The Journey

It's that time, again--Back to school! As a part of preparing our kids for school, we buy the necessary supplies to equip them for what we hope to be a successful, academic year.  Notebook paper, pencils, computers, and a wide range of other items deemed necessary by their teachers and professors fill their new backpacks.  Imagine the absurdity of the children taking these new items to school, but never using them.  What if we send them to class everyday, they listen to their teachers, then come home and never mention anything they learned?  How successful would they be without studying and homework?  At test time, how ludicrous would it be to have another child study the material for them?  Or worse, what if we prepared them, but did not take them to school? As Christians, we are guilty of this very scenario.  In America, we have free access to the Bible and we may freely attend the church of our choosing.  Yet, we do not study the Bible and we find every excuse not to attend a

If you were to ask most any person brought up in the Christian faith if they believe in God,  they would emphatically reply, "Yes!"  If you ask those same people if they believe Satan is real, they would likely answer with the same response.  Again, asking the same group of people, do you believe God is Truth and Satan is a liar, with great conviction the same answer would apply.  However, one of the biggest stumbling blocks for Christians is that we more readily listen to those lies the enemy throws at us.  For some reason, we have a much harder time trusting the Truth, although getting us to admit to that fact would be an even greater feat. Have you ever been involved in a mindless chore like washing dishes or getting ready for work when all of sudden you find yourself engaged in conversations in you head?  I cannot believe she talked to me that way?  I don't think she really likes me at all.  Or , I saw the way he looked at me. He must think I am  a complete idiot!  

I walked out on back patio and my eyes settled on the various flower pots full of death.  Dry, withered roots, dry soil, plants that were once thriving now in a stage well past death.  No water, no life.  No matter the temperature outside if the plant is well watered, it can survive.  I began thinking about the death in my life, death brought about by sin--Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." In whatever stage of our life, we plant roots.  Our seeds are our decisions, actions, reactions.  Many of us have roots of bitterness, roots of anger, roots of hatred, roots of insecurity, roots of rejection and so on.  These roots sown by things we have done AND by things that have happened to us.  The fruit we bear is determined by where our roots lie.  If we are rooted in sin, we will bear the fruit of sin, but if we are rooted in Christ, we will bear His fruit.  The Holy Spirit produces "love, joy, peace, pa

Lately I have found myself battling those same demons from my past, but those demons have been disguised in different, prettier packages.  None-the less, they are the same demons.  So, I questioned, God, why does this keep happening?  Why do I continue returning to those things that I have been so adamant about never going near again?   The answer came before I could even finish my thought.  "Stop starving me,"  He said.  At that moment, I am reminded of the following passage from 2 Peter 2:20-22: And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before.  It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life. They prove the truth of this proverb: “A dog returns to its vomit.” And another says, “A washed pig returns to the mud.” I cannot express strongly enough

Sometimes we forget we are a 2-part species.  We are actually spirits encased in flesh.  When we die, we shed the flesh and our spiritual beings transcend to Heaven.  So, keeping that in mind, as we walk around on earth we are basically spirit in fleshly clothing, a carcass.  As Christians, our purpose is to "do the will of the Father" becoming dead to flesh, alive in Christ.  Matthew 7:21 records Jesus' words, "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."  Because this is such an important part of us even entering Glory upon physical death, and I believe it is vital to a victorious life here on earth, we must grasp this concept.  So, let's break it down. Flesh = Sin...sinful desires.  The Bible refers to lusts of the flesh--fleshly desires, if you will.  There are so many things that fall into this category.  When I think of "lusts of the flesh," I

My estranged husband and I used to frequent Saint Simon's Island off of Brunswick, GA.  In fact, we were married there on the beach.  One of my favorite things to do while there was riding a bicycle around the island.  The historic trees branching over the street, the warm sun on my shoulders, salt air, the village buzzing with tourists.  Nothing as serene except, of course, the beach under the starry sky. Quiet back then, but now the new developments have given the small island a different feel.  Today, I began thinking about the simplicity of life there when we visited which was almost every other weekend.  I remembered getting on my bike with the large wheels necessary for riding on the beach.  I was wobbly, but it all came back as I began to ride.  Life is like that.  Life after having kids, life after divorce, life after any major event. As children, or adults who haven't ridden in years, we may scrape our knees or suffer the humiliation of falling off, but we get back

Photo by: Nikolas Noonan "When the storm has swept by, the wicked are gone, but the righteous stand firm forever."  Proverbs 10:25 After a natural storm subsides, there is always a cleanup process.  The same is true in life, in circumstances that seem as tumultuous as tornadoes.  Much like the force of destructive cyclones, we have been through whirlwinds of hardships, heartaches, death, grief, and devastating loss that has broken lives and scattered debris.  With our houses obliterated, our trees uprooted, our lives upended, we sit in the eerie silence that follows trying to regain some semblance of control.  We take a deep breath, put on our tall, rubber boots, and begin sifting through the muddy gunk left behind.  Within days, and sometimes even within hours, we find the clouds have moved out, and the sun is shining on the remaining vegetation generously watered by the drenching rain allowing spurts of new growth.  The birds are chirping, and a new life begins.   In 2004

Like most, I pretty much have the same bedtime ritual every night.  You know, the whole brush my teeth, read for a short while, bedtime prayers, then it is lights out.  For many, eyes would close and then, they would be off to "the land of dreams."  Lately, I find that when I lie down, my ceiling looks exactly as it did when I crawled into bed two hours earlier.  At the moment that I am finally able to close my eyes, I find myself  in a mental theater.  The lights go down, the movie begins... Retrospective scenarios begin to flood the mental movie screen.  Imaginary rewrites to the script, a different ending played out before me.  I should have said...Why didn't I...If only I had... I should have...I could have...I would have... and the storyline changes a million times over.  There is a cinematic term that is so fitting for this intellective reenactment.  Mockumentary.  A fictional film that is deliberately designed to "mock" the subject that it features.  Sc