An Inconvenient Christianity

There is a chorus that I've been singing since I was a little girl called "This Is The Day." The chorus encourages us to rejoice and be glad in each day because the Lord has made it. Each day is a gift from God and being grateful for every day should be a given....but that's not what this post is about. Recently, I've been reflecting on the significance of the present. It's really all we have. Think about it. Yesterday, no matter how good or bad, is gone. Tomorrow, no matter what we have planned, is not promised. So all we have is now. If we read through the book of Hebrews, the writer exhorts us over and over and over again, "Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts." Today. Today. Today. The implication of that is that as good as your yesterday may have been, as closely as you may have walked with the Lord yesterday, there is still a need to be ever-diligent about our Christian walk today . Suppose, for example, you decide to...

When I was young(er), I used to beg, literally beg, my mother for this thing or that.  Sometimes she would say yes, but other times (more often than not) she would say no. Usually, one "no" was enough. But every once in a while, I would feel like her negative response was unjust. And then the begging would begin. Usually, her answer would remain the same. But every once in a while, she would acquiesce, saying "Whatever you want to do, Josie" and give me what I wanted... Invariably, I would end up regretting it. I would be left with the overwhelming sense that if I had just listened to her in the first place, the heartache or pain that I experienced would have been avoided. In reality, if I'm honest about it, in the moments when I was begging my mother to change her mind, I was thinking that I knew more than she did. How presumptuous of my younger self! How could I possibly have thought that in my limited years I knew more than the woman who brought me into thi...

In 1988, Robert Fulghum wrote a book called "All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten." He also wrote a  poem  by the same name. The title is comical at first until you realise that some of the basic principles for a successful life (e.g. clean up your own mess, don't take things that aren't yours, share everything, etc.) are kindergarten lessons. One of my favorite kindergarten rituals was when we had to line up to go to lunch or recess or anywhere, really. Remember how we used to have to line up in a straight line? The teacher's only instruction was to follow the line leader. And the line leader followed the teacher. If you did that, you wouldn't stray or get lost and you would end up where you were supposed to go. As Christians, all we really need to know for a successful Christian walk is this same principle learned in kindergarten: follow the Leader. Obviously our Leader is Christ. If we follow Him, we won't go astray, we cannot get los...