Godly Insights for the 21st Century Life

      Like I do almost every year, I spent Christmas at my aunt's house. Our family gathering was smaller this year than usual, but it was still just like always in other ways. We had some of the same arguments that we have every Christmas, some of the gifts were loved by the recipients while others missed the mark, we all ate too much of the delicious food, and the kids were the stars of the show. As the day progressed, I did notice one element that is present within my family that is sorely lacking in the world as a whole: acceptance of each other's opinions, particularly regarding the vaccine.     My family runs the entire spectrum when it comes to the vaccine. A few members are fully vaccinated, including their booster shot. Two people are only partially vaccinated because of bad reactions to either the first or second dose. A few of us aren't vaccinated at all for various reasons. Some have medical issues, some don't trust a vaccine created so quickly, and ...

    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...

We're living in a world that keeps breaking But if we want to find a way to change it It all comes down to this Love God, love people ~ Danny Gokey, " Love God, Love People "      These past few months have been crazy. A pandemic has been working its way through almost every country in the world. Churches and schools have closed, and many are not opening again anytime soon.  "Essential services" has been defined in such a way that abortion is allowed while important surgeries and therapies are put on hold. Many people are without work with no end in sight. Mask mandates have led to violent confrontations between employees and customers. Tragic deaths of blacks at the hands of police have led to protests and riots. Governments throughout the country come up with mandates to help curb the spread of the virus for people's physical health without giving a second thought to their mental and spiritual health.      All these things can make our situat...

"For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence ...You will not fear the terror of the night, or the arrow that flies by day, or the pestilence that stalks in darkness , or the destruction that wastes at noonday." ~ Psalm 91:3, 5-6, emphasis mine I'm guessing that you already know about the global pandemic of Coronavirus. You are probably suffering some of the effects, not from the virus itself, but from the panic and social distancing its path through our world has caused. Just this past weekend, the cast party for  Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat , the monthly Kansas Authors' Club meeting, and all services at my church were canceled. Not only that, but I found out yesterday that everything at church is canceled until April 1. I was able to go to Zumba Sunday after being gone for a month and a half while rehearsing for and performing Joseph , but before the day was over, the local YMCAs closed for the next week at l...

"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 ...

"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...

Evil may have its time in the spotlight, but love is waiting in the wings~"Waiting in the Wings"-Point of Grace Earlier this month, America voted in its 45th president. Prior to the election, many feared what would happen when our next president took office, with both sides fearful of what the other candidate would do. The results calmed the fears of many, but also kindled the fears of many. Groups of those who were unhappy with who was chosen took to the streets to protest, some peacefully, but also many not so peacefully. This has caused many to become fearful not because of what our new president might do, but because of what the rioters are already doing. There have also been things unrelated to the election that have caused people to be fearful. Two weeks ago, a young mother was killed and her child kidnapped. On Monday, a young man at Ohio State University attacked fellow students by driving onto a crowded sidewalk and then chasing people with a meat cleaver. T...