God is!

awesome creation attest to an awesome Creator!!

Today a post caught my eye that led me to investigate the official page for American Atheists. As I was poking around I came across some very interesting trains of thoughts and many attacks against Christians (some of which are true).

One question posed generated a plethora of responses: “If you used to be religious, what caused you to become atheist? The answers were interesting and quite varied. However this quote caught my eye:

“I’ve never been insulted by hateful Satanists for not believing in their devil, only by loving Christians for not believing in their God.”

Truthfully, I could feel a little anger and irritation rising inside of me as I read some of the rhetoric, and it prompted me to write this quick post and ask this question:

How do you handle people who mock you for believing in God, those who say there is no God and those who are still waiting on proof of an awesome God??

 

My husband’s birthday….

The conversation went something like this:

JC:    Babe, for your birthday, I’m taking you away for the weekend.

SC:    Where?

JC:     I’ve booked a beautiful cabin off of Lake Lure.

SC:    What’s to do there?

JC:     Well, we are going to climb Chimney Rock and tour Lake Lure.

SC:    I don’t want to go.

JC:     Huh, what you mean you don’t want to go??

SC:     That’s not something I want to do for MY birthday.

JC:      This would be great for us to do.

SC:      Yes, for US, but not for ME. I would love to do that for a getaway for US, maybe to try it or for our anniversary, but not for MY birthday.

JC:       (annoyance meter quivering between 4 and 5).

SC:      Babe, okay, which one of us loves to climb mountains etc?

JC:       Me.

SC:      Which one of us would go do this by ourselves?

JC:        Me.

SC:       Exactly! This is not a gift just for ME. On your birthday I always make it ALL about you. And I shouldn’t feel bad for not wanting to do that on MY birthday.

Well, it made sense, but I go downstairs quite annoyed. We were having this conversation as we were getting ready to go to dinner for Valentine’s day and I am stewing inside. Why couldn’t he just go along with it? I would. Then I thought about it and realized that for the seven birthdays I’ve celebrated with him, I’ve never had to ‘go along’ with anything.

As I am having my pouting session, God said “he’s right”.

That was the quickest way to dismiss a case I never really had. (annoyance meter back to zero)

I finished getting ready for dinner and we had a wonderful time. The next day I called the resort, and of course, because the cancellation was within 14 days, I couldn’t get my money back; only a gift certificate. Whoosa…..so needless to say the trip for our anniversary is already booked for US. Lesson learned.

On a work assignment in Arizona two days ago and as we were driving from the airport in Tucson, God said one of the reasons SC is so firm about his birthday is because he is half of a boy/girl twin. And that made even more sense: all the birthdays he had to share along the way.

‘reading’ to his sister 🙂

Anywho, two days of pampering for him and I can’t wait for him to unwrap his ‘new’ gift a little later 🙂 Happy birthday love 🙂

Blessings

JC

Have you ‘went along’ with the gift even when you didn’t like it?

 

Do you think he’s in heaven?

A few days ago a co-worker of mine died unexpectedly from a heart attack, leaving a void in his family and those who worked closest with him. One day later I was sitting at dinner celebrating the 50th birthday of a Pastor friend. After dinner, on my ride home, I couldn’t help but think on the intricacies of life. We can truly be here today and gone tomorrow. Celebrating and grieving all in the same week.

As I was sitting at my desk this morning I received a call from a grieving mother who had some questions about her son who had passed from a drug overdose. I answered her questions lovingly and as honestly as I could. But she asked me one that made me pause: “Do you think he’s in heaven?”

In that second I took a pause. I could hear the hurt in her voice, understood the depth of the question, felt the desperate anticipation that hung in the silence. I quietly said “I don’t know. I don’t know the relationship he had with God and I don’t know what happened in those last moments of his life”.

After getting off the phone with her, she was thankful for the listening ear and I pray a tad lighter than when she first called. But back to the question, can we ever answer that question with any surety?

I know a ‘yes’ would have been comforting. But sometimes the answer is ‘no’. We really don’t know. Only God knows.

This mother was a believer who tried to lead her son to Christ. But, as we all do, he had his own choices to make. So I understood the depth of her question. So many of us want others to be saved, but of course we especially want our loved ones to be saved; our parents, children, spouses, brothers, sisters, friends.

It might even feel unfair sometimes for those of us in ministry who actively minister and bring others to Christ but wonder about the salvation of the ones closest to our hearts.

But what do we do?

We run our own race. And we have to run it in such a way that we don’t get disqualified from the prize; heaven. Run it to hear ‘well done’.

God is sovereign.

Today is here, but tomorrow is never promised? Make it matter.

Grief and the questions that come with it are sometimes difficult to deal with. What are your thoughts and experiences?

 

The Simon and Peter in us!

Hi Everyone,

This week I was given the honor of being a guest blogger for the lovely Marlene over at Journey of Joy.

I’d love for you to hop over and check out my post The Simon and Peter in us!, which talks about pursuing our purpose and staying on course in the face of life’s many failures.

While you’re there check out some of Marlene’s stuff too, especially her Anthem, which truly blessed me from day one 😉

You will be blessed!

Blessings always 😉

JC

 

Put it to rest!

make the journey light…

For the past two weeks or so I have been preparing for a session called ‘Junk in the Trunk’. The trunk; where most of us keep junk. Our sweaty gym clothes and shoes, various papers to be sorted ‘later’. Items that were on the back seat, but placed in the trunk so someone could have a seat. The trunk, that unless it is intentionally opened, no one sees in it. Perhaps only visited when a suitcase or two need to go back there.

The trunk of our lives are no different. Junk piles up. Anger and rejection, hurts from past relationships to be sorted out ‘later’, grief that was once on the back seat, but placed in the ‘trunk’ because someone else needed us. Truth be told we might be afraid to open it for fear of everything falling out. Praying that we will find those who will love us in spite of the junk in our trunk.

Anyway, I came across this and wanted to share:

“Know when things are dead, know when to release them and bury them. No amount of work will resuscitate a corpse. Sign the death certificate and bury the past. Some issues must be reckoned dead. It is neither weak nor cowardly to walk away from the past. Leaving behind dead issues does not mean you are quitting; it means you are conserving your strength for things that count, things you can change, things you can control. Somethings you just need to lay to rest. Have the wisdom to know what is dead and have the courage to write it off…”

Some of us are holding on to thoughts, hurts, things and people even when we know God has said to let go. We are stuck on the possibilites; the ifs, woulds, coulds and shoulds. Put them to rest. Lighten the load, empty the trunk. Make room for a spare tire and blanket; perhaps even for more junk we’re sure to collect along this thing called life 😉

Blessings

JC