Walking Down Forgiveness Lane

I realized this week that I have yet to forgive some people, maybe a bunch of people, maybe the whole church…
I think I need to talk a long walk down forgiveness lane.
Two things happened to bring up the bitterness churning below, out of sight, mostly out of mind.
I attended a retreat and met a parishioner from my [...]

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Doubting Less, but Not Doubtless

I am very grateful for the comments many of you left after my post: ”Doubting at Last.” Your stories were quite helpful.
I am serious when I say the online community I’ve met since I started blogging often counters by its maturity (not as in, “I am mature,” but as in “I have no idea if I am even [...]

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In Vitro & Stem Cells: An Unwitting Hypocrisy

I’ve been bothered — agitated — for some time about a very hypocritical situation in the American evangelical church.
A May 9, 2003 New York Times article said:
Fertility clinics in the United States have accumulated some 400,000 frozen human embryos, about twice the number estimated, since 1986 when the in vitro fertilization procedure began, the first official [...]

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The Perfect Church, Part 3: the Rest

You know, writing about the perfect church is tiresome.
First of all, you get sort of sad realizing that the perfect church will never happen this side of heaven.
Then, you feel sort of worn out when you get convicted that you gotta stop complaining and get in there and help fix things.
Therefore, in order not to tire myself too [...]

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The Perfect Church, Part 2: Community

Like I said in a previous blog on this subject (The Perfect Church, Part 1: the Sermon), I am writing this post as a consequence of the overwhelming response I got to my post called Why Should I Go to Church? I thought I would write down what for me are features of the perfect church.
In part [...]

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The Perfect Church, Part 1: the Sermon

I keep getting a lot of hits on my posting in which I asked: Why Should I Go to Church? In the comment section, I promised to write a multi-part essay on my idea of the perfect church. So, here goes.
Let’s start with the sermon (part 1). What constitutes the perfect sermon for me? 
Glorifies God
I’d leave the sermon with my mind [...]

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Why Should I Go to Church?

My family left today for spring break. My husband and daughters are travelling miles and miles, over bridges, etc., etc. to Grandmother’s house.
I am staying home to work, sleep (been sick), and generally get caught up in life. After the family drove off, I had just enough time to get ready to go to church. But [...]

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Getting Ready for Christmas

I left at 9 AM to shop. I returned at 3:45. I am done. I am done in.
(I failed to mention that I had my hair taken care of at the salon in the middle of all this, so I did get to relax…).
I have such mixed feelings about Christmas. 
With shopping, driving, baking, entertaining, hurrying, hurrying, [...]

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God’s Goal for Believers

A fellow blogger reminded me of one of my favorite quotes from John Piper, which reminded me of something I once wrote about God’s goal for believers. And here is the quote:

God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.

John Piper  (Desiring God)
 
God’s goal in all things is His Glory. He [...]

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God’s Goal for Believers

A fellow blogger reminded me of one of my favorite quotes from John Piper, which reminded me of something I once wrote about God’s goal for believers. And here is the quote:

God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.

John Piper  (Desiring God)
 
God’s goal in all things is His Glory. He [...]

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I Cried Tonight

Our kids played “Away in a Manger” at church tonight.  The nine-year old played the piano, accompanying the five-year old on the violin.  Boy, was I proud. I cried. My husband thought it was cute that I sat there dabbing at my eyes.
I tell you, seeing those kids up there playing together is one of [...]

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Post-Hannah Montana Concert Observations

This is a blog about my spiritual journey. So, you ask, what was so spiritual about driving six hours total back and forth through the mountains in the rain to listen to 15,000 girls scream so loud that my hearing seemed permanently impaired long after the fact?
I have to think about this one.
I must say, I was [...]

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Spiritual Formation & Hannah Montana

Tomorrow is a momentous occasion for our family. I am taking our nine year old daughter (yes, the one with the sneer, above) to the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus concert.
And I am driving 3 hours to do this. Why, you ask?
Because I am a BAD MOTHER. I neglected to get tickets for the concert in our [...]

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I had a Bad Day the Other Day

I felt really angry. The fact is, I usually don’t “feel” angry at God, but I was. He let me down.
It started with those Christmas letters. You know, the ones from your friends that recap all the wonderful things that happened in the past year. And this was a great year for some [...]

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A Poem that Really Moves Me

Holy Sonnets XIV
 
BATTER my heart, three person’d God; for, you
As yet but knocke, breathe, shine, and seeke to mend;
That I may rise, and stand, o’erthrow mee, ‘and bend
Your force, to breake, blowe, burn and make me new.
I, like an usurpt towne, to’another due,
Labour to’admit you, but Oh, to no end,
Reason your viceroy in mee, mee [...]

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