Living life with steps of faith

Middle School Youth – Samson’s Strength and Being a Hero of Our Time Start with Pizza Party. Competitive Game Ask each youth to blow up a balloon and then tie a string to it.   Next, have them tie the string to their ankle.   The goal of this game is for each youth to protect the balloon tied to his own ankle while trying to pop the balloon tied on the ankles of other youth.   Team maker Game Invite the youth to pair up.   Have the pairs sit back-to-back.   They have to stand up together without their hands or arms touching the floor.   Then have the youth get in groups of three and try this again.   Then four. Then five. See if you can get the whole group together to stand up as one. Pop Culture Reference TV Show: Luke Cage “Everyone has a gun, no one has a father.” – Luke Cage Luke Cage is an average guy who has done some time and is trying to find his way – except for one special gift – he is “immune to bullets.” H...

Wrote this a while back... The Infertility Rap: You think it is ‘bout baby lust – You R partially wrong – it is much more – Social circles, legacy, old age plan – Who will take care of me, Holidays and High School football games & no excuse to see a Disney movie; It’s ‘bout little girls playing w/dolls Who never grow up to be called mom & not having an answer when someone asks you ‘bout your kids, Its broken dreams & Love unseen & Missing family photographs. It’s about grief without a RIP, Timed intimacy & meds; Awkward questions, awkward answers, Awkward moments – too bad! You see infertility Is about more than just Not having a baby It is reoccurring grief & A future not conceived.

As my husband and I go through more intensive fertility care treatment, the reality that only God creates life becomes an ever more present reality. We can only work together with the medical team to create a more conducive environment for life to begin. The same can be said in other aspects of our lives.  The church, for example, can only create a more conducive environment for conversion and spiritual growth.  We can create an environment that acts as a stimulus for spiritual life, but only God can spark and grow that life! Paul writes to the Corinthian church as captured in our Bible, "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God's service; you are God's field, God's building." (1 C...

A reinterpretation in my own words of Galatians 5:1, 13-26, done as a spiritual exercise to become more familiar with the text: ( 1) One of the desired outcomes of the work of Christ on the cross is our freedom. It takes strength and commitment to not yield to the pressures that push against our living in the freedom that Christ has purchased for us. And yet to give in to those burdens is to place upon ourselves a heavy lifeless weight. (13) Our calling is freedom! Don’t use your freedom to choose to go back to the life you had before your freedom was given to you.  Don’t be like the Israelites in the wilderness who cried out that life was better when they were slaves in Egypt! When we are focused on loving each other from a place of humility, we are embracing our freedom. (14) If we only follow the Golden Rule, we will have fulfilled the entire law of God. (15) When we live our life being defensive and attacking others, we will then have reason to think we nee...

I think there can be a lot more of God, husband, and wife working together to create a baby through Assisted Reproductive Technologies than the Catholic church gives credit.  When a couple is struggling to have a child, they really grasp how much the formation of a human being is the result of God's miraculous work. (Thus, why so many people get angry at God during the grief of infertility and why so many give God the glory when they do conceive after a time of barrenness.)  But when a couple, married or not, learn that the woman has conceived easily after intercourse, conception doesn't have to be viewed as miraculous.  Some argue that IVF focuses on science in place of god.  The same argument could be made about natural, easy conception through intercourse: conception is just the result of the science of the sperm and egg meeting. Talk to anyone working in the field of reproductive endocrinology and they will tell you that they can't make a baby...

Why is there suffering in the world? A.       God created a beautiful world and gave humans volition (the power of using one’s own will). ( Genesis 1 & 2 ) B.       God gave us instructions on how to live well.  We can choose to follow God’s advice or choose to go our own way. (The book: The Bible .) C.        Problem is that when we choose to go our own way we create brokenness.  That brokenness impacts everything and everyone! ( Genesis 3 & 4 ) D.       There is suffering in the world because people choose to disobey God’s wise advice and the earth, our bodies, and our relationships have suffered as a result. ( Romans 8:18-22 ) So how do we find Joy in the midst of the suffering? A.       Recognize that Joy flows from God & we become conduits of this Joy when we worship God. ( Psalm ) B.    ...

A young man is put to death for blaspheming God's name during a fight.  It wasn't the fight that killed him, but his misuse of God's name.  We read about this incident in Leviticus 24 and it serves as the antidote for the famous, "eye for eye, tooth for tooth" legislation. I read the story and I am humbled by the fullness of God's holiness.  I live by grace and sometimes I allow that grace to interfere with my checking myself for sin. How many times have I injured another person and felt justified and even proud?  Have I ever been disrespectful with God's name? Would I have survived during the time period in which the Law was being discovered? I am a good girl, but not that good. None of us really are. Yesterday I had to have a disciplinary conversation with a young girl on my soccer team about something she did that unintentionally caused harm.  She didn't mean it for evil, she just really didn't know any better.  She could have felt justi...