An Inconvenient Christianity

*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...

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...

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...