Really?

It's hard to think that this is really a true story...

The Touch of Love

I hadn't heard of little Dani's story (not my wifey...a different Dani). The title of the article is "A Feral Child's Journey to Recovery." It's a difficult story to read.

However, if you're interested in checking it out, you can read the whole article here.

Committing Sin vs. Believing Lies

A comment from my previous post is the basis for this post. So, what's the difference between committing a sin and believing a lie?

Believing lies are what lead us to committing sin. If we are in Christ (which means He is also in us) then the most natural thing for us is to do the things He does (because it's actually Him doing them through us). He is our life. He is our Source for life. He is our Source for living this life. That's the true reality for those who believe in Him.

However, most of us life as if there were a different truth. We live as if this life is up to us, that we have to live it on our own (or maybe with God's help). When we live thinking God expects us to live a certain way, then we are always under the pressure to choose correctly, live righteously, and be a good witness to those around us.

However, our righteousness only comes from God...who has made us in Christ the righteousness of God (1 Corintians something....it's late so I'm not looking it up right now). :)

Anyway, as we believe lies about who we are (i.e. that we're not righteous, that we're still sinners instead of saints who sometimes sin, that God isn't pleased with us, that we don't measure up, that we're not good enough, that we need to earn His favor, etc.) then we will act according to those lies.

For example, in the previous post, Haggard said that he was a loser. Believing that, he will act according to those thoughts. The truth, in Christ no one is a loser. No matter what we've done, we are secure in Christ and more than conquerors. Whether we experience that in our physical lives and in our souls is a diffferent issue.

Committing sin is acting on the lies we believe. If we are believing truth, we will live out truth, righteousness, and holiness. We will live this out because we will be surrendered to Christ, allowing Him to be our life (practically, in every moment, not just in our spirit).

The act of committing a sin is the by-product of a lie believed. May our lives be transformed by the renewing of our minds to His Truth. The Truth of who He is, who He is in us, and the new creation He makes all those who believe in Him.

Lies, Lies, and More Lies

Ted Haggard. Just writing that name brings a whole bunch of thoughts to my mind (as it probably does you as well if you've been in the evangelical world in the past 5 years).

He was the pastor of a huge church in Colorado and president of the National Association of Evangelicals. That is, until he was accused of paying for sex from a male prostitute and using meth. He admitted to "sexual immorality" and said that he "really did sin."

What made all of this even more "news worthy" than just one of the several other ministers who have been busted for some devious act is that the NAE, and Ted Haggard especially, had been so outspoken and condemning of homosexuals and fought for "family values." The public image wasn't one of grace but judgment. So, it was no big surprise that when he was caught doing something he had so publicly preached against, he was judged publicly and humiliated.

Honestly, this whole story breaks my heart...on many levels. First, what he did was sin. He struggled with sinful actions. He continues to have that temptation. There is an article on MSN today about him and a new documentary coming up in January. You can read the article here.

I don't think there is any question in most people's minds that he was engaging (at some level) in highly risky, inappropriate, sinful behavior. I get that and agree with that.

However, I view what he did both privately (inappropriate/sinful/etc.) and publicly (preaching against homosexuality, family values advocate, public judgment of others, etc.) as symptoms of the problem. The root of the problem here is that he was believing/is believing lies.

In this current article, he says, "The reason I kept my personal struggle a secret is because I feared that my friends would reject me, abandon me and kick me out, and the church would exile and excommunicate me. And that happened and more."

His fear that he was unacceptable affected all of his actions. To cover up his insecurities, he was more bold in speaking against others who lived differently/unbiblically (not sure if that's a word but I'll use it anyway). :)

I don't know where Haggard stands with Jesus. I don't know if he's been redeemed and made a "new creation." However, I do know that regardless of any of our struggles, in Christ we are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). So, if he's a believer, he's a new creation and completely accepted by Christ. All of his needs are met in Him. He may always be tempted by certain sinful behavior, but he isn't stuck in choosing them. He's been set free (Galatians 5:1).

However, believing that he's unacceptable because he struggles with sin that looks and sounds gross, he acting to cover it up...most likely believing that something was wrong with him. That's what we all do. One of the most profound truths I learned through "Be Transformed" was something like, lie believed as truth will manifest itself as truth. In other words, when we believe a lie, we begin to live as if the lie is true. Others will respond to our actions in ways that will reinforce those lies (because they see the action, not the initial lie that lead to that action). When others respond to the lie, we receive it and believe that it must be who we are.

So, we think we're stupid. We put on a front and act stupid. Others call us stupid and treat us stupid. This reinforces the lie. Or, we think we're an incredible gift to the human race. We walk around confident in our own abilities and successes, thinking we've done it all by our charisma. Others are drawn to us and encourage our egos. We receive these responses as reinforcement to the lying belief that we're awesome.

I'm not saying that Haggard didn't do anything wrong, but it's just a clear example of how believing lies can affect/destroy our lives. No matter what he's done, if he's a believer in Christ, he is still holy, blameless, righteous, perfect, and complete in Him. However, he's not experiencing freedom and life because he isn't believing that he is free and alive in Christ. Christ truly is the Source of life, but if we're living as if this life is up to us, we're not experiencing Him as the Source for our life.

My thoughts are a bit scattered over this story about Haggard, so I'll end with this. The saddest and most revealing part of this story is the last sentence of the article. It ends with a quote of Haggard. He says about himself, "At this stage in my life, I am a loser."

He has completely identified himself by his mistakes/sin/actions. In Christ, we are no longer known by our actions but instead by our union with Him. Until we realize who we are in Him and who He is in us, we will manifest self-effort in our lives...because we're believing lies about who we really are and who He is in us.

Only Christ transforms, and He does so by His Spirit renewing our minds with His Truth. My prayer for Haggard is that he will find his worth, value, acceptance, love, and life in Christ. My prayer for the church is that she will fix her eyes on Jesus, the beautiful groom and object of her affections. And in so doing, see the root of the problems around her, not just the actions. I think we'll begin addressing our culture differently when we see the lies believed, not just the behavior of those around u...including ourselves.

Grace&Peace.

I'm Famous

Well, not really. I just found out my picture was in the local paper. :) The other day, as I was meeting with a few friends over coffee, a reporter came up to ask some questions about the WiFi service. Next thing you know, our pictures are in paper and a little story about local WiFi hotspots.



So, if you want to read more about it, you can read the whole article here.

Christians in Iraq

Interesting article on CNN's website about Christians struggling in Iraq. If you have time, read the whole article, it's not that long.

Here is one paragraph:

A week ago, leaflets were distributed in several predominantly Christian neighborhoods, threatening families to "either convert to Islam or pay the jizyah or leave the city or face death," said the Interior Ministry official.

Doesn't seem like any of those are great options....

I Can't Believe I Have Three Girls...

This study was just released about teenage girls and STD's. As if it weren't bad enough thinking about when my little girls grow up.

This is the culture they are growing up in! I find it intriguing that our society continues to treat sex like it's perfectly normal for people to experiment and have more than one partner, as long as "you're in love."

What are your thoughts?

Article about TV and Kids

For the parents who read my blog, I thought you might like to read this article about how watching TV affects children's sleeping habits.

I guess I'm going to have to stop letting my girls watch The Unit, Criminal Minds, and Big Brother-Til Death Do Us Part before bedtime now. :)

Florida Church-30 Day Sex Challenge

I bet this church is going to see an increase in membership!



What do you think about the challenge?

Education in California

Here's another article, this one is about a bill just passed by Gov. Arnold Swarchenegger, who is a republican.

So, what would you do if you lived in California and had children in the school system?

Talkin' About a Bad Day

I saw this title, "Woman Overheard Yelling Obscenities at Toilet Could Face Jail Time", and thought that this person must be in the middle of a really bad day.

You can read the rest of the article here.

Following ALL the Rules

Newsweek has this article posted on it's website this morning. It's about an author who set out a year ago to follow every rule in the Bible. He's written a book about his experiences and shares with Newsweek what it was like for him and his family as he tried to take the rules as he understood them as literally as possible (even attempting to stone an adulterer).

It's a interesting article with several discussion points. The first thing I found intriguing was in his first answer to the interviewer. A.J. Jacobs (the author) responded to the question about returning to a "life of sin" by saying:

"I miss my sin-free life, but I guess I was never sin free. I was able to cut down on my coveting maybe 40 percent, but I was still a coveter. Flat-screen TVs, the front yard of my friend in the suburbs, a better cell phone, higher Amazon rankings. And that's not to mention coveting my neighbor's wife. I live in New York, I work in publishing, so there’s a lot of coveting, lying and gossiping."

What do you think of his venture?

From China to the Rest of the World

After posting the article about China's population control policy, I thought this was an interesting article on the flip side.

I hope it was a good sermon

In odd news, apparently some thieves really liked the way this lady preaches.

The article ends with:

"Damage repair including cleaning and a new alarm service totaled about $1,000.

As for the sermon?

The minister thinks it ended up in the trash somewhere."

I wonder if she was talking about the "stolen" sermon notes or the one she had to "wing".

News from China on Families

I saw the headline when I opened my web browser: "China cracks down on families that violate one-child policy" and my interest was peaked. It's amazing how different life is depending on the culture in which you live.

You can read the full article here.

So, what would you do if you lived in China and were legally restricted to only having one child?

Interesting Article on Political Poll

I wonder what the statistics would have been during the last few presidential elections. It seems like priorities have shifted a bit (which may not be that bad of a thing). You can read about the current poll here.

What do you think this says about the mindset of most voters? Who do you think will win (whether you want them to or not)? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

More Narcissism

A report was released several months ago detailing the rise of narcissism among college students. There has been several articles since that have either concurred (always concur) or refuted these findings.

i just found another article that is very brief and includes a powerful quote from a college student. You can read the whole article here. If you don't have time to check the whole article, read the quote from the student below. i'd love to hear your thoughts...

"DUH! And it's only gonna get worse. People have to be self-centered in this world. Appearance is everything and taking care of yourself should always be your first priority. You are judged everyday by the way you look. No one cares to get to know anyone now. It's pointless to get to know people.

Whose fault is it that we are narcissists? Our parents, for telling us that we are the best and the most beautiful things on the planet. Our teachers for telling us that we could do whatever we wanted if we applied ourselves. Anyone who has ever helped boost our ego is to blame.

Oh well, what can we do about it now? I along with many others will continue to be self-centered. I will continue to judge people by appearance just like you will judge me."