This post originally appeared on March 20, 2012. I wrote it for Peter Pollock's One Word at a Time Blog Carnival. I don't participate in that one very often, but of all of the link ups out there, that is still my favorite. I know that this piece seems to be a lot more about doubt than about faith, but for me, the doubt is what proves my faith. To believe in spite of doubt can be difficult, and this reminds me of the times that I've made that choice.   1984 – We sing a lot of songs at my Christian school. Songs to help us remember the books of the Bible, songs that have silly motions with them, old hymns that Mrs. Montag likes to teach us. We’re getting too old for this to be cool, but when she allows us to sing Pass It On, I still get a little teary when we sing “the … [Read more...]

    The radio likes hyperbole. I suppose we all do, which is why we listen. Though I must admit, sometimes the hyperbole makes me a bit crazy. Bruno Mars is probably the musician who offends me the most in this category. His song Grenade is an emotional diatribe about a girl who broke up with him, even though he would go through absolutely anything for her. The chorus says, I'd catch a grenade for ya' Throw my hand on a blade for ya' I'd jump in front of a train for ya' You know I'd do anything for ya' See I would go through all this pain Take a bullet straight through my brain Yes, I would die for ya', baby But you won't do the same Most of us hear that and we get all gooey about it. Because, wow. That's some kind of serious love. I mean, bullets … [Read more...]

  In 2007, I skipped church for about 5 weeks. That is probably the longest stretch of time that I've gone in my entire life (most likely including infancy) without being in a church building. In the months that followed, our family visited a lot of different churches, trying to find one for us, but we never missed more than a week between services, and most Sundays, we woke up and joined some congregation for worship. A lot of my online and flesh and blood friends simply don't do church any more. Many are still believers, but a number of them don't attend church. Some have left it all behind. I get that. I've been through the wringer at church. When we took those five weeks off, I didn't know if I could go back. The institution seemed too exclusive and too abusive to … [Read more...]