Author: Wendy

Back in the late eighties and early nineties, MTV used to do a weekly segment called “Unplugged.” They would take some of the most popular artists and have them do their music in an acoustic version. There were no synthesizers or electric guitars or anything electronic. It was just the artist and a microphone and a guitar or two. It sounded vastly different that the radio version of the songs, but it was fabulous, more honest somehow.

We don’t hear many artists doing unplugged versions anymore. I suspect quite frankly, that many of the current singers wouldn’t dare sing without all of the electronic assistance. The right software and accompaniment can make anyone sound great.

This unplugged concept has really been swirling around my head in regards to church. There are a lot of churches out there that are something like a Bon Jovi concert. Then there are churches that would never dream of having a service without forty robed choir members belting out angelic tunes accompanied by a piano and an organ.

Don’t get me wrong. I love music and I especially love good worship music. But, what would happen if we unplugged all of that? What if we removed all of the instruments and robes and had one lone piano and hymnals? What if we sang just a couple of songs of preparation for the message like, “Amazing Grace” or “I’ll Fly Away?” What if we were at church simply for a Biblical message from God?

If church were unplugged, would we sit on the edge of our seats, riveted by the Word of God? It seems to me that if the Bible is taught correctly, it’s riveting. It’s a love story. There are angels and demons. There are good guys and bad guys. There are battles that put, “Lord of the Rings,” to shame. People fall from grace. God gives them redemption. There’s the supernatural. There are earthquakes and floods. There’s beauty. There’s grace. There’s healing and family for all who seek it.

The stories in the Bible are so good that Hollywood merely dreams of coming up with stuff that good. But, it can’t. The Bible is truth and truth is usually way more exciting than fiction.

So, maybe we should ask ourselves why we attend church. Is it awe-inspiring? Do we want to worship God because the message is so life changing? Are we part of a loving and active faith community? Do we leave service with the desire to share the light of Jesus with the world? Are we becoming disciples? Does our church make us want to be more like Jesus?

The original church in the Book of Acts could answer yes to all of those questions. They wanted to learn about Jesus, be more like Jesus and invite others to do the same. They were unplugged, so to speak, and on fire.

Music can add so much to a church service and I’m glad we have it. But, if we were to unplug and had only the message to listen to, would it be awesome on its own? Maybe it should be. In its fight to stay relevant, the church has to stay true to the message. Maybe we should think about it.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

PS Those of you taking the gratitude challenge, you should have three things your thankful for by today. It’s not too late to start your list!

Perhaps one of the most famous speeches ever written was John F. Kennedy’s speech that contained the mantra, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country?” It was his inaugural speech and it was written in 1961. He asked all Americans to ask themselves that question.

I think it’s still a good question. We have drifted far away from public service. We have become a society that wants and expects to be served. We have become entitled and we often ask what the government can do for us rather than the other way around.

I think this new ideal has trickled into our churches as well. When we visit a church, our initial question is often, “What can this church offer me?” ” Are there strong youth and children’s programs?” ” Are there Sunday school classes in place?” ” Are there ongoing Bible studies?” ” What can I get out of it?”

But, perhaps the better questions are, “How could I serve in this church?” “Is there any place here where I can use my gifts and talents?” “Can I help make a difference here?” “Is this a place where I can really serve Christ?” “Can I learn more and become more like Jesus here?”

We really don’t even have to leave the church where we are to ask these questions, but they are questions that need to be asked. The heart of Christianity is love and service grows out of love. No, service doesn’t get us into heaven. But, once we know Jesus, we are supposed to want to grow to be more like him.

That requires more work and commitment  than sitting on a pew on Sunday. Jesus was a man who washed his followers’ feet. He wasn’t afraid to get down and dirty to show his love for humanity. He fed the hungry and healed the sick and touched countless lives in his short three years of ministry here on earth. In the end, he willingly paid the ultimate sacrifice with his own life. Then after the resurrection, forgave his followers who doubted him. He even cooked them a meal. Love, forgiveness and service were huge in his ministry.

So perhaps if we truly want to know Jesus better, we should try to act more like him. Maybe our first question should be, “What can I do to serve God?” If that becomes our mantra, then it spills over into church life. When we have a church full of people who are willing to serve, that spills over into our communities. It just grows bigger and bigger, until perhaps once again, we become a country full of citizens who ask themselves how they can serve their country and not the other way around. We can become a country who makes God proud.

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have the opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially those who belong of the family of believers.” Galatians 6:9

What can you do to serve?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

I used to believe that there are no dumb questions. I want people around me to feel free to ask anything that is on their mind. Now that I have been a substitute teacher for eight years, I have changed my mind. There are some questions that are dumb, mainly because the person asking them is intentionally trying to be a smarty pants and get a laugh from their peers.

I recently heard a pastor preach about the Sadducees trying to catch Jesus, by asking him a dumb question. What if a woman marries a man and he dies and then she marries his brother and he dies? This scenario goes on through seven brothers. They wanted to know whose wife she would be at the resurrection. It was a ridiculous question, and was intended as a trap, but Jesus answered. He told them there was no marriage at the resurrection. We all just belong to God.

The pastor went on to talk about other ridiculous questions like, was the creature who swallowed Jonah, a fish or a whale? The answer was, “What difference does it make? God got Jonah where He wanted him.” That’s a perfect answer to that question, as far as I’m concerned.

There are people who ask questions simply to hear themselves talk. They are not seekers of truth, but are more interested in causing doubt or division. That got me to thinking about prayer.

Are there dumb prayers? Maybe.

When we pray, if we act like God is a genie or a Magic 8 Ball, that might be a waste of everyone’s time. If we spend our time praying to win the Lotto; that may not be considered wise prayer.

I often hear the teenagers that I have worked with complain that God doesn’t answer their prayers. My answer has always been that He does answer prayers, but the answer is sometimes, “no.” But, the next question is, “What are you praying for?” If you are praying for another person to like you or for it to snow in August so school will be cancelled, you are not praying for the right things. This usually makes them think.

Jesus taught us to pray for God’s will to be done. That means we should be asking for guidance, not begging for favors. We are supposed to ask for our daily bread, not for riches, which means we are supposed to ask for enough, not abundance.We are supposed to ask for forgiveness as we seek assistance in forgiving others. We are supposed to ask for strength when dealing with temptation and deliverance from evil. We are supposed to end our prayers by glorifying God.

I admit that my prayers don’t  always look like that, but I suspect we get answers to prayers following that template more than others. I think the key is God’s will, not ours. It’s about God focus not self-focus, a tricky concept in today’s society. When we pray for answers concerning His will, we will get them eventually. We sometimes have to be patient and watchful, but we will get them.

Now, I totally believe in conversational prayer and I believe that we are supposed to pray about all things that concern us. But, if we believe that God consistently denies our prayers, then maybe we need to take a good hard look at what we are praying for. Sometimes the answer is, “no,” but sometimes it’s clearly not in God’s will. If we seek His will in our lives, we may find that our prayers start looking a lot different than when we were seeking our own will. We also may find that the answers come much faster.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

We recently had a new family move in down the street from us. They moved here to Georgia, from New York. I made a plate of brownies and gathered the family to go pay them a, “welcome to the neighborhood visit.” When the husband opened the door and I told him why we were there, he looked at me like I had two heads and called his wife. They kind of nervously shook our hands and chatted for a very short time. We said, goodbye and headed home.

My daughter inquired why we always bake something when people move in. We are baking for perfect strangers. I told her, “We make it our business to welcome new people to our neighborhood. That’s just who we are.”

I shared my story with another new neighbor. They moved here from Charleston, but were originally from Connecticut. She laughed hysterically. “They don’t do that up North.” I found myself saying again, that welcoming new people with baked goods is something we do, whether the new neighbors are from up North or the other side of the world.  “That’s just who we are.”

When we were going though a period of time where my teens were really complaining about going to church on Sundays, I made it very clear to them under no uncertain terms, that we go to worship service on Sundays. That’s just who we are. They also pointed out to my hubby and me that we are the only family that they know who eat dinner together at the table every night. You know my response at this point.

All of these conversations have been swirling in my head about how we define ourselves. What in our lives matter the most to us? What are the behaviors and traditions that we simply will not budge on?

What about our faith walk? If we know who we are in Christ, who does the world see in us? Do people suspect that we are a Christian when they cross paths with us? Do they know it instantly or do they have no idea who we belong to? The Bible tells us that we are supposed to become more Christ like on our journey. Does our growth match the time that we have been believers?

Jesus told his followers that the most important commandment was to, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment than these.” Mark 12:29-30. Those are red letter words, so they are really important. In Luke, he goes onto explain who your neighbor is by telling the parable of the Good Samaritan. The Jews did not like the Samaritans. Jesus knew that, yet he told the story anyway.

Love is what sets Christianity apart from the rest, our love for our God and our love for others. It’s not about hate or force or fear. Those are the opposites of Christianity and the opposites of the Fruits of the Holy Spirit. Those things come from another source entirely.

We are supposed to render aid whenever we can. We are supposed to feed the hungry and nurse the sick and befriend the friendless and try to help the helpless, whether or not they are Christian, because in doing so, we are showing the lost, the face of Christ. In doing so, we become more Christ like. In doing so, we may be the pivotal force in helping those who don’t know Jesus become those who seek Jesus. In doing so, we are loving our God and our neighbor and that’s just who we are.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

If you have ever traveled on an airplane before, you have had to sit through the safety video. Just for the record, I always pay attention to those, not because I’m a nerd who always follows the rules, (which I kind of am), but because I was sitting next to an air traffic controller one night on a really turbulent flight (so turbulent that one of the flight attendants got sick), and he told me that most airplane crashes are survivable, but you have to know what to do and most people ignore the video. Point taken, I always pay attention to the boring, but short, video.

The video says that if there is a situation where cabin pressure gets lost, that oxygen masks will drop down from the ceiling. It then goes onto say, that if you are traveling with a small child, you are to put on your own mask first and then the child’s. Those instructions have always bothered me. They probably trouble most parents. We always put our children first. If somebody goes without oxygen, it’s going to be me, not my child.

But, the reason for those instructions is that there will likely be panic and maybe turbulence. If you quickly get yourself situated, and you can if you were watching the video, because you listened to the instructions, then you can easily help your child or anyone else nearby.

Many of  us often frown on the idea of ever putting ourselves before our family or others. Putting yourself last makes you a good Christian, right? It’s an age-old myth that is very easy to buy into and get twisted up in.

Yes, we are supposed to give our time and resources in service to others. Yes, we are supposed to feed others when we can. But, if we never feed ourselves, won’t we eventually starve and have much less, if anything to give? This is called burnout and this is what many of the givers and servers often find themselves experiencing. We can get so burned out, that we just walk away from all of our acts of service. Who wins then?

The Bible tells us that Jesus himself, sometimes needed a break. “But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.” Luke 5:16

Jesus is the picture of the ultimate servant. He could heal people. He could cast out demons. He could resurrect people from the dead. He did so regularly with an open heart and I truly believe, just because he could and he hated to see all of the human suffering. The crowds hounded him. There were always more sick people, more questions and more need.

He often, took quiet time to pray. I think that Jesus is a good model for us in that, we need to give ourselves some space to breathe. We have to take time to take care of ourselves and our own hearts before we can help others. We need to intentionally take some quiet time for ourselves in prayer. We also may need to sleep late for a day or find time to take a walk or read a book.

We need to keep a close watch on the needle of our emotional and spiritual gas tank. When it gets low, we need to take note and fill it up in whatever way allows us to get out there and happily serve again. Sometimes that means feeding ourselves first, but if that’s what it takes so that we can help feed the multitudes, don’t you think that it’s worth it?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂