Godly Insights for the 21st Century Life

I grew up in the church and loved learning about Jesus and reading Bible stories. However, when my parents started listening to Christian music on the radio when I was in third grade, I hated it. I had just started at a new school, and I would much rather listen to the popular songs that all my new friends listened to. That all changed at an Avalon concert in the spring of 1998 when I first heard " Testify to Love ". Something about that song spoke to me in a way that nothing else had, and listening to it prompted me to fully give my life to Christ. From then on, I immersed myself in listening to Christian music and growing deeper in my newfound faith.  In May, a trio of artists, two of whom are former members of Avalon, re-released "Testify to Love". Now as a huge fan of the song, you'd think I'd be thrilled. The problem is that it was released as an LGBTQ+ affirming anthem. Now, as I mentioned in an earlier post , I have my doubts about the sinfulness of m...

 A popular song around the time I began listening to Christian music in the spring of 1998 was " Awesome God " by Rich Mullins. He had died a few months before in a tragic car accident, and the more I listened to that song, the more I lamented that the light of his talent was snuffed out too soon. That song is making a resurgence now, but not in a way I like. After years of the chorus alone being used in worship at churches across the country, Phil Wickham wrote new verses for "Awesome God," keeping the refrain intact, and released it under a new title. The problem is, those new verses don't fit either musically or in meaning. The original verses penned by Rich Mullins speak of a God whose power is so impressive that it's hard not to be in awe of it. They also talk of how God has the power to raze sinful cities to the ground, but also had the love and grace to send His son to die for our sins. Throughout each verse, a chorus of voices repeats the phrase ...

 As anyone who regularly reads my blog might have noticed, this is my first post in a while, with my last one being over a year and a half ago. Now it's not that I didn't have ideas of things to write. In fact, I was reminded of two partial posts as I sat down to write this one, and those don't even count my planned analysis of the Lenten scarf pattern I completed last year. I've had ideas for sure, but unfortunately, life got in the way of them coming to fruition. My husband, Jon, spent most of 2024 on medical leave. He was diagnosed with Brugada syndrome in February, and his job wouldn't accommodate the restrictions he needed to work safely. He had surgery in June to implant an internal defibrillator, and he recovered quite nicely. Within a week, he was back to doing DoorDash and making Spark deliveries, with me occasionally tagging along to help. We moved in August into a bigger place with a nice yard for our dogs, and although the rent was a bit of a stretch, we...

 About ten years ago, a friend from high school wrote the book God and the Gay Christian . I eagerly bought it, mainly to support him, but also because I was working on becoming a more affirming Christian, and I thought reading this book would help me along that path. Admittedly, I initially struggled to read it, not because of the subject matter, but because the book's tone didn't match the goofy guy I knew in high school. I resolved to read a chapter at a time until I finally finished it, but after I read the first few chapters, I didn't read it for a long time. Last fall, I finally picked it up again, found the mature tone much easier to read, and finished it in November. Since finishing the book, I've been thinking more about some of the things he brings up, especially the scriptures that are most often referenced when referring to God's view of homosexuality. The more I read those verses, the more I see that what is really being condemned isn't homosexualit...

 "He came out and went, as was his custom , to the Mount of Olives" ~ Luke 22:39, emphasis mine When we think of the power Christ had to prevent His crucifixion, we often think of the army of angels that he had at His command or the power over nature he held. Any one of the people who were responsible for His death could have been smote, scattered, or suddenly thrown into confusion with just one word from His mouth. When passersby mocked Him, they were right in knowing about His power to save others, but wrong in thinking He could not save Himself. A devotion I read Sunday morning caused me to think of another power He had that could have saved Him if He had chosen to use it: the power to choose a hidden spot to pray. The verse quoted above tells us that going to the Mount of Olives to pray was something he did often. According to the author of the devotion, "it was easy for the authorities to find Jesus to arrest him." Another verse says, "Now Judas, who betra...

 "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." ~ John 8:7 As many of you probably know, the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl last Sunday. Many of you probably also know that at one point in the game, tight end Travis Kelce was seen shoving and yelling at coach Andy Reid. Many people, Christians included, have said that he should have been benched and fined for that incident, with some even going so far as to say he should be kicked off the team. There was a mass shooting at Wednesday's victory parade. However, Thursday morning, the DJs at the Christian radio station I listened to were more focused on Kelce's comment that he would leave the team if Coach Reid retired, and speculating that he just said that to cover himself after the televised outburst. They didn't even mention the shooting at all. What all of these comments have in common is that they are judging someone harshly for nine seconds of irrationality. Who among us ...

"Those here without the Lord, how do you cope? For this morning we don't mourn like those who have no hope." ~ Newsboys, " Breakfast " "But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope" ~ 1 Thessalonians 4:13 Most of the time when I'm asked what my favorite song is, I tend to say the name of whatever song is speaking to me at that time. Christian music is full of so many great songs, and it always seems that another great song is released several times a year. It's almost impossible to choose just one to be an overall favorite, but a few years ago, that's just what I did. That song is the very one quoted above, "Breakfast" by the Newsboys. So what about this song makes it my all-time favorite? Yes, it's incredibly goofy, which some people don't like about it, but it also has some deep theological truth interspersed among all t...

 "A certain young man was following Him, wearing nothing but a linen cloth. They caught hold of him, but he left the linen cloth and ran off naked." ~ Mark 14:51-52 This quarter in Sunday School, we are working our way through the gospel of Mark, and this Sunday's lesson covered chapter 14. That chapter covers a few different events from the last week of Jesus' life and ends with His arrest, His trial, and Peter's betrayal. However, between the verses about Jesus' arrest and the ones about His trial, we find the two verses quoted above about a young man who followed Jesus that night, was grabbed, ran away naked, and was never mentioned again. For years I wondered, who was he? A sermon I heard years ago theorized that the young man was none other than the author of the gospel himself, he was the son of the man whose house held the upper room, and that the linen cloth was actually a bedsheet. The more I think about it, the more I think that this makes a lot of s...

 This past Sunday, I was working and missed the morning service at the church my husband and I attend. Usually, I just attend the evening Bible study and church service, but things were different this Sunday. On the first Sunday of every quarter, our church does a special Communion service instead of regular Sunday evening activities.  The first 30 minutes of the service are devoted to prayer and Bible reading, which I thought was nice. I spent the majority of that time praying for my husband and our relationship. I know that prayer is a great basis for any marriage, and I figured some dedicated time to do so would be quite helpful. I also read Song of Solomon, since it is a book solely about love and a marital relationship.  While I was reading, I noticed a verse that didn't make much sense to me, so I looked it up in another version on my Bible app. Our church uses the King James Version (KJV), so that's what I was reading, but the church I grew up in used the New Revis...

 Admittedly, it's been a while since my last post. The truth is, the last few months have been a bit busy. I got married in June, and most of the last few months have been taken up with wedding prep, and I've spent most of the time this last month laying down a good foundation for my marriage. I was surprised at how long it had been since my last post when I logged in to write this one. Five months is a long time between posts, especially when I was writing about once a month before that.  I've been thinking a bit about how to change my approach to writing this blog. I love writing long pieces where I dive deep into a specific spiritual issue, but as the last year has shown when that's my only focus, life can easily get in the way, and I don't end up posting to the blog at all. I'm not going to give up writing them all together, but I'm going to add in some shorter posts as well. I plan to write at least once a week, and most of the new posts will be reflect...

 There have been several situations throughout the past few years where a communication breakdown has led to a misunderstanding that has caused hurt feelings or worse. Following those issues, here are a few things that could have been done in those situations to make the conversation go smoother. Apologize early, apologize often:  Early in 2021, there was a remote learning day that I was not aware of until I showed up at work and no one was there. For some reason that school year, calls and text notifications were not going out to all of the employees. I checked, and I had gotten an email, but it had come late enough that I was already getting dressed by the time I had received it. I sent a reply to the notification and the sender apologized and assured me that she had sent out the email as soon as she was told she could. Unsurprisingly, I was not the only person who had shown up at work not realizing we were remote. We received an email later that week from someone else telli...

 "So let go of your plan Be caught by my hand I'll show you what I can do When I dream for you" ~  " Dream for You "-Casting Crowns     I recently became engaged, and even though I absolutely love my fiancee, the experience isn't exactly how I dreamed it would be. I'm older than I thought I would be when I got married, my fiancee's not like what I pictured my future husband would look like, and I met him online instead of in person. However, other aspects are the way I dreamed. We share the same faith and political views, and very quickly developed inside jokes that leave those around us shaking their heads. We have been very good for each other these past seven months, and we get along so well that some people thought we were married long before he even proposed. I fully believe that God knew what he was doing when he brought us together, even if it didn't happen quite the way I imagined.      As I mentioned in some earlier posts , this is not t...

 Okay, my name isn't actually Karen. However, Karen is my mother's name and the name of other important people in my life. Unfortunately, Karen has also become a neganym, a derogatory name for any woman who insists on doing something that the user disagrees with, from refusing to wear a mask to cleaning up a mess left by the user's children . The meme originated because of one man dissing his ex-wife , but it has now morphed into a widespread insult.  In my post Don't Be Like Judas , I mentioned that his worst act was his last one, and that's all he's remembered for now. The same is true of Benedict Arnold, and now these two names are widely used neganyms for anyone who betrays someone else. These neganyms are perfectly acceptable while using Karen as a neganym is not. The first reason is because what Judas and Benedict Arnold did is universally seen as wrong. Almost everyone has felt the sting of betrayal at some point in their life, although for most of us it...

I saw a post earlier this year about choosing your hard. It said: Marriage is hard. Divorce is hard. Choose your hard. Obesity is hard. Being fit is hard. Choose your hard. Being in debt is hard. Being financially disciplined is hard. Choose your hard. Communication is hard. Not communicating is hard. Choose your hard. Life will never be easy. It will always be hard. But we can choose our hard. Pick wisely. I thought the post was good and appreciated the sentiment. Then shortly after I saw this post, I saw another one where these words were crossed out and others were added underneath. They said: Marriage is hard. Staying in an unhappy marriage is harder. Obesity is hard. Because it's stigmatized. Fit is not always accessible to everyone. Being in debt is a complex socio-economic phenomenon often related to privilege. It is not necessarily related to "discipline". Communication is complex. Learning to communicate is a lifelong experience. You don't always get to ...

There's been a post shared on Facebook in the weeks since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade that starts out by saying: "I'm not pro-murdering babies." However, it then gives various scenarios where abortion should be justified . The implication is that if someone is pro-life, they only care about the babies themselves, not the women who face pregnancies under difficult circumstances. The truth is, we do care about the women in these situations, perhaps even more so than those that are pro-choice. We are willing to help them see that the answer to a crisis pregnancy is assisting them through the crisis, not getting rid of the pregnancy. That's why in my state we are voting on an amendment called Value Them Both because we do value them both and want to make sure that both the woman and child are well cared for throughout the pregnancy and beyond. Here are the arguments in the oft-shared post, and how each hypothetical woman can be cared for without having a...

      Last week, the Supreme Court overturned the controversial 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade. Following the ruling, I saw quite a few posts that said some variation of: "Here's my opinion. If you disagree, please unfriend or unfollow me." Even though I disagreed with some of those posts, I did not unfriend anyone because I know the pain of being unfriended.     As I mentioned in my post Easily Offendable , I was unfriended by two long-term friends back in August because they disagreed with me. While I was initially angry about the situation, and still am to an extent, I'm finding that as time passes my feelings are gradually changing from anger to sadness. We were good friends for 13 years, and we had some fun times together. I was at their engagement party and wedding, I was the only person who showed up when they did the Polar Plunge, and I was ecstatic when they started coming to my church five years ago. Before the pandemic, I took care of their son in the c...

 "My fears would surely kill me If I didn't know the truth The things that I'm afraid of Are afraid of You" ~ " Things That I'm Afraid Of " - Josh Wilson     I had reached a place a couple of years ago where I was more or less fearless, or so I thought. Then the pandemic hit, and while I was never afraid of the virus, I was afraid of what would happen because of the quarantine and separation from others. Unfortunately, some of those fears came true, and having some fears come true has led to new fears feeling even stronger.     Recently, I have been bombarded with a wave of new fears that has threatened to overwhelm me. My car needs expensive repairs, my dad is facing an unfair situation that I can't help him with, and I am in a new relationship, which is wonderful and scary at the same time. In fact, I am posting this much later than I initially wanted to. Those fears were so strong that it was hard for me to put into words how I was feeling, and ev...

 "The thought that makes me smile now Even as the tears fall down Is that the only scars in Heaven Are on the hands that hold you now." ~ " Scars in Heaven " - Casting Crowns     The sermon this past Sunday was about Jesus appearing to His disciples after the Resurrection, Thomas not being there, and his subsequent doubt. While this is a typical sermon topic for the Sunday after Easter, this time I started thinking about how this story relates to the song quoted above. What Thomas needed to see to believe in the Resurrection were the scars on Christ's body.     Revelation 21:4 states, "Death will be no more, mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away." To me, that means that any limitations we had in our lives, including our scars, are gone once we enter those pearly gates. I know a woman who struggled with mobility problems her whole life, which required her to wear ugly orthopedic shoes. After she died earlier...

      Recently, I've noticed a disturbing trend within the church: the refusal to use pronouns when referring to God and Jesus. I had noticed the deacon at my church doing it, and while it annoyed me, I thought that it was just one of her quirks. Then, I noticed the same thing happening in the Lenten devotion I am doing. Now, they are still using You and Your during their prayers, but they are not using He, Him, or Himself. What they seem to be forgetting is that the entire reason why proper pronouns exist as a part of speech is to use them to refer to God and Christ.     Imagine, if you will, that St. Paul also had this aversion to pronouns. In that case, Philippians 2:6-9 would read like this:      "Christ was like God in every way, but Christ did not think that Christ's being equal to God was something to use for Christ's own benefit. Instead, Christ gave up everything, even Christ's place with God. Christ accepted the role of a servant, appear...

      I had planned to write about something different in this post. I almost always have a few different ideas for posts that I draw from each month unless there's something more pressing to discuss. Well, this month, there was something more pressing.     On the morning of February 19, I called my care receiver for our biweekly check-in. She didn't answer, so I left her a message on her voice mail and sent her a text. I was a bit worried, especially since I hadn't been able to talk to her on the 5th either, but I knew that sometimes she had issues with her phone, so I thought that maybe that was happening again. Unfortunately, that wasn't the problem this time. About an hour later, I got a text from her number saying it was her sister and asking me how I knew her. Before I could respond, the sister called to inform me that she had died a week earlier.       I am thankful that though she is gone now, I was able to give her a sense of peace t...