Friday Findings: Being an Atheist, Napping, and Introverts

Frieday Findings on Modern RejectFriday, sweet Friday. I’m so glad you are here. Although, this weekend I’ll be flying as a solo parent, as my film-junkie of a husband will be traveling to California to attend an all day Oscar film marathon. That leaves me and the 3 wild monkeys alone all weekend. No, I’m not scured…Well, maybe just a little. Nothing some Beyonce “crazy music,” (as my daughter likes to call it) and some mint chip ice cream can’t solve (the ice cream is for me, not them, by the way).

So here’s to Friday and here’s what I loved around the web this week:

If I were an Atheist. What could lead you to atheism? This is a thoughtful and well-reasoned post.

10o Ways to be Kind to Your Child. Usually lists like this are so corny, or trite, or over-done that they fail to offer anything new. This post is not one of those. I even got a little weepy while reading it.

I happen to consider myself a professional napper. If you are anything like me, then you’ll enjoy this inforgraphic on Everything You Need to Know About Napping. So fun.

Are you familiar with this iPhone app? It appeals to my inner geek which loves all things retro.

Introverts get such a bad rap, especially in the church and especially in leadership. Carlos Whitaker, who is clearly not an introvert, went ahead and wrote about it anyway. This makes me happy.

My blogging friends the former Ally Spotts (now Ally Vestefelt) and her new hubby Darrell Vesterfelt are now the directors of Prodigal Magazine–a magazine for the everyday Christian. Try this post on for size, to get started. You won’t be disappointed.

I’m bi-racial which, while often doesn’t mean much of anything, occasionally this fact will throw me for a loop when it comes to understanding my identity. That’s why I so appreciated Tony Alicea’s post this week on your heritage and righteousness. So good.

Also, tomorrow is the last day I’ll be accepting submissions for the “I’m a Reject, Because…” series. If you’d like to share with others here on Modern Reject as to why you’re a reject, here’s your chance. Send me your post. 300-500 words. Hope to hear from you.

 Now it’s your turn. Share with me the cool, interesting, funny, inspiring, or challenging things you discovered this week.

Friday Findings: Victoria’s Secret, Womanhood, and Rejects

Frieday Findings on Modern RejectIf you tried to waste spend some time on Modern Reject yesterday, you may have been disappointed to discover that she was down for part of the day. Sad face. I’m working on some server issues right now to hopefully remedy this problem in the future (P.S. anyone know of a brilliant WordPress developer?).

Anyhoo, how was your week? Mine went by quickly, which is always nice because I cherish my weekends. I did happen to come across some cool stuff this week. But let me warn you, it’s a hodge podge. I was all over the place…

Victoria’s Secret Model quits to honor God and her marriage. You read that right. I hope this little article gains momentum.

And the Worst Wife Award Goes To... by the hilarious and humble Bianca Juarez.

The Womanhood Project. Imagine a group of women, coming together, to write about one thing: the word “womanhood.” Well, I had the privilege of contributing to this project. It ranges from serious to sarcastic, humorous to heartfelt. I promise you’ll enjoy.

Interview with a Conservative Christian. I really enjoyed this interview via Rachel Held Evans blog. I think more and more, Conservative Christians are being given a bad wrap, especially those involved in politics on any level. I found this interview to be well-stated, articulate, and rational.

I’m a Reject Because… Last week, I asked, for any of those interested, to submit a blog post on why you are a reject. So far, I have received some great entries, but I want more! So, go ahead and tell me why you are a reject. I’ll be posting the pieces in March. The deadline is February 25th.

So there you have it, my picks for the week. What were your favorite things this week? An article, blog post, video? Share away!

You Should Quit Reading This Blog…

So, it seems that every few months or so, I fall into a blog funk. These funks don’t usually last for long and before I know it, I’m back to feeling like my old blogging self. Over the weekend, however, I read a blog post by Josh, also known as The Minor Prophet.

He explained how he once followed blogs like mine and Rachel Held Evans, but how now, for some unexplained reason, he no longer cares. He cannot say for sure as to the reason why, but he is no longer interested in Evangelical blogs or even the idea of Evangelical Christianity, for that matter.

I spent the weekend mulling his thoughts over. My feelings weren’t hurt. I didn’t take it personally. The thing is, I kinda get it, because the thing is, I sorta feel the same way.

Which got me thinking, why do I write Modern Reject? And really, why does anyone read it, because I’m pretty sure you should quit reading this blog… Continue reading You Should Quit Reading This Blog…

My Favorite Blogs

I’m a blogger…or rather, I have a blog. A lot of people assume that I read tons of other Christian blogs and am up to date on all that is newsworthy. Truth be told, I’m not the best about reading other blogs. In fact, before I started Modern Reject, I really didn’t frequent many Christian blogs at all.

That has now changed, however. What was once me casually perusing the Internet, hopping from site to site, has now turned into a systematic Google reader filled with dozens of different blogs.

Although, I don’t just read Christian blogs. Go figure. I like a lot of other things. People often ask me what, or who I read, on a regular basis. So, I thought I’d share a sneak peak inside my Google reader. The following is a list of the blogs I read and their categories:

Continue reading My Favorite Blogs

Friday Findings: Beyond Evangelical, Church Abuse, and Guilt

Frieday Findings on Modern RejectI have to admit, I’ve been feeling a bit lazy these days. Blogging has not been on the top of my to-do list. Hopefully though, I’ll start to gain some motivation and momentum soon. Thanks for sticking around lately while my number of posts has been a little less than usual.

This week, in my laziness and lounging, I have really just been enjoying being home with my kids, who have been very sick the last week and a half. Granted, being stuck at home with the three of them does make me want to scream some times, but overall it has been relaxing. I’ve also managed to peruse the internet more than usual.

Here’s some of what has struck my fancy this week: Continue reading Friday Findings: Beyond Evangelical, Church Abuse, and Guilt

The Modern Reject on the Radio

A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of being on The Drew Marshall Show. Drew Marshall, Canada’s largest spiritual radio talk show. Drew has been called the Howard Stern of Christian radio and for good reason.

Drew is fun and funny, outspoken, engaging, and pretty much the coolest. He is known for interviewing some controversial characters, like the president of the Wiccan church, for instnace. But on this particular day, I was honored and humbled to have him interview me.

We talked about a few of my own more controversial posts and I had so much fun doing it. His banter is quick-witted and refreshing. So, in case you’re interested in listening to the segment, just follow the link, which will land you on January 7th. Just scroll down a bit and you’ll see me.You can then listen away…

If you are so inclined too, there are dozens of other (more interesting I’m sure) interviews you can listen to from Christian celebrities, regular celebrities, and more. I lost a good hour doing the same thing.

 

Blogging is for Losers

While having a couple I had never met before, over to our home for dinner the other night, I was somehow secretly hoping that no one would ask me the inevitable question “So, Nicole what do you do?”

To which I usually respond, “Oh me? I fold laundry, wipe butts, cook nutritious meals, all while wearing a big, fat, slap-happy, smile on my face.” The problem, this time ( and most times lately) is that my dear, sweet, proud husband wants to brag on me. What I would be perfectly content letting slip by unsaid, he prefers to exclaim from the rooftops, which usually goes something like this:

“Nicole is a rockstar! She is a blogger. Has an awesome blog called Modern Reject! She speaks too. She was even on the radio!” (and yes, all of those exclamation points are completely apro po)

And while I love, adore, get warm fuzzies knowing my hubster is my biggest fan, on this particular occasion, I wanted to crawl under the table and die in a pile. And it got me thinking why, or rather, what the what? Why do I feel embarrassed and flustered when this whole double life of mine is brought up?

Because blogging is for losers. Or at least that’s what I used to think. Continue reading Blogging is for Losers

Friday Findings: Submitting, “Honey” and Being a Disciple

Frieday Findings on Modern RejectThis week has dragged on for me. What about you? It seems like Friday should have been here about 3 days ago, but it’s here now. Finally. And I have some cool stuff to share today for Friday Findings.

First up…

Good reads and lots of them. I read so many great articles and blog posts this week. Here are a few that stood out:

Women, Stop Submitting to Men. Yes, the title is catchy and it is also tricky. Think you know what this post is about? Think again. Definitely my favorite read of the week.

I Thought Church was Where We Sat Down, Stood Up, and Sung Songs Together. The collective blog, A Deeper Story, is running a series on what Church really is and…isn’t. I have been so enjoying it. This post is one of my faves, so far.

Everything I Know About God I Learned in My Laundry Pile. Considering my mini-mommy-meltdown earlier this week, this post struck a cord with me. Any mom will relate to this post and smile.

A beautiful song with an even more beautiful family. My husband’s and my dear friends Phillip and Lia LaRue, who make up the group Us and Our Daughters released a video for their new song, “Honey.”  It is filled with gorgeous shots of their family life, two daughters, and their obvious love for one another. It is guaranteed to put you in a wonderful mood and stick in your head.

Me and my apple, so in love. Those of you who follow me on Twitter and are my bff on Facebook, may have seen my new (and first ever) Apple MacBook Pro (P.S. if you’re not following or friending me, what’s up with that?). She’s so purdy. As a result of the new love in my life, I am on the hunt for the coolest Mac covers I can find. I like this one. Dig this one. And lurve this one. Which one do you think I should swing for?

Discipleship rocks. Lastly, my blogging homie Moe, of Beta Christian, recently launched a new blog and site called Discipulus (pronounced disˈki.pu.lus) which is Latin for “disciple.” Moe has a heart for discipleship that rivals my own. I am so geeked out and excited to see where this blog goes. Please stop by and show him some love.

So there you have it, all the lovely, cool, and worthwhile finds from the week. Now it’s your turn. What have you read, listened to, dreamed of, or discovered this week? What stole some of your free time?

 

 

 

 

 

#1 of 2011: God WILL Give You More than You Can Handle

I had no idea how many people search for the phrase “God won’t give you more than you can handle,” when I wrote this post. All I knew was the idea that God didn’t give us too much was a lie. And a big fat one at that.

I wasn’t trying to encourage people in their struggles, so much as remind them that God does not protect us from struggles. There is no glass ceiling on suffering. My hope in writing this post was to tell believers that we aren’t meant to carry all of our burdens alone, but more so, that no where in the Bible does this whole “God not giving you more than you can handle” thing exist. We made it up to feel better about our problems, I’m sure.

But truth is more powerful than the most sophisticated lie. Truth brings light. His Light brings clarity and comfort, peace and provision…and there is nothing He can’t “handle.”

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God WILL Give You More than You Can Handle

I don’t remember the first time I heard the phrase “God will never give you more than you can handle,” I just know that, at some point, it became a Christian-ism for me. I felt comforted knowing that God would never allow anything to happen that I could not “handle,” whatever that meant. I’d always be okay. Things would never be so terrible, as to crush me.

I remember quite a few years ago even writing those words to a Jewish friend of mine who was going through a difficult time. I felt like it was in the Bible. It seemed like it should be in the Bible. It sounded scripture-y. I didn’t actually check to see if it was in the Bible however.

But then I got knocked up side the head with the truth. Last week I wrote the post, You CANNOT Be Anything You Want, which was part one in my latest series, Don’t Believe the Lie. You see, that whole “God won’t give you more than you can handle” business is a lie, as well. A nice, big, fat one, too. Oh, how Satan has twisted that one and we’ve bought it.

The truth is, the Bible doesn’t talk about giving or not giving us more than we can handle.

The verse that Christians so often confuse with this phrase is 1Corinthians 10:13:

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

The key word here is “temptation.” We are promised here by the apostle Paul that God will not allow us to be “tempted beyond our ability.” Temptation is very different from the vast, exhaustive list in life of anything that could happen to us. God doesn’t say He won’t give us what we can’t handle. He says we won’t be tempted beyond our ability.

What is our ability? Well the second half of the verse, I think, helps answer that question: “but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” Our ability is tied to the way of escape. We are offered an exit door with every temptation. It is through that exit door, in part, that we receive the ability to resist the temptation. We cannot endure a temptation unless we escape it. Our ability is also measured by our maturity in Christ and our reliance upon the Holy Spirit, among other things.

God certainly does allow us to experience more than we can handle, though. Jesus was given more than He could humanly “handle.” He was beaten and crucified to death. He died without sin, however, because while He was tempted, He knew the way of escape.

I heard Beth Moore discuss this topic once. She referred to a parent losing a child. She told the story of a woman she knew who had watched 6 of her babies die, one after another. Years later she was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder that essentially killed each of her children.

Was this woman’s loss enough for her to “handle?”  We say, “God doesn’t give us more than we can handle,”,  and we lie to ourselves. Was burying 6 infants more than this woman could handle? I think so. She reportedly fell into a dark and consuming depression. She couldn’t handle it. She wasn’t meant to handle it. Years later, Beth Moore saw this woman, after losing her own foster child. The two women wept together over the loss of their children. They could not handle the pain alone. We are not meant to either.

God will inevitably allow us to experience more than we can handle in perhaps the death of a parent, or a spouse. Perhaps it is watching a life-long dream wither away. Soldiers who have watched their friends die in combat. Mental illness, depression, disease. Or even the realization that you have been wasting your life and have nothing to show for it. Any of these things might be more than we can handle and that’s the point.

Christianity is not the guarantee of an easy life, but the abundant life. It makes us uncomfortable to think about suffering loss and God allowing that loss. Don’t get me started on Job. It wrecks me. God wants us to cling to Him, though, to hold onto Him for dear life sometimes, because, without Him, we would drift away into nothingness. We will suffer greatly, at some time in our life, and it is because of our  sufferings and through our sufferings that we can become more like Jesus. Paul wrote, for example:

“I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.” Philippians 3:10

I want to know Christ and, if sharing in His sufferings is one way, then so be it. I accept the idea that God will, perhaps at more than one point in my life, allow me to experience such pain and loss that I will be broken under the weight of it. Then I can look to my Lord, the lover of my soul, and cry out to Him, knowing He is the only One who can save me. (And if I forget, I have this blog post to come back to at that point.)

I do not want to buy into the lie any longer of naively believing that there is some magic limit or glass ceiling on suffering. There isn’t, and we demean the power of Christ’s sufferings when we assume there is.

Have you falsely believed this lie, like I once did? Do you think Christians suffer for believing this lie, and if so, how and why?

 

#2 of 2011: Why Do You Believe in God?

I sort of thought of this post as a throw away when I wrote it. It didn’t seem especially profound, deep, or intellectual. It was just me expressing the feelings and experiences that have led me to believe in God.

Somewhere along the way, this here post made its way onto Reddit where it created a wave of conversation and discussion. Suddenly, thousands of people were reading this post. So much for what I thought was a throw away. It goes to show that you can never predict what people will want to read. You can only write for yourself and hope others will come along too.

As an aside, a few atheists commented on the original post too, wanting to debate God’s existence. To be clear, this post is for people who already believe God exists. It is an opportunity to state why you know His presence in your own life…nothing more, nothing less.

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Why Do You Believe in God?

Growing up, the idea of God was presented as a possibility. God, the man upstairs as it were, was at least an option of the table for me as a child. Granted, He was not Jesus Christ, the Messiah, but He was at least mentioned.

Years later, when I finally did meet Christ, I believe I was much more open to saying “yes” because at the very least, I believed in a God, if not the God.

Ironically, now that I am devoted to Jesus Christ, my family wonders why–how. Why have I become a “Christian” (often said as a dirty word). Why do I believe so wholeheartedly and completely in God?

This question is a lot trickier than it appears. I’d like to give some simple, succinct, yet powerful answer, but the truth is…I can’t. The answer is so much more….

Instead of answering the question of why I believe in God, in part, comes down to a series of events and the subsequent emotions associated with those events.

Here’s what I mean: God saves. I feel secure. God protects. I feel safe. God redeems. I feel hope. God gives. I feel humbled. And so on and so on…

My belief that God is real and alive and living in me, is not a guessing game, but rather me acknowledging who He is and what He has done for me. I can look back over my life and plainly see when and where God has stepped in, directed, prompted, challenged, or encouraged me.

Not only can I see Him working in my life, but I can also feel Him. Now this is where my unbelieving family gets even more skeptical. Feel Him? Yes. Feel His presence.

Sure, it sounds nebulous. It even sounds a bit irrational and kooky, but anyone who truly loves Jesus knows what it is to feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. Once it is experienced it cannot be mistaken. It cannot be faked or forgotten…and it certainly cannot be forfeited. You will always want more.

In knowing God, I also know that one of the strongest pieces of evidence that He is real and working on me is because of well, me. I am not who I used to be. I am a new creation. I don’t say this casually or flippantly, just throwing about a cliche scriptural reference.

I am a new creation. I am so far removed from who I used to be and who I thought I was that it can only point to belief in God. I’m not sure if people change on their own. I don’t think they really do. There has to be a catalyst and mine was Jesus Christ.

Lastly, as my faith has grown and matured and my eyes have been opened, I see more and more evidence for the existence of God all around. From the vastness of the stars, to the raging oceans, to the dense forest, to the profound love of my husband, to the sound of my children’s laughter, to watching my belly swell with life and feeling that life move inside of me–only to be born through what can only be described as a miracle…

I see God everywhere. The evidence of His hand is unmistakable. Yet, I will just continue to pray for those who have yet to have their eyes opened.

Why do you believe in God? Is it factual, faith, emotion, all of the above? What did you believe about God before knowing Him?