Fourth of July…. Independence day. While I am thankful to be an American, I am more
glad that I am a child of God. I believe that this is the best country in the world, but while it is best, it is not perfect.
We are human, and we fall so short in how we love. So today as you celebrate the ideals that this country was founded upon, also remember that our government has never lived up to those ideals. And that includes the men who wrote them. Continue reading “Making them truth….”
So every year I wind up writing scenes for VBA, or Vacation Bible Adventure. I take bible stories and I adapt them to these vignettes that we do one a day during the week.
I have done this for years now, and it has been one of the best things I could have ever done. God has used this writing to do some tremendous things in my life. It has increased my love of storytelling, and even shown me that I could do it. Above all though, most of my “bible knowledge” is not from Sunday sermons, or even bible studies, but from the reading and pondering that I have done while writing these stories.
Sunday morning. It is always interesting to see what happens on a Sunday, and as soon as I got to church, it started. One of the songs we sang had something to do with the “power in His name”. I actually don’t even remember what the song was, because I immediately started thinking. I wondered, because that is what I do, if I really believed in that power? I am still trying to wrap my mind around that whole “love your neighbor as yourself” thing again. Just then it hit me. The whole problem wasn’t with the loving, but with trusting.
Sovereignty. Do I really believe that God is ruler over all? Is He sovereign?
I have had a love affair with history since I was young. I have gone through different stages, where I have read everything I could about various eras. I hate to say it, but I am fascinated by war. To tell you the truth I am really not sure why?
I would say that I am a pacifist, but in the Sergeant York type of way. I believe that war is the worst way we have to solve problems, and should be avoided if at all possible. There is a realist in me though, and she knows that sometimes war is how problems are solved.
So today, in celebration of Memorial Day, I just wanted to look back and think about those who have died fighting for the ideals of our country. Specifically, those who fought in the costliest war in our history. Continue reading “Memorial Day”
I feel like God has really been trying to convince me how important 
His love is. I know that seems really silly, of course His love is important. I mean really, He so loved the world. This is Jesus 101. Where the problem lies is not if I “get it” or not, but if I really choose to accept it and just do it.
Now I was really encouraged by a song I heard on Tuesday, and on Wednesday I looked a little more into it. The song? Well it is not your typical “christian” song. It is “Let My Love Open the Door” by Pete Townshend. What I find so interesting in this song, is that he writes it from God’s viewpoint. Continue reading “Only one thing gonna set you free…”
You know this writing thing is not all that it’s cracked up to be. I sit, I ponder and usually out come words. Then I am stuck. No, it’s not writers block, I just know that I am going to start deleting words. I guess it keeps me humble? So I’m gonna start where I think God wants me to, and delete those other 400 words.
“May God continue the unity of our country, as this railroad unites the two great oceans of the world.”
Dear Church (not the building, but those who make up the body),
Is it ok to laugh? No, not the joyful kind of laughter, but that nervous giggle that has to do with truth. You know. You are sitting in service and the pastor says something that 
holds up a mirror. And instead of taking a breath and looking full into that mirror, you glance over thinking you know what it shows and just give a nervous giggle. I don’t know when I stopped giggling and started being sad, but it happened at some point.
In the church we talk about sin quite a bit. Sometimes it seems that we tend to talk about other people’s sin more than our own, and we have chosen some particular ones as our favorites. I think the biggest problem though is when we do bring up sin that is present in the church, we seem to be met with a more relaxed attitude toward it. Something like, no one is perfect, but that is why we have Jesus to “wash them all away”. What I guess I am trying to say is, while God forgives, shouldn’t we be more brokenhearted by our own wrongdoings? Continue reading “A good look in the mirror…”
I was challenged this Easter, but it was done in a very round about manner. It started off as a feeling I got from a couple of comments made in an Easter service. The comments gave the impression that the congregations response was somewhat lacking. They kind of irritated me, but then I started to ponder what was said. I went back to the old advice that I would always give my sons. They would do something wrong, Dad would yell a bit and then I would remind them…..”Don’t listen to how he said it, but what he said”. If there is truth in the words, even if they were said a little harshly, then listen to the truth. Continue reading “Ready to worship?”
So I was trolling FaceBook the other day and saw a post that was shared by one of my friends. An author, Lysa TerKeurst, had come across a quote that she said had challenged her. The quote, “who you are speaks so loudly, I can barely hear what you’re saying”, had her thinking about how our actions speak louder than words.
I totally agree, but….. That does not let us off the hook for what we say. There has to be a balance between the two. I wrote the other day about how my Great-Grandmother taught me to love. The way I learned from her, was by how she treated all of us. I am still learning from her. I look back at her life and I see that her actions spoke so much louder than words. Wait though, what I think is so amazing is that her words never contradicted her actions. Continue reading “Actions v. Words – Mixed messages?”
Cheryl Mendoza 