Godly Insights for the 21st Century Life

Celebrating Thanksgiving last month got me to thinking about what I'm thankful for. Here, in no particular order, are some of my favorite things from the past year. Christian Music:  I have listened to Christian music since fourth grade, but this past year has been a particularly good one. My favorites include "The Breakup Song" by Francesca Battistelli, "Best News Ever" by MercyMe, and "He Still Does (Miracles)" by Hawk Nelson. "The Breakup Song" is written as a letter to fear to pack up and get out of our lives, and I had some fears that needed to go away, and listening to that song helped me to face them and get rid of them. "Best News Ever" is the message of the gospel in song form, and reminds us that the story of Jesus isn't just good news, it's the best news ever. "He Still Does (Miracles)" is a reminder that the power of God to perform miracles is not just something that happened in biblical times, but so

"I hate what I've become The nightmare's just begun I must confess that I feel like a monster"~Skillet, " Monster " Today is Halloween, a day when ghosts, goblins, and monsters come out of the shadows and freely roam the Earth. Well, sort of. The origins of the holiday as we know it stemmed from that belief, but in reality, it's more of a day to dress up and have fun. However, there is a type of monster that we need to watch out for, one that, unfortunately, can show up at any time and in any place: the monster that lives within our own hearts. In some people, this monstrous version of themselves is quite obvious. Just in the last week, those of us in America heard about at least two of them: one who sent bombs to politicians and one who murdered 11 people as they worshiped in a synagogue. Those were just the ones who made the national news. In big cities, there are even more of these monstrous people wandering about. Where I live, I hear about at

"The time has come to make a choice, and I choose joy."~" Joy "-For King and Country Ever since I got a link to the music video for this song, I loved it. Not only are the costumes and setting of the video fun, but the song itself is as well. I sometimes struggle to be joyful when I hear about all the things happening in our world, and this song was great at encouraging me that it is not only possible, but also freeing. In pursuit of the kind of joy mentioned in the song,  I joined the Faith Gateway Defiant Joy online bible study led by Candace Payne (aka Chewbacca Mom) and Mandisa. Each week of this six week study had a Joy Lab, which contained one or more activities to do to help cultivate joy in our lives. These challenges ranged from finding old pictures of ourselves to carrying around rocks for an entire week. (The pictures were to remind us of times in the past where we were joyful, and the rocks were to represent the struggles we face that weigh us down a

If you read my post, " Road Trip Reflections " you know that I listened to some older albums on my road trip to St. Louis. One thing I meant to put in that post, but forgot to, is how listening to those songs brought back memories of when they first came out. I considered going back and adding that point, but I decided not to because those songs aren't the only ones that are reminders of my past, either because of what was happening in my life when I first heard the song, a past event that I was reminded of the first time I heard the song, or what happened after I knew the song well that drove me to the comfort the song provided. Most of the time, the memories are positive, but there are a few that bring back bad memories. Here are some of the songs that take me back, starting with some I listened to on my trip. Steven Curtis Chapman-" Fingerprints of God " This song originally came out in 1999, but when it really started speaking to me was two years later.

"Jesus said, 'I am the  way, the truth, and the  life.  No one  comes to the Father except through me. '" ~John 14:6, emphasis mine Recently, I saw a post on Facebook asking fellow Christians if they struggle with the idea that belief in Jesus is the only path to eternal life. The author went on to mention how devout Jews faithfully follow God as well, but don't believe in Jesus, and how many people live their entire lives without ever hearing about Him. He even went on to say that scientists believe that there are other planets that may support life, and that these aliens, if they exist and have sufficient intelligence to form a belief system, are overwhelmingly unlikely to believe in Jesus because He is an Earthling. You just can't make this stuff up people! Until he devolved into talk about extraterrestrial life, I could see where he was coming from, to an extent. There are great people throughout history who were not Christians, and it seems wrong for

Earlier this week, I took a solo road trip from my home in Wichita, Kansas to St. Louis, Missouri. The 884 mile round trip took about 15 hours to drive, not including stops for gas, restroom, and meals. That made for a lot of time driving by myself, and when I'm driving for a while by myself, I tend to spend a bit of time thinking. Here, in no particular order, are some of the things I thought about in all that time on the road. The importance of speed limits:  Really this one should be a no-brainer, but it seems like a lot of other drivers were not paying any attention to what the signs said. Shortly after crossing the state line, I saw a sign about how there had been 396 road fatalities so far this year, and 58% weren't wearing their seatbelts. That means that 42% were, which is a whopping 168 people belted in who were killed in car accidents in six months. That figure astounded me until I actually got into St. Louis. As I left the hotel to come home, I got onto I-64, and s

"On and on it goes Till all of us are sucked in. So shut it off and see We're missing out on living."~Barlowgirl, " Time for You to Go " Chances are, you've heard that there was yet another school shooting on May 18 in Santa Fe, Texas. You've probably also heard the call for more gun control in the wake of it, as happens every single time an event like this occurs. However, the more I think about the recent epidemic of mass shootings, the more I think that there is another possible solution to the whole problem, a solution that even if it's been thought of before, has never been reported, and for a very good reason. That solution is less news coverage, and the media would never report it because they are the perpetrators. I'm not saying that there should be no news coverage at all, especially not locally. People need to know what's going on, especially if they are local to the incident. However, covering it in other places, to the dept

"Who have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on Earth I desire other than you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."-Psalm 73:25-26 In high school and college, one of my favorite bands was Barlowgirl, and a song of theirs I really enjoyed was Psalm 73 (My God's Enough) , which is based on the verses quoted above. Since hearing the song for the first time, I have listened to and sang along with it too many times to count. However, I have not always lived up to the challenge of actually letting God be enough in my life. About two months ago, I was reminded of one of those times, although it occurred before I had ever heard the song. My parents and I had to put my beloved cat Angel to sleep on March 13th after having her for almost 14 years. We got her because following Grandma's death, I searched for anything I could to fill the void in my heart, and I was sure a kitten would do the trick. While I loved h

A couple of weeks ago, the school I work at had its Spring Break. One of the things I did in my week off was go see two movies. The first movie I saw was I Can Only Imagine , which tells the story behind the hit MercyMe song. The second was A Wrinkle in Time , based on the 1962 sci-fi/fantasy novel by Madeline L'Engle. Even though I had initially only planned to watch one, I am glad I changed my mind because I enjoyed both movies, although neither was perfect. Here, in no particular order, are a list of the strengths and weaknesses of these two movies. Visuals: One of my favorite things about A Wrinkle in Time  was how beautifully done all the visuals were. Even though I was unable to see the movie while it was still in IMAX, the visuals were still immersive enough to draw me into the story. The colors were dazzling on Uriel, and the ever-shifting landscape of Camazotz lends a tension leading up to the climax, where we are introduced to the jet-black, multi-tentacled It. The

"Only love can drive out all the darkness What are we fighting for? We were made to carry one another We were made for more"-" Bleed the Same "~Mandisa Late last week, I was on Twitter, and I noticed quite a few posts about the school shooting that occurred on Valentine's Day. Most of the posts called for people to pray for the victims and their families, but others took a more combative tone on the issue. One of the ones that was particularly disturbing to me came from someone who is not only a good friend of mine, but also a Christian role model. This person insinuated that Republicans are a bunch of hypocrites because they call for immigration reform following terrorist attacks but don't want the shooting to be politicized because the families of the victims need to be left alone to grieve. Unfortunately, this is just the latest in a series of divisive tweets I have seen recently from this person, and they are by no means the only one doing this. I

"I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, because if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail, but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them."~Acts 5:38-39 The above quote may seem like an odd way to start a post. In fact, there may be some of you that don't even realize that this is in the Bible. I didn't really notice it until two years ago, and that was after having read the Bible a couple of times. This verse isn't often quoted, it's not one that's assigned to be memorized, and, at least at my church, it's not really preached about. However, I feel that this verse is as important to the spread of Christianity now as it was when it was first said almost 2,000 years ago. This statement was said by a Pharisee named Gamaliel during the time when Christianity was just getting its start. The Pharisees were angered by Peter and John's refusal to stop speaking about Jesus. They were planning their