Godly Insights for the 21st Century Life

"But you, dear children, are from God and have overcome them because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world"~1 John 4:4 Those of you who read my post " Life>Death " will remember that I talked about a young woman who called herself a suicide survivor because her father took his own life, and then used her status as an endorsement to talk about how suicide was not a selfish act. In my post, I stated that since she did not actually survive suicide, she was not a suicide survivor. However, I found out recently that family and friends of suicide victims being called "suicide survivors" is a thing. As in a psychologist-defined, support group namesake thing. As someone who has actually survived the temptation to commit suicide, this fact is quite frustrating. One reason is because of people like the young lady mentioned in my other post thinking they are experts in suicide because they are "suicide survivors." I don...

"Maybe God is calling you tonight to tell me something that might save my life"           ~Sidewalk Prophets, "Save My Life" People. We see them everyday. At work, at school, at the store, at a restaurant, at church, and anywhere else we may go. Some of these people we know, others we don't and may never will. Many of these people are Christian, others are not. Of those that aren't, some are of a different religion, others don't believe in anything, and others don't know what to believe, but desire to. What makes us all the same is that we are all human and all have a desire to be loved. No matter who we are and where we come from, our lives will have joy and sorrow, gains and losses, times when the future stretches before us like a blank canvas, and times it may not seem like there is a future. In the good times, we rejoice in all that has happened to bring us joy, but when hard times come, we just want to know that there are people that care abo...

"If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?"~1 Corinthians 12:17 (On Friday night, I went to a Christmas party involving a White Elephant gift exchange. One of the gifts was a Mr. Potato Head, which caused me to chuckle because I was thinking about the story that follows. I am including the story in this space so that the other attendees of the party, and you, my loyal readers, may read about and enjoy it.) During my college years, one of the most memorable sermons I heard was preached on 1 Corinthians 12. However, the passage itself wasn't what made it memorable. In fact, I have heard many sermons preached on this topic in my 27 years because it is such an important one. What made this particular sermon so memorable was how the pastor illustrated his point. The sermon started off like all the others with the pastor talking about the different types of gifts mentioned in the...

"I'm not the same me, and that's all the proof I need"-Britt Nicole, "All This Time" The title of this post comes from a conversation in one of the Harry Potter  novels. In this conversation, one of the characters is telling another about his love for someone, a love so strong that even his beloved's death did not quench it. Christ offers His people this kind of love as well, but His is even stronger because He loves everyone this way, and His love is unconditional. He has loved us since long before we knew Him, He loves us even when we make mistakes, and He even loves those who have turned their backs on Him or never want to know Him. There is nothing we can do to earn His love, and there is also nothing we could ever do to lose it. Christ's love is also transformative. As is stated in the song quote that opens this post, after we accept His love for us, we will never be the same again. Even before Christ was born, the Israelites knew that lovin...

I don't like worship music. Now before you think I've completely gone off my rocker, let me clarify what I mean. I think worshiping God is one of the best ways to grow close to Him and music can be a great way to help facilitate that worship. I just don't like the praise and worship genre of music. I like quite a few songs that fit into that genre, but I am not a fan of the genre as a whole. Here are the main reasons why. Too Restrictive Most of the songs in this genre have a certain sound, and all of them talk about worshiping God. However, there are a plethora of songs that talk about worshiping God that are not included in this genre. In my opinion, a worship song is any song that is either directed toward God or talks about all that God has done for us. That means that Skillet's "What I Believe," Tenth Avenue North's "Strong Enough to Save," and Group 1 Crew's "He Said" are as much worship songs as anything written by Chris ...

On August 11, America was shocked by the news that Robin Williams had died in an apparent suicide. Since then, numerous articles and blog posts have been written about the subject. Some say that suicide is a choice, others argue that Robin Williams died of a disease and it was no fault of his own. Some say suicide is selfish, others say it is not. From what I've seen, all of these articles and blog posts lack a crucial background point: none of them were written by someone who had actually survived the temptation to commit suicide. One article was written by someone who called herself a "suicide survivor," but really had no expertise in the matter other than the fact that her father had killed himself. Her claim that she is a "suicide survivor" is as ridiculous as me claiming that I am a lung cancer survivor because my grandfather died of lung cancer, and basing her article off of that flawed premise negates her argument. So how do I propose we fix this problem?...

"I have set before you today life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live."-Deuteronomy 30:19 On June 30, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of Hobby Lobby founders David and Barbara Green. They had petitioned the high court to allow them an exception to the Obamacare mandate with regard to four "potentially life-terminating drugs." As Christians running a family business, being forced to provide these drugs to their employees would be a direct violation of their First Amendment rights and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which is a federal law. In the aftermath, many decried the fact that such a ruling infringed on a woman's right to choose what to do with her body. However, this argument ignores the fact that these drugs are still available. The ruling didn't make the drugs illegal, it just made it so that Hobby Lobby and other companies like it won't be forced into paying for them. I am both p...