Notes to My Siblings

Patriotism isn't in the Bible. At least, not the way us Americans think of patriotism. Americans spend a lot of time alternating between hating and bragging on 'Merica. We like to analyze political campaigns, argue over what should and shouldn't happen in national policy, critique and even hate on our current leaders, and look to the next leader to fix whatever it is we think is wrong with America. It's great that we can say that America has a "Christian Heritage" (well, kinda...) when it comes to the Founding Fathers and all that jazz, and we should be grateful for it. But let's be real. Expecting a nation made up of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Atheists, Agnostics, etc etc etc to live by Biblical principles is c.o.m.p.l.e.t.e.l.y. unrealistic. No human being, no matter how powerful, will ever be able to fix that. Which leads to the main point. Patriotism in the sense of ascribing allegiance to a man-formed country is not a concept ...

11  “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, 12  lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, 13  and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, 14  then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, 15  who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, 16  who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. 17  Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ 18  You shall remember th...

I do that a lot. If I just.... ...had a job I loved, then I would find fulfillment in work. ...wasn't so tired all the time, then I could be more useful in ministry. ...was married, then my job wouldn't be so important. ...could do something fun, then I would be happy. No. Nothing will quench the unsettled and unsatisfied feeling besides Jesus. "I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.   I can do all things through him who strengthens me." Philippians 4:11b-13 (Sidenote: it doesn't work to be mad at God that your life isn't how you want it. And, quite frankly, it doesn't help the situation in the least. Don't bother to try.)

There are a lot of heated articles going around on the internets these days. Most of them have to do with controversial and emotionally charged moral issues. A new trend is to use scripture to prove points. Now, I'm all about scripture, and I completely agree that it makes your arguments bulletproof...  provided you use it correctly.  Which is where the problem comes in. Context. Context. Context. The Bible doesn't just say any old thing that you conveniently want it to at the moment. It says something specific, and most of the time it's really not all that gray. I promise. For examples, below are a couple verses I've seen thrown around lately to prove points. Underneath each verse I'll summarize what the user used the verse to say, and then under that I'll tell you what the verse is talking about taking context into account. Ready? You'd laugh if it wasn't so dang sad. John 10:16- And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring t...

In an effort to enlighten myself about what the heck I should do to not be considered a time-waster and unsuccessful person, I googled "list of successful people". Options for who I can grow up to be like include: -Oprah Winfrey. -Walt Disney. -RH Macy. -Charles Darwin. -Vincent Van Gogh. -Bill Gates. -Thomas Edison. -Emily Dickinson. -The Beatles. -Babe Ruth. I guess to be successful I need a platform, a small (or massive) fortune, business and tech smarts, "creativity" (if that's what you call cutting off your ear) and a killer batting average (at least, I think that's what Babe Ruth was famous for... or pitching arm? I dunno). Not that all those things are bad, but... So I moved on to thinking of who would be considered successful in God's eyes. Google was absolutely no help with this so I did it myself: -George Mueller. -Mary Slessor. -Gladys Aylward. -Hudson Taylor. -Nate Saint. - Ina York . -My mom. -Many, many other peopl...

Pennies seem insignificant. I mean, would you toss a hundred dollar bill in a fountain? Heck no. But a penny? Well, what have you got to lose? Not much. Until you go to purchase a $1.01 pack of gum and realize you tossed the penny the fountain and made some dumb wish about having a million dollars. Suddenly, that little penny is very significant.  Unless your wish for a million dollars came true (which it won't), no penny = no gum. In a country of 5,797,000 people, Sierra Leone is "home" to 320,000 orphans. That means 5% of the country's population is made up of orphans. India has a population of 1,200,000,000 people. A moderate estimate of Indian nationals enslaved/in debt bondage/etc is about 50,000,000 people. That means that 4% of the population is in slavery. Then you go to the grocery store, or out to eat, or walk down the street and see people who are clearly hurting. When you start thinking in terms of numbers of hurting people- even the number we come a...

You know what Build'a'Bear is, right? You go to this store, and can customize your stuffed animal. You can pick the shell, how full you want it stuffed, the clothes, the name, etc. You walk out with a personalized bear- one that you made to fit your desires and wants. While I might not want to admit it, sometimes I attempt to go to "Build'a'God" and get a customized God. I want God to do something, be like something, or stand for something particular, and I look for scripture, etc., to back up why God is what I want Him to be. But the Build'a'God store doesn't exist. The bear is personalized , God is personal . Did you catch the difference? God is personal, in that through Christ's death and resurrection we can talk with Him anytime, any place. However, God cannot be personalized. We can't customize God. It's all or nothing. People (myself included) try to customize God all the time. The church down the street teaches that God i...