An Inconvenient Christianity

I'm sure you saw the title and wondered, "What in the world is a poppilop?" I'll tell you. Apparently, when I was a toddler I couldn't say "lollipop." Instead I committed a mild spoonerism and swapped the p and l sounds. It's cute, right? Just the little silliness of youth and immaturity. Rest assured, I say "lollipop" now. When my father told me about my misadventures in speech and pronunciation, it made me think of 1 Corinthians 13:11 almost immediately: "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought like a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things." Paul was talking about growing up and not just growing older. And with that scripture in my mind, though my dad was telling me a story that I should have found amusing, I was being introspective. Have I grown older without growing up? That is a sobering question. How many of us have grown older as Christians without growing up? How...

...that the Holy Spirit showed me how judgmental I am and what I pharisaical and censorious spirit I possess? Well, it's still there.  Before I watched the video that I'm about to share with you all, I was really skeptical. I literally had the thought, "What can this woman preach to me about righteousness?" A LOT, as it turns out. Sigh....the Lord is still working on me. Here's hoping you are as blessed (and convicted) by this as I was (and still am). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzYTWlVGzU8&feature=related

Okay....so you talked me into a quick post.....but before I begin, let me just say how humbled I am that there is a Russian contingent who faithfully read my blog ( wow! ). I'm not even sure how they came across it, but I thank God that the words He inspires me to share are being read internationally. And I pray that He would continue to place on my heart those things that He would have said. Amen. So...here's what's on my heart right now. What does it really mean to love the Lord? To truly love Him? And can we truly love Him when we allow other things to distract from Him? If you have ever been in love with another human being (spouse, child, relative, significant other, friend), nothing can keep you from being with them. To quote the great Sam Cooke, "Love will find a way." Personally, I have turned down job offers, I have sacrificed making personal purchases, I have even jeopardized my relationship with God for the love I bore for another human being. T...

I haven't posted in a while...the Lord is dealing with me. I will be back shortly. Until then, I would like to share this with all of you...and ask this: Where is the Church? http://www.kony2012.com/

There is a young man I know who wanted to get better at basketball. Because he was not a very good player, he was rejected from every school and little league team available to him. But he wanted to get better. So in the evenings after school, he would hurriedly finish his homework and walk about a mile to the community park and practice the shooting and rebounding, dribbling and passing. Soon he found that he was getting better...but still he  wanted to be even better. He eventually began to wake up very early in the morning, sneak out of his house and go to the community park and practice for an hour and return him before his parents arose to find him missing. All of his practice paid off...but that is not the point of this story. The point is: his desire. I often hear Christians (including myself) say, I want to study the Word more or I want to be closer to God. But those same Christians ( including myself) make no attempt to study the Word more or to be closer to God. I...

Well, we are now a full four days into Lent and I have been convicted a million (only a slight exaggeration) times. In fact, I have been refusing to blog because I knew I would have to blog about these convictions. If you all could see all of the other drafts I have saved, you would shake your heads and tsk at me. I write post after post (or at least begin them) and then end up saving them because I do not have the release to post it.  Somehow, they didn't feel authentic. The whole time, however, the Holy Spirit was whispering to me what I should post. He even used the voice of my dearest friend who gently said to me "You will have to be more transparent as you go further into ministry." I balked at that. Ministry?! I was surprised by the use of that word. And convicted. Surprised because that word has come up several times in the past few months and weeks. Convicted because I cannot honestly say I've been treating everything I do in service of the King as minis...

So...Adele's song Rolling In The Deep has been on repeat in my head since Monday morning when I watched her Grammy performance on YouTube (I just couldn't bring myself to watch the live broadcast). Her voice is amazing, but the lyrics gripped me. Actually, just one line: "We could've had it all." Truth be told, the only thing on repeat in my head is that one line. But I couldn't figure out why...then this morning it hit me. I'm not hearing "We could've had it all." Instead, I'm hearing " You could've had it all." Suddenly, I felt like the lazy servant in the Parable of the Talents (see Matthew 25:14-30). In the parable, a man was going on a journey and he called his servants together to give them some responsibility during his absence. Based on ability, to one servant he gave five talents, to a second he gave two talents and to the last he gave only on. While the man was away, the servant who had received five talents wo...