...and a time to speak...

The recent #MeToo and #TimesUp movements have stirred up a lot of emotions in me as a woman. #MeToo has definitely shed some positive light on the prevalence of sexual harassment of women particularly in their places of work. #TimesUp is primarily a movement to provide financial support to women who, unlike their Hollywood counterparts, can not afford the multiple thousands of dollars in legal fees that it would take to properly prosecute their harassers. While everyone (including me) has their own opinions, positive and negative, of these two causes as a whole, both movements undeniably have beneficial components. One thing I find interesting is that these movements have spurred quite a lot of publications speaking out on how women should be properly treated. Fun fact… do you want to know another publication that’s been speaking on this same topic for roughly 2000 years? The bible. God laid the foundation for the equality of women in the very first chapter of the book! Genesis 1:27 sa...

Since starting this blog about a month or so ago I often ask God to give me topics, ideas or words to write that would be pleasing to Him. Sometimes I get a pretty clear message and sometimes it feels like I could write about 10 different things all of which would be fine for the moment. Recently though I was engaged in a conversation with Him like I usually am, but wasn’t really feeling much clarity to be honest. I was toying with different ideas, but none of them seemed to really stick. Then this morning I was driving into work and something hit me like a ton of bricks. A certain song was coming on the radio and all of a sudden I remembered that the previous two times I had been in my car, the exact same song had also come on the radio. And it wasn’t like I turned on the car and the song was half way through or had just finished. The song was literally just beginning as soon as I turned out of my driveway. None of the places that I drive to take me longer than about 5-10 minutes so I...

Every year at Christmas time I see the same picture come across Facebook (and the same argument ensue because of it) that basically says “Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness sake!” Another variation says “Go ahead and skip church. Just be good for goodness sake!” There is usually a photo of Santa in the middle of a big ‘ol jolly laugh that goes along with it. If I am being totally honest, nothing makes me want to scream and pull my hair out more than this asinine message and the absurdity of those who feel they can actually pull this off. Just be good, huh? Let’s role play for a sec about what that might look like. The person who just cussed out a stranger because they inconvenienced them in some small way says, “Well, maybe I got a little carried away, but at least I’m not a liar!” The person who is a habitual liar says, “Well, maybe I do stretch the truth sometimes, but at least I’m not a gossip!” The person who is a habitual gossiper says, “Well, maybe I talk about peopl...

I have not yet seen the movie The Greatest Showman but have heard from an overwhelming majority of people how absolutely amazing it is. I can not wait to see it and hope I will get to while it is still on the big screen (come on babysitters!!). This is a classic underdog story where the forgotten people with “differences” come breaking through out of the shadows and into the limelight. They have seemingly insurmountable odds stacked against them and a boat load of really hateful people pointing fingers at them, but they prevail in the end. Now who doesn’t love a story like that? If you don’t, you might have a black heart. Just kidding, but seriously, it’s just good stuff. Everyone reading this probably loved that first paragraph. Nothing really to contend with (other than the fact that you might be among the .0000001% that didn’t care for the movie). Now here comes the hard part. The twist in my blog “plot” that some will agree with and some will not care for one bit. And that is th...

Over the last year or so, my church has been challenging us as a congregation to learn how to tell our faith story summed up in about 2 minutes. We were provided with printed t-shirts and buttons that say “Ask me my story” and are encouraged to wear them out to the places we always go. The thought process being that it’s not always easy to strike up a random Jesus conversation with someone who is in the line next to you at the cashier, but if they see your shirt and ask what it means, there’s your in. I still haven’t quite figured out how to boil down my story into 2 minutes, but I am working on it because in 1 Peter 3:15 it says “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” I should be able to tell someone in 2 minutes how my life was transformed from being someone filled with “intellectual beliefs” to someone filled with “saving faith.” Oh there is a difference. Huge one. For me, the difference was literal darkness to...

You want to know what I consider to be one of the most alarming (yet hopeful) verses in all of the bible? Revelation 3:16-20 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. Alarming… why? Because I look around me day after day and realize that I live in a virtual sea of lukewarm-ness. It is rampant. I see men, women, teenagers and children going about their daily lives in complete and...

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 A Time for Everything There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak , a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. I’ve wrestled with the idea of starting a blog for quite some time now, because in all honesty, does the world need another one? Probably not. But, here I sit at my computer all the same because there are just some things that are bursting within me that need to come out. ...