Not My Own

There is no better time than pride month to talk about my own transformation story surrounding those in LGBTQ community.  But what's a transformation story without showing the hideous before picture when I once thought I knew everything. So embarrassing! Once upon a time in elementary school, if anyone did anything I didn't like, the first thing I called them was "gay".  In fact anything at all that I hated or thought was dumb was labeled, "gay". My stomach turns over again and again as I now realize how damaging this was for those who actually were gay. Once a upon a time in high school I wrote a paper on why homosexual couples shouldn't be allowed to adopt. I still have this paper and now I want nothing more than to burn the evidence. Yet, I am holding onto it as a reminder that if someone as opinionated and stubborn as myself can change there is hope for others. Once upon a time in college, I was royally ticked off when I found out there was som

A  man in his late fifties, a church elder, kneels to pray:  Dear Lord, Forgive the youth and the so called "Christian Left" for twisting your gospel Lord! Forgive them for leaving the church because they don't want to hear messages about their own sin and don't like the truths presented. They can't seem to handle real truth any more. They are twisting the gospel and replacing it with a watered down message of tolerating everyone. Forgive them for minimizing sin, hell, repentance and transformation.Forgive them for losing touch with the Bible by cherry picking only verses they like. They have no real appreciation for Your Word and interpret how they want. Forgive them for listening to liberal media and other false prophets pushing a liberal agenda.  Forgive them for buying into theological falsehoods like abortion and homosexuality are just fine with you. Forgive the them for dismissing old hymns that focus on God's transforming salvation, love, and mercy

It's that time of year again as the season of Lent approaches! What is Lent? check out the following link for more details... http://www.upperroom.org/lent101 . Lent officially begins March 1st (My Birthday woo hooo!) but I like to get people thinking about it ahead of time to see if it's something they might want to participate in. Every year I use Lent as a time to practice some type of discipline in my life. Usually, I spend a month before Lent praying and asking God to fill my thoughts with a specific theme to focus on. Every year, God makes it pretty obvious what I am supposed to to do.  For example, last year I used it as a time to practice vulnerability which involved a social media challenge #Vulnerability4Lent  http://samtidball.blogspot.com/2016/04/what-i-learned-from-40-days-of.html . So I asked God to put a theme on my heart once again. I noticed that God likes to speak to me in threes. Here's what I mean... My First Revelation looked like this...  A month