I attend a church that is ELCA Lutheran, and I follow the example of Jesus…  And it can be hard!  Turning the other cheek, resisting sharing that new piece of gossip, etc., our society is not an easy one to walk through some days.  But God has shown me a few miracles in my life.  Two of them I was just snuggling with.  I find having faith has helped me get through the difficult times, and its going to keep me going.  I mean, knowing there's someone out there that loves you unconditionally (besides your parents), always forgives, and always loves?  Perhaps that is the difficulty for some people.  But everyone is worthy of it.  Everyone deserves this kind of love.  And it really frees your view of the world (not narrows it as some proponents against religion may argue).  I hope you too find some depth and everlasting love in your life.  It has helped me.

As time goes on, I plan to share stories of how God’s hand has helped me through my life. Keep checking in with me! Feel free to share yours! Its Chicken Soup for the Cyber Soul!!!!  Just check out my Blog page!

I love this.  This is a devotional from one of my former pastors.  She is now at Our Savior's Lutheran Church, and she's awesome: 

The prophet Jeremiah said: “Hear the word of the Lord… if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly act justly one with another, if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt, then I will dwell with you in this place... Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your sight? You know, I too am watching, says the Lord.”- Jeremiah 7

Let’s get one thing clear: God is not Santa Claus. God isn’t a man with a long beard somewhere up north checking a list twice, finding out if you are naughty or nice, ready with rewards and punishments. God is also not the creepy stalker from the 1980’s song “every breath you take”, where every move you make, every breath you take, he’ll be watching you.

It’s tempting to draw those conclusions when God gets feisty like he does in this Jeremiah text. This is where we get images of a mean judging God waiting to throw people into hell. But we would be reading it wrong.

Sometimes as a parent I get images of what I would do if I ever saw some kids picking on Theodore or Lucy. What would I do if I saw my child humiliated or hurt? I would go freaking mama bear in a half a second and the paper would read “local pastor loses it when sixth graders gang on up her son.” Yup. Probably. And if those same kids came to me on Sunday smiling like they were my favorites, I would give them a talking to. 

This is the God-version of that. If we are all God’s children on the playground of life, then God isn’t so cool with the bullies, the mean girls, the excluding, etc. Even worse is when we act this way during the week and come to church expecting love and forgiveness and “blessings” because we believe the “right thing” and say the “right words” in church. 

There is something messed up in the relationship if that is how we think. We are seeing the world wrong when we divide it between people God cares about and people God doesn’t care about. We aren’t getting the point of faith and religion if we think it’s following rules to make God love us instead of changing our hearts to become better human beings.

God wants us all playing on the playground well, standing up for each other and befriending the lonely and learning to live together. Good religion informs us and inspires us to do that. Bad religion excuses us because we are special. Jeremiah tells the people in the temple- nope. You aren’t getting it at all.

As we watch frightening events unfold in the world, I think this is a perfect perspective to take with our kids.  Its not what God is not doing, its about what we are doing.