Believing in God the Father and Jesus is easy for me to do. I grew up believing in their existence, but having complete faith and not worrying about things is not as easy, especially when my children are the ones suffering. I can’t stand it when my children suffer, and I’m sure I’m not the only parent that feels that way. In fact, it makes me feel so helpless. It also isn’t easy when prayers don’t get the response that I had hoped for. These situations are what really try my faith. I can empathize with the father in Mark 9:24 that proclaims to Jesus “‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”’

I don’t really have the all-knowing answer to the title. In fact, I’ve been praying and asking God to give me wisdom on how to “walk on water during a storm.” Recently, some tragedies have occurred to people close to me, and it is because of them that I started asking God this question. I’m still searching and seeking, but I want to share some insight that I have had while thinking and studying about this.

Let me first point out that I’m not a Bible scholar. I’m okay if you don’t agree with my thoughts and opinions. I’m just sharing some ideas that came to me while studying.

Many of us today look around and can’t figure out what’s wrong with today’s leaders! It’s not that our leadership positions are vacant, but those serving in those roles are lacking something special. Our leaders today are lacking one of the most fundamental parts of being a leader, servitude! Today’s leaders have forgotten that the first job of a leader is to serve, whether you’re a leader in the church or in a government role. Too many times we see people flock to leadership roles to fulfill their selfish desires, forgetting God’s flock and, at times, purposely misleading them. We seem to forget that the Creator of this world said He came not to be served but to serve (Mark 10:45). So what makes men think we don’t have to serve each other if our Creator came back to serve us?

I believe we all desire to have talents. Who doesn’t want to be talented in something? I know I do. Well, there are many godly talents that we all should have. My past few blogs actually covered some godly talents. But there is one that is the most vital, the most important, talent of love. 

God is love (1 John 4:8), and God is light (1 John 1:5). And if A = B and B = C, then A = C, therefore, Love is light. We are to walk in light and not in darkness. Therefore, we are to walk in love in order to light our path. There are so many scriptures regarding love, and I know we all realize that love is the greatest commandment, to love our God with all our heart and to love each other.

“It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). In the past, when I thought about giving, I always thought financial giving, like tithes and offerings. Yet, I am now realizing that there are far more ways to give that can be even more beneficial to the receiver than money. It is easy to just give money if you have some to spare. However, there are a lot of us that don’t have the finances to have extra spare change lying around to give away. Therefore, we must find other ways to give.

You know, I dislike election years. It is so discouraging seeing politicians going after each other. It is like watching a really bad reality TV show. There is so much unwholesome talk that is meant to bring others down that it just annoys me, and I realize it is annoying because it is unloving and unrighteous. 

We as Christians should strive to be different than the rest of the world, and one characteristic that can set us apart, is becoming an encourager to others.

My last blog was about serving, and I realized one way to serve others is to be hospitable. Hospitable people are open to receiving people into their homes and lives. I think of them as the people that everyone likes to go and visit. They make you feel welcome and special. You feel at “home” in their homes. It is a beautiful talent to have, and I believe that we all should make an effort to learn how to be hospitable instead of relying on a few to do it for us. In fact, Paul makes hospitality a job requirement for overseers in the Ecclesia (1 Tim 3:2). He also tells all of us to “practice hospitality” (Rom 12:13b).

As many of us know, 43 years ago, here in the United States, abortion became nationally legal in January of 1973 by the ruling of the United States Supreme Court, regardless of no legislation sponsored by the people via Congress. Underscoring this ruling was Justice Blackmun's claim, "…we cannot determine when life begins." Since this ruling was legalized over 53 million babies have been “extracted” and/or "vacuumed"  from the wombs of women in the USA, of which 86% have it done for convenience (birth control) and 45% of these women are repeated clients.

We live in a selfish world. It is not a new thing, for Christ warned His disciples of it when ten of them became jealous and angry over James and John asking to sit beside Him in the Kingdom. Jesus warns them “that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant…For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others…” (Matt 20:25-26, 28, NLT, emphasis mine).

There is so much controversy today in the US about healthcare.  We hear so many arguments on the subject.  Should there be healthcare as we now know it?   How can we improve the medical insurance programs that we have?  Is there any way we can make this situation better?  Medical insurance in this country basically started in the 1930s when labor unions were demanding things such as child labor laws, five day workweeks, and eight hour days.  It was after WWII that medical insurance for employees sky rocketed.   Today, the healthcare situation in this country seems to be in trouble.  People on all sides have suggestions on how we can improve the situation.

As a parent, I try hard to train my children to be good people. I want them to know the difference between right and wrong and love and hate. I also want them to know how to forgive others and themselves to the point that they let it go, so the root of bitterness and resentment can’t grow inside them. Yet, I realize in order for them to do that, I must practice what I preach. I must stop rehashing forgiven mistakes.

Does your congregation stay in touch with each other outside of church? Do you call people during the week to see how they are doing? When was the last time you had someone from your fellowship over for dinner? How many of us know each other’s phone numbers, let alone where each of us live? Do you bother to call a member if you haven’t seen them at church in a while to make sure they are okay?

If you do all the above things, that is awesome. Please teach others to do it, also, because this is what families do for each other. We are supposed to be the family of God, but in my experience, we really don’t act like it. Families get together when they can.

How do you treat yourself? When you “look” at yourself, do you like what you see? Do you struggle with self-condemnation? Is this how we are supposed to be?

It is easy for me to treat others with love and compassion. It is easy for me to try to give people the benefit of the doubt when they are not nice, but it is not easy for me to treat myself with the same affection. I am really hard on myself. I think that I am my worse judge. I also have a bad habit of self-comparison.