When Truth Destroys

Then I thought of how each of those relationships would probably still be as superficially satisfying and emotionally frustrating as ever had I held my tongue and worn the mask of false communion that so many keep in place as if their lives depend on others believing in their shallowness or trusting in their vanity. I mourned each of these relationships – family and friend. It was never my desire to come to the end of people. {Click to read the full post.}

Photo Challenge, Week 15: Migrating Birds

This week turned out to be a great learning week. I know very little about birds, certainly nothing about migrating patterns. However, I got very nice shots (in my opinion) of two birds I don't think I've seen before and another that I never considered magnificent until I attempted to photograph it flight. As of thisContinue reading "Photo Challenge, Week 15: Migrating Birds"

Sermon: SPEAKING FOR GOD IN A HOPELESS TIME

"Sometimes we miss the power of God because of it's simplicity. We think it should be more complicated..... Jesus appeared as an ordinary person. He never appeared in recognizable form. He was still Jesus, but not in the form people expected to see Him in. He appeared as a Gardener. How amazing is that? He was telling us that He will have a body here on earth. Many bodies in the form of ordinary people walking in the power of God." ~ Pastor Carter Conlon

An Open Letter: Woman to Man

Relationships are built on mutuality and thrive on reciprocity. I cannot build with someone who is constantly attacking me. Passive aggressive behavior is violent in nature. You may “only” be emotionally dismissive, neglectful, and stoic, but each instance is an attack on everything I see in and believe about you....I will not chase anyone who is not pursuing me. I am the good thing you are responsible for shepherding, but I am also responsible for where I choose to go. You lead, I follow. When you stop leading, I stop following. Remember that.

Womanhood: The Seat of Feminine Power

When I was younger, I screamed for equal rights and recognition as loudly as the next woman. However, as I have grown and matured in my womanhood, I realize that there is nothing about manhood that I want or aspire to be. I have come to view the feminist political agenda as a battle cry for aspiring to maleness. I am not equal to man. Nor do I want to be viewed as such. {Click to read full article.}

I asked to be a lover…

I didn't comprehend the magnitude of what I was asking. I thought I was ready to love. I thought I was ready for love to work through me. I thought all I needed to do was be a willing vessel... remain open… offer myself – my humanity – and my resources… and give what is needed when it’s needed. I thought the resistance to love would only be temporary - so short term as to be unremarkable. I thought the ugliest rejection I would encounter would be "no, thank you." {Click the link to read full article.}

…and the people said “HELL NO!”

The world teaches that love is a soft thing – warm, cuddly, tender, weak. Perhaps those who bask in the labor of someone else’s love experiences warmth and softness, but those who labor to love… well we weather tempestuous storms, debilitating uncertainty and endure heart-breaking on-the-job training. We don’t immediately see the benefits of the humiliation, shame, loneliness, sadness, abuse or temptations that hammer at us throughout the workday. But when we get to a certain point on our walk, we are able to look back and see where one humiliation prepared us for the next until humiliation was no longer a concern. We see how shame shrouded us in darkness until we decided to cast off the weight of shame and expose ourselves to more light. We can look back and see how loneliness felt excruciating for a time, but it was only in our aloneness that we were able to draw closer to God.

The 54th Massachusetts Regiment: We Fought for Freedom!

The 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment that saw extensive service in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment was one of the first official African-American units in the United States during the Civil War.[1] The 1st South Carolina Volunteers, recruited from freed slaves, was the first Union Army regiment organized with African-American soldiers in the Civil War, though many African-Americans had fought in the American Revolution and the War of 1812 on both sides.

Rev. Josiah Henson: Truth Stranger than Fiction

The original "Uncle Tom", Josiah Henson (June 15, 1789 – May 5, 1883) was an author, abolitionist, and minister. Born into slavery in Charles County, Maryland, he escaped to Upper Canada (now Ontario) in 1830, and founded a settlement and laborer's school for other fugitive slaves at Dawn, near Dresden in Kent County. Henson's autobiography,Continue reading "Rev. Josiah Henson: Truth Stranger than Fiction"