Tapestry

A number of articles are available advising Christians to have nothing to do with Halloween. And I do agree that Christians have no business celebrating a holiday that glorifies something that delights the enemy of our souls. And potentially opens us up to demonic harrassment, to boot!

But if we've got kids, especially kids in public school or who hang around other kids in the neighborhood, it's entirely possible that parents can feel pressured to do something about Halloween. After all, it's pretty hard to hide under a rock for the whole month of October. A number of houses on our street are more decorated for Halloween than for Christmas!

If there is one thing we are learning from Election 2012, it’s that even the “smartest guys in the room” are agonizing over how much to focus their message on empathy or reasoning. Likeability or a robust contention for facts and evidence. In this week’s debate President Obama opted to forego answering Gov. Romney’s questions about his record. Postmodern conventional wisdom tells us that if we want to win others to our point of view we do it with empathy and likeability more than evidence and facts. If you argue the facts, appeal to reason, you can seem angry and unlikable. So appeal to emotions more than reason. Just be nice.

The resounding “thud” of conventional wisdom falling flat was heard from the debate hall to the Twitterverse. Is there a lesson for us as we try to win a hearing for the gospel?

When I was in college, I feared that giving my life totally to the Lord meant He would probably send me to Africa….

Do you think of yourself as a smart person? I bet many of you don't. You have preconceived views about what it means to be smart and most of you don't think you qualify. Well, I have good news. You are probably smart and you just don't know it!

My family loves the fall. We look forward to all the new school activities, promotion Sunday at church and the change in the weather. Nothing however, seems to excite my family more like the topic of our fall menu. That’s right, the food!

A few years ago, a friend showed up to our costume party wearing a huge box wrapped like a gift. His oversized gift tag read, "From: God To: Women". It's still one of my favorite costumes. Saying a guy "thinks he's God's gift to women" smacks him for his conceit. The funny thing is that, if he's a believer, he IS God's gift to women...and men, and children who make up the Church.

This child slept through the night at six weeks. Another child is walking already. One can read at a third grade level in kindergarten. That one is a child model. This one is a model child. Oh, the comparisons, both positive and negative, of my child against other children. Sometimes they are my comparisons; sometimes someone else’s. 

This past week we began a study of John’s Gospel. Although I am no Greek scholar, with the helpful study tool now available on bible.org I confirmed that John uses two distinct Greek words for our English word, life.

“What is your highest priority in life?” How would you answer that question? What do most women say? A recent survey of Christian women by George Barna found that 53% ranked family first, while only 16% prioritized their faith. The total number of women who responded with health, career, and comfortable lifestyle is larger than the group that chose faith.