Growing in the Lord & Walking in the Spirit

     So, I planned to start this a year ago, and I did not get around to it. This all started with my article on what a Christian should or could think, based on what I saw in Scripture, related to Halloween. I would love to take time and break down every holiday over the next few years or so, depending on how often I find free time to sit down and write about a topic that interests me.      This is the time of year where people begin talking about Christmas. While I firmly hold to the value of Thanksgiving being the focus for the WHOLE month of November, I cannot deny that if it snows before Thanksgiving, the snow is associated with the Christmas spirit in most commercialized American viewpoints. I am seriously bothered by how commercialized almost every "American" holiday is. But that is a conversation for another time. Or, maybe for later here, we will see. :P      The Christmas season, which begins on November 1st, Black Friday, or Decemb...

 Goals. New Years Resolutions. These can always be so exciting to think about setting up, but then terrifying to expect to complete. Some people, then, set goals of something that they know they will be able to accomplish, or tasks that they were already planning on doing or tasks that they want to do. This is not a bad idea, but it does not achieve the meaning of “goal.” A goal is something that we are striving to reach. Something that takes work. It is not likely going to be easy. But, in the long run, it should teach us a lesson that we need to learn or make us a better person compared to who we were before the goal was set. Some goals could and should take more than a year to accomplish. Some goals are going to be more enjoyable than others. Almost all goals are worth trying, even if they are not achieved, though. One of my favorite aspects of setting a goal is that if it is not achieved, I have a chance to try again. For example, one month I set the goal of consuming zero add...

 As a Christian who has grown up in a Christian household with Christian communities, I have what I believe is a firm understanding of the Bible and the truths in the book. However, sometimes as I read it again and again or as people teach me new information about the books, questions do arise. I have never been shamed for asking questions, which has led me to be more inquisitive about all things than some who were shamed for asking questions about the Bible when they were younger. And, as an adult, while I still see value in asking others the questions I have, I also find value in finding the answer on my own. Because I know the Bible, I know some places to begin looking for information. There are also so many resources available to me at my fingertips because of notes that I have taken in the past, and information that I have gathered from reputable sources. This past Christmas season I was thinking about the story of the wise men from a new angle. As one who has grown up in the...

There are so many views & opinions on what Christians should do with Halloween. Simplifying the two sides, one Christian side will argue that the point of Halloween is dressing up and wearing funny costumes and getting candy out of it. The second side will argue that participating in any Halloween activities is interacting with the devil (Satan) and demonic activity. Both sides have valid points. Both sides seem to have a biblical worldview to back up their answers. But there seems to be some missing pieces in the puzzle. I asked some of my friends & some of you to explain what you believed on this issue, and I received some variety of answers. I don’t know why this came as a surprise to me, but many people including my friends were of the mindset that if we Christians have the right intentions and still dress modestly, that there is nothing wrong with trick-or-treating in the honor of Halloween. Some people explained that it could be viewed in the same light as fantasy- there ...

Happy belated Valentine's Day. Let's talk about love in our culture today. So many people say that "love is all that matters". The LGBTQ community is searching for what they mean by "love is love". It is evident in romance movies, books, and it is on so many billboards. No matter how cheesy this sounds, they are not all wrong. In fact, they might be a little bit right. However, their definition of love if what needs to be established. Searching for love in the world is not going to lead anywhere. But genuine peace and trust is found when the love of Christ is found and recognized. So, I began with this idea of an article about two years ago. But this has been a topic in American culture for years now. While I could (and probably will in the near future) home in on the community specifically, I want to highlight the issues of reading only a small portion of a viewpoint for anything through the use of a personal example.  One time as my family was in a new nei...

Over the past few years, I have recorded major "life lessons" that I have learned throughout specific seasons. It is interesting to observe how the lessons that I have been learning are directly related to the problems, 'trials', and situations that I am going through at the moment.  So many of these literal seasons and months, I have been stressed out and worried about where I am in life and what the next steps over the next days and weeks were going to be. But, as is visible here, I was able to focus on the present and take away important information as I was struggling. God still used these moments to teach me new things that I can continue to apply to many more situations. But, that does not mean that it is engraved in my brain. Some of the lessons will be re-taught to me (as you might be able to see here, as well).  To start, we have the mottos that I gained during the crazy year of 2020- when I was a senior in high school, figuring out what college to go to, tak...

Hello, y'all from the country known as "America". There is so much history in this country, and so many of the people who live here are proud of how we came to be. Americans love to shoot off fireworks at night (apparently two weeks in advance and about a week after the fourth as well, this year). We typically have a cookout of some kind, dress up in red, white, and blue (the colors of the American flag), and blast the many songs that mention America and how cool of a place it is. But, is this holiday all that it is cracked up to be?  Don't get me wrong- I love being able to live in America. I am thankful and grateful for the rights I have to worship God (among many others) here. But, many things are not amazing for America, and other things are not unique to America.  I think that my perspective as a Missionary Kid (MK) really brings this to light in a new way. I'm sure I went to Fourth of July (Independence Day) celebrations up until I was five years old, but I ...

 Hello again! I have not been active here in a while, and for that, I am truly sorry. I have needed to focus my attention on other things this past semester, but there were also plenty of hours that I wasted that I could have used here. But, I am back and I have so many topics to share with you! To start off, though, we are going to look at the new year!  It is now 2022. In fact, we are already 4 days in. I feel so late to write a New Year post, especially compared to last year when I literally wrote one at midnight on the New Year. But, I still think that the information is just as important now.  Many people have focused on creating lists of Twenty-Two things. They will have a list of twenty-two Bible verses to bring into 2022, or twenty-two key concepts to remember in the new year. But, I want to focus on something maybe a little different. I am going to tie this concept into making a list of twenty-two pieces of information, and I also want to look at new year's resol...

 First off, I am so sorry I have not written here in a while, and I am still not at a regular posting schedule. While I know there is no excuse that makes up for the way I have been acting, I have been fairly busy with school and work. I am getting details worked out about my summer plans, which I would love to talk about in a later post. Also, I am working on scheduling my life better, and sticking to it so I should be able to have more free time and more productive study time and work time.  But, let' get back to the focus of the blog post. As you can tell by the title, my goal is to talk about Easter. The message that the easter story brings always makes me feel so blessed and thankful for all that the Lord has done for me. One of the many problems with Easter is, though, that this holiday only happens once a year, and the focus does not seem to be completely on Christ.  Here is what I mean by that: When Easter Week comes, it starts on Palm Sunday morning. If a Christi...

Happy Valentine's Day! The day all about love, hearts, and flowers! This is the day when all couples get excited about yet another excuse to go on a date. All married couples make an effort to go the extra mile to show their love to each other. And, all the single people feel bad about not having a significant other. Yet, while all of that is okay I think this holiday should have a different focus.  Valentine was a real person, a preacher who was still officiating marriage ceremonies when they were found illegal.The ruler during the time decided that single men did better in war than those who were married, so he made marriages illegal. Valentine, though, knew that love was worth it. So, he did not stop giving people in marriage. One specific instance was in fact with his daughter and another man. Yet, the ruler eventually found out about it and had him executed. (There is much more to this story, but I did not go into the details here). He knew that the power of love is more impor...

 I came back from the New Years' party that I got to attend last night and I immediately thought about the past year. I have a feeling that most people are having similar thoughts to "2020 has failed me" but my brain instead thought "Did I fail 2020?" It's more like "Did I fail God by not using the many chances He gave me during the year 2020?" While I am so thankful for how much I have grown in this year, I have a feeling that so much would be different, and for the better, if I chose to make the effort to spread the gospel or show God's love to strangers, friends, and acquaintances in my life.  But did I really fail 2020? My goal in life is to Give God Glory, and like I mentioned, I did not do that every single time I was given the opportunity to. I messed up quite a few times, yes, but I did not fail 2020. I lived my life the way I did, and God has been able to help me to focus on Him again and again when I lose that focus. God has always be...

 As I am writing this it is Christmas Eve of 2020. Hopefully, I can get this published not much time between now and New Years'. I want to get as much of my thoughts on paper before I forget, though I doubt any of this will be hard to forget.  Over this year there is so much that I have been able to learn, and as I have grown up I have learned to pay attention and appreciate the table conversations, or family conversations we have in general. Over the past few months I have been able to learn much and add much to the conversations that I was engaged and paying attention to. While there are far too many for me to count, there are a few that  I would like to talk about that apply to the holiday season this time of year.  What started from a slight accident of reading 'too much' of the Christmas story in Luke 2 on celebration turned into a discussion full of great observations. The passage that is normally read is Luke 2:1-21. The passage that my family chose to read th...

When pondering the holiday titled "Thanksgiving" I feel like most Americans, and sometimes even Christians, don't care much about the reason behind Thanksgiving. They just show up for the food or want to begin their month-long Christmas mood. Yet, there is so much more to Thanksgiving than food or Black Friday and Christmas to follow.  Whenever I think of my blog or Thanksgiving, right now my mind goes to when I wrote a blog article about staying thankful throughout the whole year. I posted the blog exactly six months after thanksgiving was celebrated by the United States of America nationally in 2019, and titled the post: "Are You Still Thankful?". The point of the article was to helps us all to remember that we are called to be thankful for everything we have no matter what time of the year it is.  The most interesting thing about that article and the timing of it all is that God chose to have me publish that article just about a month before the world seemed ...

My sister, Mandy, wrote this article the week of Easter: Hello everyone. I am pretty sure this is the first blog I have written. I am not a good writer at all, but I feel like I need to share this. As we come upon Easter, let us remember what we are celebrating. Easter is not about the eggs, the bunny, and the chocolate. It is about celebrating the price our Savior paid to save us from eternal suffering.    Jesus lived a perfect life, died on the cross to take our punishment for sin, and then rose again 3 days later. Recently, someone said that Heaven is what doesn’t make sense not Hell. This is so true. It makes perfect sense that since we are sinners, we deserve to be eternally punished in the Lake of Fire. What doesn’t make sense is that a Perfect God could love us wretched sinners so much that He gave His Son to die for us so we can go to Heaven. However, that is exactly what Jesus did. He willingly and loving went to the cross and died for us without any sign of ...

It's been a few months since thanksgiving. Do people still remember what it was like? In my experience, I did not really appreciate the meaning of thanksgiving until the past few years. I always enjoyed watching the parade and eating food, but that was about it. God has been working in my heart, though, and now I am truly thankful and grateful during the season. But it should be more than just a season, right? I mean the VERY NEXT DAY people are all selfish about who can purchase their desired items before the store runs out. And the Macy's Day Parade itself does not really ever mention being thankful for what the Lord has provided, but it all about glorifying other humans with their talents (which isn't all bad) and then goes straight into the Christmas season...with Santa. Sometimes I wonder if Thanksgiving such be placed AFTER Christmas so people can be thankful, even if they did not receive what they wanted, or placed farther away from the 'season of getting' ...

First off, if you are feeling bad about not having a 'soulmate' or a boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse/fiance that is okay. Paul says in 1 Corinthians that "to the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am." (7:8)  No relationship is perfect when humans are involved. Often you can save yourself strive by not getting into a relationship. I mean, I would not mind if I stayed single my whole life: cheaper food,  way less stress,  and no 'rules' except for what the government and bible say as well as what you chose. For example, if you want to eat ice cream on the couch, you don't have any spouse telling you not to. Or singing in the shower. Or almost anything like that...maybe a midnight snack? Anyway, I hope you get the idea. While I say that, I also have to explain that there is nothing wrong with being married. God encourages us to be in relationships. In fact, if you continue reading 1 Corinthians 7:10 "To the marri...

All of the articles I have posted today I wrote on another blog, but I am moving to here, too. When I wrote this article, it was closer to the beginning of the year 2020. It was the beginning of January. While I did not have 2020 vision seeing through the future to be able to predict all that has happened in the world today, I would not change everything I said in these articles. God is good. He loves me. He is taking care of me. Do you have perfect vision, 2020, spiritually? I know that no one will be perfect until heaven except for God himself, but don't you want to get closer to that goal of perfection? Adventures in Odyssey showed a calendar for the coming year- 2020. This year is special to me because of a major milestone in my life. But is that all I want to remember in the coming years? Is that the only change I want to experience? I want a vision- a goal that I can focus on- to prepare me in the following year to come. I want my goal to have three parts: something that ...