Tuesday Thought

So this Westboro Baptist Church group which has extremist thinking and seems fixated on the sin of homosexuality and wants to blame every bad thing that happens on homosexuality is coming to Tuscaloosa to assert their misbelief that the tornadoes of April 27, 2011 were God's wrath for homosexuality? Well, this could be interesting!

They are a hate group. They make Christians, TRUE Christians, look bad. They give God a bad name. 

Their website address? www.godhatesfags.com. Ordinarily, I wouldn't be so bold about things like this, but seriously, I do feel that I must speak up on this. 

First of all, yes, I do believe in predestination because it is scriptural. Second, I do believe Jesus came to die for our sins to make a way for us to come to God. It's called grace. Third, I do believe that sexual immorality is a sin based on Scripture, but I don't believe God sent disasters just because of that. I looked up the flood they referenced on their site. No where in the first six chapters was there reference to sexual immorality (that I could make out literally). God was sad that people had become so violent so He destroyed them. There are, after all, many sins. 

I live in Alabama. Let me tell you what I remember. When that tornado came (which I literally called a monster), it tried to destroy a state, a region. Physically, it did destroy a lot. But let me tell you what else I saw in the hours, days, weeks and months that followed. I didn't see a God of hate and judgment. I saw a God of love, compassion, grace and mercy as people came from all the state and the country and even from around the globe to help Alabama residents recover. I saw outpourings of love from all over the world. Does that sound like the wrath of God? 

Alabama stands strong in the face of adversity. Alabama will always stand strong. 

What this WBC group does is wrong. They spread hate. Our response should be love and grace. I secretly pray that a minister will join any counter protest against them and share the TRUE Gospel with them. Because they clearly haven't heard it. 

And Wiki, as much as I am against it, has a good write up on them and their leader.  But what I would love to see and hear is what area pastors have to say about this group and its beliefs. 

In the end, we are not God and we don't know everything about God except for what He chose to reveal to us. In the end, God is the only one who can judge anyone. But in the meantime, we must fight against false teachers, which is what WBC is. They are a sick people, and much to my shock, the irony is that another hate group, the KKK, finds WBC to be too extreme even for them. 

Dear God, I pray over this stir that WBC is causing touting that natural disasters are because of Your wrath. I am sad that this group misinterprets Your Word and perverts in such a manner that it can literally cause people to turn away from You and from TRUE Christians who are not hateful. I know You are in control of all things even when I am less than certain, and You are even in control of this situation. I know You hate no person. You hate the sins they do and You feel sorrow for them, but You love them all the same. I pray that You awaken WBC to their wrongdoings and continue to work in those who encounter them in a positive manner. It's in Your hands. Thank You for loving me and for blessing me. Thank You for blessing Alabama and for loving its residents. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

God's Predestination and Watermelons

I have questions. Lots of them. Just when I think that I understand predestination, I don't have a lemon thrown at me, and not even an orange. At least with a lemon, I can make lemonade. With an orange, I can catch it and make orange juice! But I am learning that sometimes watermelons get thrown in the works, and MAN, are they messy! Boy, are they messy! How do we deal with the watermelons when it comes to predestination?

Watermelons of life: Divorce, child abuse, child neglect, affairs, pre-marital relationships, losing a job, not getting a job, disabilities, handicaps, illnesses, car accidents, children dying before their parents, losing a baby at birth or shortly after, child kidnapping, foreclosures, bankruptcies, disasters, wars. They're all watermelons!

There's never anything pretty about a watermelon. All it is is a green ball or oval-shaped thing with red, juicy, watery meat inside with either just white seeds or black and white seeds that makes a giant mess.

Watermelons are fragile. You throw one and it's going to break. You hit a hammer to one, it's going to splatter. They are just plain messy.

They're popular in the summer because they do have that juicy, watery messy goodness as a positive attribute, but they don't really provide nutrition and they're messy.

You ever see a young child enjoying his or her first watermelon? The clothes, the child, and anything else around are never the same again.

Watermelons. Do we throw them in the works and mess up God's predestined plan for our lives? Or does God throw the watermelons in and mess up His own plan? I don't know. But if someone figures this mystery out, I'm open to hearing it.

That's all I have to say for now.

God's Providence Is Baffling

Friday afternoon, Alabama saw some nasty weather come through. We lost tree number five. But a lot of good was seen for my family despite that storm.

Good thing number one: We had decided that the dog would come in before the storms Friday because a storm Monday broke the tree and made it lean. We did not know if and when it would finally crash down, but we did not want the dog outside when it did. Sure enough, it crashed down during Friday's storms. The dog's mad at it now, but at least she is alive and unharmed.

Good thing number two: We were in my 4WD heading to Wal-mart in Pelham. They have some gluten free things. On the way, a girl hydroplaned. She crashed into the semi in the left turn lane and not us. The semi had a crossbar under the back of the trailer preventing her from going under. The driver felt it which made him park it instead of driving off and dragging her car with him. But other than that, no one was hurt.

Good thing number three: We stopped by CVS between Pelham and Alabaster which is when the sirens blared. Found out later that a tornado went over the Wal-mart shopping centers in Alabaster. We were not there because we went further out to a different Wal-Mary.

If I think about it, I saw God's providence and sovereignty and predestination at work Friday. But why is it still so baffling?

Huge Announcement Post StadiumFest

First thing, if you missed StadiumFest this year, it was totally AWESOME! I got assigned to an inflatable - a slide - over in the Bronner Burgess Children's Play Area. Seeing the children have fun on it was a highlight. Bello, well, let's just say, he scared me. That man is absolutely crazy! Climbing to the top of some 90 foot sway pole. The minute he got to the top, I panicked. Did not see him come down the thing head first as I kept covering my eyes most of the time while he was up there. I'd sooner face a snake or a spider than watch that kind of stunt. Yikes!

Hearing Rick and Bubba give their testimonies. I was amazed. Befuddled, but amazed. I forget which one referenced the age of accountability, but as I have learned, there is no age of accountability. It's not Biblical! In the grand scheme of learning more about predestination, God knows exactly who and when someone will finally accept His pursuit of them and become a Christian. But they still had great stories.

Casting Crowns. I'm not much into their music. They have the same flavor as MercyMe. And their music is not really up my stream. But Casting Crowns was great. They sang "Praise You in This Storm." Mark Hall wrote it as he was going through some hard stuff involving his adopted daughter, who like me, has a lot of medical challenges to face. His story about his daughter really hit close to home and gave me a new source of inspiration. And believe it or not, this really stiff Presbyterian actually raised her hands WAY up during some of the songs that Casting Crowns did. Good luck getting me to actually do that at church though. I don't think I'm quite there yet.

Oh my word. All I could think is when is TobyMac coming out, right? TobyMac was my highlight. Sort of, but I'll explain in a few paragraphs about the sort of. They brought Bello out again. Let's just say, the difference in seeing him on top of that pole in broad daylight and then at night, well, something about the night does really make things much scarier and more intense. Absolutely could not watch this time around. Those hands shot over my eyes allowing for only a small peek. You know like how when young children get uncomfortable when two people on the screen start kissing? Yep.

Finally, TobyMac. Let's just say, I wasn't the only one who nearly burst at the seams. Funny thing was that near where I was seated/standing, there was a family with teenagers and their mom was more excited about TobyMac than I was, and I was like a giddy school girl when he came out. Yep. I actually squealed in delight! If you have never heard me emit that high-pitched squeal before, good luck getting it out of me.

And I know he reads his Facebook fan page! I actually had posted that if he sang "Made to Love," "Get Back Up," and "City on Our Knees," that it would be the highlight for me. Guess what? He sang ALL three of those songs! He did songs off every one of his albums and quite a few off his newest album. And one of the culminating songs was a throwback to DCTalk days - "Jesus Freak." When he finished "City on Our Knees," he spun off with "Greater things have yet to come, greater things are still to be done in this city." Instantly I thought of my church and my pastor, who absolutely loves the message of that song. Sadly, TobyMac wrapped us up with "Sha na na na, hey hey hey, good-bye." I think I actually wanted to cry at this point because I did not want the night to end.

By the way, I reapplied sunblock every two hours. Came out with seven sun burned patches. I did not know I had to put the stuff on my ears. And I think I may have gotten the darkest I'll ever get on my arms, but mostly I have more freckles. Ugh. God's design though. Fair skinned, red-haired people are not made for the sun. And wearing ear plugs. Uncomfortable little things, but with a mild hearing loss, I saved whatever hearing I have left. There's a reason God made a worrywort.

One thing that concerned me. My church does not do altar calls. I could kind of understand why after witnessing no fewer than four of them at StadiumFest. The emotions are high at those kind of events, so if you have altar calls, how many of those professions of faith are genuine? And how do altar calls fit in the grand scheme of predestination? And Scott Dawson made it sound as though if you prayed the prayer and did not go forward that you were somehow sinning. So of course, I have some confusion.

But I said I had a huge announcement.

I went into StadiumFest as a volunteer. Thank you Facebook advertisements. But I had some serious doubts about my own salvation going in. So, during one of those calls, I did pray that little prayer. I did not go forward, but I did pray. And the majority of my doubts are gone.

Now if only I could help make things right with some friends and all of us could see restoration, I think everything might start looking brighter. There's a prodigal who wants to come home and a little lost lamb who wants to return to the flock. She just needs to know that it's okay.

Dark Night of the Soul

I keep wondering about the expression "dark night of the soul." It's not just a Presbyterian term. A lot of people from a lot of denominations describe having them. For what it's worth, it is even mentioned in many non-religious literary works.

So then I wonder, what is the dark night of the soul?

I guess to some degree, it would vary by the individual affected. For me, I would say that feeling dejected and alone, rejected and unwanted, unloved and falling into the stage in which I want to hurt myself physically or start pushing people away who really do love and care about me and have stayed with me through a difficult time despite my pushing back is probably my dark night of the soul. It's when I have to fight the hardest to not sink into that bottomless pit of despair.

And if that's the dark night of the soul for me then I'm there now and it seems like I've been there for the past two months. I'm trying to shelter. I'm trying to go into a very slimy bubble where no one can access me. Where no one can hurt me. And it hurts even more sometimes than the original hurt that was inflicted upon me to start with.

All I know is that I am not in a good place emotionally right now. And it is no surprise that it feels like that is starting to overarch itself into my faith and tear me down.

Ever since the original hurt got inflicted, I have been down a whirlwind path questioning my salvation. Do I really have it? Only to be met with one final conclusive answer: Yes because if I did not have it, I would not be  asking if I had it because I would not care. Since no one seeks God out of their own volition and will (the doctrine of predestination and effectual calling), then no one would care about whether or not he/she was saved if he/she was not already saved.

But that does not make things any easier.

Working Out John 3:16 and the Doctrine of Predestination

John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (ESV)."


Growing up, all I remember hearing about this verse is that God loves everyone. But then you have the doctrine of predestination. Where exactly does John 3:16 say that God loves everyone in light of predestination? God foreordained everything. He planned who would be His and who would not. He planned on someone losing their hair before age 50 or someone having lots of hair at age 50. He planned every minute detail of every life. He predestined that some would be believers and that some would not. 


Does predestining some to be non-believers mean that God loves any one person any less than another? Not really. He cares about everyone and about everything. But the problem with assuming that John 3:16 means that God loves everyone is that God would have to predestine everyone to be believers. And according to what God says about Himself in Scripture, this just would be not true. God foreordained and predestined some to believe and others to not believe. 


John 3:16 would actually mean that those who do believe in Him will have eternal life. It's the second half of the verse in which you can see where there is a hint at the fact that God predestined some to believe and others to not believe. Because it doesn't say that God loves EVERYone. What I would like to ask is where do the more evangelical people of a certain denomination got the idea that God loves everyone.