Faith & God

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Molehills to Die On

What are your core beliefs? If someone asked you to explain what you’re all about—the central convictions that define who you are, what would you tell them?

Our adult Sunday school class was talking about different world views. The speaker explained that as Christians, our world view differs from Muslims, Hindus, humanists, atheists, etc. Then he asked us to list five things we absolutely believe to be true about our faith. He claimed that most people would have trouble making such a list. Of course, with a challenge like that, I pulled out paper and started writing. The more I wrote, the more items I thought of. I soon realized that if I wanted to pay attention in class, I’d have to finish my list at home.

Later that evening I was still working on my list. (I’m kind of one-track like that.) As I finally ran out of Truths I was sure about, I realized that there were still a lot of truths (small “t”) that I believed but knew I could be wrong about. So, I made a list of those, too.

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Make Your Trip Count

I’m going to be honest—I’ve been so busy that I haven’t had time to write a post for today. Between numerous field trips to photograph bugs, flowers, and birds, a good friend’s birthday party, and an overnight babysitting one of my granddaughters, I haven’t sat down in days. Today I have a choice: write a post or clean the house. I really need to clean the house!

Now you have my list of excuses, but I’m not going to leave you high and dry. My sister-in-law sent me a link to an article in Leadership Journal that I want to share with you. Many of us go overseas on short-term mission trips, often involving orphans, work projects, or both. Yet, how often do we hear about our trip from the perspective of the children we go to visit?

This article was written by a Kenyan AIDS orphan who was on the receiving end of dozens of American mission trips.  It’s a real eye-opener! Once you’ve read it, let me know what you think.

The Good Missionary

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What Good is the Church? (Part 2)

(This is the second half of my answer to the question, “What good has the church ever done for the world?” I posted part one last week.)

One way to see how Christianity has affected our world is to compare areas that have historically been Christian to areas where the church is largely absent.

Probably the clearest understanding of the difference the church has made, and is still making, in the world comes from a short article written in 1990 by missiologist Luis Bush. He describes a concept called the “10/40 Window”—a square box drawn on a map of the eastern hemisphere between 10 degrees and 40 degrees north. In that part of the world you will find the spiritual center of the major non-Christian religions (Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.) and the least access to Christian resources.

Of course, we’re talking about a generalization. There are glaring exceptions, such as the inclusion of Korea, a predominantly Christian country with a high standard of living, and the exclusion of Indonesia with its huge Muslim population.

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What Good is the Church?

“What good has this “my way or the highway to hell” religion ever done for the world?” —TheFriendlyAtheist

It hurts to come across statements like the one above (I found it in the comments section of an article I was reading). Christianity has done a world of good in the last two thousand years. The sad thing is that few people are aware of our legacy. This is largely the church’s fault. True, we don’t want to boast, but a bit of PR might make a big difference. Besides, these aren’t our accomplishments—they are God’s blessings. Shouldn’t we tell everyone what God has done?

Here is my answer to TheFriendlyAtheist:

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Romancing Jesus

“Jesus loves me, this I know…”

But do I really?

In my most recent post, I urged you to pick up a copy of Skye Jethani’s latest book, Futureville: Discover Your Purpose for Today by Reimagining Tomorrow. This book is worth reading for many reasons, but there’s one major point I didn’t mention in my review.

In a small, seeming innocuous chapter near the end of the book, Jethani asks, “What is your treasure?” Of course, just as in Sunday school, the answer is supposed to be “Jesus!” But is He truly my treasure?

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Read This: Futureville, by Skye Jethani

futurevilleWhat does the future hold? Many people believe that the human race will eventually create “heaven on earth”—that our wisdom and scientific discovers will solve the problems of poverty, war, disease, and the like. On the other hand, many Christians believe that “it’s all gonna burn”—that the world will be consumed in fire, completely destroyed to make room for a brand new heaven and earth.

Both these views have concerns. Humanism presents a glowing future, but ignores greed, envy, and other sin issues. And the belief that the world will be destroyed and replaced eliminates our motivation to steward our resources, and to make things better here and now.

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Bad News: Life is Dangerous

I often start my day by turning on my computer and scanning the headlines for the latest news. I want to know if anything major has changed while I slept. Does something new require prayer? Are there events that might affect me, or my friends and family? Has Elvis returned? What will everyone be talking about?

I read that thousands of people have been buried alive in an Afghanistan landslide. Hundreds of teenaged girls, kidnapped from their boarding school, are being held hostage in Nigeria. And “up to 20,000 migrants [from north and east Africa] have died at sea trying to reach Europe over the past 20 years.”

Then there’s the local news. Here are some of today’s headlines: “Homes Hit by Gunfire.” “Pedestrian hit, killed by pickup truck.” “Heroin and cash found in car after crash.”

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Jairus’ Daughter

As I write this, I’ve been battling the Worst Cold Ever for over a week. I won’t go into the gory details, but this truly is the worst head cold I’ve ever had—and it just won’t go away. The doctors assure me it isn’t strep, so there’s really nothing much I can do except buy Kleenex in bulk, slurp chicken soup, juggle the decongestants with the antihistamines with the expectorants with the cough suppressants, and pray that I get better sooner, while my husband still likes me. (Am I whining? Oops, sorry.) Praying for healing is always a good idea.

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God With Us

jethani-withYou know how I keep telling you I’ve read the Best Book Ever and I just have to share it? Yes, this is another one of those posts. Except this time, really, this book is amazing! It’s called With: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God, by Skye Jethani (note the link to his blog on the right side of this page). His previous book, The Divine Commodity, was excellent, and I highly recommend it. But this time, Jethani hit the ball out of the park. In one relatively short volume he manages to diagnose the problems with much of what passes for American Christianity, and offer a solution that leads directly back to Jesus. Pretty impressive!

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That’s Not What I Meant!

If you’re a regular reader, you know that I rarely just post links to other blogs—I prefer to generate new content that can’t be found elsewhere. Once in a great while, however,  I make an exception when something is just too good to pass up. (I also happen to be fighting a bad cold, and I really don’t feel like thinking very hard at the moment.)

One of my friends may have posted something deep and thought-provoking. A blogger I read may have received a God-given insight that I just have to share. And then there’s this blog, which I think is hilarious. Thanks, Uncle John, for bringing it to our attention!

Anyone who has studied another language knows that words, much less concepts, don’t always translate the way we’d expect. But if you’re going to tattoo something onto your body—we’re talking permanent, folks—you might want to check with a native speaker first. Otherwise, you too could find yourself featured on this website:

Bad Hebrew Tattoos