An Inconvenient Christianity

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...

Congestive heart failure or CHF, which can be caused by years of hypertension, occurs when the heart muscle is weakened and can no longer pump blood like it should. It causes fluid to back up in the lungs and is overall very bad for your system. Left untreated, it can lead to death. Why do I know this? My (sainted) father was diagnosed with CHF this past weekend after being rushed to the hospital while on vacation. I love my dad VERY much and I was dismayed (to say  the least) at the news. Thank God he is doing much better. Jehovah Rophe is still in the healing business. Hallelujah!! Of course, I began thinking about CHF in spiritual terms. Are we letting our spiritual heart muscles get weak to the point of failure? Are we, AM I, being ever vigilant about my spiritual heart? Do I have the heart of Christ? Do I have a pure heart? A heart that follows hard after the Lord?  My dad knew he was hypertensive. He'd seen several doctors and was on medication long-term, to the po...

Today is Memorial Day in the United States. A day when the country remembers the sacrifice of our servicemen and servicewomen. The president makes a big speech and lays a wreath on the grave of the unknown soldier. And all over the country, parades and services were held in honour of our veterans. Thank God for them and may God continue to bless those who currently serve this nation. Of course, as most things do, it got me thinking about the idea of taking time out to remember. I thought about the children of Israel and how they would build monuments to remember the things that God brought them through. Sometimes, we like to forget the past. Especially the difficulties of the past because it is easier not to dwell on the negative. I know that for me, I find it much easier to remember the good times because the bad times in the past can still awaken feelings that are better left dormant. But those bad memories have a positive spin. They remind us of what God has done for us, of ho...

Let me first start by saying that I cannot take credit for the following example, as I did not originate it. In fact, I was listening to Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah and I was so touched by what he shared that I thought I would share it with all of you. Let's say I have a large, empty 5-gallon jar. If I place fist sized rocks into the jar until no more can fit, is it full? Before you answer, let me say that after I place the rocks in the jar, I pick up a bag of gravel and begin to pour that into the jar. Where does the gravel go? In between the spaces left by the rocks. After I fill the jar to the brim with gravel, is it full? Before you answer, consider this: I pour a bag of sand into the jar. Where does the sand go? Into the spaces left by the gravel, of course. After filling the jar to the brim with sand, is it full? Before you answer, consider this: I pour a pitcher of water into the same jar. Where does the water go? Into the spaces between the grains of sa...

I'm taking a few moments to post this blog as I try to quiet my heart before the Lord in these last hours before I have to "preach" tonight. I hate feeling like this: nervous and inadequate. But if I didn't feel like this, I would be worried. Delivering a message, whether by preaching at a revival, ministering in song, teaching Sunday School class/Bible Study or just sharing your faith with a friend, coworker or neighbour is an awesome task that should NEVER be taken lightly. When you do it often, however, and when people tell you how well you do, it can be easy to start trusting in your own strength and ability. You know...the more you do something, the easier it becomes. But when it comes to the message of the Gospel and how we handle it, we should never let it get to be commonplace. It is always a daunting task. ALWAYS. Because whatever we do as Christians is not about pleasing our earthly audience. It is only ever about pleasing our heavenly Audience. We oug...

Yesterday, for the first time, I was on the program to give the message in our largest Sunday service. Nervous does not even begin to describe how I felt. I grew up in my church. Literally. When my family came to the United States in 1980, my church is where we began our collective spiritual journey. And now, 32 years later (I guess you can all figure out how old I am...), we are still active members. So you can see why it would be particularly daunting for me to address a congregation that by and large has watched me grow up from pig-tails and bobby socks to the person that I am now, by God's grace. When I was asked (read: told) to give the sermon, my immediate response was no. In fact, if I remember correctly it was more like, "NO! Uh uh...Not happening!" But as I stood behind the sacred desk yesterday, I realised that my verbal "no" meant nothing. When you are called and ordained by God for a specific task, no matter how great or how small, there is no sens...