This one's for you! (A Christmas sermon)

Did you ever listen to a sermon where you felt as if God was saying "This one's for you"?  I've never looked up Willow Creek sermons before, but for some reason I decided to watch one yesterday.  And you know what?  This one was meant for me.  It really hit me in the heart.  Watch it; it's good.  In fact, I couldn't stop thinking about it all day and into the night.  (Skip to the 35-minute mark to start the sermon.)

"Christmas at the movies: How the Grinch Stole Christmas (December 18, 2022)"

(Willow Creek Huntley YouTube channel)

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Giggle Translate #19: Green juice and turkey dust

Since Thanksgiving just passed not too long ago, I pulled out something I wrote about a Thanksgiving many years ago.  And for fun, I ran it through many different languages with Google Translate just to see what happened.  And then I did the same languages again but in reverse.  Enjoy!

The Original Version:

Wait!  I just thought of another shining moment.  One year, 6 a.m. Thanksgiving morning, I dropped a twenty-pound slippery bird and the overnight brine it was soaking in all over the kitchen floor.  The bird never hit the floor.  Honestly, it really didn't.  (But in the name of all honesty, I probably would have served it anyway if it did.  After I rinsed it well, of course.)  But the kitchen table and floor were covered in raw turkey juice.  So gross!

Nothing creeps me out more than raw poultry juice.  When I make chicken, I'm often heard yelling, "AHHH, RAW CHICKEN JUICE" if so much as one drop splashes on me.  And now here I was, spending all morning on my hands and knees cleaning the floor while covered in soaking-wet, turkey-juice clothes.  I will never soak a turkey again!  Never!!!  Once again, though, I had tried to be fancy.  I thought a nice orange/onion soak would make it really memorable.  Oh, it was memorable, all right!

Now here's the first translated version:

Is hypocrisy the real reason for atheism? (A dare for atheists)

I've been thinking recently about a quote from Brennan Manning: "The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians: who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him with their lifestyle.  That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable."  

(Right now, older fans of DC Talk are thinking "Where have I heard that before?"  Answer: At the start of their song "What if I stumble?") 

I used to really like this quote.  I appreciate that it's trying to point out how damaging hypocrisy is and how we Christians need to be careful how we live because people are watching.  And this is true.  I know there are people out there who've been incredibly hurt by those who call themselves Christians, people who are now afraid of God or disgusted by Christianity because of it.  

But after thinking about it more, I don't really agree with this quote anymore.  I don't think it's biblical.

The one Calvinism post of mine you should read

 This isn't a new post, but I wanted to let you know I updated an old post: "Why is Calvinism so dangerous?"  If you read any one post of mine on Calvinism, I think it should be this one!  I think you'll enjoy it.  Unless you're a Calvinist.  You really won't enjoy it if you're a Calvinist.

Calvinists: 

            Non-Calvinists:

 

My Testimony

I’ve scattered bits of my story all over my blogs, but I’m gonna pull it all together here, about how I became a believer and some things I’ve gone through and how my faith has been affected.  (I’ll include links to posts where I explain things more fully.)

Starting the journey:  I became a believer when I was eleven years old.  (I am now getting close to 50.  I don't know how that happened.)  At a Christian camp, on one of the last nights, they gave an altar call.  I wanted to go up but was nervous about standing up in front of everyone.  But being more nervous about the window of opportunity closing, I felt myself stand up and walk to the front.  I knew exactly what I was doing, that I was making a commitment for life.  And I meant it.  I really meant it.  I knelt down, asked Jesus into my heart, and have never turned back.  It hasn’t been an easy, carefree journey (as you’ll see), but I haven’t turned back (though I did contemplate it and kinda briefly wished I could've, during one terrible summer). 

At least someone's willing to say it!

I'm glad to see that someone is finally waking up to what's really going on, wise enough to take off the blinders, and willing to say what needs to be said:

After advocating for COVID-19 vaccination for over a year, Ben Shapiro says he was deceived: "We were lied to by everyone"

If only he'd realized this a year ago (which many of us did realize early on, being distrustful of what we believe is crooked, high-level collusion between many powerful people that has resulted in an unscientific, Orwellian narrative on this whole thing that is destroying our society, economy, health, and freedoms), he could've been a strong advocate for personal choice, a wise voice of reason against the vaccine mandates ("illegal and wicked vaccine mandates," in my estimation - no one should be forced to inject themselves with something they don't want to, no one should lose their jobs because they won't inject themselves with a foreign, questionable substance).  But at least he's starting to see it now and willing to speak up.

Thank you, Ben.  May the light continue to overcome the darkness.  

Update: And another person is seeing it and willing to speak up: 

Is that weird?

Is it weird to mourn the death of folk music legend John Denver twenty-five years after his death?  To feel really sad that we lost him so early and for how his life ended?

In honor of John Denver, my favorite song from him:

Take Me Home, Country Roads

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(This is an experiment, not sure if I will keep it or not)

Giggle Translate #18: Yes, I am a Christian, but ...

The original stuff I wrote somewhere else on my blogs:

Yes, I am a rock-solid Christian, but sometimes I just want to do bad things.  I want to say bad words and watch bad movies and listen to bad music and drink bad things and be all mean and cranky toward annoying people.

            

But what I usually end up doing is just watching my 80’s movies, listening to my 80’s music really loudly, drinking no more than an ounce-and-a-half of mildly-alcoholic hard cider (because I really don’t like alcohol ... honestly, I drink no more than one bottle of hard cider a year!), muttering bad words under my breath, and telling my husband all of the whip-smart, snarky things I wanted to tell others but didn’t think of till it was too late. 

Starting the new school year with Creation vs. Evolution

If there's one thing I would go back and change if I could when homeschooling my older two children (grown and graduated now), it would be that I would have them watch more great educational videos online, instead of focusing mostly on textbooks.  

(And I would let them have more time to pursue something they were passionate about.  I'd rather have a kid who was passionate about something, anything - studying bugs, piano, building, classical literature, writing stories, etc. - than have a kid who did all the boring bookwork but never developed a passion in any one area.)   

Sometimes, for some people, watching things is more inspiring and memorable than reading about it.  It brings things to life more, helping you feel more and remember more.  My boys would have really enjoyed and benefitted from more educational videos.  There are so many interesting, good ones out there; what a shame we missed out on them.

So this year as I start school with my younger two, we are going to add some good videos, maybe starting our morning with them while the kids are still too groggy for reading.  And we are starting right from the beginning, with videos on creation.  God's Word and creationism has been under such attack in recent decades, and I want my boys to understand that science affirms - not contradicts - the Bible and a biblical worldview of creation.  I want to give them reasons now to believe it, before the world tears their faith down (which it attempts to do at every turn).