Christianity
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Christ is Perfect, Christian Culture Isn’t
We as Christians live in a fallen world, therefore, even though we have a perfect savior our world is tainted by sin. From the numerous Christian dating books, to confusing Twitter banter, to some misleading pastors, and beyond. Christian culture has its faults, but there is hope. As long as Christ, and His perfect Word are at the center of ministry the church will be far better off. This starts with realizing that Christian books, that aren’t the Bible need to be taken with a grain of salt. From those written about dating as a Christian to even books that talk about those who believe they have been to heaven…
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Merry Xmas
Sometimes this phrase is challenged as taking the Christ out of Christmas. In reality the “X” represents the first letter of the greek word for Christ. As long as you pronounce the Phrase as “Christmas” instead “ex-mas” I think writing out the shorter version is usually fine. I’ve found it’s not about the day even either, its about remembering Jesus’ birth. My family just made the five-hour trip back home today so we could see both sides of the family. It’s become almost tradition to take this unconventional route because, despite the odd timing of the drive, it means we see more people and celebrate more. We get more time…
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Give Grace
This is hard. Grace is something we all can receive through Christ but its something that can be very hard to share with others in return. My suspicion is the primary element that makes this hard is because it often feels unfair to us. We don’t want to forgive some for something they did wrong. Grace requires us to forgive and let grudges go. Even then its that later one that is truley gut wrenching because we want to be able to make up for past actions or hold things against people in our own favors. Grace can be hard to give, but because God has given it to us,…
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What’s Behind the Tradition
I went to senior high Sunday school with my youth group student’s this morning. We actually watched a film made for kids much younger but it had some very helpful elements for explaining the traditions we have at Christmas. First off was explaining the name Christmas, this comes from early, mostly Catholic, churches celebrating Christ’s Mass which celebrated Christ’s birth, Christmas simply combines the two words. As for the chopped down tree in your house, that comes from a German tradition where people had been worshipping a maple tree, but then Christian missionaries where able to convert them and then encouraged them to use the fir tree as a symbol…
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Make the Best of It
I want to move and everyone around me knows it. This is mostly due to the fact that I tend to bring it up when people as what I’m up to. I’ve been making projects to get placed and I know that God has something great in store and that my advisors are vouching for me as well. But, as long as I’m still in New Brighton, Minnesota I’m going to #makethebestofit So I know people usually talk about making the most of a bad situation, but I think there’s value in seeing what you can glean from the good ones too. From acknowledging them in the first place to…
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Not of This World
This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through. – Quote from a hymn written by Mary Reeves Davis I love the idea behind this hymn and I was reminded by a friend from camp the other night of the importance of this phrase. Our conversations during our time together prompted me to think more about hope, truth, and faith versus religion, and heaven. These are all important as I think about my relationship with Jesus. They all relate to eternity. My friend and I (we’ll call him Ashton – not his real name) hung out at a coffee shop and talked about truth and the ideas we had both heard…
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My Favorite Holiday
Now I enjoy most holidays, and I have some close seconds, but Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Now I’ll start off with my bias, my birthday is always right around Thanksgiving and sometimes on the holiday. Growing up I got the day off of school, every year until college, but at that point, it was fun because I got to see friends and go to chapel, in fact, my freshman year, the school brought in a comedy troupe that day. Second, its part of the fall season, and fall is my favorite season. I love the changing colors, the scents, the activities. Its such a beautiful time of the year…
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The Grace That Brings Good Work
I taught Sr High Sunday School again this past weekend, and it’s been a good experience both times now. We also had a progressive thanksgiving dinner last night as a group. My time with sr high lately reminded me of something I’ve been meaning to write about, Christian faith and how it’s balanced with good work. First, please let me make something clear. We (the human race) are saved through grace alone and this is not from ourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. (paraphrased Ephesians 2:8-9) I feel that this is important for me to bring up, especially since I haven’t…
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Truth Matters
Tact usually does too. Facts don’t care about feelings. These are important things to remember when we’re searching answers or information in general. There’s also an interesting balance here when it comes to actually communicating things. I wish I could actually just be armed with facts, but then I’m reminded that how I come across matters to how the truth is received in most cases. The phrase facts don’t care about feelings comes from a political commentator I enjoy listening to. It’s meant to communicate that we shouldn’t based our opinions off of feeling but instead off of facts, because without the acknowledgement of truths there is no basis for ideas to stand on. …
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Coffee Drinker*
*Coffee is a wonderful drink best served with friends or to try a new flavor, not as much (in my case) for the energy it may bring. It also shouldn’t be an addiction. I enjoy coffee quite a bit, but I’ll be the first to admit I have quite a bit of energy already on the regular. Sometimes decaf is a solution but often times it’s not as good of a flavor, isn’t available, or a drink can’t be made with that kind of coffee. Coffee is more of an experience to me, not that it’s about how fancy the brew, its more about enjoying it with friends, family, or…
