Spice of Life

 I've been thinking a lot about words and language lately.  I grew up speaking English and took a little Spanish in middle school.  Rather than do the practical thing and continue Spanish in high school I decided to do the exotic thing and study French.  It was really fun but not practical and I only remember a few words.  My current job as a Patient Service Representative in a Physical Therapy clinic that happens to be in a very diverse city has me really wishing I had stuck with Spanish.  The fun thing is that I see languages that I've never heard of before.  I've worked in places before that did not provide interpreters, if you didn't speak English or have an English speaking relative you were out of luck.  Can you imagine?  I have no idea what it's like to live that way.  Our company uses a phone service if we need to call a patient who needs an interpreter and our PT's use a laptop with an interpreter on video if needed, in whatever...

 Recently I have been listening to a podcast called Bodies Behind the Bus where victims of spiritual and emotional abuse share their stories, specifically people who attended churches planted by Acts 29.  It has inspired me to want to share my own story that I have been mulling over for years.  To be clear, I do not think I was abused but I do think there was a mishandling of power that played out and an emotionally inappropriate relationship that ensued. Before I get into it I think it's relevant to share some of my background.  My parents divorced when I was three and while I still saw my Dad (mostly on weekends), we had a rocky relationship.  He was not a fan of me going to church and becoming "one of those people" and honestly, I truly GET IT now as an adult.  Anyhow, as I got into middle school and high school I became really involved in youth group.  I latched on to the leaders and really admired and looked up to them.  I made some great fri...

 You might think you know what you think about something...until it get's close to home.  About 5-8 years ago I started to question what I had always believed about people who are gay (I had been taught in church that it is a sin).  I had seen more and more hatred, judgment and discrimination of the LGBTQ+ community by many who are "Christian" and it didn't sit right with me.  I started to read books, I asked people I trusted what they thought and I started to wrestle with it on my own.  After a while of this, my cousin randomly texted me that she had been in a relationship with her (female) friend and they later got married.  I was very happy for her.  The further I went on this journey, it started to come down to one question for me: what would my response be if one of my kids were gay? Along this journey I started to hear an author I love speak more and more about her thoughts and opinions.  Jen Hatmaker came out in full support of the LGBTQ+ c...

 I remember when I was in middle school one of the popular songs of the time was "Losing My Religion" by REM...I feel like that is an appropriate title for this blog.  It's no secret that over the last few years I have been on a "deconstruction" journey as far as my beliefs are concerned.  For the first time in my life I felt like it was okay to ask questions, to doubt, to be unsure.  I have never lost my faith in God or my love for Jesus but I have seriously questioned the "religion" I grew up with. In recent weeks I have taken to listening to The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill podcast on my drive to and from work but I'm taking a break because it's really bumming me out.  The more I have read and listened to people evaluate "Evangelicalism" the more disturbed I become.  I definitely grew up in a Christian sub-culture where "secular" music, fantasy books or movies, Halloween (basically anything not overtly Christian) was evil a...