Meat for the Hungry

Tinsel, glittering trees, sparkling lights, wreaths, and decorations in their place. Nativity displayed. Cards addressed and mailed. Candles lit. Table set. Ham glazed. Cookies baked, candies molded, nut bowls filled. Cocoa simmering, presents wrapped, ribboned, and bowed, and a family dressed to the nines. What a p e r f e c t C h r i s t m a s ! Oh, how I wish this were me. I did better with C h r i s t m a s when I was younger, probably because I started in September. Lately, though, the perfect Christmas seems elusive, and I’d rather escape into Christmas poems, books, and movies. In them, I rarely see the behind the scenes work or the chaos that ensues with my not-so-perfect Christmases. Neither is there the stress, depression, or frustration building during the holidays. Sometimes we’re missing loved ones, sometimes we’re lonely, sometimes it’s disturbing news or a serious diagnosis, and sometimes we’re simply dreading the work of putting up decorations, just to take th

Among the myriad of things for which I’m thankful , at this moment, it’s the two movie reviews I just read on Crosswalk.com. Freelancer, Michael Foust, writes about Frozen II [1] and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood . [2] Both should be wildly popular at the box office, but for different reasons, and with different messages. Frozen II, while appealing to our “baby” generation, promotes the elements of witchcraft, fire, water, wind, and earth. And, using animism, gives each a soul and a spirit body. Although Frozen II teaches courage in the face of adversity, it also conveys an antichristian source for Elsa’s courage/power, and this puts me in a bit of a predicament. As a long-distance grandma, I promised my granddaughters. I would buy them tickets to see the movie. They saw the first Frozen , and yes, it does have a bit of animism—Olaf, the walking and talking snowman. But Foust says Frozen II is darker. I’m not surprised, and in my opinion, it’s deliberately darker, s

For the last three or four weeks, I’ve been renovating my bedroom, and I’m not done yet. My poor husband, all my bedroom furniture is in my dining room. I’ve scraped loose paint, patched cracks and holes in the plaster. I’ve primed the woodwork, painted it, the ceiling, and the walls. Scrubbed and vacuumed the carpet, and yesterday, my husband fixed the window, but not without some damage to my newly painted woodwork. Ugh! Today, I’ll do touchups, move the furniture back in, and decorate. My goal is to create a beautiful and peaceful environment—a masterpiece—my work of art . Our house is old, so anything I do is cosmetic. I’m not an HGTV type of renovator. Still, all this work and planning has given me insight into a verse I’ve been stuck on for quite some time—Ephesians 2:10. Originally, I contemplated the word walk, but now workmanship.

Has your life been rocked this past week? Mine has with the swift and untimely death of my daughter’s childhood friend’s mother from cancer, and a family member’s massive stroke. Our family member remains in ICU, and we are fervently praying for God’s healing touch, but we don’t know what the future holds . Our bodies are so frail. Even when we exercise, keep our muscles toned, eat “clean” foods, and follow every age-defying regimen out there, death strikes. And for those in the land of the living, it stings like a slap in the face. It jars us, brings us back to reality, and shouts, “Wake up! Life is short.” Sadly, the longer we live, the more we see that reality. In fact, this morning, I opened Facebook because my daughter tagged me in a memory. She shared a picture of my grandchildren from seven years ago. It was so cute and brought me right back to that night and then returned me to the present. Seven years flew by in an instant, and a somber emotion followed. My tho

     At the urging of my daughter, I watched a Netflix film entitled Come Sunday , and I think I’m heartbroken. This movie is the true-life portrayal of Bishop Carlton Pearson, who decided there is no hell. During a documentary about the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Pearson believed God spoke to him, and because God is love and Jesus died for the sins of the whole world, everyone goes to heaven. [1]      A few days later, I read an article about an applauded author I recognized from my son’s teen years. Joshua Harris impacted teens and singles in the late 1990s and early 2000s with his books I Kissed Dating Goodbye and Boy Meets Girl – Say Hello to Courtship . Harris, the former pastor of Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland, just divorced his wife and announced he’s not a Christian anymore, at least not by evangelical standards. Fox News reported, “In an Instagram post, he also apologized for his previously held views, including "bigotry" to the LGBTQ communit

Orlan Warsaw Marathon 2014 By Adrian Grycuk - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 pl, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32152574 I’ve never thought much about marathons before today. Have you? Even with the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, I didn’t think about the race. I only thought about the tragedy. I guess my simple, nonathletic mind has trouble understanding what would drive someone to run such a distance. But, I truly admire those who do. Did you know marathons originated around 490BC? According to www.justrunlah.com , the marathon came to be “at the time when the Persians were invading Greece.” This would have been four years prior to Xerxes ascending the Persian throne, seven years before his outlandish party, and about ten years before Esther became his choice for queen. [1] Supposedly, a Greek messenger, Pheidippides, ran from the Battle of Marathon to proclaim to the people of Athens, that the Greeks defeated the Persians. Unfortunately, after running