An Inconvenient Christianity

There is something you should know about me. I don't mind waiting when I expect to wait. For instance, going to a doctor's appointment or the DMV. I bring a book or a crossword puzzle or I just talk on the phone. But I am usually able to be patient in those situations. On the other hand... If I end up having to wait when I did not plan to, I almost lose my mind. I get so antsy and irritated that you would begin to wonder what's wrong with me, if you saw me. It's such a bad habit and it is something that I am working on, but I hate to wait when I had no expectation of waiting. Unfortunately, sometimes that's how God answers prayers. He says, yes, but wait. In the waiting, He is developing patience in us. In the waiting He is developing our character. In the waiting, we are being groomed. So what is our responsibility during the waiting period? To continue to trust the Lord. Even though what we're experiencing might be one of the most (if not THE MOST) di...

I wanna live like I pretend to I wanna put an end to The duality That lives in me I want there to be No enmity Between God and me Or ‘tween me and God See this straight and narrow path I trod (Or, better said, plod And move with reluctant feet Less often forward than in retreat) This path requires my all No sacrifice considered too small In light of the ultimate sacrifice made My all on the altar should be laid. But, Guess what. Quite frankly, it’s not. I just seem to be What I’m not, you see. Oh yes, I am the Great Pretender And constant defender Of a life compromised A mask of holiness I wear as my disguise. And of the glory of God, I fall short Not meditating on things of good report Using the Almighty as a last resort Abandoning His presence for worthless consort And pretending Not comprehending The danger impending Always intending Better to do But when you look at me you have no clue Cause I know just how to raise both my hands I know when...

It is a notion universally believed, that a single woman in possession of good looks, must be in want of a husband....Okay, okay, so maybe my statement is not true...I lifted it from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice . But people in Christendom tend to feel this way. If I tell you how many times I've heard " Oh Josie, you're so pretty and smart. How is it that you're still single? ", you would have a stroke. I also get this a lot: " I'm praying that God sends the right man for you Sis. Josie because I can't stand to see you by yourself. " It used to hurt my feelings. I used to think that there was something wrong with me because I had reached my 30s still single without any prospects of a husband. I felt like a social failure. Hang my degrees, my brains and my looks! What good are they without a Mr. Josie?! I never told anyone, though, except the closest of my closest friends. I didn't want to be that girl. My friends, God bless them,...

On my way to a hearing in West Palm this morning, I heard Shekinah Glory's  "Praise Is What I Do" . I love, love, love that song, but this morning I found a new appreciation for it. If you read my blog yesterday (if not, read it here  before you continue), you know that I had a huge disappointment this week. It was devastating, but I won't dwell on it. In the wake of my devastating news, I knew I had to continue to trust God's sovereignty and I knew I should thank Him anyway.  But I didn't think about actually praising Him. And the Holy Spirit convicted this morning me with the words of this song, a song I haven't heard in years. The chorus goes: "And I vow to praise You in the good and the bad. I'll praise You whether happy or sad. I'll praise You in all that I go through because praise is what I do." Powerful stuff, huh? Well, praise is not what I did yesterday. Yesterday, I tried to make sense of what happened. Yesterday, I fough...

Two things are certain: God is able and God is sovereign. The problem is that His ability and His sovereignty don't always work together. Sometimes His sovereignty overrules His ability and though He can do something on our behalf, He doesn't because it is not His will. That is the hardest thing to accept for us as Christians. Most times, our faith wanes not because we don't think He is able, but because we assume that just because He is able, He is also willing. Unfortunately, in a lot of instances His sovereign will causes Him to refuse to do something that He was more than able to do. If we look at Paul, we see a great example of that. Paul had a "thorn in the flesh" and besought the Lord three times to remove it. God never did. Not because He wasn't able, but because there was a purpose to Paul's thorn in the flesh that would benefit Paul more than the removal of the "thorn" (see 2 Cor. 12:7-10). This is something that I am li...

...do as the Romans, right? After all, it is the convenient thing to do. Who wants to make waves by rocking the boat? Fly under the radar (to mix metaphors) and you won't call attention to yourself. That has been my motto for as long as I can remember.  But as Christians, there are times when we cannot simply assimilate and go with the flow. We are called to a higher standard. The funny thing is that it is so much easier to just go along with the crowd. It is much easier to live a carnal Christianity. I know from personal experience how easy it is to act like a Christian when with other believers and then act more worldly when around non-believers. At the time, I didn't think anything of it. Unfortunately, I was ignoring the words of our Lord and Saviour from Matthew 6:24, "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other or be devoted to one and despise the other..." (see also Luke 16:13). Jesus was saying that as much as we think w...

I'm not a boxing fan, but when I read that there will be some sort of congressionally backed inquiry into the split decision that gave Timothy Bradley the win over Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao, I knew I had to watch the fight ( http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/ringside-seat/2012/jun/14/pacquiao-loss-bradley-investigated-harry-reid-gets/ ). In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that I did not watch all the rounds. From what I did see, however, Pacquiao was the clear winner. Apparently, the majority of the boxing world agrees with me. I have heard murmurs of people refusing to continue to watch the sport. The conspiracy theorists believe that giving Bradley the win has something to do with the rematch clause in the contract for this fight and is simply a tactic to generate funds. Still others have gone so far as to say that this decision is the death of boxing. The thing that stuck with me about this fight has nothing to do with the match its...

I love my dad! There's no other way to say it. He's such an amazing man. When I was growing up I thought he was stern and callous. He is...but in a good way. It was not until my adulthood I realised that he is so much more. My dad is a reflection of our Heavenly Father. He taught and still teaches his children the Word of God, not just in word, but in deed. I can truly say that as much as I heard him talk about true Christianity, I watched (and still watch) him live it. He's the main reason I name the name of Christ today. I can't help but love the Lord because that's what I was raised to do. He also taught me that his Christianity was useless to me on Judgment Day, that I had to know God for myself. The most amazing thing about it is that I know it was difficult to live such a committed Christian life. I know when he struggled financially. I know when his trials and circumstances were overwhelming. I know when his back was against the wall and everything in...

This morning I was out for a run. Not long...only about 3.5 miles. I was very well-intentioned when I started. I wanted to be done in 35 minutes or less. I started off at a nice pace. Everything was going well. I even heard a few neighbourhood shouts of encouragement. Until... ...I saw an unleashed dog. It stopped me in my tracks. I didn't know whether to go forward or to turn back. For a few moments, I was paralyzed. Dog-lovers might not understand my reaction but my fear of dogs has been a lifelong thing (I had a bad experience...). Nevertheless, I decided to continue rather than turn back. I still had a little less than three miles to go. Slowly, I began to walk until I was assured that I was of the dog's eyeshot. Then I picked up the pace again. Unfortunately, the ease with which I ran that first half mile never returned. I struggled through the rest of the run. I never regained my momentum. I began running timidly, wondering if I would see another unleashed dog and t...

I have a friend who lies all the time. All the time . It's so bad in fact that if he were to tell me that the sky is blue, I would look out the window to check. He lies to make himself look better and to avoid an awkward situation. He lies so much, he doesn't remember his lies and is caught quite often. And if he makes a promise to me, I just ignore it. It's easier that way. But for some reason, I continue to talk to him. I don't believe a word he says, but he amuses me for some reason. In contrast, we serve a God who not only does not lie, but cannot lie. Numbers 23:19 declares that God is not a man that He should lie nor the son of man that He should change His mind. What He has promised He will fulfill. In other words, we can take God at His word. He magnifies His word above His name (see Psalm 138:2). Isn't that something? God has so much integrity that His word is more important to Him than His own holy name. And yet for some reason, we as Christian find it...

There are so many advertisements on television these days for cosmetic surgery. Seriously, pick any day and just count how many plastic surgery ads you see as you're watching television...and if you are home during the day you can bet that number will be tripled, at least. These ads are out there because our society has presented us with an image for what body shape is acceptable. Either you have it or you pay for it. And of course paying for it is the quickest and easiest way to have an acceptable body if you weren't "blessed" with one naturally. No matter what you think about cosmetic surgery, you'll have to agree that in theory it makes sense. To get rid of fat you have to get rid of fat. Seems overly simplified, but it's true. So it is with our Christian walk. To get rid of sin, you have to get rid of sin. Simple. How you get rid of it makes a difference, though. I'm told that if one relies solely on cosmetic surgery to control weight gain and ...

I heard a story recently about a famous singer who was invited to sing at a wedding. She accepted the invitation and donned her finest gown, styled her hair and make-up just so, hired a car and went to the wedding with her husband. At the ceremony, she sang so beautifully there was not a dry eye in the church. After the ceremony, many people complimented her on her singing abilities. Afterwards, she and her husband went to the location of the wedding reception in the hired car. When they entered the reception hall, they marveled at the sight of it all. Never before had the singer seen such decorations. It finer than anything she had ever seen before and she told herself that the bride and groom spared no expense in preparing this wedding reception for all their honoured guests. Feeling confident in herself, she headed towards the front of the room, nearest the bride and groom's table to locate her seat assignment. To her dismay, neither she nor her husband were placed close to ...

So...I was just reading a few articles on how to increase blog traffic. I'm ashamed at how many times I look at the stats of this blog to see if people are reading it. But what's the point of writing a blog if no one reads it. Doesn't make sense, right? One on the tips to increase blog traffic is to be consistent. If you have nothing new to say, then people will eventually stop visiting the blog. So consistency is key. Try to post at least once per day, they say, in order to retain reader interest and attract others. But I'm guessing by now you know that I'm always looking for a spiritual application in even the most seemingly  carnal of things. And, of course, I found one. I started to wonder what it would be like if God responded to us like disinterested readers. What if God lost interest in us because we only speak to Him sporadically? We'd be lost. Consistency is important. Think about it.

Last night the Miami Heat beat the Boston Celtics to tie the Eastern Conference Finals series...but this is not a sports blog. I mentioned that because I watched part of the game and I noticed something different about the small forward (sometimes called point guard) LeBron James. He never cracked a smile. Not even an upturned lip corner. Nothing. He was as stoic as they come because he was about the business. By himself, he put 45 points on the scoreboard for the Heat. This morning as I remembered the stern, almost menacing visage, I thought of the words of Isaiah the prophet: "Therefore have I set my face like flint and I know I will not be put to shame." (Is. 50:7 NIV). LBJ's face was like flint last night. He was on a mission and nothing was going to throw him off his game. So the normally jovial guy who looks like he's having fun on the court became a serious player with nothing but victory in sight. That is how we ought to be as Christians. There are tim...

This post is going up much earlier than normal. I'm up early because I'm doing a favor for a friend. As good as that is, I wish I was up this early for a more spiritual reason. Had I not made my commitment to do this favor, I would still be in bed, thinking about getting up between dozes. What is it about a commitment to man(kind) that causes us to be more apt to keeping it, when we so easily shirk our commitments to God? I cannot place an exact number on the amount of times I have felt convicted about needing to wake up earlier and spend more time in the Word and in prayer. I'm actually glad I cannot because I'm sure the number would bring me a great deal of embarrassment. There is a worshiper in me that wants to be free. She wants to praise God beyond what my mortal body is capable of. And she's downright tired of being caged in this failing house of flesh. She wants to give God more. But she's in a war with her earthly vessel. The words of Galatians 5:1...

I watched my parents as they watched the parades and other events in honour of Queen Elizabeth's 60 year reign. They looked like kids in a candy store, all wide-eyed with plastered smiles on their faces. My parents are Jamaican nationals and were born before Jamaica gained its independence from the Crown. So they were taught from a young age to revere the queen and all the royals. So much so, in fact, that last year when Prince William and Princess Katherine married, my mother was glued to the television (only a slight  exaggeration). They love that stuff. They can't help themselves. I'm only mildly amused by the spectacle. I am more interested in my parents' reaction to the pomp and circumstance of it all. But the more I think about it, the more I am moved to tears to think of what rejoicing there will be when we finally see King Jesus sitting on His eternal throne, reigning forevermore. I cannot wait to see the jubilation on the faces of the saints. I cannot wait fo...

My parents and I were having a discussion a few days ago about the term "blind faith." One of them (I can't remember which) asked me what I thought of the term. My response was simple: blind faith is an unnecessary redundancy. The Bible defines faith in Hebrews 11:1 as being the "substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen." Not seen . In other words, faith is a belief for which there is no tangible basis. Therefore, faith in its truest, most Biblical sense is always blind. This is probably why Jesus was always chastising the disciples for being men of "little faith." Rather than believing that Jesus by God had the power to do anything, even calm the winds and the seas, they chose rather to fear because they had never seen anyone control nature. Isn't that what we do even today? We believe in God for the things that we know He can handle. Maybe we've been through a terrible illness so we know God is a healer, but we...