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6 Christmas Gifts from the Universe

Last day of the year, and while many are feeling more carefree and hopeful, some are just trying to survive (connect people, pls).

The Christmas season can be rough, and means different things to different people,

But I keep thinking about Stars…

Lights in the street and homes, lights like hope in the dark season. A new star appeared on the horizon when Jesus was born and if I think about God’s heart, I wonder if it was more than just a flare.

Here’s my take on 6 “Christmas” gifts thanks to the Jesus story. Enjoy and take with you into the New Year.

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Rebel Christian ABC’s

For anyone who thought “I want nothing to do with God, or “Christians” because of what they do, say, put into policy” (read: USA, White House), or for any who had the bible used against them, for outcasts not “good enough” for “Church,” or who asked too many questions, or had too many ideas, or just didn’t fit. To all who wonder if unconditional love is real, if God cares, or if there are better things to come… This if for you. ❤

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Maybe Kids aren’t a Distraction, but the Main Event?

Ever been in a store and witnessed a child meltdown? The parent is either a. trying to ignore, b. negotiating/pleading, or c. hoisting kid in prem and getting out quick. (yes, I was c. person).

Parenting can mess people up.

We think we’re calm, sane people, but kids blow that up. You get a new spectrum of emotions, including fierce protector, bottomless love, anxiety, grief,… add another child to the mix and watch anger jump on the Richter when you see one hurt the other.

Yes, that was me who clapped hard, stood up and shouted STOP at my kids during Hema breakfast. Yes, the restaurant went silent.

It can feel like a sliding scale between brain mush and losing mind, but is something more profound going on?

* Continue reading “Maybe Kids aren’t a Distraction, but the Main Event?”

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The 1 Thing Everybody Should Know About “Abundance”

There’s more than enough for everyone. Really. On a planet with people starving and naked…

image from the Occupy Wallstreet Protests

The core problem, imo, may be so simple that few believe it. (or we’re so far from our humanity…). Continue reading “The 1 Thing Everybody Should Know About “Abundance””

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Diamonds & Pencils: Become the Hero of Your Own Story

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?

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God Wouldn’t Fly First-Class: 3 Surprising Reasons the Streets are Gold in Heaven

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”

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No Strict Teachers in Heaven? Prepping Kids for the “Cruel” World or Helping Them Break It?

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.

Continue reading “No Strict Teachers in Heaven? Prepping Kids for the “Cruel” World or Helping Them Break It?”

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Is Hell bigger than Love?

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?

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To the part of me that keeps screaming [Poem]

To the part of me that keeps screaming

To the part of me that keeps screaming,
Or is it wailing and on fire?
No one sees or hears you,
but I’m the witness.

Continue reading “To the part of me that keeps screaming [Poem]”

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Maybe that Mess was People, Not God?

Did you ever visit a church and something rubbed your heart wrong? Or maybe you experienced something from someone identifying as a Christian–maybe it was gossip, deceit, or some form of oppression, or maybe flat-out hate, or abuse? Worst of all, it may have been done with the support of bible texts.

If you thought: This cant be God—and if it is I want nothing to do with *Him– you may have been right. Maybe it was People, not God.

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God Loves Drum & Bass: Keep Calm, or Let Loose

[This post may be best experienced with speakers hooked up.]

Can we only experience God in a Cathedral or Sunday service? Do we need silence or meditation? If we’re searching with our hearts we might find *Him anywhere, but one powerful place is Music.

Let the Elevator loose! (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)

Now, I want to tell you a secret. When I’m waiting at the bike light you’ll find me tapping beats on my brakes. Sure, it’s a normal sight, but you probably don’t imagine I’m exploding internally. Amidst the peace and silence “outside”, there’s rowdy beats and wild noise inside me.

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The Fourteenth Day: An Obscure Prophecy That Might Give Everything Purpose

I’m a bit bible nerdy and instead of skipping over peculiar texts, I sometimes dwell on them. It’s a quirk I’m trying to appropriate so here’s my take on a text you probably never heard preached in church: The fourteenth day.

It appeared during Moses’ instructions to Israel before the 10th and final, most gut-wrenching plague. Every first born was to be killed and this plague sparked the Exodus from Egypt.

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#GodSingsBieber? Hearing God’s Heart on the Radio Aint Crazy

How can music banish a bad mood and transport us to a place where problems, cares, fear, sometimes even pain (and certainly time) don’t exist? For a moment there’s just that beat, or lyric line, or bass, or …plug in your own thing– it’s magic.  I’ll be feeling down but if a song comes on that rocks, something changes–and even babies know the feeling:

Melodies can spark our spirits, balm our hearts, mirror something of our soul, and sometimes floor us. Who needs Ecstasy when some tracks are flat-out orgasmic?

And Music also heals Socially…

Just think: when we rock to the same jam, things like Race, Gender, ‘Status,’ etc., disappear. Love takes shape in a sea of people grooving. Unity, peace, joy, no fear, no shame, No Problem.

Are these Holy Moments?

Continue reading “#GodSingsBieber? Hearing God’s Heart on the Radio Aint Crazy”

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If People are like Trees, Here’s to All the Weeping Willows…

The world puts people in boxes: you’re female so you feel like this, you’re Christian so you think like this, you’re American so you act like that…

God likes to mix things up to help break the social/tradition walls we build between people. Just consider the movie Hidden Figures (based on a true story) where we see brilliant, computer-like brains placed in– not just black, but black, female bodies– in 1960s America. LOL, God is such a rebel…

Hidden_Figures_movie still
Still from “Hidden Figures,” based on the untold true story of the women nobody knew behind the NASA mission everyone knew..  “Genius has no race.. Strength has no gender…”

Continue reading “If People are like Trees, Here’s to All the Weeping Willows…”

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Racer X Like Jesus [Part 2]: Life with Passion and Purpose, Speed Racer Style

(warning, movie spoilers!!)

In Racer X like Jesus (Part 1), I shared how you can hear from God in unexpected places: timely counsel from a neighbor, that special song in the store, the wisdom of your kids, the breeze on your skin.. I got unexpected lessons from Frozen (5 Lessons I didn’t See Coming), so an encounter in Speed Racer should’ve been no surprise.

But once your spiritual antennae are up, movie dialogue touches deeper than simple script. Here were 6 gems I pulled:

Continue reading “Racer X Like Jesus [Part 2]: Life with Passion and Purpose, Speed Racer Style”