What Does It Mean To Be A Christian?

Updated on Tuesday, August 4, 2009 at 3:14PM by MAD21

By Jason, M.Ed., M.A.R., Headmaster

"For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. So you should not be like cowering, fearful slaves. You should behave instead like God's very own children, adopted into his family -- calling him "Father, dear Father." For his Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we are God's children. (Romans 8:14-16, NLT)

Growing up, my two older brothers and I would fight with each other all the time. My oldest brother would pick on my other brother, who would then turn around and pick on me. We called each other names, hit each other, made fun of each other, played tricks on each other—typical brother stuff. Our parents hated it, of course, but we kept right on fighting with each other. To watch us every day, you’d think we hated each other... until someone from outside our family tried to pick a fight with one of us.

Click to read more ...

Grumbling At God's Blessings

By Jason, M.Ed., M.A.R., Headmaster

Can you imagine what it must have been like to be fed miraculously by God? Every day, the Israelites awoke in the desert wilderness to divine provisions- manna from heaven. It must have been amazing to be so obviously guided by God through the pillar of cloud and fire and then provided for by God through daily manna – exactly what was needed each day. It must’ve been amazing, right?

Sadly, it seems to have been boring and unappreciated by the Israelites. Numbers 11 shows the people of God complaining about God’s blessing and longing for slavery. “Oh that we had meat to eat!” they said. “We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing.” (vv. 4-5) Cost nothing, really? Is being enslaved really “nothing”?

Click to read more ...

Going "Toe To Toe" With Satan

Updated on Monday, August 3, 2009 at 3:09PM by MAD21

By Chuck (Sharing Compassion)

The other evening I was at a Christian coffee house to hear a friend play their music. The host did a short devotional on how Satan often tries to tempt us or trip us up in our walk with Christ. He told a story about how if we are being ignored by Satan then really maybe we aren't making a difference or a threat. This got me to thinking...how often do we face obstacles or hurdles in our lives and feel that God is ignoring us? How often do we feel we are doing a great job and are being effective and yet we feel stymied some how? God does not promise us as Christians we get a free pass for the rest of our lives. Even Christ was tempted before he began his ministry. I cannot think of one other Christian that has not faced trials or tribulations in their walk. We often face those difficult times or dry times and want to blame God. Yet I will submit to you that it is not God we should blame ( actually we should be thankful) but Satan.

Click to read more ...

My Personal Struggle To De-callous My Life

By Mallory

So I don't know about you, but my feet are kind of gross. Since it's summertime and my feet are getting a lot more time out in public, spending a little clean-up time on them is a must. For me, it's callouses on the bottoms of my feet that I'm constantly trying to scrub off. I have some foot lotion from Bath and Body Works that I'm pretty sure is magical. (Heel of Approval--I recommend buying it on sale.)

While I’m being honest, I have to confess that my heart is sometimes calloused, too. You know what I mean? I think that sometimes it’s really easy to become hardened by things that hurt us. Right now I'm talking specifically about hurtful situations between people. It's so easy to hate someone who hurt or rejected you.

Click to read more ...

When I Fail

By MAD21

How many times have you found yourself feeling like a total failure? Especially parents who have really young kids who test their boundaries just about every minute of the day (though I guess it could be the same for parents of kids of any age!). We have two amazing little girls in our house, but there are those days. You know them... the days when they have forgotten all the things they've learned in their short years; sharing; politeness; loving one another; the importance of good attitudes; etc. We all have standards that we've set for ourselves. How many days have we not only failed our own, but also failed to meet God's?

It gets me wondering, maybe we need to step back and look at who's standards we should be following. Are we putting more pressure on ourselves than God had intended? We think we are failing ourselves and God when our children aren't making good choices in their lives, but what is really happening?

Click to read more ...