Not Broken, Human

Five Minute Friday prompt: BROKEN Years ago I stopped using the words “sinful” or “sinner” to describe myself and others. While they are biblical terms to describe a spiritual reality, I realized those words only played nice on the church grounds. Those across the street couldn’t hear the good news of a loving God because … Continue reading Not Broken, Human

No Need for Surrender

As a child in church I sang, “I surrender all ... all to Jesus, I surrender.” A current Hillsong chorus intones, “I surrender…”, giving God all of who we are and ever hope to be. It’s such familiar Christian-ese that it must be biblical. Right? I’ve been doing a lot of self-reflection lately, always informed … Continue reading No Need for Surrender

Resisting Temptation

My pastor-husband believes he witnessed our oldest son’s first sin. Teen was less than a year old, nine or ten months, and exercising his newly-gained crawling and climbing independence. Even though we had covers on all the electric outlets, we still wanted our babies to learn not to touch these at-their-level wall plates. Guy called … Continue reading Resisting Temptation

Releasing Our Guilt: Confession

Imagine the scene: a little girl, about four years old, wispy white-blond curls hanging to her shoulders, plays in her mother's room while Mom takes a shower. She wanders over to the nightstand and gently slides open the drawer. Inside she spies her mother's jewelry. Entranced, she picks up an earring, gold inset with a pearl. … Continue reading Releasing Our Guilt: Confession