grace

I have a great phone. No, it's not an iPhone, but it's still has pretty much all the features I need. For instance, it has a calendar that reminds me that it's my second-cousin-once-removed's birthday next Wednesday, or when I have a doctor's appointment, or when my second-cousin-once-removed has a doctor's appointment. It's a great option on a great phone, and I depend on it...well, greatly.  If my phone doesn't tell me about an event, it doesn't exist in my life. I put paydays and parties and Tapestry blog days in it, and everything works perfectly.

This past weekend my husband and I joined two other couples for a weekend away.  We live in different cities now,  but became friends a number of years ago when we all lived in Wheaton, Illinois.  Our assignment for the weekend was to read Unchristian by David Kinnaman and be prepared to discuss the book during the weekend.

Kinnaman’s conclusions based on extensive research reveal how younger generations tend to perceive christians as judgmental, unloving and too involved in politics.  These younger generations believe christians are hypocritical and inauthentic.

The Youth Transition Network has released the results of research about why 70% of students in high school youth groups have left the church within a year after high school graduation.

One big reason is the unrealistic expectations that our young people sense from parents and church authority figures. When asked, “What does it mean to be a good Christian,” students responded with a long list of do’s and don’ts, always and nevers:

Recently a friend called with an urgent prayer request; she’d been summoned ASAP to her son’s private Christian school and they wouldn’t say why.  She was concerned about her eight-year-old anyway because of some traumatic life situations they had been weathering, and she feared that maybe he was acting out because of how difficult his life had been.

The Dec. 15 issue of Newsweek features a breathtakingly biased essay called "The Religious Case for Gay Marriage." The author, Lisa Miller, has a high view of homosexuality and a low view of scripture—and an even lower view of those of us who dare trust in God's word. (Managing Editor Jon Meacham supports Ms. Miller's piece in his column: he says the "conservative resort to biblical authority is the worst kind of fundamentalism.")

Even as economic turmoil swirls around us, the holiday season arrived on schedule.  Terrorists across the ocean create anxiety. Yet, thanksgiving with all its trimmings, feasting and football, slipped by.

When a friend visited from another state, she used the GPS function of her phone to help her get around. I was in the car with her on one trip where we had to go to downtown Dallas and weren't sure how to get where we were going. At one point, the friendly little GPS lady instructed her to turn right and she demurred, saying, "I don’t think that's right." And she continued on through the intersection.