Erin Lately

  Have you ever wondered what God does when we disobey?  Often, the thought pattern turns on what He will do with me, in a predictable selfish sense.  But have you ever wondered what He does despite our disobedience? Over the past several days, I have been reading, re-reading, picking apart, and meditating on the book and story of Jonah.  Jonah’s story always captivated me as a child and continues to do so into adulthood.  I’m not really sure why.  I guess it is because his journey is incredibly relatable.  God asks him to do something, Jonah knows the expectation, yet he decides he knows better and defies Him like a grumpy, hormonal, ungrateful teenager.  *Queue phrases like “duh!”, “as if!”, “whatever!” -- complete with an eye roll and slouchy-stomping to your room.*  You get the idea… There are countless examples of God punishing (or in Christian-ese: “lovingly correcting with a strong hand”) His people: wandering in the desert for decades...

  Full Stop. -- otherwise known as a period -- It is defined as a punctuation mark used to end a sentence or an abbreviation.  “Punctuation.”  It kind of has a spark to it.  Having taken German for my high school foreign language requirement, I like the emphasis that the translated word has “Punkt”!  It conveys a sort of action; sharp and quick.  It emotes a deliberate interruption. * * * To better practice intentional prayer, I have made it a point over the last couple of months to actively pray as I go throughout the day.  Sometimes I pray in my car while I drive.  Other times I pray when I lay in bed at night (honestly, it’s a form of meditation for me). I pray when I get ready for work in the morning.  I pray as I vacuum...fold laundry...make dinner… Often the prayers are quick and a couple of sentences. This discipline engages the Spirit regularly and openly.  I have a tendency to fall into the trap of beckoning and inviting the...

  “A thorn in the flesh.” A New Testament quip.  A convenient ribbon to tie up struggles of the Christian life and attribute it to Satan himself.  Or, in the alternative, a phrase that is dismissed as a benign statement of Paul who was using hyperbole. Or perhaps a mental anguish, by all accounts “deserved”, as a perverted penance for his past. Or maybe it was God’s way of telling Paul “Check yo’self before you wreck yo’self!” “So to keep me from becoming conceited...a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harrass me...Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’” -- 2nd Corinthians 12:7-9 But let me tell you: This passage is all too real for me, today, in the 21st Century.   A little preface: In our church community we practice the idea of oikos (no not the greek yogurt).  Oikos is a greek word translated to “househo...

  We sit in church and listen to a sermon. We drive in our cars and listen to a podcast. We chat with friends and listen to stories of God’s faithfulness. We gather around a table and listen to the bible study video of the week. We flip through Instagram and listen to soundbits of encouragement from a preacher. I can attest to the necessity of hearing and being drenched in the Word.  Hearing and reading is integral to our walk with God.  How else do we sharpen our sword?  (Remember those “sword drills” from Christian elementary school or Awana or Sunday School??  To be perfectly honest, I sucked at those. I’ve gotten better only after having gone to a Christian college and getting a Biblical Studies minor, but still.  The struggle is real.)  The Word of God is indeed a weapon in the arsenal of a Christian.    “Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle; he is my steadfast love and my fortress, my...

“My grace is sufficient for you…” Don’t forget the second half: “...for my power is made perfect in weakness.” How beautiful it is to be witnesses to a powerful grace that is revealed in its truest, rawest, most organic form in WEAKNESS!  In human frailty.  In despair.  In trials.  In doubt.  In fear.  Hallelujah! “So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.  Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.  But he said to me, “ My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness .”  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.  For when I am weak, then I am strong....

I realize my last two posts have been a bit...heavy(?)...perhaps even depressing. I don’t mean them to be.  I’ve never been much of a journal-er, so it’s more about my mind having all of these thoughts and trying to get them out with some semblance of coherency. Unfortunately, I am a realist/pessimist at my core (something the Lord is working on in my soul) so my mental process tends to be birthed from a more “negative” or “cold” (I prefer “analytical” - ha!) headspace. But, that tends to yield a dark tone.  My apologies. Anyway, I thought I would follow up with the flip side of the waiting-&-wrestling-with-God coin: PRAISE. Spiritual disciplines are just that -- discipline.  Discipline is defined as the practice of training to do something in a controlled habitual way.  So, spiritual disciplines such as prayer, diving into the scriptures, stewardship, fasting, and solitude are brought forth through intentional training.  Some of them are more natural to our...