Just For The Record

What I Believe

God the Father, God, the Son, God the Holy Spirit.

Miracles happen, even as I wait for them to show up more often in my life.

Toilets and closets should be closed when not it use.

Animal heads do not belong on walls; nor should one have a picture taken with an animal you've killed. It shows a lack of respect for the life you've just taken. Anyone who kills any animal for sport simply can't be my friend.

Real fur looks better on animals than people.

Cats are amazing; dogs are tolerable; elephants are incredible.

Chocolate is a gift from heaven.

Earbuds are of the devil.

Sauer Kraut came straight from the bowels of hell.

Vaccinations are safe for most people; the medical community isn't in a conspiracy to kill us.

GMOs are not frankenfood.

Organic is overrated.

Essential oils are not miracle cures.

Massaging your feet will not cure all your body's ills.

A "cleanse" to remove toxins is unnecessary; that's why you have a liver.

The Republican party has become the new Pharisees with a side order of neo-naziism.

Patriotism is not a Biblical concept and should never be twisted up with Christianity.

The flag and the National Anthem are not sacred. If you consider them sacred, you have two idols.

Evolution was God's means of creation, and no, that doesn't disagree with the Bible.

Abortion is a tragedy, but I have no right to tell a woman wanting an abortion not to, since I do not have the resources to help pay for that baby to be born, let alone help her raise that child to school age.

No one should be both anti-choice and anti-contraceptives.

There are as many lazy rich folks as poor folks.

Our government's system for providing for those with chronic illness is a complete joke.

The Bible is "God inspired," not God dictated. Not every word came straight from God's mouth. Paul said scripture was "useful for instruction," not absolutely essential for instruction. If it were straight from the mouth of God, I'm pretty sure it would be described as more than "useful." And Paul wasn't talking about his own letters; he was talking about the Law and the Prophets.

The baker should have baked the cake for the gay couple -- Mercy triumphs over judgment.

You can't understand the creation account in Genesis without looking at ancient Egyptian beliefs--that's where Moses grew up.

Faith shouldn't be opposed to intelligence and vice versa.

America has a triune God: sports, guns, and money.

When someone asks me to give, I give. I don't judge them. I hand them some cash. Unless they're smoking... I can't support that.

John Calvin will have some splaining to do in heaven.

One person, and one person only goes through a yellow light.

Christians who support Trump have made a pact with the devil--an unholy alliance that will bite them in the butt.

Obama was a Christian and somehow the Church couldn't see it; Trump is of the devil, and somehow, the Church can't see it. One might conclude some blindness is an issue. And racism.

There's nothing quite as soothing as a cat's purr.

That baby in your arms will never love you as much as you love them. That's just life.

Israel is no more special to God than any other country on the planet; Christians became the new Israel clear back in 33 A.D.

More guns doesn't equal safety.

Separating the sheep from the goats is all about "did you care for the poor, the hungry, the sick, and the imprisoned?" Funny how all the "big sins" are missing from the list.

I've owned both sheep and goats; they are goofy creatures.

Logic, the scientific method, and debate should be mandatory learning in schools. So should art.

"His ways are higher than our ways" is all about mercy, not mystery.

I don't care who you are--everyone deserves steak and shrimp now and then.

Selfishness is why marriages fail.

Clutter makes me crazy.

Art and sewing are about the destination; writing, about the journey.

Trees are evidence that God loves us.

Jesus said, "The love of money is the root of all evil," and "it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven," but most don't believe him.

There's no such thing as a self-made man; no man is an island.

Pot is not worse than alcohol.

If you are not a native American, and you are anti-immigration, I assume you'll be taking yourself back to the country of your ancestors asap.

There is a reason that Jesus often warned about hypocrisy; it destroys the Church's credibility.

Becoming another character on stage is a rush like no other.

I've never felt more accepted than in the Theatre Dept. at Sterling College.

The love of a good man makes life a pleasure; his kiss is on my list.

I never dreamed that 57 years could go so fast. We truly are just dust in the wind. Make the most of your time. Create, hope, love.

Get in it.

Last year, there was a women's march of historic proportions, but most of my Christian friends were not there. You viewed it as of "the Jezebel Spirit" and therefore, wouldn't be caught dead there. You looked down your noses at what you saw as a "gathering of the darkness" and looked forward to a time when "the light" would have their own march on Washington that would surely change everything.

While you were shaking your head over "women going down a wrong path," you shook out your knowledge of Jesus spending his time with "sinners and tax collectors" --Jesus spending time with "women gone wrong." You forgot how he derided the religious leaders of the day for thinking themselves above it all.

And what you refused to recognize was that the march was a joining of humanity against hate, against division, against the destruction of the planet. It was a joining together with "the least of these" who were terrified of losing their insurance, terrified by the nods to white supremacy, misogyny, and homophobia. You should have been there as Christ's representative to bring hope and peace to the terrified. Instead, you were content with Fox News commentary spinning it into something you could cheerfully condemn.

Yes, there were loud-mouths who were just as full of hate as what they were standing against, but that was just a small part of the march. If you had been there, you would have seen that.

So I'm challenging my Christian sisters to a new view this year--to look at the marchers not as "Jezebels" but as a mixture of people--men and women--who are hoping for peace, the same as you. They are not people to deride or shake your head at. They are not people to even pray for or try to save.

They are people to love.

Christians are called to be "in the world, but not of it." You've got the "not of it" down. Now, get in it.

Sack Cloth and Ashes

No, Hillary wasn't worse.

No, abortion is not a bigger issue than taking care of the living.

No, Trump was not put in the while house by God.

No, he does not have any kind of heavenly "anointing."

No, it wasn't difficult to tell that he was a fraud and a con man.

No, the Republican Party is NOT the party of family values, or any values at all, really.

No, patriotism does not equal Christianity.

No, America (or today's Israel) is no more a "chosen nation" than Turkmenistan.

No, the flag and the national anthem are not sacred.

No, trickle down economics doesn't work.

No, the swamp can't be drained by installing Wall Street insiders and bankers.

No, climate change is not a hoax.

No, America has not been made great again.

America has been shown for what it is

petty

fearful

hateful

full of greed

Christians voted for this mess, and only Christians can fix it.

"If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sins and heal their land." 2 Chron. 7:14

Most Christians read this thinking they are "standing in the gap" for the wickedness of the world when they pray, but that is not what it says. God was calling out the wickedness of his people.

Supporting a wicked man is wickedness.

And Trump is wicked.

The fruit of his life is lies, fraud, sexual assault, cheating his workers, cheating his wives. He has connections to mobsters and Russians and money launderers, and he admires the despots of the world more than democratic leaders.

Don't tell me we can't judge his heart. His heart is plain to see.

And it's time that Christians owned what they have done by installing this man as President over America.

And it's time for some major repentance.

Be stiff necked no more, Church.

Humility in prayer is the requirement for this unholy alliance.

Before it's too late.

Another Lesson From My Son

Years ago, we were having a bit of puzzle mania at my house. Over the course of several days, every single kid puzzle we owned was put together on our basement floor.

On one of those days, my four-year-old was talking while he was working on a puzzle of Lassie with puppies. "Don't worry, little puppies," he was saying, "I'm putting you together. And you will love me because I'm making you." He paused a moment as he put a few more pieces together. Then he said in a low voice, "I am God."

I sucked in a breath, expecting lightning to strike, but then I realized that he had grasped what so many older and wiser people never do: The creation will love the creator simply because he made them and gave them form.

This is the basics of relating to the Father. Without that simple appreciation, we can never move on to anything closer.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, "Be joyful always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

There have been many times in my life when giving thanks seemed all but impossible, but even in those times, this truth remains: I will be grateful to the Creator who made me, simply because he did.

Lessons From My Goofy Son

A few weeks ago, I drove my son to the hospital for a surgical procedure. Although it wasn't a particularly risky surgery, he would need to stay in the hospital for several days after.

I parked in the valet parking lane after the 80 minute drive, and my son gets out, grabs his bag out of the back and says, "Thanks for the ride."

"Well, I'm not leaving you!" I sputtered incredulously.

He looked genuinely surprised. "Oh! Okay."

What a goof! Did he really not know me any better than that after 26 years? Did he think I'd let him go through anything that required anesthesia with no one there waiting for him on the other side?

When he was 7, I held his hand and sang to him while the  technicians forced a tube up his nose and down his throat to his stomach when he had his first intestinal block. I was there for the second one when he was in his early teens and the third when he was 19--one week after my mother died. I spent the night in a ridiculously uncomfortable chair in the ER for that one.

When he was 11, I tried to hide tears when his doctor said for the first time that his lungs weren't sounding as good as usual, and he wanted to admit him to the hospital, and I was there, mad as hell, when we found out he had steroid-induced diabetes.

My husband and I have been there through so many hospitalizations with him, I can't even tell you how many, and we've sat in quite a few waiting rooms when he had biopsies and bronchoscopies and hernia surgery and gall bladder surgery... How could he possibly think I'd just turn around and drive home while he went through a G-tube installation? Didn't he know me at all?

And in my indignation, I heard God laugh. Because I do that to Him all the time.

Even though He's been walking with me for 50+ years through every single crisis of my life, when the next one hits, I'm convinced that He is nowhere around. That He's dropped me off at the curb and said "So long, sweetheart, this time you're on your own."

But He hasn't, and He never will. He's going to walk with me wherever we need to go, holding my hand and singing me songs.

You'd think I'd know that by now.

Merry Christmas!!

It has been a year of new things.

Tristan and Kelly moved to a new apartment.

Jessi started a new job at a daycare.

Tracy went on his first camping trip.

We remodeled two leaky showers.

And discovered termites.

I wrote two new books (that will be coming out soon).

Kevin, Tracy, and Jessi have taken up rock climbing

(in a rock climbing gym).

And most importantly, we got a new kitten.

Twix is sweet and adorable and wild and crazy and

tenacious and cute and makes us smile.

God always knows what we need.

Stand Firm 2

"Stand Firm. Be still."

Spoken by Moses at the edge of the Red Sea to a people fleeing an enemy. Their obedience resulted in one of the greatest miracles of all time as that sea split and they escaped that enemy on dry land.

Thousands of years later, Jesus was in a similar position. The Enemy of Enemies was determined to take out the King of Kings. He had him cornered in a garden, where Jesus was praying much the same way those Israelites of long ago must have prayed. "Is there any way out?"

We don't have God's answer, but we can extrapolate from Jesus' response. I believe the Father said, "Stand Firm. Be Still."

He could say that because, just like long ago, he was doing the fighting, and he would bring the victory."

Where the Egyptian army never caught up to the Israelites before they were swept away with the collapsing sea walls, this Enemy got his hooks into Jesus.

And he thought he'd won.

But not every victory looks the same. While the Israelites' victory split the sea and led them toward the promised land, Jesus victory split the veil that had separated mankind from the Father since the first promised land was called Eden.

But let's not rush past this. Standing firm was painful. It was bloody and awful, and Jesus didn't have to take it for a second. He stood still and let them whip him. He let them smash a crown of thorns on his head. He let them beat him and spit on him and pull out his beard. He let them drive nails with painful blow after painful blow through his hands and feet... How could he do it? How could he be still through all of that when he could have stopped it at any time?

Hebrews 12:2 says he did it "for the joy set before him."

And that joy is you.

Nehemiah 8:10 says "The joy of the Lord is your strength." Did you ever consider that the joy of a people redeemed was Jesus' strength in his greatest hour of need?

Jesus endured because he looked through that veil with the eyes of faith and saw you. He fixed his eyes on you in that dark garden, so that you would be able to fix your eyes on him in your long, dark night of the soul.

His eyes locked with yours. That's how standing firm begins.