Encouragement & Perspective from a God/Love Geek
Is it just me? Sometimes disappointment, frustration, or fatigue keep banging on the door. You’ve got a project, dream, plan, but it’s stuck. You wonder: Is it me? My skills or vision? Do I lack proper education or experience? Is my heart really in it?
I read about some fisherman who may have thought the same. They worked all night with nothing to show.
Were they unskilled?
No. They were “Fisherman.”
Was the net broken?
Nope. Strong and ready.
Were they in the wrong place?
Absolutely not.
Encouraging memes can fall flat when you’re in the middle of a firestorm. My experience is that problems or stressors rarely come alone. I’m dealing with X, but Q is spilling over, and my heart is breaking about T (and D through K).. I’m not sure I’m going to make it about P….
Do troubles wait their turn?
Continue reading “Diamonds & Pencils: Become the Hero of Your Own Story”
I cry write about the rift between American “Christianity,” and God’s Heart. Before Donald Trump was elected I wrote an Open Letter to America and POTUS himself sharing what I experience as an epic, end-time battle between Love & Hate. I also mentioned some prophecies from the crazy bible book, Revelation.
“I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot someone and wouldn’t lose any votes..”
2 years later, the unwavering acceptance by some “Christians” of Trump’s behaviors, statements, actions and policies– which have been anything but Christ-like– is increasingly BANANAS, or gut-wrenching, or fire-spewing, or all of the above.
Imagine a city so loaded with gold and gems they become standard building materials. Add other precious metals and stones to the mix and just marvel. It’d be palatial, decadent, … God-like?
Hmmm.
“Streets of gold” is a phrase probably rooted in a bible passage on heaven: “… The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass…” (Revelation 21:21)
But I don’t care if it’s true or not. The real question for me is: What good is all that Gold??
Continue reading “God Wouldn’t Fly First-Class: 3 Surprising Reasons the Streets are Gold in Heaven”
God-glimpses aren’t confined to churches, prayer or fasting. Sometimes (many times?) they can happen in the natural, every-day moments.
I biked with three of my littles one unnaturally warm winter day. The youngest sitting behind me piped up: “Look, look!”
Continue reading “Shine & Shadow: How to Stay in the Light without Throwing Shade”
It’s Christmas time, and while skies darken, lights get brighter and more numerous. The year is closing fast.
This week my children’s school did a “Herdertjestocht,” (“Sheperd’s trail”) throughout the neighborhood, where live-action posts were setup and the kids performed different parts of the Christmas story in the night. Continue reading “Humble Rebels: 5 Ways to Have a Mary & Joseph Spirit this Christmas”
When school starts you hear stories of new teachers, tasks, and ways kids get others to laugh. Sometimes kids talk about new challenges like having “strict” teachers.
One story went like this:
Teacher A asked a question to class. Student B asked for it to be repeated. Teacher A makes example of Student B for not listening.
What do you think? Is it possible for a religion claiming inspiration from a humble, foot-washing, dying-on-behalf-of-“haters”- God, to have followers preaching hate, exclusion, and oppression?
Sadly, it’s possible. Continue reading “Love, Law & Christianized Hate: One Bible Verse to Flip the Script”
The gospel can be cut so many ways. “Good news” for a woman begging is different than for a rich Westerner, or trafficked boy. But concepts like unconditional love and freedom keep me busy.
I’ve heard many Christians stress about people needing to “convert” or “be saved” to avoid hell. Was it similar thinking that sparked the convert-or-die theology of the Crusades?
Is it so simple? We were enjoying an outdoor wedding and it was like heaven touched down– the weather, the people, music, everything was amazing. So much freedom and fun, especially for the kids. We stayed all night long.
When a speaker shared about the Adam/Eve story, full heart and humor, I got hit:
If Eve was made for/from Adam so he wouldn’t be lonely, maybe God made all of us for the same reason? [-click to tweet-]
God, lonely? Ridiculous! Blasphemous!
Ok, but here’s a question: did you ever experience a great place, delicious food, or sick beat and not want to share it with someone?
