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Equipping For Battle

Nothing’s changed… from 5/30/2015 “Safe.”There are some people who actually consider me “safe”. They call to ask me questions that they might be reluctant to ask others….because they know I care. Because they know I...

The Standard and Measure of Faith

Every single person has a “measure of faith”. Faith is a human capacity to believe in something, anything. It is the object of one’s faith, the thing(s) in which one believes that define and mold one’s faith. We are all “people of faith” in something. Some objects of...

Why Spirituality?

People often believe that anyone talking about “religion” is proselytizing others into accepting her own religious beliefs. That’s not necessarily the case. Some of us simply recognize the value of heightened spiritual consciousness, the benefit of identifying one’s...

Sunshine After Storms

  From 5/30/2019, after Hurricane Michael Lord, How did I miss them? I was so busy five minutes ago crying in the prayer garden, wailing out in grief, lamenting all the weeds, how they seem to be the only things really flourishing, bemoaning how the trees are...

Mental Health and The Church

Mental Health and the Church: “Jesus didn’t wait for a crowd of perfectly well adjusted disciples to turn up; he appointed a real mixed bag of personalities, in spite of their weaknesses and struggles. There’s a place for everyone in the Church and it breaks my heart...

Saying Goodbye With Grace

5/27/14  by Joni Byrd Saying Goodbye with Grace I am studying for a degree in counseling, and in a textbook, I recently read a statement about hospice care that really caught my attention. The book stated that it is often during the last days, hours, or even minutes...

Perfection

From 5/27/2014 Has anyone else noticed how many Facebook posts show up with pictures and platitudes that seem to be excusing people for not being “perfect”? Some are humorous. Some are poignant. Some are combative. There are plenty of various types that...

Wesleyans and Demonology

In February of this year, 2022, Peter J. Bellini wrote a series of three articles for Firebrand magazine entitled “Thunderstruck: The Deliverance Ministry of John Wesley.”  He cites various writings by Wesley on demonic encounters and classifies them...

Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors

“Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors” From 12/13/2003 This phrase, a motto used by the United Methodist Church since 2001, had grated somewhat on my nerves when it was rolled out as the denomination’s motto.  It had appeared to me that it reflected a little too...

Awaking From Doubt

29 was a hard end-of decade year for me.  I remember it fraught with a lot of self doubts.  At 29 I also did something totally out of character, a biggie, on the level of a violation of one of the Big Ten, something that my church background said would send me to...