Godly Insights for the 21st Century Life

    In June, Matthew West posted a video for his song "Modest is Hottest". I've heard that it was quite a fun video, but I have never been able to watch it myself. The reason is simple: too many people can't seem to take a joke these days. What he had created as a lighthearted take on raising girls in today's culture was brutally attacked by those who have been hurt by "Modesty Culture", causing him to remove the video mere days after it had been posted.     One of the main problems I see in our culture today is an inability to cope with things we don't agree with. Rather than dealing with things that offend us, we push for them to disappear. To stay in our comfort zone, we push away anything that tries to interfere with the safe space we've made for ourselves.     The response to this video is a prime example. All of these people triggered by the video probably could have figured out before they watched the video that it would trigger them. Even...

"As long as my God holds the world in His hands, I know that there's no such thing as unplanned." ~ Matthew West, " Unplanned " At the end of last month, the movie Unplanned  hit theaters, and I went to see it on opening weekend. It tells the true story of Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood clinic director who switched sides after witnessing an ultrasound guided abortion. While I enjoyed the movie immensely and would highly recommend it, I must confess, it is a bit hard to watch. The movie is rated R for violent and disturbing images, which refers to three specific scenes. Other than those three scenes, this is a PG movie, but those three scenes are quite intense. This movie is not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach, but if you are neither of those things, than I would suggest you see it. After seeing the movie, I was interested to know more of the story, so I got the book from the library and read it. There really wasn't more in the book t...

2016 was a bit of a roller coaster year for me, with glorious highs interspersed with terrifying lows. Fortunately, there were more highs than lows. Here in no particular order are the highs and lows of the past year. HIGHS: Spending time with Jojo: Jojo is my cousin Jessica's 18-month-old daughter, and due to scheduling conflicts, I didn't get a chance to see her at Thanksgiving or Christmas last year. However this year, I got to spend a great deal of time with her at both holidays, as well as during her dad's birthday party in September. Since she was older at the time I got to know her, I was able to build a better and more lasting relationship with her that will only grow as she gets older. My summer job: This summer, I was the chauffeur/activity supervisor for Ally and Kira, two of my friend Katherine's granddaughters. Throughout the course of the summer, I took them to camps, to the pool, to the park, and to church activities. They taught me how to use ...