Soli Deo Gloria

My love-hate relationship with goals and routines continues to be the “Bane” of my existence.   I go through seasons of power-house routines: vocal workouts, physical workouts, eating clean, up early meditating and reading, setting my mindset and heart for the day, good parenting and homeschooling routines.   Then my strength empties and I find myself weary.  Who can live up to an optimum existence?   Is anyone living optimally?   Pinterest, HGTV, reality TV, influencers – and the list goes on with secular religiosity (#seculosity) indoctrinating us into an “optimum living” lifestyle.   We are a culture of secular preachers.   “Christian witnessing” is the least of religious offenders nowadays.  There is constant witnessing from everyone you know on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and the all social media churches and their parishioners telling you who you should be and where you are not up to par.   You’re missin...

I sat down in the observation seats in the courtroom with my eighth-grade son who was there to do research for his up-coming mock trial.   We sat together and watched as the convicted souls were sentenced by the judge to a variety of fines, community service hours, and jail time. I couldn’t help but feel the weight of sin, not just on their shoulders, but in the room.   I sat merely as an observer, but I sat feeling guilty as I itched and squirmed under the energy of the room – the room of conviction.   We are all the convicts.   We are all the condemned.   This is the human condition – guilty.   And not guilty as charged, just…guilty.    The immensely kind and gracious judge exhibited such compassion on these convicts, giving them the most amount of time to pay their fines and debt to society, it was clear he would absolve their guilt if he could.    But the LAW.   The law forced his hand, he had to require paym...