Fear is an extremely powerful motivator, but guilt also can cause us to do things which we really don’t want to do. Either of these can handcuff us and force us into a protective shell. The more we understand the heart of God revealed in the Bible, the less we can attribute either of these driving factors to our benevolent Father. The Christian gospel we trust simply isn’t about God motivating those He deeply loves with fear and guilt. He absolutely doesn’t need to do so. His love is abundantly powerful enough, even more powerful than these negative feelings.

As many times as we’ve read the passage commonly summarized as “Jesus Reinstates Peter”, we don’t seem to be able to get past Peter’s guilt trip. It’s difficult to deny that Peter was obviously suffering from guilt after having denied knowing Jesus on multiple occasions. Perhaps we can gain insight by looking at this famous dialog from the perspective of Jesus while asking, “Is laying a guilt trip on someone really consistent with the Jesus we have come to know and love?”

Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?”

“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?”

He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”

The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep” (John 21:15-17).

Talking to his risen Lord, Peter appears to be so guilt-ridden that he pulls the classic ploy of deflecting blame which Adam piloted when first confronted by God in his rebellion, “‘The woman you put here with me, “blame her” (Gen 3:12). In a similar fashion, Peter objects in the verses which immediately follow as if to say to Jesus, “Hey what about John? Don’t just chastise me.”

While it is obvious Peter defends himself out of a guilty conscious, he is also saddened by the line of questioning Jesus used in verse 17. Yet, we don’t know that Jesus intended to hurt him with His words. On the contrary, it’s most likely that He did not.
Jesus was about to leave Peter for good, in a physical sense. They would not meet again until reunited in heaven. He needed Peter to firmly communicate a gospel of unconditional love to a nation of people who had been hammered by their leaders with God’s untouchable holiness, unbendable law and righteous indignation for over 3,000 years. What was the best way for Jesus to instill this message in Peter? We know Jesus would have chosen the perfect method, and guilt was not the answer.

Naturally, Peter was probably gut-wrenched wanting to prove to Jesus that he truly did love Him, but Jesus turned the focus away from his guilt and onto the task at hand. Of course, Peter was trying to justify himself, but Jesus was beyond that. Jesus knew that Peter was already justified, because of His atoning sacrifice, and there was nothing Peter could do, or not do, to change that. Peter’s sins, including the three times he denied Him, were already forgotten, (Isaiah 43:25). Jesus turned Peter outward toward the sacred mission to love and to feed His precious flock whom He recently purchased with an infinite price.

There wasn’t as much guilt involved here as may think, and it was much less than Peter apparently perceived. It was as if Jesus was responding with words similar to Peter’s, “You know that I love you, as well, or I wouldn’t have given you such an important mission to complete for Me.”

In the end, did it even matter how much Peter loved Jesus? Isn’t the fact that Jesus intensely loved Peter the most important thing? Jesus wanted Peter to understand this, and He demonstrated it publically in His death, but now more personally by giving him a huge responsibility to undertake for Him. Whatever emotions or efforts Peter could muster for Jesus would eventually be insufficient then, and in the future. All that mattered is that Jesus would continue to build His church, and as He promised even before Peter’s denials, Peter would now be playing a large role in that work (Matthew 16:18).

In essence, Jesus was saying to Peter, “Don’t worry about how much you love Me. Instead, you should consider how much I love you. Of course, you love Me, because I chose to love you. Now, in the same unconditional way I have loved you, in spite of your failures, love and feed the others I love, as well.”

When it was all said and done, it didn’t matter how much Peter truly loved Jesus. What was important was that Jesus loved Peter, and never stopped – no matter how many times he failed. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter how much we love Jesus either. It’s difficult to believe, but He doesn’t stop loving us no matter how we have offended Him, others or ourselves. He promises to use us for His glory whenever we stop looking inward at our faults long enough to answer the call to follow Him.

Peter probably didn’t feel this way at the time, but the hard questions from Jesus were actually words of encouragement. They become words of encouragement to us all. Many words from God are meant to encourage us in our frailty, if we can see through the avalanche of guilt and our fear of punishment which often hits us first.
God sometimes leads us where we don’t want to go just as He was about to do with Peter. Peter needed to know Jesus still loved him in order to bear his new responsibilities alone. We need to be sure of His love for us daily while possessing the confidence that it doesn’t ebb and flow like the ocean’s tide, as does our obedience to Him.

We must not lose site that our value is always immeasurable in His eyes because His gaze is only focused on the work on the cross. We must cling to the fact that our worth is priceless due to blood of Christ even when we sin. If we forget these things by allowing guilt to motivate us to follow Him, rather than forcing us to take full advantage of His mercy which is freely given, then we are only being moved by fear. We won’t consistently obey Him, nor will we find success in our struggle against sin. It’s His love which motivates us to obedience, rather than fear or guilt. The one closest to Jesus learned this truth, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18). It’s in His perfect love He wants us to respond. Peter ultimately got it. We should too!

Annually watching “A Charlie Brown Christmas” with my children, compels me to consider the wistful wisdom of Peanuts comic strip creator Charles Schultz. The world of Snoopy, Linus, Schroeder, Lucy, Sally, Peppermint Patty and the rest is a bitter-sweet rehearsal of what so many people experience in real life. The gentle approach Schultz takes also helps us to find humor in the daily ironies that come their way.
Charlie Brown’s idealism in the Christmas special is really a contrast between those possessing a hunger for more than this life can give, and those who have not only forgotten the real point of Christmas, but who have forgotten the focus of Christianity, as well. The expectation for Charlie Brown to return with what others considered to be a perfect Christmas tree – a false, aluminum one – symbolizes a spiritual danger for Christians. It’s often easy for us to build artificial spiritual constructs and believe these things are the means to personal happiness.
What are these artificial spiritual constructs? They commonly take the shape of possessions, which we can then consider as proof of our spiritual well-being. For some, this is simply an accumulation of things that are generally associated with success, such as expensive cars, clothes or the latest gadgetry. We may wrongly assume that having all this stuff is a sign of special favor from heaven. For others, a church can be an artificial construct. It’s as if we think God himself, upon contemplating these enormous, fashionable facilities, might exclaim, “Wow! Now that’s a church I want to attend!” Maybe this is an impetus for those of fickle faith to frequent church. The thought process may be something like, “If I am going to church anyway, wouldn’t it be cool to rub elbows with God?”
Artificial spiritual constructs may also develop out of what we might consider good works. Many people today are keeping score in their spiritual lives. They quickly compare what they do and how often they do it to the actions of others. Tithing, working in a church building and volunteering at church events are all esteemed by some like feathers in a spiritual cap.
Jesus warned against this type of thinking, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices – mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law – justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former, (Matthew 23:23).
While it is certainly not wrong to be involved in serving, our work for the Lord is not meant to replace our relationship with Him! Too often we become satisfied with what we do, or what we have, and fail to seek more desirable things like the presence of God in our lives.
Actually, an artificial spiritual construct is nothing less than an idol. It is something we’ve concocted either by fashioning it literally with our hands or by imagining it with our minds. This then robs the rightful position which God should have in our lives: the only true source of personal fulfillment, joy and peace.
Charlie Brown’s war with commercialism aside, the real meaning of Christmas is pictured best in the little tree that no one else wanted. The tree might also represent all those who are poor in spirit who will inherit the kingdom of God through their faith in Jesus (see Matthew 5:3). The lowly of heart – materially well off, or not – are the very ones who are in the best frame of mind to receive God’s blessing. They are the ones who can most easily see that there really isn’t any hope without God. Instead of finding rejection at the hands of their Creator, they will find the tenderness, compassion, and understanding which the prophet spoke about in Isaiah 42:3, “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.” While we may not have time for all the lowly of heart we meet in our daily routine, God always acknowledges their need, their hurt and their emptiness.
Perhaps Charlie Brown’s little tree isn’t only a picture of the weak, forlorn and barren; maybe it also symbolizes Christ. He came in the weakest human form – and infant – and was forlorn from day one when even the Bethlehem inns had no room for him. Wrapped in rags, lying in a feedbox of a farm animal, he was a barren as anything can be.
Although we pity the scraggly tree Charlie Brown ended up with, the truth is that Charlie Brown needed the tree much more than the tree needed him. This endearing, renowned blockhead is the one who is clearly bereft of purpose, emptied of a sense of his own personal value and filled with questions that no one can answer. That is, until Linus wisely recites the familiar Biblical account of Jesus’ birth from Luke 2:1-14.
Unlike the aluminum Christmas trees, the love of God is real and alive, reaching to the humble heart of anyone searching in sincerity. If your heart is humble enough to admit that it isn’t filled with a lasting sense of peace and purpose, it is time to stop chasing the flashing lights of the world whirling by at breakneck speed. It is time to start looking to the One who entered our world through a lowly manger, only to pour out His life on a rugged cross. It is time to look to the One Who rose from the dead in order to seal for us a future with Him forever. May your Christmas be focused on the only One who can give it meaning… Jesus.
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” John 1:14.

Thom Mollohan and his family have ministered in southern Ohio the past 16 ½ years. He is the pastor of Pathway Community Church and the author of The Fairy Tale Parables. He may be reached for comments or questions by email at pastorthom@pathwaygallipolis.com.

Get the freewarez lolz! (Did I even spell that right?!) For practically any type of software it is possible to find some sort of free alternative, usually called freeware (or open-source software). In fact, if you think you can’t afford a computer, visit a used computer store and ask for their bargain basement box with a decent hard drive and Wi-Fi and wave off the expensive software. Load up Linux from a CD (see below) and then head to the closest free Wi-Fi spot and start equipping your machine. Not all are equal in quality and you may end up wanting to opt for fancier programs that have a more polished look and extended functionality; but for most tasks you can deal with the free stuff – where there’s a will, there’s a way.
There are so many options for good freeware any sort of exhaustive list isn’t really possible in this space, but here are a few of my favorites.
Operating Systems
Linux is a type of operating system (based on Unix, the same thing that’s running beneath Mac OS X, actually) which is free. It comes in countless distributions (or distros) tailored to whatever purposes (data recovery, gaming, multimedia, education, server and even science). For a beginner I’d recommend Ubuntu, one of the more popular distros. You can download it and run it from a CD first to give it a try if you’d like.
Documents/Education
OpenOffice: Free office suite. Not as attractive of an interface as Office 2007/2010, but hey, it’s free.
PrimoPDF: Make anything a .pdf file with the print to pdf feature. Also handy for when you don’t have a printer and need to print a copy of a online purchase confirmation, etc.
GraphCalc: Don’t have one of those expensive graphic calculators? This program can do 2D and 3D graphing.
Google Earth: See satellite images of the earth overlayed with various information layers. It fits the images to the terrain so you can do a 3D fly-through as well. You can check out Mars, the moon and the stars too!
E-Sword: free Bible study software.
Video and Audio
Audacity: Audio editing software. Not exactly super handy for actually making music, but you can use it to filter and splice tracks together or convert from one format to another. Great for prepping music for use with video.
Realplayer: Ever wanted to save a video from YouTube? You can with the video downloader included in Realplayer.
VLC – The “play anything” player: Not it’s actual name (VLC media player), but this program is generally held in well-regard to be able to play almost any type of video, no matter the codec.
Mediamonkey: If you’ve tried iTunes but don’t care for it, and don’t like Windows Media Player either, give this media player a try.
imTOO Movie Maker Got raw video footage you want to jazz up? This freebie allows you to create movies from multiple videos with professional-looking transitions and music.
Internet
Skype: Video-chat, calling program. Use your computer as a phone, basically… not very useful without internet, obviously
Filezilla: For any older-school technology people out there, this is a good FTP client for uploading/downloading files. This is not a P2P (peer-to-peer) client.
Try PortableApps.com to find versions of free and popular software that can be installed to a flash drive that can port executable files so you can take it with you wherever you go. I used to have my favorite browser installed onto one so that where ever I went, I always had my favorite bookmarks, saved passwords, and browsing history with me for convenient browsing.
Photo and Graphics
GIMP: Think Adobe Photoshop alternative. You can use it for anything from editing photos to painting something from scratch or doing some graphics design.
Inkscape: This one is similar to Adobe Illustrator. Useful for vector-based graphics design.
Blender: I haven’t played with this one too much, but you can do some amazing stuff with this like 3D model design and even animation.
Photoscape: If GIMP is a little much for the simple editing you want to do, give Photoscape a try. It has a bunch of easy to use, handy and fun tools to make the most of your photos.
Picasa: A very well-designed easy to use photo editing and organization application. Includes handy things like face recognition and the ability to tie into your Google account online to share photos.
Games
BZFlag: 3D online multiplayer tank game with free-for-all, capture-the-flag, etc. Has an older look, but is fun nonetheless.
Battle for Wesnoth: Fantasy turn-based strategy game.
Utilities
Recuva: Ever deleted a file and then realized you still needed it? … and you just emptied the trash can? Well, the truth of the fact is, your 0’s and 1’s on the hard drive for your file are probably still there. This little utility can help you get those files back.
7Zip: Can handle almost any file compression format. We typically just think of .zip files, but his can also handle .tar, .tzip, .gzip., .7z., .rar, .lzh…. the list goes on.
CCleaner: Tool to help clean up various files that exist on your system.
Launchy: In Windows 7, the start menu now has a place you type to launch any program, or access any of your files, but that doesn’t exist back in XP. With this program, finding things in various places like my documents, bookmarks or that start menu is just a few keystrokes away. It’ll take what you type and make suggestions for what you might be looking for.
All the “A” Anti-virus Apps… there’s a bunch: AVG, Avast, Avira, Adaware.
WinDirStat: Running out of space on your hard drive? This program graphically shows you what files/folders are using the most space.
WinMerge: This one takes a bit more time to figure out, but the basic concept is you have two almost identical folders, but they aren’t exactly the same. This program allows you to compare the differences between to folders and chose which files from each you’d like to use where there are differences.
For even more free software try sites like SourceForge.net or CNET Download.com (fair warning, not all software on these sites are free to try, i.e., demo).

“I don’t have faith in faith or hope in hope. I believe in God, I have faith in His truth.”-Alex Campbell.
(Don’t recognize the author of this quote? That’s because he was one of my best friends in high school and he died last year in a car accident.)

As I thinking about what to write this month, I kept coming back to the idea of joy, and strangely, relative to the above quote from my friend. What do faith, hope and the truth of God have to do with joy? That’s a good question.
In his autobiography, Surprised by Joy, C.S. Lewis describes in great detail his definition of, his experiences with, and his desire for joy. He capitalizes the word “joy” because it is so central to everything in his life. In this work, he calls joy the experience “of an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction.” And he also asserts that joy is something very distinct from pleasure or happiness. It is often more closely connected with our longings than the things with which we satisfy those longings. He goes on to explain that our longing for something that we expect to bring joy is actually closer to what joy really is than the actual experience we would have if we obtained that which we desired.
As I reflect on my own experience, this definition seems to be quite fitting. Nothing I chase after in this world will ever satisfy. Everything I consume in an attempt to fill my longings ends up leaving a desire for something more. None of the temporary happiness these things bring could truly be described as a genuine sense of joy. To borrow a concept from Blaise Pascal, joy is the vacuum that I keep trying to fill, but nothing in this world is capable of filling it. My desire remains unsatisfied because nothing the world offers will fill it.
Why is this? We see in the first three chapters of Genesis that God establishes a world where man walks in a perfect relationship with Him. It is one where man glorifies Him by reflecting His image (Genesis 1:27), and enjoys Him (Philippians 4:4). God created everything for His glory. God created us to reflect His glory to all of creation. He created and designed our very souls in such a way that when we are walking in these ways, we receive joy! He creates us for a joy that comes only through knowing and reflecting Him.
However, we know that these things are broken when we sin, and sin separates man from God. This was demonstrated by Adam and Eve after they sinned. God kicked them out of the garden. Since our primary problem is our separation from God, we desire to have this longing filled most desperately. This is implied in Romans 5:10 where it tells us that Jesus came to reconcile us to God. So our unsatisfied longings are logically connected to the fact that we are – in our natural state – separated from God. We chase our own ways and we do not seek God.
We instead seek our own glory. We fail to reflect Him properly. And we fail to find our enjoyment in Him. Joy is not something we can experience in our sinfulness and it becomes, at best, an unsatisfied desire without Christ’s complete act of reconciliation.
The reason Jesus tells us in John 15 that He is the vine and we are branches connected to Him is so that our joy may be filled (vs.11). Paul further tells us in Colossians 3:10 that Jesus is restoring the image of our Creator in us.
So we see in God’s plan to redeem the world that He desires our joy. He indeed has designed us to have joy in Him. This is a hard truth to grasp. Why does the God of all the universe care about my joy? Has He not stated that the very reason He created me was to glorify Him? Doesn’t it say in Acts 17 that He is not served by human hands, and is above us and really has no need for us? If these things are true then why does my joy matter? Am I not self-seeking when I pursue these unsatisfied longings that I have?
Understanding the word “glory” more completely can help us come to grips with these concepts. According to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, the Hebrew word translated this way in Isaiah 43:7, and other places, means to ascribe weight, splendor or copiousness. To consider something or someone glorious is not merely to think that they are swell, beautiful or nice. It means to view that person in their splendor and to consider it a weighty matter to place a great value on that individual.
So how does this help us understand how we are to relate to God? The Bible begins with the fact that God is in the beginning, and that as the Creator, He is above Creation. No object is greater than its maker. So if God is above the heavens and the earth, if He is the Creator of time, space and matter, then who can compare to His value? The obvious answer is no one. There is nothing more real than God because everything that is real was created by Him. He is the ultimate reality. And if this is the case, then God is supremely valuable. Not only is He supremely valuable, but He is also then supremely enjoyable because He created joy! The fact that we have an unquenchable longing for joy points to the fact that there is something outside of us which is greater than we are. There is a bigger reality; and that reality is God Himself. He has created in us a longing that can only be satisfied in Him. We give Him glory by recognizing His supreme worth, His incomparable value and His unspeakable glory. We honor Him when we humbly recognize that our human efforts to fill the vacuum mentioned earlier are in vain. Only He can fill that desire. He has loved us so much that He fills this desire we have to enjoy Him!
So where do faith, hope and truth meet our pursuit of joy? Faith is the gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9), which gives us hope (Romans 8:24) in Jesus Christ, Who in His great love fills us with joy. This is the only way the void we have for joy in our souls can be filled. That is weighty. That is amazing!

by Randy Kosloski

I have pastor friend who stutters. Every time he has to speak, in person or on the phone, with anyone, his struggle punches him right in the diaphragm. I love this guy, so I asked to speak to him about his stammer, arrogantly believing that I could help him overcome his hindrance. During our conversation, he shared some of the heartbreaking difficulties he had as a child living with a stutter. Just when I felt I was going to devote my life to helping him, he said that he was glad that God had given him the stutter because he was afraid of how prideful he would be without it.
Learning comes through suffering. My friend understood this much better than I did. If we suffer, it is likely that we suffer either for God’s sake or because God wants to change something in our lives. Either way we should rejoice in our suffering.
Naturally, people go to a therapist because they are suffering and they want the suffering to stop. No one has ever paid me a visit just for an emotional health check-up. Most people who decide to see a therapist chose to do so out of some emotional anguish. It is usually after they have suffered for a while that they begin to acknowledge their pain. After trying to ignore the suffering for a time they finally decide they cannot deal with it any longer and then they come to see someone like me. People hope that someone will end their suffering. However, most therapists ask these tormented souls to return to their suffering in hopes that the individual will think through their pain and come up with their own solution.
It’s been said, “I’d rather live inside my own skin. If I suffer, I’ll suffer honestly.” Job is an example of this. In Where is God When it Hurts, Philip Yancy points out that God was more accepting of Job’s honest cries of grief than He was of the pious responses by Job’s friends. Job’s honest cries allowed God to intervene and help. Through his suffering, Job’s image of God was changed from the classic theology, which says blessing equals godliness, to a richer theology of suffering equaling godliness.
In Yancey’s book, he refers to C.S. Lewis’ remark that suffering does not lead to evil or cynicism. Lewis sites the example of a front line in a war having no more of these negative emotions than any of the other factions of the military unit.
The variety of suffering abounds and so do the reactions to it. In the end, it is our reaction to suffering that ultimately defines us. It is in our reaction to suffering, whether in response to our own or that of someone else, which God uses to reveal Himself in this world. Suffering is inevitable but our reaction to it is still in question.
So our challenge is to suffer honestly. We should not blame our suffering on anyone – including God. If we accept it, question it and prayerfully endure it, we will someday see where it leads. Life does not exist without suffering. It is not as if anyone could live so perfectly as to avoid all suffering. Jesus lived perfectly, and no one suffered more than He did.
Hunger is a form of suffering, yet still God asks us in the Bible to fast. Why is this? I used to believe it was so we could use the time that we would normally spend with food to be with God. That may be part of the reason, but for the most part, we fast so we can suffer. God often reveals Himself in these times.
My pastor friend understands this far better than I do. Like the pain in Paul’s flesh that the Lord would not take away, my pastor’s friend’s stutter reminded him to lean on God no matter what he was doing. Whether it is talking on the phone or preaching the Word, he cannot rely on his own strength.
Consider it joy when we suffer for when we suffer we draw closer to Him. Lewis sums this up appropriately, “But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” Suffering is not something we should relish or strive for, but when it comes, we do well to somehow allow it to draw us nearer to our God.

I’ve been thinking about prostitutes, the Church and Jesus lately – not necessarily in that order.
There’s a story in the Bible about a prostitute who simply had to get some time with Jesus. She wanted to get close to Him so desperately that she went to a dinner put on by a religious bigwig.
When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”
Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”
“Tell me, teacher,” he said.
“Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.”
“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.
Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”
Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” (Luke 7:37-48)
Think about that scene. Hooker hygiene must have been atrocious back in the year zero. So you have this stinky prostitute who crashes the party of a priest who is probably trying to impress all his churchy friends by having the people’s prophet over for a meal at his house. Imagine the stares and the whispered comments. Imagine the condescending tone of the servant sent to show her the door. Imagine this woman’s determination to put up with all these religious jerks so she can weep and pour expensive oil on some preaching carpenter’s feet and wipe them with her hair. Imagine the contrast of the hooker’s smell mixed with the fragrant aroma coming from her alabaster flask.
What was it about Jesus that attracted her? Was it because she saw Him treat the drunks, outcasts and the diseased with dignity causing her to desire the same? Was it because Jesus gave her hope by telling her she was clean in spite of all evidence to the contrary? Who knows for sure, but clearly this woman desperately wanted to be with Jesus and the priest was a hindrance to her.
I feel like a prostitute in church a lot of the time.
Unfortunately, some who claim to follow Jesus have created churches which are unattractive and uncomfortable for hookers. Women of such poor reputation were certainly comfortable around Jesus. Show me a church that can’t keep prostitutes away and I bet Jesus is there. I’d rather be in a room full of forgiven sinners who love God than in the house of an uptight priest any day.
Eugene Peterson, who wrote The Message, once spoke about how the experience he had working in his father’s butcher shop impacted his idea of church. Peterson said:
“The brothel was just about two streets down from our shop. And there was always talk on the street about the prostitutes. But when they came into our store, people knew their first name, they treated them with dignity. They were in a safe place. Later, that translated for me into a congregation. When you come into a sanctuary, it’s a safe place.”
I used to have a safe place. I experienced it in a small church for eight simple, glorious years. That church is gone now and I’m mourning the loss. While I don’t feel comfortable around a lot of other Christians, I felt at home there. You know what made the difference? We were all prostitutes and we knew it, but more than that, we were Jesus’ prostitutes.
St. Augustine reportedly said, “The Church is a whore, but she is my mother.” Yes, Jesus loves prostitutes so much He married one, but bad things happen when the Church forgets she’s Jesus’ prostitute bride.
First, bad religion has a deceptive way of lulling us into a false sense of security. We believe all the right stuff and do our best to avoid our big sins so we figure we’re not as bad as all those sinners on the streets. It’s dangerous to live up to our own selective standards while forgetting God’s law of love. It’s been said, “Self-righteousness is like bad breath. Everyone knows you have it except you.” Prostitutes don’t have this problem. They know they’re nasty!
Jesus said, “Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many…” (verse 47). If the Church would remember that she’s a prostitute, she’d get over herself, her righteousness and start obsessing on Jesus’ righteousness, instead. When the Church forgets that she’s still the unfaithful bride of Jesus, she’s not only lulled into a false sense of security, she also loses her ability to love.
Jesus continued, “Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven.” Understanding that we’re bad and He’s good only deals with the first half of the problem. Believing that we’re made clean by union with Jesus, despite all evidence to the contrary, gets to the second half of the issue. We need to see that Jesus’ righteousness is 100% free and ours for the taking. The prostitute and her Husband are now one flesh.
But, Jesus didn’t stop there, “Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little, loves little.” When we forget that we are forgiven much, our love grows cold. That’s why Steve Brown says, “The worst thing you have going for you is your goodness… when you know it. And the best thing you have going for you is your sin… when you know it.” Knowing our sin, acknowledging it as such and turning to God in faith for His free righteousness, replaces stone hearts with those softened by gratitude. We love Him because He first loved us! Get that backwards and we have a loveless religion. A lack of love leads to a multitude of sins, including creating whitewashed tombs and calling them churches – pretty on the outside, but inside they are full of death.
That’s not a church even prostitutes like us want to attend!

Through my teen years I was overweight, insecure and “somber,” as Mother would say. In my Bronx neighborhood, guys took pride in having sex with as many girls as possible — the more sex they had, the manlier they considered themselves. So I was in a real predicament at 19 — and still a virgin. I felt like a freak.
I thought something was terribly wrong with me. Maybe I have a biological problem…a physical problem. I’m ugly! The pressure to have sex weighed down on me like an elephant stepping on a peanut. I felt humiliated, ashamed, the weight heavier with each passing day. No normal guy stays a virgin for so long, I thought.
I finally met a girl who showed interest in me. And we did it. We were a top-class act — a real Romeo and Juliet. I spared no expense. After all, this was my first time. So I took her to the top of a dark, smelly stairwell in my apartment building — a climactic end to 19 years of waiting. It was over in 10 minutes.
That’s it? That’s what I waited for… felt pressured to do? I didn’t need to be a Christian to know that something wasn’t right. I felt dirty, uneasy and just wrong.
I married the lucky lady, Suzette, six months later, and we moved to Astoria, Queens. We fought most of the time and separated after a year. I had learned about condoms but never used them. During our separation we discovered that Suzette was nearly six months pregnant. I almost fainted; horror seized my mind.
At 20 years old I didn’t have a clue about babies, pregnancy or fatherhood, nor did I have a place of my own. I gave that up when we separated. And sadly, I didn’t like Suzette anymore. I knew she only married me to flee her overbearing father who would have never allowed us to live together unmarried.
Suzette decided to “terminate the pregnancy” — as the people at the family planning clinic called it. Looking back, I’m struck by the jargon the clinic used: terminate a pregnancy — it sounds like a sterile, harmless procedure. What they did there was terminate babies.
Ignorant and afraid of pregnancy, I agreed with Suzette’s decision to have an abortion. The building stood on a busy Manhattan street. Once in the office, dim lights and partially closed blinds subdued smileless faces seated in the lobby. The receptionist, a short, sergeant-looking woman, glared at me several times while Suzette filled out some papers. We wrote a check for $500 and sat in the waiting area — I was the only guy. I felt like I was at a murder victim’s funeral and I was the murderer.
I wasn’t allowed to accompany Suzette to the back. When they were done, Suzette’s tan complexion was pasty white as she paced slowly towards me. My stomach tightened and my heart pounded in my chest. I couldn’t wait to get out of there.
“We have to come back in the morning,” she said, looking at her stomach.
What? I thought, horrified and angered. “Oh, really? Why?” I tried to act calm.
She told me how the “lady in the back” explained that a “D and E” procedure for late-term abortions takes two days. The first day is only to inject a fluid to stretch her uterus.
“Okay,” I swallowed hard as we walked out onto the busy street.
“I might have cramps and slight bleeding,” she continued, “so the lady told me to go home and rest.”
Cramps? Bleeding? I panicked.
We didn’t speak for the 40-minute subway ride back to my mom’s apartment in the Bronx.
That night I felt nauseated as I watched her in pain from cramps and bleeding. I didn’t, at that time, fully understand the fact that the following day our six-month-old unborn baby, whose organ systems were completely functioning, including body parts required to feel pain, would be pulled out of Suzette’s body — whole, or in pieces.
Suzette lay there tossing and turning that night, slightly moaning, an occasional tear rolling down her cheeks.
The sun hung high in the sky the following morning, illuminating the city. Yet its far reaching grasp could not touch the darkness I felt inside my heart.
After that event, though Suzette never verbalized it, her eyes screamed that the abortion was my fault. Our relationship never recovered from that experience. We divorced four months later.
I moved back to the Bronx and moved on. I met Sophia, and it was lust at first sight. That sounds crude, but it’s true. I didn’t have the first notion of God’s plan for relationships or His power to carry it out. As a result, every relationship after my divorce followed a predictable sequence: lust, then sex, relationship and finally, unhappiness — the complete opposite of God’s plan for relationships.
Three months after my first date with Sophia — and by that I mean our first sexual encounter — we moved in together. We’ll save tons of money, I thought. Again, even though we both knew about condoms and other forms of birth control, we never used them. And not surprisingly, she became pregnant. Differences and arguments soon followed, though, as did our first of several visits to a family planning clinic. I was greeted with the same cold, “What are you doing here?” glare from the receptionist. I felt like a loser. I could see why guys didn’t come to these places. I felt a constant indictment of all men’s irresponsibility.
Sophia and I stayed together, but not without problems. Some days I burned with jealousy imagining all the handsome guys Sophia eyed out, while she seethed with suspicion, envisioning all the beautiful girls I flirted with. Late night quarrels filled with hurtful words that never healed left me without focus and energy to accomplish much.
During Sophia’s second pregnancy, I reluctantly followed her to the clinic. To my surprise, we were in and out quickly. Nonetheless, it was sufficient time for my conscience to contemplate something new. For some time, I had been an HIV counselor working in a teen health center in the South Bronx. I warned patients about the consequences of unprotected sex and taught them how to use condoms, but I never practiced what I taught. My conscience screamed, “You hypocrite!”
Sophia became pregnant a third time. I figured she’d make an appointment at the clinic and take care of “the problem.” One day I received a call. Sophia was waiting to see a doctor in the emergency room at Montefiore Medical Center. She was bleeding and didn’t know why. After five hours of waiting, the doctor confirmed she had had a miscarriage. We never talked about it.
We had other problems that we did discuss, though — quite vociferously. As Sophia studied to become a nurse, I pursued a career in music. “Get a real job,” she often suggested.
Sophia had a preschool-aged son from a previous relationship and I burned with jealousy each time the child’s father visited.
I had been contemplating leaving New York and I wanted Sophia to come with me. Then she became pregnant a fourth time. She threatened to get an abortion if I left New York.
I left.
Sophia went to the clinic.
I had poured my energy and focus into Sophia for two years and in the end, all I had to show for it was heartache, disappointment, emptiness and regret.
I left New York and landed in Phoenix, Ariz., determined not to hook up with anyone. I stayed single eight months. What a triumph!
I pursued my dream of music and landed a job working with a Reggae band. While performing on a cool October night in a sports bar in downtown Phoenix, I met Ashley. We followed the same pattern as my other relationships: lust, sex, relationship and finally, heartache.
But this time, I decided to try a little something different. I thought maybe we could make things work if we had a child together. I put the proposal to Ashley this way: we have a child, I play music to support us, and we live happily ever after. Ashley nodded.
This is awesome! I thought.
But I warned her, “I could be out of town several weeks at a time. But that doesn’t mean I won’t help raise our child. And, if for some reason your love for me turns to hate,” I continued, “please don’t disappear with our child or use her against me in any way.”
I took her blank stare to mean she agreed with me.
Ten months later our baby girl arrived.
Ashley could no longer hang out with me at shows late in the evening, and with only one vehicle, she couldn’t leave the house whenever she wanted. Trips to the mall were fewer than she liked, and without anyone nearby to babysit, going to movies was impossible.
“I’m a prisoner in this house!” she reminded me often.
With only me working, money was tight, so we shopped at secondhand stores.
“You want your daughter to wear clothes with holes in them?” she would say.
“It’s just that — ”
“You’re so (expletive) cheap!”
“I’m doing the best — ”
“What type of father are you?” she asked, but already had an answer.
My work kept me out late at night. Ashley accused me of sleeping around. I don’t blame her for thinking that way, because at that point, I used any excuse to get away from her. I could tell we were nearing the end of the relationship sequence. Heartache was in full effect. Having a child didn’t better our relationship as I hoped; it made it worse. Ashley’s love for me turned to hate, as I had unwittingly predicted, and our daughter became Ashley’s weapon against me.
One day I came home to an empty apartment. Ashley had packed all their clothes and left. I sat and cried. She came back two weeks later. And thus began a pattern of leaving and coming back, which continued throughout our three years together.
The last time she threatened to leave, I was more than ready for her to be gone for good, but I couldn’t bear the thought of not having my daughter with me, or of never seeing her again. Ashley made it clear that I was a deadbeat dad and had no rights as a father. I believed it. I felt desperate, trapped in a corner. I had no clue how to work it all out, to be rid of Ashley but keep our daughter.
Meanwhile, I had come to know and trust a Christian girl, Christina, whom I met while I worked at my brother’s grocery store to supplement our income. Christina owned a hair salon around the corner from us and would come in each day and buy a cup of coffee, Snapple peach ice tea, and Ruffle potato chips. In desperation one day, and because of her gentle prodding, I shared with her my dilemma. In turn, she invited me to church. I went twice then thanked her. I told her it wasn’t for me. Later I learned she continued to pray for me, even though I showed no interest in church.
One day Christina gave me a sermon on tape from which I learned God’s design for marriage. I also learned that God regarded “shacking up” as a sin, and when two unmarried people have a child, he or she is considered illegitimate in God’s eyes. My heart broke.
As Ashley once again packed her bags to leave, I knew I needed to change, not only for myself, but for our daughter as well. So I committed my life to Christ and began going to church.
I mourned when I learned that all those abortions were lives of my own flesh and blood that I had cut short. When I confessed the abortions to Christina, she told me I’d see the children in heaven one day. I wept (and have tears in my eyes even now as I write this).
Though God forgave all my mistakes in a moment, the natural consequences continued to play out for many years. I went months without seeing my daughter because Ashley would disappear with her, cutting off all contact. When my daughter became old enough to tell me stories of her mom’s boyfriend pushing her mother to the floor, police visiting their apartment, and her mom leaving her alone for several days at a neighbor’s house, I initiated a court case. The proceedings dragged on for three grueling years at great financial and emotional cost. But through it all, God gave me strength, support and resources to do the right thing.
My daughter has suffered many consequences of my mistakes as well. She’s had to deal with the pain of having been shuffled between parents, hearing one parent hurl insults at the other, and eventually being abandoned by her mother.
Even as I was dealing with my past, God was giving me a new start. Christina later became my wife and eventually adopted my daughter. With Christina, I followed a different relationship sequence, one that I learned from the tape she gave me: relationship first, courting second, marriage third and finally, happiness! My local pastor was also quite serious about no sex before marriage and he effectively reinforced this teaching for me. And at this point, I didn’t need any convincing to understand why God ordained this order in relationships. I knew first-hand the cultural enticements of premarital sex and the awful consequences that follow.
Christina and I were strictly friends for a year — no kissing, no hugging, no nothing! Then we counseled with our pastor before we began officially dating. We dated for six months, got engaged, and then dated another six months before marrying. Over two years together, we built a strong friendship.
If I started getting a little too touchy-feely with her, the Holy Spirit would “slap my hand” and lovingly tell me, “You’ve already blown your life in this area many times. Do you really want to do that again?” I answered, “No,” and I would stop and ask God to forgive me and to give us strength to keep our hands off of each other.
Many people have a hard time believing this, but our first kiss was on our wedding day, seconds after we said, “I do.” When I went to kiss my wife, she reacted by slightly pulling back. Stunned, I looked at the pastor as if to say, “Tell her it’s okay, we’re married now!”
I’m amazed at how God restored a sense of purity to my life after so many years of promiscuity. On my wedding night, I felt like a virgin. I know that sounds weird, but it’s true. For the first time in my life, sex felt right, clean and pure — just the way God intended.

This story was excerpted from the new book Purity’s Big Payoff/Premarital Sex is a Big Rip-off, edited by Donna Lee Schillinger.
The most difficult task in the life of a Christian single today is maintaining purity until marriage. The payoff is perfect love and sex, just as our Creator intended. But if that’s so awesome, why aren’t more people choosing it? And how can premarital sex be so bad if so many people are doing it and loving it? People who were virgins when they married aren’t usually the type to kiss and tell. And when premarital sex goes wrong, no one wants to Tweet it. This awkward silence from both contingents isn’t helping the next generation to decide well on the issue of premarital sex.
Purity’s Big Payoff/Premarital Sex is a Big Rip-off is a collection of 17 first-person narratives about successfully waiting for marriage to have sex—or not. Contributors on both sides of the issue candidly share in face-reddening detail what they learned on their way to the wedding bed. Young people aiming to remain pure will be encouraged and learn practical strategies for resisting sexual temptation. Those who wish they had waited will learn that it’s never too late to restore purity with God’s grace.
Learn more at PuritysBigPayoff.com. Now on sale at major online booksellers, through your local bookstore or for a special price of $12 plus free shipping at www.OnMyOwnNow.com, which receives as a donation half of the proceeds of its sales. Also available in Kindle through Amazon.com.
También en español: La Gran Recompensa de la Pureza / La Gran Estafa del Sexo Prematrimonial. Visite www.VivaLaPureza.info.

Every individual wants to be free. It’s rare to find a person unwilling to risk a great deal to escape from harsh imprisonment. We naturally want to go where we please, and constantly fight restrictions placed on the decisions we make. We want life to be easy. However, perhaps we aren’t as free as we would like to think. Don’t worry, it’s actually a good thing.
After building the great city of Egypt, which would serve as a prison to the chosen nation of God for over 400 years, God responded to the cries of His people for freedom.
The process of events which God used to set Israel free was amazing from the first of the plagues to the devastating final blow to Egypt via the death of the great city’s first-born. Each part of the process was clearly done to bring glory to Israel’s God, but even after what Israel saw, doubt remained as the huddled masses of Hebrews clung to each other in fear staring at the enormous cloud of revengeful rage approaching them in the form of the mighty army of Egypt. Their backs were up against an equally daunting mass of water which promised to quickly serve as a massive sepulcher for the former slave nation. Many of the Israelites probably would have chosen the watery grave rather than have their body parts spread across the dry sand with their blood watering the unforgiving desert.
They were in this predicament not because they took a wrong turn, but because they followed the mouth-piece of their God. Now they were cornered by one gruesome form of death behind and a watery grave before them. God would use this situation to make a lasting impression on them as their sole deliverer. They were not in the wrong place. They were cornered by grace. We know it ended well for them, but it doesn’t mean things always go so well for us.
Perhaps the Psalmist had this one famous historical event in mind when he wrote Psalm 139:5. “You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.” At least, the writer of this Psalm understood that God is active in the lives of His people, and implied what others tend to forget after 400 years, 10 plagues, or a sometimes just a few hours: God is the one who stands before us, no matter what it looks like to us. And He is the firm presence we feel from behind.
When we struggle to move forward against opposing forces, it is God working against us. He might block our every career move, shoot down our every proposal, or thwart every attempt to do what we believe is right. Sometimes the way is clear, but if it’s not, we can’t blame random events, or even the devil. God uses all things for His purposes, including the two forces just mentioned, but in the end, He is the one who stands before us. It’s for our own good, although we don’t always see it that way.
Sometimes He opposes us for a time because we need to stop and examine our disobedient hearts and humble ourselves before Him due to our sin. He may hinder our progress to develop a greater faith in Him, to grow our persistence, or build our character. We might not be doing anything wrong at all. Sometimes, He turns up the heat of His great refining fire (1 Peter 1:7) in order to help us identify our imperfections or to force us to flee toward Him. Most of the time, it doesn’t make much sense.
We all want an easy life, but being conformed to the image of Jesus necessitates drinking from a cup which is embittered with trials, much like the cup from which Jesus willingly chose to drink (Mark 10:39). God can seem really cruel when we don’t get want we want, or what we think we need. Naturally, we hate the strife of this world. He does, too. If there were another way, He would have told us.
It’s not like our lives are always like this. God often blesses us beyond our understanding. But when undesirable things happen, they come swiftly and strike hard. These things don’t come into our lives because He’s harsh. He takes no delight in our trials.
His actions are much like a parent who obstructs the pathway of a wayward crawler. At every turn the baby makes he finds his parent blocking the way. It doesn’t take long for frustration to set in accompanied by wailing in agony. To a crawling baby the actions seem unfair. He doesn’t comprehend the harm he could get into if allowed to go his own way.
In a similar way, God’s grace can hem us in. It may not seem like a loving gesture, but in the end there is no place we’d rather be. His hand may weigh heavy upon us at times and we may feel like we take the brunt of His fury. Sometimes it may seem more like His grip is around our throat! But His loving hand is upon us and He knows what He’s doing. If He has to obstruct our every move to keep us where we need to be, He will do it out of His great love for us.
If necessary, He’ll block our way going forward, and He’s also there when we turn around in an attempt to return to the more familiar circumstances we left. He burns down bridges, rips apart safety nets, and sends birds to scarf up the trail of bread crumbs we left behind as we desperately wait for His direction.
In this life we can really feel cornered at times. We can feel penned in all around. It can feel like we’re between a rock and a hard place. But, if we are cornered with no way out, it’s His grace which surrounds us before and behind. His love places the rock before us. His mercy causes the hard place to remain firm behind us. No matter where His providence takes us – sometimes to places we might have never thought we could possibly be – we are exactly where He wants us to be. This defines the power of His love.
Even if we think we’ve painted ourselves in a corner, even if we’ve arrived at our desperate location due to our own sin, we are still right where we need to be – at least for the moment. It doesn’t mean we’ll stay there long, but then again… it might. He knew where we were going and He prepared the way for us. His grace gently corners us until He lovingly nudges us to move.
Sometimes, we feel like we’d be better off on our own. Even in our darkest trials, we echo the question Peter asked, “Lord, to whom shall we go?” (John 6:68). He has us right where we need to be: in His love.
(I believe He wanted me to remind you of this.)

We’ve all heard the saying that “confession is good for the soul,” but just what does the Bible mean when it says to confess? Why is it important for us to learn how to confess in a Biblical sense? To understand this better, let’s first look a little closer at the word: confess.
It’s used in the Bible as a rendering of two Latin roots. The prefix con means “with”, and the latter root fess means “to say”. The Greek word from which the word “confess” is derived is homologeo which literally means “same word”, and is commonly translated as “to acknowledge” or “agree with”.
For those of you who’d rather just have the bottom line, the word involves an utterance of the mouth and outward acknowledgement of truth. It means, in a spiritual sense, to speak out. But what does it mean to speak out?
For starters, saying, “I’m sorry,” is not confession. Neither is asking for forgiveness a form of confession. These things might be related to confession, but they do not completely define confession by themselves.
When we confess, we must openly agree with God that He is Who He is and that we are sinful by nature. To confess means to declare that God is really God and that He is the rightful Lord of both the world and of our lives. As Romans 10:9, 10 says, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”
Confession candidly admits the wrongs that we have done, the hurts that we have contrived, and the sin that we have committed. In confession, we do not rationalize these things, nor do we excuse them. We simply own up to what we’ve done and what we’ve said. Although this doesn’t necessarily mean airing all the details of our dirty laundry, it does mean that we no longer deny the corruption within our fallen hearts, that we “fess up” to God in prayer, and even learn the art of admitting our failures to those we’ve hurt or to whom we are accountable.
And as bad a rap as confession gets, we would be making a terrible mistake to dismiss it as archaic or irrelevant, and hence miss out on its blessing. In a purely pragmatic sense, confession allows me to address destructive habits and attitudes that may characterize my own life and sets the stage for both change and release from cycles of failure and injustice towards others. Furthermore, confession opens the door to the restoring of relationships that have suffered because of the wrong I may have said or done.
Most importantly, confession is a manifestation of my openness to God’s grace when I admit that I have broken His divine commandments and violated His trust – whether outwardly or secretly in the hidden places of my heart and mind. Through confession, I make no excuses for my sin and instead throw myself on the mercy of the highest court of all and before the Judge who eternally rules. In confessing my sin to Him, I allow His forgiveness to wash me and make me new. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness,” (1 John 1:9).
Real confession cannot take place only inside our minds or hearts, but must ultimately be articulated verbally – largely because speaking the truth realigns the direction of one’s heart and will with that of the Father’s. But even so, there isn’t any sort of script to this. Each example of confession in the Scriptures has its own flavor and is unique to each individual that Jesus called to Himself.
Consider Peter who fell at the knees of Jesus and confessed, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” (Luke 5:8) and then later confessed to Jesus that He was indeed, “The Christ of God” (Luke 9:20).
Another example is Zacchaeus who said to Jesus, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount,” (Luke 19:8). Or consider the sinful woman of Luke 7 who stood behind Jesus at a Pharisee’s home and was so choked up by His acceptance of her, in spite of her past, that she could only weep while wiping His feet with her tears in heart-wrenching humility. Compare her confession to the Samaritan woman of John 4 who also ultimately agreed with the Lord when she appealed to her fellow villagers to, “Come, and see a man who told me everything I ever did.”
Even the thief who hung beside Jesus on the cross confessed when he recognized the Lord of lords and King of kings for who He is:
One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:39-42, italics mine).
Again, confession of sin is not the same thing as saying “I’m sorry”. Any effort on our part to justify or excuse our sin is extremely offensive to God. It’s interesting to note, by the way, that our word for apology comes from apologia which means “defense” and refers to a plea in which one attempts to clear oneself of guilt. Be that as it may, the Biblical principle is this: inasmuch as we defend or rationalize sin seeking to justify ourselves, we will fail and fall short of God’s glory.
In contrast, when we confess, we agree with God that He is holy and just, and that we are, in fact, poor in spirit. When we can bring ourselves to do this, we can then expect Him to deliver on His promise to give us the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3). So let us each then learn to pray honestly to the one who knows our hearts anyway. Let us also seize the joy and victory He intends for those who confess Jesus before men for Jesus will also confess us before the Father Who is in heaven (Matthew 10:32).

Thom Mollohan and his family have ministered in southern Ohio the past 16 years. He is the pastor of Pathway Community Church and the author of The Fairy Tale Parables. He may be reached for comments or questions by email at pastorthom@pathwaygallipolis.com.

“More people will log on to blogs, Facebook, and Twitter this Sunday than will go to church.”
~@stickyJesus
My blog is not quite 3 months old. I’ve had visits from 44 countries and 48 states. (Where are you Vermont and New Hampshire?) I’m just a pinhead in “the Land of Shiny Things.” I had no illusion that anyone (except maybe my mother and sister) would be interested in anything I have to say.
I did not fully grasp the fact when I began to “book” and tweet and blog that I would be a “digital scribe.” I did not realize the potential snowball effect of a single post or tweet.
I had never heard the word “sticky” used in a context other than those such as dried orange juice on my kitchen floor or hair matted with gum.
And now Tami and Toni present a field guide for Christ followers in @stickyJesus: How To Live Out Your Faith Online, for those of us who want to be online light shedders and dark shredders using social media to share our stories and offer hope to those who hurt. For those of us who seek and share. For those of us who long to share the stickiest of messages.
This book drips Jesus and challenges us to stick to Him as we build and interact with our online community. Tami and Toni call their chapters “files” and summarize each in a “download” and end with an “upload” prayer. They include stories of real people making a difference online for real people. They provide hints and helps for dummies and geeks in an easy-to-read, hard-to-put-down format.
“This book is for every Christ follower residing on this side of heaven. It’s for those who realize–and those who have yet to understand–the awesome moment into which we’ve been born. It’s for technology novices, casual surfers, and those already folded comfortably into the online world. Wherever you are in your skill level, it’s time to direct your heart toward the sticky things of God.”
~@sticky Jesus
The ends of the earth sit at our fingertips. And we are here for such a time as this. Do you want to make a difference for Jesus as a “digital scribe?” Get. This. Book. And check out the @stickyJesus website.

ISBN 9780982896204, $16.99, 214 pp. Digital Scribe Press LLC ©2010

iFaith: Connecting With God in the 21st Century By Daniel Darling
We’re a generation raised on instant: Instant formula. Disposable diapers. Satellite TV. GPS navigation. Online check-in. Automatic everything. We’re always plugged in and wired. We’re accustomed to having answers at the snap of our fingers. We’re used to being in control.
How does this affect our communication with God? This is the question iFaith seeks to answer. What has life at warp speed done to our souls? Has faith been replaced with a false sense of security? Has the digital and technological revolution made us more impatient with the God who delights in making His people wait?

Review by Keiki Hendrix
Daniel Darling has his finger on the pulse of today’s technology. In his newest book, iFaith: Connecting with God in the 21st Century, he speaks to the “card carrying members of the instant generation” among us with sound biblical advice on the basics of Christianity.
In iFaith, Dan Darling uses the language of social media and delivers sound, biblical truth on a variety of subjects such as waiting on God (Chapter One: Read Receipt), being angry with God (Chapter Three: Prayer in ALL CAPS), and my personal favorite because it includes advice on social behavior in a digital world (Chapter Ten: Friend Me.)
There are several witty illustrations throughout the book, some public and some personal. All are on-point. Scattered throughout are select Bible verses (ESV, NLT, and KJV) and quotes from some of my favorite authors like Josh Harris, E. M. Bounds, Ray Prichard, and Oswald Chambers. The writing is witty, genuine and honest.
Because each of the ten chapters end with a list of discussion questions and a resource list, this book is ideal for a youth or young adult bible study group. The timeless truths presented in the book would make it perfect for any Church library. I recommend it highly.

ISBN 9781596692947, $12.99, 160 pp. New Hope Publishers ©2011

These are among the many Christian book reviews available at The Vessel Project. Reviews used with permission.