What’s In Your Bible? Maybe Your Family History By Beth Demme In an ad campaign by Capital One, stars from Jennifer Garner and Alec Baldwin to Samuel L. Jackson have asked, “What’s in your wallet?” I guess they would be pretty disappointed by my wallet. My husband and I decided a long time ago to avoid credit cards as if …
Why Faith Is Not An Olympic Event
By Beth Demme I love to watch the Olympic Games. I’m amazed by the dedication and skill of the Olympic athletes. In the Olympics, everything from figure skating to javelin throwing looks easy. None of those things are easy, but they look easy because the athletes are incredibly skilled and highly trained. They are, literally, the best at what they do. …
You Can Be Busy and Idle At the Same Time
By Beth Demme I used to think of busy and idle as opposites, but now I’m not sure. Lately, I’ve felt like a car idling at a red light. The engine is running, but the car isn’t moving. The mechanical and electrical components of the car are active, even busy, but the car goes nowhere. Sometimes being busy leaves me …
Prayer Is More Than a Hashtag
By Beth Demme In the wake of recent tragedies, I’ve seen a lot of #Prayfor____. I’ve seen the hashtags criticized, too. I get it. It’s not enough to pray for something if prayer is a way of avoiding responsibility or giving only lip service. It’s not enough to pray if you expect God to change a mindset or fix a …
Can a Computer Pray for You?
By Beth Demme Sometimes I make prayer seem complicated. I think about my frame of my mind, my vocabulary, my setting, my intention, etc. The truth is, prayer is so simple a child can do it. When I was growing up, we took turns saying the prayer before dinner. Well, as I remember it, we did it that way for many …
Finding Dory and Me, Sometimes I Forget God Is Waiting
By Beth Demme I don’t think Finding Dory was intended to teach me something about God, but as sometimes happens, it did anyway. I realize this admission reveals how unsophisticated I truly am, but if we’ve known each other for more than a minute this won’t be new information. Finding Dory reminded me that sometimes I go off on my …
Our Eroded Places Don’t Have to Remain Empty
By Beth Demme In the course of a lifetime, we all endure moments that range from unpleasant to dangerous to downright destructive. Sometimes those hard experiences get submerged deep inside our hearts. Like a small stream running through limestone, they cause erosion at such a slow rate we don’t even see it happening. Then one day, the erosion becomes a …
The Real Reason Loving Others Is Hard
Is Loving Myself a Prerequisite to Loving Others? By Beth Demme I know I am supposed to love my neighbors. After all, it’s in red in the Bible! So why is it hard with certain people? Maybe it’s hard to love some people because I don’t really believe God loves me. When Jesus was asked which commandment was “the Greatest,” he boiled the law …
Is Technology Messing With My Theology?
Are Google, Siri, and Alexa Making Answers Too Easy? By Beth Demme I’m smart, but I don’t know everything. Think about the smartest person you know. Guess what? They don’t know everything either. This is one of those plain and obvious truths that still needs to be said. More and more these days I find I need to say it …
Why I Love The Fall of Humanity
By Beth Demme If you’ve spent any time reading the Bible, you’ve probably noticed there are a lot of ups and downs throughout its sixty-six books. In its ups and downs, the Bible mirrors life. Literally, this mirrors life. A normal heart rhythm is composed of ups and downs, peaks and valleys. Something like this: We’ve probably all seen, either …