Tales From Another Planet

Recently, there have been several news articles coming out about parents of very young kids allowing their children to "change gender" pre-puberty. Understandably, there are medical benefits to this. Unfortunately, in my opinion, it is a classic case of child abuse. Here's my problem. Unless you have a toxic view of masculinity, there is absolutely no need or even a desire for a boy to become a girl (or vice versa). For example, a pro transgender friend of mine shared an article that basically asked everyone, whether transgender or not, to think about their gender. What about you says that you are a man/woman? What about you doesn't fit your idea of a gender role? What do you think of when you think of a man/woman? And then they admitted that the final decision to change gender was, "I just don't want to be a man/woman". Well, here's the problem with that idea... not one single person in this world is the "ideal" model for their gender. ...

When I'm lost and broken Too afraid to move on Stuck in my past No matter the last Words you said You reached down again today Lifted up my head And when I couldn't speak You touched my lips To free me No more shame You've taken away my pain With Your name No more sin You've given me weapons and Strength to win When I'm poor and undone Empty and feeling down Stuck on myself You knew the cost Sent your Son Saved By Faith alone 

One of the problems that I see with evangelism in a post-Christian society is that people have really tough questions that they know "shut down" the majority of Christians. This is the first in what may end up being a series of posts dealing with sticky evangelistic topics. I don't feel like I am very good at evangelism, but I want to get better, and how else to get better than to dive right in to one of the trickiest topics out there. "I can't believe in a God that sends good people to hell." This is probably one of the toughest questions out there. The majority of non-Christians don't see themselves as any different than Christians. They see us as hypocritical, judgmental, and "just like them". So why do Christians say that we exclude other religions and the non-religious from this fantastic "heaven" that we desire so much? Why would a good God send decent people to hell? What we do isn't "that bad" really, is it? ...

I had started this post awhile back, and never got around to it. However, since my pastor at church brought up the topic last Sunday, I decided to finally get back to writing (since it has been forever). The famous (infamous) quote from Jim Rohn says that you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. As I understand that quote, we should carefully select the 5 people we spend the most time with. Unfortunately for some of us, those people may not always be easily re-selected. I have seen a lot of folks lately who are working with their children's fathers, but not actively spending time with them. Whether they are divorced, ex-boyfriends, or simply struggling, it breaks my heart. I can't fathom trying to co-parent with someone who I don't want on my "5 people" list. Yet, as a Christian, we are NOT called to disown people simply because of their failings, characteristics or personality.

Ahhh, Facebook. The joys of watching other people spiral into a cycle of ever depressing memes, What did we ever do before your glorious awakening? I pretty much hate memes, but for some reason everything the Facebook criteria puts in my feed has a picture, which unfortunately includes memes. Some of the more recent ones that a select few Facebook friends have shared or posted are about "dropping toxic people". Everyone is smiling and nodding their heads, "Yeah, we don't want those people in our lives."

A few recent comments from church members and small group members has created some deep thinking recently regarding diversity in family and parenting styles in the church. As any of my long-term blog followers know, at one point I struggled with judgment towards others. My Meyers Brigg personality is a borderline I/E but a very strong NTJ, especially that big fat J. Fortunately, part of being a Christian is growth and development through the working of the Holy Spirit, the Bible, and other Christians. As a late teenager and young adult, I was able to almost completely resolve my fear/judgment cycle (because I judged others, I feared their judgment towards me and became very hesitant and reserved).

If there's one thing I've been thinking of more than usual lately, it's the sad and strange fact that all of us are human. We hold some people up to higher standards for whatever reason (pastors, politicians, police, etc.) However, even those most austere and auspicious, are still only people. People with sin. People with personalities and passions. People with ideology and false theology and tendencies and past experiences and misinformation. Isn't it a beautiful and strange thing?

One problem in our society today, is the "golden handcuffs" phenomenon. I'm sure you've heard of it before, assuming that it applied only to the very wealthy. In reality, I feel that the golden handcuffs apply to way more people in modern society than we might think. Essentially, what the term means, is that you've gotten used to living a certain lifestyle, which requires a certain income, and you can't see any way to make significant lifestyle changes so you are therefore "trapped" in your job indefinitely, unable to make career choices as you might otherwise. Why is this big deal? And why do I slap the label "religion" on this post?

I've seen a few disturbing things from supposedly "Pro-choice" people lately. Mainly, their arguments are completely invalid, but they are looking for every excuse in the book. Here are two examples: The first example comes from an article circulating around Facebook. I have no idea why the article was even circulating because it was completely illogical. Basically, the article was from a doctor who said abortion should be legal and then went on to describe a very sad miscarriage of a 20 week old baby that wasn't initiated by any doctor, but couldn't be stopped. Here's the thing, that particular situation doesn't meet any requirements at all of the pro-life vs. "pro-choice" debate. Yes, doctors use the term abortion for miscarriage, so technically my own medical records list an abortion (spontaneous). Spontaneous means that the baby was coming and couldn't be stopped (and in my case had already passed away). So, yes, "spontaneous abor...

One of the more recent problems caused by the social media takeover of culture is the idea that we are the center of our own universe. A side effect of this unusual philosophy is the "you have a problem" syndrome. Of course, this particular issue is not a new problem, but it certainly seems to be getting worse. Unfortunately, I've found that this syndrome occurs just as frequently in those that are not attached to social media, perhaps as a defense against the you-centric philosophy of culture, but perpetuating some of the same mythology. I can't tell you the number of conversations I've over heard (see my previous post on  Life as a Reserved Extrovert  to find out why I am listening in on conversations without necessarily participating) where someone is completely bashing someone for X activity without realizing that what they are bashing someone for is incredible similar to what they are currently doing. Let me give you a few examples of what I'm talking...

As part of Upward soccer coach training, we had the opportunity to hear from an excellent speaker regarding child evangelism. He made some great comments about how the biggest things we can do are to not confuse children and try to keep things simple and concise and clear up any misconceptions. It was a fabulous opportunity. We also had a unique opportunity in our small group to discuss some of these very same concepts with an adult, and I can tell you that it's not nearly as easy as it sounds with an adult compared to a child. Yes, the adult can understand more, but it is so much more difficult to get from that place of understanding to that open and genuine acceptance. That's why Jesus said we must become like little children in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. I remembered or came up with an analogy after last night's discussion. God's grace and the gift of Jesus (fully God as well) and His death on the cross to pay the price for our sins is really this simp...

I’ve come to a realization lately. One component of our human nature is a craving for success. If we’re not careful, we can attempt to fulfill this craving by being better than someone else, or accomplishing something on our own. As Christians, this human nature isn’t sin in itself, but we need to be careful to not allow it to become sin. How many sinners have entered a church, only to realize that everyone attending that church is judging them? How many Christians have started to doubt whether God is real, because they are successful “on their own merit”? How many fresh, new, vibrant Christian souls are silently removed from Christian fellowship because of a difficult personality or lack of job, relationship, education? Whenever I look at my own personality, which is somewhat fluid, the one standout marker is a big fat J for judging (if you’re using Myers-Briggs at least). Now, the Holy Spirit has convicted me over and over again not to use this personality trait against peop...

All I have belongs to God All He gives me freely All the grace I don't deserve All the love I'm feeling Dancing circles round and round I lift my arms up, falling down Sheltered in His loving arms I feel the scars that saved me Nothing I have belongs to me, But He has given oh so freely Only by grace can I be saved I'm a dying wreck, pulled from the grave Please accept this song of praise The only thing I can give I give my heart, my life, my soul Worth nothing And I say thank You, thank You, thank You But my thanks are empty I sing songs of praise, and lift my open hands All that I can give, You already have Just take me, and all I am

I overheard a conversation at a party recently, by a self-professed "Church-hopper". I didn't hear the whole conversation, but the gist of it was, that she had been looking for a church for awhile, but it was just too difficult to find a good one. I've been there before, especially if you're in a new town, or in an area where there just aren't a lot of Bible-based churches. However, I think we have to be careful not to look too long for a "good" church. Why not? Should we settle for less than perfect in our walk with Christ? No, in our personal walk with Christ we ought always to be seeking to grow and mature in our faith. However, in our walk with our fellow believers, we have to keep one very important thing in mind, they are all human and failures just as we are. You can search for the perfect orator in a pastor, only to find out he is careless with his flock. You can search for the perfect children's ministry, only to find out that the ad...

God help me think of You best Not going over my to do list Or my who's better than who fest Or my self-centered subconscious When waves of life cross my path And no one knows my name You hold Your face towards me And wipe away my shame No gift of mine No guilty scribe No praise I lift Can cross the rift Until Your blood Grace like a flood Washed me whole Cleansed my soul Made me new And more like You So today I sit here Thinking of You

I have a 5-year old son. Needless to say, he's finally starting to wonder a little more about this Santa person. He knows that Santa isn't real, but we still read books about Santa, and talk about the idea of Santa, and a general "Christmas spirit". We also talk a lot about the reason for the Season. Of course, he's also very interested in receiving gifts, especially toys, and even video games. As a side note, it's a bit hard to believe that my 5 year old can beat certain levels of Mario Kart, I'm not sure I could even do that. So, what's the big deal about Santa and wanting gifts? Isn't that part of what Christmas is all about? Let's talk about the real reason behind the gifts that Christ was given by the Wise Men (which by the way was not at his birth, but probably 2-4 years after he was born). We know that Jesus received, at a minimum, gold, frankincense, and myrrh from the wise men. Why these three? I believe there was a very practica...

I overheard, and tried to participate in a Facebook conversation recently (I know, even I am amazed that we can call what takes place on Facebook a conversation) about the price of food and groceries for an average family. After the conversation, I started thinking a little more about the average cost of food across the world. Thinking of the millions and billions of people living on what most of us would consider "spare change". It's fine to compare your organic, vegetarian, super food grocery budget to my conventional beef and rice, and canned vegetable budget, but it's also not a fully valid comparison until you compare it across the world. Especially around Thanksgiving, it's important not only to give thanks for what we've been given, but to give back to those who don't have as much as we do. Maybe you can donate a farm animal through a charitable organization. Maybe you can contribute to a microfinance company to enable more people to be self-emp...

A friend of mine, who has gone through some hard times the past few years, mentioned that she gets along better with her grandparents generation than with her generation, or even her parents' generation. The oldest generation includes the people who grew up without "modern conveniences". They are the people who understand that sometimes bad things happen, and there doesn't need to be a reason or explanation. They are the ones who "stand strong" in the face of adversity (not all of them, but many of them). So, when I listen to the baby boomers complain about their retirement (where they will still make more money than I would if I were to re-enter the workforce now), or Generation X complain about divorce or house prices or kids, or "my" generation complain about having to do anything that requires effort, I wonder what the difference is. I theorized earlier in my blog that maybe it's just life experience, but is it truly something more? W...

I've seen quite a few posts over the last few years from other bloggers regarding a "social economy" and how that works. I never quite understood why I didn't agree with them until a neighbor mentioned that, because some friends of hers hadn't been coming to church or small group lately, she wouldn't be supporting the girl scout troop that their kids were in. Here's the problem with the social economy. If your only reason for giving to, spending time with, or helping someone is what you get out of the relationship or what you might get back some day, you will be living a very dissatisfied life. To be fair, I don't think that's what was really happening in this particular situation with my neighbor, I think she truly would not have wanted to help the girl scout troop anyway and this was a handy excuse not to. But let's look at some of the pitfalls of a social economy. My value in my self is inherently higher. I remember that time I sacrific...

Luke 11:24-26 (NIV) “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ 25 When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. 26 Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first.” Three little verses slapped into the middle of Luke, between many other more profound statements, so why am I writing a post on it? Why is this section of Scripture important in today's world? Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees, but our churches are full of Pharisees today, and we've been blinded to our own moralistic tendencies for far too long.