Category Archives: The Christian Walk

November 28, 2011 · 6:00 am

Waffle Irons & Pepper Spray– My Take on Black Friday

I find it hard to digest the melee that is Black Friday.

The people in the above video are after waffle irons. Waffle irons!? And one woman even appears to be losing her pants in the chaos.

I see the news coverage of stampedes, fights, violence, people getting trampled, and the people who have camped out in front of stores for weeks, and I think, “SERIOUSLY?”

I don’t get it. I don’t. There is nothing in this world I need so badly that I’m willing to get involved in the insanity that is Black Friday. I stay home. I don’t go out. If I’m desperate to shop on that day, I’ll do it online.

Members of my family brave the madness, though. Friends do it. They head out at midnight or the wee hours of the morn to get in line and wait…and hope they’ll beat the crowd to whatever deal is their goal. I’ve heard of people who get entire families involved, preparing a strategy to race through the stores at insane hours of the night in order to snag the best deals.

I’m all about saving money, of course. There’s nothing I love more than a good deal, but I’m not willing to risk my life for it.

I think the thing that bothers me the most about Black Friday is that there are too many opportunities for greed to rear it’s ugly head. And more often than not, it does. And those are the stories that make the news. And it comes one day after we sit around our tables and thank God for our many blessings.

But now some people aren’t even doing that. As my husband pointed out, some people are skipping Thanksgiving all together to get in line at the store to be one of the first to get a deal.

I’m going to say it–there’s something wrong with that.

When a woman feels the need to pepper spray people because they cut in line in front of her (or for whatever reason), something is wrong. A friend of mine got a waffle iron snatched from her hand at a WalMart at midnight. Really–who needs a waffle iron so badly that they need to snatch it from someone? And what about the shooting that took place outside of a WalMart when some folks got into a fight? (What is it about WalMart…?)

And as the video above showed, it gets U.G.L.Y. out there on Black Friday.

And I can’t support that. I don’t want to be a part of it.

I do realize that not all people who venture out on Black Friday are insane, but it certainly appears that there are plenty of looney-tunes out there… at least evidenced by the horror stories. And those few, isolated incidents are enough to sour me on the entire “experience.”

Black Friday, appropriately named, makes me sad/scared/leery of elements of humanity. I don’t like what it’s become or what it represents. I can only imagine what people in 3rd world countries, if they had access to TV coverage of Black Friday, would think about seeing a crowd of people fight over waffle irons.

I think the beauty of thanking God for his many blessings on Thursday is being overshadowed by the greed that is Black Friday.

Share with Me: What do you think? Do you venture out on Black Friday? Have any stories to share about your shopping experience? Were you able to score any deals and remain unscathed?

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Tagged as Black Friday, shopping

November 14, 2011 · 6:00 am

Quiet Time

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Some of you are probably a lot “holier” than I am.

I’ve never been very good a carving out a specific time and creating the habit of “quiet time” with God.

Mostly because I can’t find a time that’s quiet. My husband is a night owl and I’m an early riser, and both of our sons seem to be early risers, too. There’s rarely a moment in my day when someone or something isn’t demanding my attention.

I do read my Bible. I do my devotionals, but I’m sporadic about it. I never seem to be able to get into the groove of a daily quiet time.

Until recently.

I started reading Jesus Calling by Sarah Young, and I loved the book so much that I set my alarm to wake me up even earlier than the pre-dawn gray skies that greeted me already, just so that I could make sure to start my day in silence–only the word of God and that book to wake me up and direct me for the day.

It was a amazing. I literally felt my attitudes about life changing–I loved starting my day in God’s word, reveling in his presence and his promises for me.

Starting my day with Him made it easier for me to dwell in His presence all day long. My attitude was more prayerful, more thankful, and much more open to seeing just what God was doing in my life.

This lasted a couple of months.

I changed my routine again, starting my day with my workout because I wasn’t able to fit it in anywhere else, and staying healthy is important, too. I wanted to try to maintain both physical health and my spiritual health.

But then that special time I was spending with God got pushed aside by life (and my 2 sons who seem to wake before the rooster crows on a daily basis.)

Within two weeks, God brought my attention to the differences I felt in not starting my day with Him.

I was grumpier. I was more tired. It was easy for me to slide into the secular side of life, leaving God completely out. It wasn’t until I let a few “no-no” words slip out of my mouth like they were nothing that I realized that I was slipping off the firm fountation I had built by focusing my attention on God at the beginning of each day.

So, I’m starting over. Once again, I’m changing my schedule, only this time I’ll go back to starting my day with quiet time, alone in God’s presence.

I know there will be healthy benefits to that.

Share with me: Do you have a routine that involves regular, scheduled time spent in the Word? What time of the day works best for you? Do you notice a difference when you have quiet time and when you don’t?

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Tagged as bible

November 7, 2011 · 6:00 am

World Religions 101

I am fascinated by world religions. Absolutely fascinated.

You could call it a passion of study. You could call it an obsession. Yes, you could.

I was lucky enough to get to teach a Comparative Religions class at the high school where I worked, so I had an outlet for my madness.

And now I teach a class through my church called World Religions 101: Understanding Theirs So You Can Share Yours.

I think that we, as Christians, have a responsibilty to share the Gospel, and we can’t do that effectively unless we understand what others believe.

Not everyone is open to the idea of being converted, so walking up to someone of another faith and saying, “Hey, you need Jesus,” is not always going to work.

Let me break it down for you–
What separates Christianity from all of the other religions is one word–grace.
All other religions, it can be argued, are works based, while Christianity is faith based and any works performed are a result of the faith and acceptance of God’s gift of grace through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

I’m not trying to start a debate about the various religions in the world or break down the doctrine of Christianity, but I do want to present the basics as much as I can to as many as I can. My goal is to educate so that we can effectively witness.

I believe it’s something God has called me to; a small way in which I help reach those who need the salvation of Jesus Christ.

Of all the religious groups that fascinate me, Mormons top the list. I’m also fascinated by Hinduism, mostly because it’s such an ancient belief system full of brightly colored mythology and detailed traditions that translate into a largely secular population.

Call me a nerd (I’ll gladly answer to that), but history has always fascinated me, and I argue that history has been largely driven by religion.

Some argue that money makes the world go ’round, others argue it’s politics and power, but I think that when you peel back all historical events, past the money, past the war, past the details that seem innocuous, religion (or blatant lack thereof) can be found at the root of all history.

Brilliant. And fascinating.

So if you want to learn how to be an effective witness to the lost world, educate yourself on what others believe.

Share with me: Is there a world religion, group, or cult that you’d like to learn more about or that fascinates you? Why?