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“Get Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable”: Lament as an Act of Worship

Here’s the last post from my friend Pam on dealing with the “waves of adversity” in our lives. I am becoming an avid cyclist, some would describe me as a obsessive cyclist, but I enjoy cycling and participating in road races. It’s a newer passion and I find myself being coached and encouraged by those [...]

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Are you going to live a little more or die a little bit? Joan Chittister on the spirituality of struggle.

My friend Pam and I spoke at a women’s conference in Moose Lake, MN recently, about the “waves of adversity” we all face in our lives. I’ll be posting follow-ups for the next couple weeks, so the women who were there (and anyone who wasn’t!) can continue to chew on and discuss the topic. This [...]

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Stillness in the Storm

My friend Pam and I spoke at a women’s conference in Moose Lake, MN recently, about the “waves of adversity” we all face in our lives. I’ll be posting follow-ups for the next couple weeks, so the women who were there (and anyone who wasn’t!) can continue to chew on and discuss the topic. This [...]

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Mary Means “Rebellion”: Jesus and His Band of Rebellious Women

When I was little, my mom used to act out Bible stories with me. My favorite, always, was Mary Magdelene finding Jesus in the garden. I would be Mary, kneeling in front of the tomb (our wood stove) in the little flannel bathrobe my mom had sewn for me, pretending to cry. My mom would [...]

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On Deserts and Dry Places: When You Hit A Dry Patch In Your Walk With Christ

Lent commemorates the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert. I’ve been feeling rather dry myself lately, but I don’t think it has anything to do with Lent. Here are some of the things that seem to wring me out, spiritually-speaking. Maybe you can relate. Analyzing Everything I LOVE studying and learning more about [...]

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“The missionaries brought the Bread of Life, but we choked on the packaging.”

“When the missionaries came, they brought the Bread of Life. But alas, we choked on the cellophane it was wrapped in.” Those were words I heard over and over as a child, my missionary father thoughtfully quoting a Liberian radio preacher. I could tell my father took them very seriously, so I did too, branding [...]

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John Piper, Women in Combat, and How Gender Roles Fall Short of the Glory of Humankind

Co-Ed Combat and Cultural Cowardice, an article written by John Piper in 2007, has resurfaced in light of the U.S. military’s decision to let women serve in combat. I’m posting part of it here not because I want to pick a fight with Piper (please see my comments policy), or discuss women in combat (I [...]

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50 Shades of Complementarian? Why We Should Lay Down the Labels, and Look at Our Common Purpose

Last week, a Twitter friend told me how shamed and berated many blogs made her feel for her complementarian theology. That made me so sad. I mean, I get it. Egalitarians are a minority in the evangelical world, and are often treated like theological scapegoats by their more traditional brothers and sisters. Women still lack [...]

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Watch Your Mouth! My Commitment to Mercy, and New Comments Policy.

The internet can be a brutal place. Some days, the Christian blogosphere feels more like the Roman Colosseum than Athen’s Mars Hill, a gladiatorial circus where Christian Soldiers wield sharp words against their brothers and sisters in Christ, pitting the strength of their platforms to character assassination. I’m quite certain Satan (whose very name means [...]

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Stopping Traffick in Buenos Aires: The Tireless Seeker of Our Souls

Today’s guest post is from Tim Fall. ​Maria de los Angeles “Marita” Veron disappeared ten years ago. Her mother hasn’t stopped looking for her since. Marita was 23 at the time, the mother of a 3 year old daughter. At first her disappearance was unexplained. Then a tip came in: she had been kidnapped and [...]

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Limping Along: Why We Can’t Let Half of Christ’s Body Atrophy

Today’s guest post is from the wonderful Judy Douglass. Kamari limped along, putting all his weight on the good leg, dragging the atrophied right leg painfully up the rocky hill. Most often he hardly noticed the weak leg—he had learned to do most of his activities without it. But on days when he needed to [...]

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Good Christian Fears: Is Fear Crippling Your Walk With Christ?

I’ve never considered myself a fearful person. But recently, I’ve been discovering just how much my deeply-buried fears and anxieties have influenced and continued to influence my life. These aren’t conscious thoughts, or even things that I initially recognized as fear. But as I reflected on the decisions I’ve made and the things I’ve written [...]

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Women, Theology, and the Evangelical Gender Ghetto

James W. McCarty III has written a great post about the absence of female voices in the theological blogosphere. (His title is pretty awesome, too: Stop, Collaborate and Listen ) His conclusions are applicable to just about every area of life and ministry: Listen to women. And listen in a way in which you can [...]

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Are Old Testament Laws Obsolete? Kathy Keller, Rachel Held Evans, and the Kerfuffle Over “Biblical” Rules For Women.

“A Year of Biblical Womanhood” by Rachel Held Evans has been the talk of the town lately, drawing the attention of everyone from Christian bloggers to shows like USA Today and The View. While I have yet to read and review the book (I’ll do so when I have more time), the reviews have been [...]

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If You Don’t Love the Poor, CAN You Love Jesus?

How interesting that Jesus associates our response to “the least of these” with our response to him. In the past, I always thought it was a matter of obedience. People who really love Jesus take care of the down-and-outs, because it’s the right thing to do. The Christian thing to do. Because the Bible tells [...]

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Did God Create Gender Hierarchies? Or Are They the Result of Human Sin?

This is part of a series on biblical interpretation and egalitarian thought. The purpose is not to debate, but to promote understanding. Read previous entries here and here. What was God’s intention for human relationships when he created mankind, male and female, and told them to take dominion over the earth and creatures? (And yes, [...]

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How Awana Failed Me: Egalitarians and the Whole Counsel of the Word of God

This is part of a series on biblical interpretation and egalitarian thought. The purpose is not to debate, but to promote understanding. Read the introduction here. Like most Good Christian Girls, I learned a *lot* of Bible verses growing up. I was awarded with candy in Sunday school, tiny plastic crowns in Awana, and good [...]

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So, How DO Egalitarians Interpret the Bible? An Introduction

About a week ago, I posted a link to Adrian Warnock’s Complementarian-Egalitarian Spectrum. While I considered it a helpful resource, I wanted to elaborate on the issue of biblical interpretation, and promised a follow-up post. But the follow-up post was beginning to look more like follow-up book. There just wasn’t enough space to do justice [...]

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Gender Roles (Or Not): Where Do You Fall on the Complementarian-Egalitarian Spectrum?

Adrian Warnock has written an interesting blog post that lays out some of the common positions Christians hold regarding gender roles in the home and in the church. While it is a basic overview that just skims the surface level of each belief, and will doubtlessly leave people in each category wishing he had expained [...]

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The Dichotomy of Discipleship

I’m sharing My Hazardous Faith Story as part of a synchroblog connected with the release of Ed Cyzewski and Derek Cooper’s new book Hazardous: Committing to the Cost of Following Jesus. I’m a big fan of books about radical discipleship. “The Irresistible Revolution” by Shane Claiborne had me sobbing, and “Radical” by David Platt had [...]

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Acid Attacks on a Woman’s Soul

Yesterday, a friend forwarded me a link about the rise of acid attacks in Colombia. I was appalled. I had heard of acid attacks in places like India and Afghanistan, but South America? It got me thinking once again about the horror of these sorts of attacks, the hatefulness. While acid is sometimes used against [...]

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Memo to the King of the Universe

This article was originally published in the July/August 2009 issue of Plain Truth. Enjoy! To: kingoftheuniverse@heaven.org From: teachers­_of_the_law@jerusalem.com Subj: An urgent message requiring your attention. PLEASE RE. IMMEDIATELY!!! It has come to our attention that you have been sending questionable and downright dangerous messages to our people. We have tried to give you the benefit [...]

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What’s a Nice Evangelical Girl Like You Doing With a Rosary Like That?

I have a confession to make. I’ve always been jealous of my Roman Catholic friend’s rosaries. Actually, it didn’t start with rosaries–it started with a Muslim friend’s prayer staff. He had come to our apartment in Liberia for dinner, and unrolled his prayer mat on our porch during the call to prayer. Afterward, he saw [...]

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Why Christians Need to Break the Rules

I have a thing about “rules.” Like most individualistic Americans, I’m not a huge fan of them. But like most Good Christian Women, I’m really good at following them. Like that time they were doing road construction in West Duluth. My husband and I lived, worked, and worshipped in that neighborhood for several years. It’s [...]

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How to (Not) Raise “Worthless Daughters”

Today I’m honored to have Judy Douglass guest posting. I hope you will find her words as motivating as I do. “Thank you, Mother, for raising a worthless daughter.” These words, part of a lament of a bride going to meet her husband for the first time, summed up the experience of women in China [...]

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Rape Drugs, Roadside Stands, and Human Trafficking: There Are No Innocent Bystanders

I’m thrilled to have the insightful Tim Fall guest posting today. “Enjoy” seems like the wrong word to introduce this post with, so…read thoughtfully? Tomorrow, I will be posting about some new resources available from the Evangelical Covenant Church to prevent, recognize, and combat human trafficking. Un-Innocent Bystanders Earlier this month my son and I [...]

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Holy Harmony, Batgirl! #Mutuality 2012

I never did get around to posting my Friday Favorites for this week, but each and every one of them (and then some!) are on this list! Rachel Held Evans has been hosting the Mutuality 2012 synchroblog, and the articles have been AMAZING, to say the least. She’s included links to all 188 of them [...]

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Making Space for the Feminine Voice

  Women are natural communicators. No one doubts this, really, and a quick, unscientific glance at the blogosphere confirms the female desire to enter into the conversation about important issues impacting our world. But why are so many of these bubbling female voices still running underground, or being siphoned off into their own little “women’s [...]

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Abraham, Abiding, and Jesus in My Heart: Heresy and Hermeneutics, Part 2

I was four years old when I led my first person to Christ. I know I was four because I couldn’t read yet (I explained the gospel by offering commentary on the Jesus pictures in my Children’s Bible), and she wasn’t in diapers, though she was younger than me. That was a very narrow window [...]

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Heresy, Hermeneutics, and Sheep in Wolves’ Clothing: Part 1

I’ve been thinking about controversy among Christians a lot lately. A writer I follow on Facebook is accused of promoting a “dangerous” liberal theology. Ironically, his theology isn’t liberal at all, just rooted in a historical Christian tradition the accuser wasn’t familiar with. Which must make it “liberal,” right?   A Reformed book reviewer labels [...]

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