The Spear

A few days ago my husband and I took the kids to the park. We were in an area that we were not familiar with. We don’t know anything about anything or anyone in the little town nestled in the Virginia mountains.  There, along a river, is a small park. We pulled up and saw another family there. Allow me to add that, it just so happened that on this day, I had the courage to wear shorts. I have struggled so severely with my self image, and obsessed over hiding myself out of fear, that I didn’t even own a pair of shorts until last year when I got some because I just couldn’t take the Texas summer heat anymore. Still, I would wear them at home most of the time. But today, I was feeling free. I put on my shorts and took my kids to the park.  When we walked up to the playset, I could see that the family was dressed in…well, let's just say they were dressed in a way that would be obvious to most that they are part of a specific Christian religious group. I have zero problem with them...

  The story of David and Goliath has become somewhat of a children's classic. But let’s go back to something a little more accurate. Let’s take the cute little cartoon characters and flesh them out until they look like real people. Let’s stack a very large, muscular warrior against a young teenage boy. Let’s add the tension of battle. Peek into the camp of Philistine warriors ready to annihilate a people group. They are eating and drinking. They are discussing how the battle is all but won and mocking the men that are on the other side of the battle lines. Where is King Saul? Hiding in his tent, cloaked in shame. Chosen as king because he was one of the tallest among them, and now he is pitted against a man even taller than him. David walks into the scene and can smell the stench of cowardice on his people. He can hear the mockery of Goliath, not only against his people, his nation, but also against his God. His God, who he loves more than anything else. He doesn’t get it. “Wh...

Okay, here I go. Making waves.  "What do a unicorn, a man, and a four leaf clover have in common?" you might ask. Well, they are all either very rare, extinct, or fanciful (depending on the folklore that you prescribe to). “Men? Men are everywhere! How can you say they are rare or extinct?” Well, let's start by defining the word “man." Oxford Language dictionary defines a man as “an adult human being”.  Okay, now let's look at it on a deeper level. A human being, the creature created by God to rule over the earth. Hold it! Still more to define. “Rule over the earth.” What does that even mean? You see, we have taken the terms and understanding that once denoted a great deal of effort, care, and responsibility, and reduced it to simple power. We now live in a time when we desire to throw off the “ruling power” because any amount of power is associated with abuse. There are many groups of people, including Christians, who want to talk about how submission to...

  As a people we seem to be moving ever farther into the shallow end. The emphasis on the instant, the cheap, and the easily accessible seems to be far outweighing the desire for lasting, meaningful, and precious. A shifting focus to self, while maintaining the condemnations of selfishness, has created a kind of narcissistic syndrome in the mass populace. And to top it all off we have normalized, even celebrated this kind of behavior. We watch it all play out like a bad movie, but we are glued to the screen. Some woman loses her mind in a store, and we whip our phones out. Someone is getting beaten in a crowded parking lot, so we record it for entertainment purposes. We are sick and we like it. We gawk at the beautiful, dripping with extravagance, all while judging their self-absorbed personalities. Our brains are crammed with advertisements on how we can use this pill, cream, workout, clothing item, to be just like them. We are shocked when they are caught cheating, going to rehab...

What do you want me to say, church? Should I give you sweet wine to drink when all it will do is to keep you in your drunken stupor? Should I lie to you and tell you that everything is fine? You refuse to listen to me if I tell you the truth. Instead, you only want sweet things like an over indulged child. I can’t even offer you something that will save you. Words from the Lord burn within me, but I know you will not listen. You find comfort in telling me that I am wrong. You think that I see doom, and so you dismiss me.

|| Return to Series Menu || << Previous Post in Series        Next Post in Series >>   Here’s where we left off … Sin is in you. It is part of our nature as humans. It will always be there knocking at the door, asking you to try things your own way. “Get it now”, “don’t wait”, “This feels better”, Etc. But, being a sinner…that is not certain. That is not inevitable. Jesus died and gave us the power to shed the mantle of “Sinner” in exchange for, “son of God”. Sin will still be there, but it doesn’t’ have to own us. Each Spirit can be beaten down, uprooted, and caged. We can master them.

Defiant Toward God Dedicated to Selfishness Hating Liberty and Justice in Favor of Anarchy God bless America. These words have been uttered in church and patriotic gatherings throughout the centuries. President after president, regardless of their religious affiliation, has called down the blessing of God on this nation. Without doubt we have shared in the irrefutable favor of a Sovereign God who has given to us and kept us safe. We are among the wealthiest people in the world. Even our poor enjoy amenities and comforts that the rest of the world knows nothing about. We, like our cousin Israel, have been blessed by God because we chose to stand for Him and His principles. Or, at least we tried. Our people were among the first to experience freedoms that had never been seen before. Opportunities have flourished. No matter what the statistics say, we are still a nation of great power and wealth.

I have often had conversations with people who are not Christians. They are frustrated because they feel that they know what we should be standing for and we don’t. Are we not called to be ambassadors? If ambassadors of other nations acted here, as we do in this, our foreign land, we would be outraged and rightfully so.

I am troubled that there is still a belief that a woman’s only place is at home. Should she venture out to work or to minister, she is somehow being ungodly. The very image of it in my mind is like a dark cloud of oppression that, as a prophet, I cannot ignore.

I was going to wait until after the election, but I have decided that that would be the coward’s way out. I am not going to tell you who to vote for. I think we can all agree that our choices are far less than perfect. But I do want to put something in perspective for us.

I have heard a lot of people share their story and try to explain why they are the way they are, or why they did what they did. I am an extremely sympathetic person. I am willing to help, and I am willing to listen. But let me challenge you for a moment. It’s not what you did when it was easy that counts. It’s what you did when it was hard. It’s how you handled things when life wasn’t going your way. It’s how you treated others when it cost you something or even when it hurt.

We had a wonderful guest speaker today at church. He is a leader and disciple maker in India. This is the second time I’ve heard him speak, and it is such a treat. His work is so good, and it’s wonderful to see what is happening for the kingdom of God there. As he spoke today, he brought up something that he and his ministry have only just started but with great success. They have begun to rescue women and girls who have been caught up in local sex trafficking. The whole story of how these girls are sold and treated is horrific and makes me sick to my stomach. I cried through that service. Most of these women have never had anyone tell them that they are precious or special. A young girl of four can be sold to the highest bidder without anyone ever stepping in and protecting her and telling her what she is truly worth.

There once was a ship that was going down. It was filled with wealthy people, and in their panic, they left money and jewelry behind. A man, who had been a servant, went from room to room gathering all the goods he could find and stuffed them in his pockets. As the ship began to sink, he made his way to the deck, but there were no boats left. Seeing that another ship was on its way to help, he decided to chance it and swim to safety. He jumped into the cold water and tried to make his way to the ship, which was prepared to rescue him. He struggled to swim as his pants and coat were loaded down with jewels and other goods. Before he even made it halfway to his salvation, he grew too tired to keep going and drown.

“The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” Proverbs 12:18 Have you ever sat across from someone, and as they spoke you felt like something inside you was tearing? Perhaps it was a break up or a rejection. Maybe even someone said something horrid and unkind. The pain is difficult to describe, and I think the first thing we want to do is make it go away. Bury the pain and forget about it.

I have seen my fair share of Christian bumper stickers. Crosses, Fish, “Jesus Saves”. I’ve even seen old vehicles completely painted in Bible verses, but sometimes I wonder if our faith is deeper than just a neat saying or a symbol.

I have often found it interesting how the believers I know and meet seem to think that things should go easy for them. If things are hard, God is testing them. If things are good, God is blessing them. If they are going through a time of pain, God has abandoned them. We seem to think that we are just kind of hanging out, and God is messing with us however He pleases.