Another Sunday morning
I receive the cup and bread
And I’m once again transported
To the place your blood was shed Continue reading →

Jesus’ birthday is coming up again. What are you going to get him?

After all, Christmas is his birthday party, isn’t it?  Don’t we always give gifts to celebrate a person’s birthday?  Why should Jesus’ birth be any different?

Isn’t his the most important birthday ever?  A miraculous, immaculate, history-changing birth?  Doesn’t that warrant a trip to Hallmark, at least? Continue reading →

After centuries of belittling stereotypes, repressed potential, and squelched ambitions, ancient matriarchs set out to prove that a woman’s potential for success and achievement was equal to that of a man.  They fought a hard battle and they won.  They changed the world.  They opened doors of opportunity for women that never before existed.

And so, dear foremothers, we thank you.

Thank you for giving us the freedom to be all that we can be—for shattering glass ceilings and giving us wings to fly.  Modern women rank among the top CEO’s, surgeons, astronauts, politicians, military commanders, and leadership in every field.

Young women today have no notion of the limitations you had at their age.  We tell them from birth that they can be and do anything they desire.  We reinforce this throughout their childhoods, asking repeatedly what they “want to be when they grow up,” and praising their ambitious responses.  When they reach adolescence, we provide aptitude tests, career counseling, SAT’s, and college campus tours to help them discover their optimum career choice.

After college, we plop graduation caps on their heads and send them forth to conquer the world.  We reassure them that the tens of thousands of dollars in student debt will pay off one day as they develop their lucrative careers.  During these same years they often marry, take on a mortgage, a car payment, and a “same as cash” credit deal that inevitably converts to a high interest debt when unexpected setbacks occur.

Behold! The American dream!  This is how it began for many of us, and this is the course we still chart for our young women today.  We encourage them to set ambitious career goals from childhood, go to college, and enter the exciting journey into adulthood shackled with debt that promises to one day bring prosperity, happiness and fulfillment.

There’s just one little problem.  There’s one rather important detail that we somehow left out of the equation.  We failed to mention that once these talented young ladies establish their glorious new careers, there’s a fairly high statistical likelihood that they will soon be bearing children. Continue reading →

In one the most bizarre and intriguing scenes in all of scripture, the book of Job pulls back the curtain of the heavenly courts and lets us eavesdrop on a conversation between God and Satan during a meeting of the heavenly host. The ever-accusing Satan has just alleged that man’s loyalty to God is entirely contingent upon His continual blessing and provision, and is contending that if the hand of blessing were ever removed, man would curse God to His face. In essence, he’s attempting to discredit God’s provision of freewill and accuse the bride of Christ of being a gold digger before a crowd of angelic onlookers.

To disprove and effectively silence these allegations, God issues a momentous earthly challenge, and puts forth his most devout and righteous man, Job, to be put to the test. The stakes could not be higher.  Continue reading →

As I was getting my decorations out this Christmas season, I thought to myself, “Didn’t we just do this?” And now it’s already over again. The decorations are put away, and soon I’ll be dragging them right back out again.

The years whoosh by so fast and we’re all racing to keep up. Time is, by far, our most deficient resource. Continue reading →

This time last year, I issued a radical challenge to us all.  I suggested that we treat our Christmas celebration like the birthday party it is intended to be and actually give Jesus a birthday present.  Weird, right?  (If you’d like to read it, you can find that post here.)

For my gift, I decided I would start a gratitude journal.  2015 was going to be a big year for me and God, and I couldn’t wait to record in my pretty new journal all of our wonderful adventures together.  I had just launched my new blog and was looking forward to a year of intense spiritual study and revelation.  I was ready for the best year of my life.

Instead, 2015 was, without question, the worst year of my life. Continue reading →

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Dear God,

There’s something that’s been on my mind for a while now, and I really need to talk to you about it.

You know that I love you with everything that I am.  Nothing will ever change that.

But I need you to know that right now I am very disappointed with you. Continue reading →

When I was a little girl in Sunday school, we used to sing:

I may never march in the infantry
Ride in the cavalry
Shoot the artillery
I may never soar o’er the enemy
But I’m in the Lord’s army

I never gave much thought to the lyrics back then.  Are Christians supposed to be at war?  Pondering that question in light of scripture, the answer is clear.  Yes, we certainly are. Continue reading →

Today, in honor of the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, Christians were asked to fast and pray for their brothers and sisters around the world who are being persecuted because of their faith. I’ll confess that when I first heard the request, I cringed a little inside. I readily respond to a request for prayer, but I’m not much of a faster. I don’t deny myself much of anything in the way of physical comfort, and that includes food. Continue reading →

A year ago, I started this blog as a place to share my reflections on faith, family, and culture. Circumstances over the past year have led me to write pieces that are more serious and morose, and my sister has dubbed my blog, “Debbie Downer’s Daily Dose of Depression.”

While it’s true that some of my pieces are a bit melancholy, her description is absurdly inaccurate. There’s no way I post every day!

So, to prove her wrong, I’m going to share with you a rather unconventional list of Bible verses. Continue reading →