My Crazy Faith

Anyone else need this song and video right now: Have a Little Faith in Me (by Joe Cocker, which I know is not a Christian song, but it totally fits right now) Just breathe.  You're gonna be okay. And remember, all we need is a little faith.   God will take it from there.

It's a dreary, rainy, cool day here - one of my favorite kinds of days.  So I brewed a hot cup of Pumpkin Spice tea (The Republic of Tea brand - so good!) with a dash of milk and sugar and nestled in for a half-hour of wandering through the Lost Forest , a YouTube channel I recently found. Such simple videos from a woman in Ireland (I've always wanted to visit there, I have strong Irish roots) who records scenes from her day as she visits her garden (where her cats meander), her jewelry studio, nearby cottages and castles and landscapes, etc.  It's delightful and relaxing - no speaking, no faces, no chaos, just gentle music and simple captions at the bottom of the screen sharing her thoughts. If you've got an extra 15-30 minutes in your day and need to relax, grab a cup of tea or coffee (or maybe you prefer lemonade), and spend some quiet time wandering the Irish countryside. Here's the newest video I just watched: Visit an Irish Cottage, A Cosy Day in Autumn [Note:

The other day, I watched a Willow Creek sermon again, and it happened to be Megan preaching again.  (I talked about her once before, see at the end of this post).  It was about heaven.  And it was good.  Very good.   But after that sermon, I decided to watch the sermon at the Calvinist church we left (I won't identify the church, or link to it), just to see what they were preaching.  And I wanted to compare these two sermons, to give you a taste of what sermons are like at a non-Calvinist church versus a Calvinist church.  I'm going to paraphrase what each pastor said, for space and to sum it up quickly.  And interestingly, both of them gave their version of the gospel, the call to salvation.  Notice how different they are.   And I want you to imagine what it would be like to be in the audience listening to these different sermons, especially if you were a broken, hurting, lost person who was aching for help and healing and hope.   First, I'll briefly paraphrase Megan's

Okay, let's keep chugging along here on the spiritual warfare study.  I had no idea I'd write this much about the times we're vulnerable to Satan's attacks, but next up is... Innocence, naivete Innocence is one of the most endearing qualities someone can have.  We love it in babies and young children and the pure of heart.  But innocence with naivete can make us especially vulnerable to Satan's deceptions because we're too trusting and too uneducated in the ways of evil to know better.  Let's look at the attack Satan launched on someone who was the most innocent and naive of all, to see what we can learn from it. Deception (twisting the truth, God's character, or God's Word) is one of Satan's first (and best) tricks.  He used it on Eve in the Garden of Eden.  God had forbidden Adam and Eve from eating from one tree out of a whole garden of trees.  All the rest were allowed.  But Satan cleverly asked Eve  "Did God really say, 'You must no

  Here's a recent video from Kevin Thompson at Beyond the Fundamentals about how Calvinism sneaks into churches:  Stealth Calvinist Strategies   (And check out his other videos on  "Stealth Calvinism" )  And along these lines. here's a book review I once posted about another woman's experience with Calvinism taking over her church:  "Review of 'Once an Insider, Now Without a Church Home' - A Look at How Churches Go Wrong" . And since we're on the topic, I thought I'd give a  quick  synopsis of what it was like watching Calvinism take over ours, in case you notice anything like this in yours.  The fuller version of our experience can be found in these posts:  "What's the best way to take over a church with Calvinism"  and  "We left our church because of Calvinism (Things my Calvinist pastor said)"  and  "Letter to our elders regarding Calvinism growing in our church" .   And FYI: My whole  anti-Calvinism b