:17-18) anyone depending on that person's relationship to the One represented by the cross. Jesus is the One who is embodied in the cross. He is the One with both authority and power to deal with each human being according to their relationship to Him. If the relationship is characterized by rejection of the cross, the outcome is eternally fatal. On the other hand, if the relationship is a humble posture to come under the benefits of the One who sacrificed it all to reconcile us to God the Father, the gains are glorious and infinitely unending!

Are you running into the cross or are you coming under it? Is your life at present characterized by darkness or are you allowing the light of the cross to bring its transforming light and power over you? 

My little bleeding wound on my forehead accomplished little that night; the blood Jesus shed on the cross is given for our real healing if we come under it: "He himself bore our sins” in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by His wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24).

Diego Cuartas

Letter to Teens Unboxing Their First Smartphone

Here is a link to a helpful article about how to use your smartphone to bring glory to God instead of destruction. This is a helpful article for teens as well as adults.

Yesterday Was Election Day!

“Oh, send out Your light, and Your truth! Let them lead me” Ps. 43:3

Thought I would share a very recent opportunity I was faced with this past week, and it coincided with the message Pastor Nate preached on Sunday about throwing away your VETO stamp.

Interesting, huh?! Here’s the story. For the last several months God has been working on me about making some financial changes to my private counseling practice, Truth and Light Counseling. The way I knew He was working on me is because it became a more frequent topic of conversation for me, I was praying constantly about it, others talked to me about it. Then it is my responsibility to ask God what is my flesh and what is His Spirit in all of this. I certainly do not want to go about it my own way because that won’t end up well.

Anyhow, this past week, the idea of making the change of increasing my fee $15.00 per session was persistent. It was heavy on me, but I was very concerned. I make sure that all decisions for the practice always get filtered through the lens of the original vision God gave me over 20 years ago: provide affordable counseling for people. Everyone cannot pay hundreds of dollars each week for a 50 minute session. I’m one of them!

Fast forward. I was on my way to church last Sunday, driving down the road, and I begged God to really confirm for me that the increase was indeed Him calling me to it, or show me that it was my flesh. I needed to know. I wouldn’t move forward unless I got the confirmation. Immediately these scriptures came to me;

Isaiah 43:19 English Standard Version (ESV)

 19 Behold, I am doing a new thing;

    now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

I will make a way in the wilderness

    and rivers in the desert.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (AMP )

 Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life].

I still cried out and said, “God, are these scriptures confirmation?”

Fast forward. I walk into church, and Pastor Nate starts preaching the Word of God! He talks about what it is like to have everything in our own control, safe, secure, etc. God’s Spirit, or the Holy Spirit, started speaking to me. God showed me how that was exactly what I was doing with Truth and Light Counseling’s fee change. Though it may seem like an insignificant detail to some: what’s $15.00? But it is big. Following Jesus into every area of life is HUGE! Even in our businesses and careers. Truth and Light Counseling BELONGS TO GOD AND IS ON LOAN TO ME TO BE A GOOD STEWARD OF IT. I AM TO CARRY ON THE PRACTICE ACCORDING TO MY BOSS’S DESIRES, AND MY BOSS IS GOD! AMEN

Pastor Nate then went on to talk about the parable of not being able to put “new wine in old wine skins.” It just won’t work. God was definitely calling me to something NEW! There it was! So, you guessed it. I started all my calls to my clients the next day, informing them of the $15 dollar increase, and some actually gave further confirmation as well. It went from a cloudy thought process to a beautiful celebratory event for me.

The verse I named the practice after is found in Psalms 43:3:

“Oh, send out Your light, and Your truth! Let them lead me”

Blessings Friends!

Lois Robinson