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Why I love “The Shack” – A Brief Review
Last Friday night, my husband and I joined a crowd of snuffling, shaking, teary eyed strangers watching The Shack. I purposefully didn’t wear mascara and brought lots of Kleenex, but halfway through the movie I just gave up and let the tears flow. I’m a crier, and normally I feel a bit self-conscious blubbering in a public theater; but on Friday night, I was just one of the bunch. With my husband silently shaking to my right and an unknown man in his 50’s sobbing to my left, I felt right at home. What I loved about The Shack: I LOVE that God is not in a box. Watching The…
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Married to Your Best Friend…
It’s my fault. If I planned better, I would actually schedule a massage with one of my favorite female therapists. But, I usually wait until I’m in desperate pain and then I get whoever happens to be available the morning of my chiropractic appointment. That’s how I ended up, face down, talking with my young male masseuse about relationships and his new girlfriend. After finding out I was married, he wanted to know for how long. At the time it was just over eight years. I will never forget his response. “Wow!! (pause) You must be one of those people who is really into commitment!” Yup! That’d be me…one of…
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Ever Read One of Those Books?
I’ve been reading a book this summer at camp that has totally wrecked me. It’s called Jesus Centered Life: The Life You Didn’t Think was Possible with the Jesus You Never Knew by Rick Lawrence. If you want a deeper, more real relationship with Jesus apart from the religion and “should’s” so often associated with Christianity, please grab a copy of this book. You won’t be disappointed. I’m going to let the quotes speak for themselves. My heart resonates with the message of this book! It’s not that the writing is so fantastic, it’s that the message is a real Jesus, wild, unchained, passionate, everything we ever wanted. This is what…
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Some Simple Theology
The past few days I have had some interesting conversations, read some unique articles, and come to a few conclusions. Friends, we are an obsessive culture! Currently it feels like we are obsessed with intellectuals…the way we view intellectuals, wanting people to think that we are intellectuals, etc. We value knowledge, and ideas, and information. These things are not a problem in themselves; however, when we feel that we as mere, created humans have figured out God…that is a problem! People have created complex, often contradictory, theology, each sure that they have figured out how to explain Christianity and the God behind it. Covenant vs Dispensation, Calvinist vs Armenian, Theistic…
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How My Parents Joined a Cult
Every time I tell my story, people ask the same questions. “What about your parents? How did they get involved? What do they think about Bill Gothard and IBLP now? How do they feel about you writing publically about all of this?” Well, here are some answers! I have talked with each of my parents separately and together to get these answers, and they have approved this blog post. An Introduction to Bill Gothard: My parents were first-generation Christians. They began their relationship with Jesus in college and got involved in a wonderful Christian campus ministry. The campus minister was instrumental in their spiritual growth. Unfortunately, He was also a…
