Friday, December 21, 2012

All Is Well

As I stand outside on the back porch of my childhood home, I stand as if gracefully on some distant seashore with the bitter air harshly nipping at my cheeks; barefoot and bearing a restless soul. Gently in the distance, chimes whistle a graceful sound and sway as if they are making melody with the wind. With hot cocoa in one hand and a cigarette lit in the other, I watch as the winter trees dance to the song of the land. A gust rolls in as the sun peaks through the vast clouds above. I close my eyes as if to take in the marvelous beauty would cause my eyes to burn and tear. Then my soul appears, sneaking in so timely and in that stillness I know my God is with me. My heart cannot comprehend His love, but it knows quite well that His love is full of grandeur. As I descend across the eroded yet lovely wooden porch back into that familiar haven I was raised in so many years before, I am gently reminded that my God is always with me and that all is well with my soul. 

Thursday, December 20, 2012

The Time is Now: Christian Persecution

With the enemy in a constant pursuit to cause devastation and destruction to those who cling to the name of Christ in hostile and restricted areas across the globe, Christians with the freedom of speech in the United States should be making a stand on behalf of our brothers and sisters against the powers of darkness by shining the light of Jesus and a refreshed hope in times of persecution.

Countless persecuted Christians are stricken with hopelessness, fear, loss and anxiety daily and for many, hope and faith is all they have left to stand on. Now is the time to rise up and share each other’s burdens! Christians all over the world NOW is the time to stand unified and help those being rejected and victimized! We have a duty to proclaim that there is joy amidst the suffering, that there is a life worth living in Christ and that through Christ there is strength and victory!

With the current persecution by Islamic radicals in Nigeria in the village of Chibok, we as Christians are called to serve not to be served. Let us lift our fellow brothers and sisters of Christ up in prayer, fasting and through reaching out to fulfill their needs. Through Christ may our brothers and sisters rise from the ashes, become bold in the name of the Lord, walk in truth despite the persecution, be armed with love when there's only hatred and aim for harmony in this spiritual war! This is a call to action; let's make a difference!



"We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed..." -2 Corinthians 4:8-9

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” –Romans 8:35-39