Kathleen Kelly mocks: “Hi, my name’s Joe. As if you were one of the stupid 22-year-old girls with no last name. ‘Hi, I’m Kimberly.’ ‘Hi, I’m Janice.’ Don’t they know you’re supposed to have a last name. It’s like they’re an entire generation of cocktail waitresses.”Joe Fox: Look. I am not a 22-year-old cocktail waitress.Kathleen: […]
Spiritual
The Danger of Propaganda and Dismissing Free Speech/Press
If you had told me twelve months ago that our current president of the United States would be banned from all social platforms, unable to communicate with the American people, barely covered by the “news” sources, and so publicly hated by the Congress mob, I would have scoffed. Not in America, surely. We value our […]
The Purpose of Silence
For the last four years, our homeschool family has gathered with other families to teach, learn, and grow together. Each mom takes time weaving in her personal touches to the lesson, whether it’s history, science, art, music, or Latin. My friend Dinah teaches the music portion, explaining the notes and beats of a musical composition. […]
5 Aspects of American Culture that Have No Place in the Heart of a Christian
ENTITLEMENT & FOMO: If I was forced to peg a transitional date, I’d say 8-10 years ago was when I started noticing the entitlement attitude bleed into generations normally responsible and others-focused. In the academic world, I’ve dealt with the millennial crutch of “you owe it to me” for as long as I’ve been teaching. […]
Should I be Making my Life Easier?
I was listening to a Christian radio station recently where the DJ host of the show said that we as people often over-complicate our lives. “Sure, I’m with you so far,” I thought. Fill out a legal form to see how ridiculously complicated we’ve made things. Or look at a normal 10-year-old’s schedule and wonder […]
Pivotal Turning Point for the American Church: How Will We Respond?
I didn’t live through the 60’s, but those who did say that even that time wasn’t as polarizing as we’re experiencing now. Of course, we didn’t have the Internet and social media and biased “news” sources to help fan the flames of violent division, but even so, people could disagree with one another in more […]
Spiritual Warfare Comes in a Variety of Shapes and Colors
I’m reading through the Gospels with my sisters right now and am struck by how often the religious people of Jesus’ day followed him around, trying to stop him in his mission, nit-picking every little perfect thing He did. They didn’t understand Jesus; they didn’t like that He was healing people or preaching salvation apart […]
The Dangers of Romans 13 Overshadowing the Rest of the New Testament’s Message
We are all capable–and probably do–of taking Scripture out of context or making one passage more weighty than another. Even Satan himself used the Words of God to try to lure Jesus in the wilderness. The best way to interpret Scripture is with Scripture. If a message seems to go against the theme threaded through the whole Gospels, we probably need to keep reading.
What I Learned Over the Ten Days: A Peek Into my Spiritual Journal
I hesitated to even share this information publicly, because Jesus encourages us to keep our prayers and fasting private, not a banner we wave for all to see. And yet, we see throughout Scripture how the disciplines and courage of the saints is recorded to edify and exhort the Church to keep on keeping on […]
Saying Goodbye to the Celebrities
Cancelled TV shows, film sets closed down, sports barely played, and through it all, I’ve said, “What’s to miss?” Another lesson of 2020 is this: we don’t need our celebrities to survive…or even flourish. We need to realize this truth within the church as well. Where are the bold and courageous leaders now? Where are […]