Pedestrian God

Football & Marriage

Oct 01 2015

(This article appeared in the most recent edition of the Baptist & Reflector)

Fall has arrived, bringing with it football on all levels. We’re an NFL household, fans of the Minnesota Vikings. As I write these words, I want you to get a snapshot of my day. I wore a purple Vikings scarf to work to celebrate the fact that we are driving to Nashville this evening to watch the Vikings play the Titans. I also packed a change of clothes for the game and had to decide which of my two Vikings jerseys to wear. On social media, I not only follow the team, but also the individual players. Put it all together and you get a pretty good idea of how much I enjoy the Vikings.

But that wasn’t always the case for me. I grew up in a sports-neutral family. To be embrassingly honest, football was that activity on the field I endured until halftime. That’s when the marching band took the field. I went to almost every game to watch my brother march for four years until it was finally my turn.

In college, I started to date Kevin (my husband). As dating got “serious,” I realized that football had the potential of igniting a lifetime’s supply of arguments because I could care less about grown men chasing after an oblong ball.

As we entered premarital counseling, we read all the standard passages and books, many based on Ephesians 5. I spent time with married women who complained when football season began. And I spent time with married women who loved the sport as much as their husbands. I decided I needed to be the latter in order to look forward to the fall season rather than dread it.

Book Review: The End of Me

Sep 10 2015

When I say that The End of Me by Kyle Idleman is worth reading, I mean it. I’ve read 23 books since January (not an easy feat since I work full-time) and this one ranks in the top five.

The End of Me uses Scripture to show how God is most glorified, not despite our weaknesses, but through them. Kyle Idleman interweaves true narratives with Scripture to show how people who have reached the end of themselves have finally returned their eyes to Jesus.

Because I cannot accurately convey my enjoyment in my own words, here are a few of my favorite quotes from the book:

Brokenness is not trending on Twitter. It’s not written on anyone’s résumé, and it’s no business strategy at all.

We tend to tweak the word sin and substitute mistake or one of those other more innocuous phrases. Sin is “preachy.” It wags its finger at us too much. It meddles. So we talk about unfortunate choices or slipups.

I believe many a man is praying to God to fill him when he is full already with something else. Before we pray that God will fill us, I believe we ought to pray that He would empty us.

When we hear a good zinger in church, we always tend to assume it’s about somebody over in the next pew. We think, “I hope she takes this to heart,” rather than, “Does this fit me?

Titus: We too were once

Sep 04 2015

For we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved by various passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, detesting one another.

But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us— not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.He poured out this Spirit on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,so that having been justified by His grace, we may become heirs with the hope of eternal life.
Titus 3:3-7

It’s easy to forget who we were without Christ. We peer out our window at “those lost people,” glad that we’ve got it all together. But Paul reminds Timothy before closing his letter that “we too” were like them.

Foolish
Disobedient
Deceived
Enslaved by passions and pleasures
Living in malice and envy
Hateful, detesting one another

But God. He saved us – not because of how great we are, but through His mercy. The Holy Spirit washed us clean by the grace of Jesus so that we “may become heirs with the hope of eternal life.”

And yet, the very next verse, Paul reminds us to “devote [ourselves] to good works.” This is a reminder that our good works cannot and do not save us. However, they are the fruit that the world sees. They are evidence of the change inside us. With these works, we do not proclaim how great we are but how amazing our God is.

This Labor Day weekend, let’s take time to reflect on who we are without God’s mercy and thank Him that we don’t have to live that way any more.

Book Review: For the Love

Aug 21 2015

On her website, Jen Hatmaker posted a video answering the question, “Who should buy her newest book For the Love?

She responds that the book is for the woman who is doing a terrible job at everything and cannot keep up with expectation. The Woman with deep, meaningful, wonderful community & is celebrating it or the woman who feels lonely in her own life and is craving a deeper community…” Basically, there is something for every woman in every season in life and I could not agree more.

For the Love is my first Jen Hatmaker book to read and I found myself chuckling along with her. It felt like Jen (yes, the style was so conversational, we’re on a first name basis) was just sitting on the couch with me telling stories from her life and what she has learned from them.

Titus: Rules for us all

Aug 07 2015

After a discussion on how elders (Titus 1:5-14), older men (Titus 2:2), older women (Titus 2:3-5), young men (Titus 2:6), and slaves (Titus 2:9-10) should act, Paul sums up the attributes that “all people” should exhibit in their lives.

For the grace of God has appeared with salvation for all people,instructing us to deny godlessness and worldly lusts and to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age, while we wait for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for Himself a people for His own possession, eager to do good works.
-Titus 2:11-14

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