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Footloose and Fearful: 7 Truths for Our Frightened Hearts
I finally watched the original 1984 Footloose movie a couple of nights ago with my husband. In my defense, I was only three when the movie first came out and it’s not exactly appropriate for toddlers. By the time I was a teenager, we were in a cultic subgroup of Christianity that made the town of Bomont seem liberal by comparison. And then for whatever reason Footloose never made it on my list of pop-culture-to-catch-up-on. I was definitely missing out. There are reasons it’s a classic! Besides the cassette tapes, leg warmers, and core memories brought back by the church ladies’ 80s glasses and haircuts, I found myself noticing the…
- \'rant\ : to talk in a noisy, excited, or declamatory manner, And Then I Met Jesus, Exposing Legalism
Yeah, That’s Not Okay
I listened to the podcast episode in frustration yet not in disbelief because I’ve experienced the bitter pain of church hurt myself. An author I’ve read and resonated with–even though sometimes we’ve disagreed–shared how her family was asked to leave the church they had finally settled in because of her writings. Is this author on the progressive side of things? Yup. Does she have a fair share of questions and doubts? Absolutely. Had she been deeply wounded by religious Christians before this latest experience? Oh, yes. These are all the more reasons she had hoped to find a place of safety and grace as she rebuilt her fractured faith. Unfortunately…
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Surrendering to the Lordship of Christ
“I’ll heal you if you’ll let Me.” I heard the Spirit’s whisper clearly in my heart. Fear and worry had wrapped themselves around my body threatening to strangle me. Again. Some of my earliest memories include freaking out because someone was sick in my family, or in my Sunday School class, or at the grocery store. I worried about many things as a kid but sickness was one of my biggest. As an adult, I’ve been able to work through many of my fears. And while I no longer fear my own illness, I hate my kids or husband being sick. Because I feel helpless. Because I’m out of control.…
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God Does Not Care About Your Jenga Blocks
A couple of weeks ago, I was writing in my journal during my morning “Jesus time”, wrestling through the way we view our relationship with God. “We don’t understand that it’s not about being good and doing the right things…it’s about knowing Jesus. Ha! It’s like we aren’t even playing the same game as You, God. We’re playing Jenga, but You’re playing Hide-n-Seek..” We are playing Jenga, but God is playing Hide-n-Seek I’m so tired of the way performance based thinking has hijacked Christianity! It’s not just people like me, raised in extreme legalism…it’s spread throughout the whole church. There we are, trying to build our Jenga towers, poking out…
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More than a Follower
It might just be me, having been raised in legalistic Christianity, but I struggle with the way discipleship is often portrayed. I feel like there is this heavy emphasis on what we are supposed to DO as a disciple even from mainstream pastors and teachers. Follow * Deny Yourself * Take Up Your Cross * Be Like Jesus These statements, or at least the thoughts behind them, ARE in the Bible. And they aren’t wrong. But I think something is missing. Or rather, Someone. There has to be more to being a disciple of Jesus Christ than just action verbs focused on our behavior. There is more! Check out this “Jesus encounter”…
