An Inconvenient Christianity

Yup...that's right, folks! Today is my birthday. The 35th one. I can hardly believe it. I still feel like the little girl who wore pigtails and bobby socks to church. But those days are looooooong gone. Truthfully, I am happier today that I thought I would be. When I was younger and pictured my future self, the 35-year-old me was always a medical doctor and married to the love of her life and raising the best children ever. None of that is true. So I thought that I would be lamenting that fact. But I'm not. I have reached a point in my life where I can say like Paul, I have learned that whatsoever state I am in, therewith to be content. (Phil. 4:11). Would I like my life to have looked a little more like how I envisioned it would when I was a child. Absolutely. But do I think that I am a failure or "less than" because it doesn't? Absolutely not. Contentment is something that a lot of Christians, including me, often struggle with. There are two possible reaso

Happy Thanksgiving! For those who are unfamiliar with the holiday, the fourth Thursday is set aside to give thanks for the bounty with which we have been blessed. We also get together with family and friends and enjoy a nice meal and quality time. Some families have the tradition of stating at least one thing/person/event during the calendar year for which they are thankful. I think that's a nice tradition. It make us focus on the blessings we have in this life and not so much on the struggles, which are highlighted more often than we may care to admit. Today, let us be mindful of two things: 1. God gets the thanks. Period. Apart from God, we would have nothing and no one for which to give thanks. But that's the easy part to remember... 2. Give thanks for everything. Yes, I typed "for." You see as Christians, we have a fairly easy time with the concept of giving thanks. We even accept the fact that in every situation we ought to give thanks because no matter h

Hello out there! Long time, right? Yes, I know. Forgive me. I've had a lot on my plate. But for sanity's sake I make it a point to listen to a lot of good, sound Bible teaching and failing that, NPR. Recently I was reminded of former Governor Sarah Palin's "Lipstick On A Pig" comment. Essentially, the phrase is used to illustrate the futility of using a superficial, cosmetic addition to change the nature of a thing. It simply doesn't work. It's like putting lipstick on a pig. So I was thinking about pigs and how much they love mud and dirt and slop. No matter how much you wash a pig off and clean it up, it will return (almost immediately) to the slop and dirty itself all over again. In fact, I dare say that you could scrub the pig, put it in a tuxedo and lecture it on the best way to keep clean and it would still, when given the opportunity, return to the mud. That is the nature of the pig. How many of us as Christians operate just like the pig? We run

Whew...I just got finished putting my things together for church tomorrow. We are in the middle of our Annual Ladies' Conference and while I'm excited about the Word, I'm really excited about the outfit I have planned. I have been researching outfits for tomorrow's service for about a year now. On our Annual Ladies' Day, we dress in all white. I saw the PERFECT dress online around this time last year and I wanted it. It was a little (okay, a lot) over my budget so I decided to track the dress. It had to go on sale at some point, right? Wrong. Very wrong. I can't even find it on eBay or any of my other usual sites. So...new plan. Look for something else. (Did I mention that I have a perfectly acceptable white suit?) So I searched online and in stores. Always looking for something, but to no avail. The dresses I saw were always too short, or too tight or too low-cut, or too see-through, or too not white. When I finally resigned myself to wearing my "perfe

A few minutes ago, I was in a store trying to find an item that I wanted to purchase. As I searched the aisles and chatted with my bestie on the phone, the store owner came up to me and loudly said, "Oh my G-d! What happened to your face?!" Then he repeated it, presumably to maximize my embarrassment...or for emphasis, whichever. Now, because my rapier wit is only evident when I am NOT mortified, I timidly mumbled something about having suffered a break-out. He nodded with understanding and then suggested I try a particular face cream which, as luck would have it, could be found right there in his store. How serendipitous! Not only was I informed that I was afflicted with a hideous skin condition (for which apparently only confinement to some sort of colony would be appropriate), but also that the cure was within my reach. So naturally, I left without  purchasing anything. I was SO irritated. Why on earth would he embarrass me like that and then expect me to patronize h

I'm writing right now to make sense of some news that I just got. A wonderful man of God, teacher, preacher and Bible expositor went home to be with the Lord tonight and I feel.... ....weird. He'd been battling health issues since before I met him in 2004, but God had been sustaining him for so long, I didn't think it would end any time soon. But it did. Abruptly, if you ask me, but perhaps not a moment too soon, if I understand anything about his cause of death. This past Saturday, I was at a funeral for another individual...a husband and father who was YOUNGER than me. I didn't know him well, but the fact that he was younger than me made me sit up and take notice. Psalm 90, written by Moses, is another good reminder. In verse 10, Moses tells us that humans live on average 70 years, 80 if you have strength and favour. Yet, all those years are full of labour and sorrow and then the life is cut off. Moses goes on to ask the Almighty to teach us to number our days

I went to bed last night singing Not For A Moment by Meredith Andrews and the Vertical Church Band . I had dreams with Not For A Moment as the musical score. I woke up this morning singing Not For A Moment. All day long the song was in my heart. This afternoon as I was driving, I was thinking about my current job situation. I began to compare myself with other people that I thought were inferior. It started to irritate me that less experienced, less qualified...and let's face it, less Christian people were finding and securing proper employment and I wasn't. Just then, Not For A Moment began to play again in my head and I got angry. For the first time, I realized that I was angry at God. I felt entitled to more than I have received from His hand and I was not happy. As the song continued to play in my head, I realized that since last night the Holy Spirit was trying to show me something through the words of the chorus of that song: After all, You are constant After all,

*So....I'm going to be asking for a little audience participation on this one. Please, please oblige me (just this once...lol). Have you ever been in a situation with no clue of what to do? In the moment your mind is reeling and you're desperately trying to figure out how to act or what to say. Of course, later on when you're far removed from the stress of the situation, a million things pop into your head as to what you should have said or what you should have done?  Well, that happened to me yesterday, except I am still unclear as to what I should have said or done. I just kept thinking, " Come on, Josie! Think! What would Jesus do? " But to my chagrin, I came up woefully and hopelessly blank. Here's the scenario:  I am currently doing contract, project-driven work. It's not steady, but for the time being it is my Brook Cherith (see 1 Kings 17:2-6), so I'm not complaining (out loud). I started a new project last week and found out t

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

I'm sure you're all looking at the title of this blog post and wondering how "grace" could be a problem. You're right to wonder. The fact of the matter is that grace in its truest form is not the problem. It's what we do with grace that is the problem. There is a mentality amongst those of us in Christendom (myself included) that the God that we serve is so wonderful and loving and patient that He will forgive us our trespasses and sins whenever we call on Him. While this is true, the onus is still on us to live according to the Scriptures in this present world. Paul says it all in Romans chapter 6. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. And John talks about God's love in 1 John 1 begins 1 John 2 by saying that all that he had written was so that we would NOT sin...but if we sin we have an advocate with the Father which is Jesus Christ. The sad part is that sin can be fun; it can feel good. It can be so

If you're like me, you're probably thinking there is no such thing as "simple" mathematics... and the picture above does not help! For some of us, even the simplest calculations require technological assistance. But don't lose heart, loved one! The equation I am about to give you is so simple even a pre-school student can understand it (I think!). So here it is, in the form of an "if/then" statement: If a=b, then b=a Simple, right? Of course it is because it is logical. The equal sign ("=") means that whatever is on either side of that sign is the same. So even if you reverse the order in which you list the items on either side of that equal sign, they are still equal. So then, how does this simple premise, simple equation apply to this inconvenient Christian journey. Here it is: Christian = Christ follower, Christ follower = Christian.  Again, simple, no? Or is it? It seems to me that we as Christians do not always act like Christ

Hello out there! I've been a bit on the silent side for the past few weeks...the truth is, I was having a little trouble hearing from the Lord. It's amazing how clearly you can hear Him once you take a moment to really listen. Now....on to the blog. The title of this blog comes from one of my FAVORITE songs by one of my FAVORITE groups called the  Indigo Girls . I don't agree with a lot of their beliefs, but I find it interesting how I can find spiritual truths in their lyrics (and to their credit, they do make a surprising number of Biblical allusions). Anyway, back to my point. "Walk Away" is a song from the POV of a person who is leaving a relationship a bit reluctantly. The first lines of the song are "We used to walk in each other's arms, we were one-on-one, that's what you said." The song goes on without a refrain/chorus, just a repeated line: "Walk away." For me the climax of the song is when the singer declares that she is a

A friend of mine recently told me about a phone call she received from an individual who had seriously wronged her and betrayed her trust. Ostensibly, he called to apologize, but the more he talked, the more she realized his "apology" wasn't an apology at all. He was actually trying to ascertain whether she was going to take legal action against him (yep, it was THAT bad). As she was telling me about the incident, I couldn't help but feeling convicted. How many times had I offered just such an apology to God? That story was a painful wake-up call to me. All too often, we (read: I) go to God with what appears to be a broken spirit and a contrite heart and offer up what sounds like a heartfelt apology...when in actuality, we are simply hoping to avoid some tangible punishment for our actions. Unfortunately for us, just like my friend did, God sees through the fake apology to what is actually in our hearts. Yet it is by His undying mercy that we are not all

*I wrote this blogpost on April 22, 2006. Just thought I would share it again. i'm sitting here at my desk, listening to israel and new breed, researching case law for my newest brief and crying at the same time. hoo-rah for multi-tasking, right? but i'm crying because i'm thinking of how great God is and how much the opposite of that i am. i messed up yesterday...bad. and i know that God is willing and able to forgive me, but i'm wondering now why He would want to. if i were Him (and i note that i am not), i would have long since cut me off because i just don't listen! you ever get fed up with someone that you keep bailing out of the same situations? don't you just get to a point where you want to wash your hands of that person and say,  look, you do it again and you are on your own. don't come crying to me!  well, that's what i would do. but God does not do that. why? because He is great and i am not. time and time and time and time again i fail

Today, I was chitchatting with my best friend. It was another one of those easy, casual conversations that we always have. But it shared another characteristic of our regular conversations: there was a bit of spiritual conviction. It came out of no where. There we were talking and I mentioned something to her that I had been doing and suddenly, she exclaimed, "An inconvenient Christianity?! More like an an inconvenient friend!" We both burst out laughing at that. The fact of the matter is we have inadvertently convicted each other time and time again over the 10 years of so that we've known each other. It happens so casually, that it's almost scary to think that the Holy Spirit is moving and speaking to us even through the simplest of conversations. The Bible tells us that iron sharpens iron (Prov. 27:17). Perhaps because it is such a common sense statement, I never really took the time to think about what it means. Have you ever tried to sharpen a knife? Can yo

So...I'm jumping out of my skin to see Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (don't you dare judge me! lol!). Now, when I'm not on my soapbox about this or that, I enjoy magical fantasy...vampires especially (we can debate about why a Christian such as myself would enjoy this sort of thing on another blog post). Yet oddly enough, when I first saw a trailer for this movie, I immediately dismissed it as rubbish. If I recall correctly, my exact words were, "Okay, this vampire thing has gone way too far now." But...now I'm dying to see it! Why? Because a colleague of mine (yes, you @LexEsquire), whose opinion I greatly respect, praised it. In her opinion, it is very good. And based on that recommendation, I have gone from dismissive to definitely gonna see it. That happens to me more often than I care to share. Solely based on the recommendation of another, and not necessarily a trusted friend/acquaintance, I get excited over something or other that I previously tho

*Sorry, didn't plan for this one to be so long! I need to turn my soapbox into kindling. Today is my parents' 45th wedding anniversary. I would like to say they've enjoyed 45 years of wedded bliss, but that would make me a liar. Like every other couple, they had their ups and downs....but through it all, they stuck by each other. The sole reason for that is their undying commitment to God. From as far back as I can remember, my parents have clung to the belief that marriage is honourable and divorce was not an option. Growing up, I always believed that too, but I also believed that my future marriage might end in divorce because of life's circumstances (whatever they might be). It was not until I reached adulthood, that I gained the spiritual insight to see that my parents' dogged tenacity (is that redundant?) when it comes to their vows was more than a staunch refusal to walk out on the marriage. Their commitment to each other is a direct reflection of th

Yesterday, TLC had an Undercover Boss marathon. In case you've never heard of it, it's a reality TV show where a the president and/or CEO of a major corporation goes undercover as a lay-worker to see how the employees work and to gain a better understanding of the day-to-day operations of the corporation. I watched about six or seven episodes and cried like a baby at each one. There were some really heart-rending stories of economic hardship, overcoming obstacles and genuine human compassion. At the end of each episode the "boss" would reveal himself (I only saw male bosses) to the employees with whom he worked and then overcome by a fit of generosity he would reward them. I only saw one employee get reprimanded rather than rewarded. The employees, for their part, were really surprised by the revelation. You could almost see them trying to remember what they said or did in front of the boss, trying to make sure that nothing that was said or done would cost the

Aimee Copeland Some of you might be wondering who she is. I'll tell you. Aimee Copeland  is a University of West Georgia grad student whose body was attacked by a flesh-eating virus after a zip-lining accident in early May. The above picture was taken the day she was released from the hospital. The virus took both her hands and a leg, yet there she is with a smile on her face. Her smile was the first thing I noticed when I first saw the photo. To be honest, I didn't notice the bandages on her arms until afterwards. I was mesmerized by her smile. I kept wondering to myself if I would have a smile on my face after going through what she's been through. The answer is no. I've been frowned up for days over much less. And I'm so ashamed. When I pointed out Aimee's smile to my father, he shrugged and said, "What else can she do?" In my head I thought. she could cry...she could yell to keep the cameras out of her face...she could be depressed...she

I love this phrase. There are quite a few subtle variations on the meaning, but it is an urban colloquialism that means loyalty, no matter what. I thank God that I have been blessed with a few people that have that kind of loyalty to me and I to them. It's a rich blessing that have true friends. They are with me and in my corner no matter what (or "regardless of what" as one of them would say). This week we had Vacation Bible School at my church and I was privileged to be a teacher. The first lesson was taken from Daniel chapter three. The very well known story of the three Hebrew boys: Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego. It is a wonderful story of faith, but something jumped out at me so profoundly that it almost knocked me over. We always focus on the deliverance. But the Hebrew boys did not. Their focus was on God and Him alone. They were ride or die for the Lord. Literally. If you read the story, they never once pray for deliverance. They talk about God's a

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