Planning gets a bad wrap in some corners of Christendom, with some inferring it’s ungodly and antithetical to having the peace of God and following the Way. This can be true, if our plans are fleshy, rigid rules. Our plans do need to be of God, faith-filled, spirit-filled, prayed-over, etc. But God is not a God of chaos but a God of order. The Bible contains many plans and scheduled events, such as the Jewish feast days that are optional for us to keep. Now, God may lead us down roads that don’t make logical sense from our vantage point, and I have NEVER knownRead More →

In my mid-teens, I wrote the following poem: The Box I locked my heart in a tin box And threw away the key. I ran from all like the fox, But someday it will return to me.   Though I lost my tin box in my flight, It returned to me to my surprise. But alas, where is the key? Without it, there is no hope for me.   So I must ask: Who has my key? Would you please return it to me? Guess who had the key? When I look through the poetry I wrote in my teens, the ones not dedicated toRead More →

“If you feel someone is judging you, feel free to judge them back and punish them until your wrath has been fully satisfied.” These words do not appear anywhere in the Bible. Yet how often do we, God’s people, behave like God said that? Who among us has never responded tit for perceived tat? We may do this based on assumptions founded on past experience or based on how we felt in response to something someone said. To begin with, the past isn’t a reliable predictor of the present and future, and the hurt we feel in response to someone’s words isn’t an innately reliableRead More →

Dear Andrea, Some fellow Christians I know and love have said critical things about Christians having their own “Christianese” language, their own books and movies,  their own methods for finding a spouse, etc. They accuse fellow believers who try to live according to the Word and defy the ways of our secular culture of living in a bubble and can be so harsh and condemning. It is hurtful and confusing when Christians say such things. What should I do? Yours, Gentle Reader Dear Gentle Reader, Christians having their own Christian culture isn’t wrong. In fact, the Bible says we are a holy nation, citizens ofRead More →

“[The Son] is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,” — Hebrews 1:3 The son is the light that radiates from God, but God With Us is as identical to the Father as the impression left by a footprint matches the foot or as the finger print matches the finger and its unique grooves. We can trust Jesus to represent the Father perfectly. So often this world may seem chaotic andRead More →