When I was growing up, we often had "memory verses" in Sunday School - short passages of scripture we were encouraged to memorize, so as to have the word of God written on our hearts. We were given passages like John 3:16, Romans 8:28, Proverbs 3:5-6, and Philippians 3:13-14. These passages were meant to help us see the world through the eyes of faith and to interpret our surroundings through the lens of scripture.

One passage that was never given to us as a memory verse was Ezekiel 23:19-20, which says, "Yet she became more and more promiscuous as she recalled the days of her youth, when she was a prostitute in Egypt. There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses." Indeed, at no point during my discipleship career, which includes Vacation Bible School, Sunday School, Youth Group and college ministry, was I ever pointed to this passage of scripture. It was not until about a decade ago, when I first read through the entire Bible, that I came upon this passage and stopped cold, incredulous that such a graphic image should be in the pages of holy Scripture (little did I know...)

If you share my intense interest in learning about cults and world religions, I recommend checking out Ron Carlson's teachings available as MP3 downloads by clicking here. (They're $4 per download). I've been listening to several of his talks lately, and I find the information he puts forth so helpful. Having spent time over the past decade or so reading about world religions - writings by both Christians and non-Christians - everything I heard in these talks is solid teaching, based on my previous reading.

If you cannot afford the download, I have several CD's I would be happy to share while supplies last! Send me your email address via a private message and I'll send you any of the following: Jehovah's Witnesses, Buddhism/Hinduism/Yoga/Transcendentalism, Freemasonry, Intelligent Design/Evolution, Islam, or Roman Catholicism.

No explanation needed. Just watch. With tissues.

I appreciated this video on the White House blog yesterday, and I applaud President Obama for his efforts to encourage men to be good fathers. Regardless of where you stand politically, this is a fundamentally important aspect of Christianity - that men are committed to being good fathers. 

Our President said, "We need fathers to understand that their work does not end with conception..." He talked about the importance of fathers being involved in their children's lives and growth. I live and serve in a community with a tremendously high rate of fatherless children. On Wednesdays, I volunteer for Urban Promise, where children from the West Brighton housing projects (where my church is located) come for help with homework, as well as games and activities to help them grow into well-rounded, well-adjusted adults. My area of focus is music - I teach them songs that I'm writing especially for this program, which contain biblical lyrics tied to important life lessons (gratitude, identity, peer pressure, honesty, etc.) But no matter what we do for these precious ones, we cannot make up for the lack of having a good father. There are some things children can only learn from their fathers, and if they don't have a father around, they miss out on some really key life lessons.

Last week it suddenly occurred to me that I felt totally estranged from God. Nothing particular had "happened" to make me feel this way - I just couldn't remember the last time we had spoken. It was a horrible feeling. I had talked about God, read the Bible and prayed with my women's group. But I had been busy, racing through my morning devotions. I had not just sat and talked to Jesus (or listened in case he had anything to say to me).

Once I realized the problem, I knew I needed to sit down and reconnect. But it was hard to break the ice. I knew I needed to talk with God. But I didn't quite know where to start. (Funny how quickly that can happen.)

I subscribe to the Larry King Live podcast, which I often watch on my iPhone during my commute. This is a helpful way for me to stay up to date on current events and people who are in the news. Last week, I learned of the arrest and imprisonment of two journalists when their families were guests on LKL to talk about the situation. Somehow, if it was covered in the news, I missed it. Since Friday, I've been thinking and praying for these two women - Laura Ling and Euna Lee - and hoping for their release.

Well, sadly, this morning I learned that they were not released. In fact, they have been sentenced to twelve years in a North Korean labor camp.

In the June issue of National Geographic, there is an important article about the global food crisis. In it, author Joel K. Bourne, Jr., says, "It is the simplest, most natural of acts, akin to breathing and walking upright. We sit down at the dinner table, pick up a fork, and take a juicy bite, obliv­ious to the double helping of global ramifications on our plate. Our beef comes from Iowa, fed by Nebraska corn. Our grapes come from Chile, our bananas from Honduras, our olive oil from Sicily, our apple juice—not from Washington State but all the way from China. Modern society has relieved us of the burden of growing, harvesting, even preparing our daily bread, in exchange for the burden of simply paying for it. Only when prices rise do we take notice. And the consequences of our inattention are profound."

The following Associate Press article appeared in my hometown newspaper, The Staten Island Advance, on Sunday, May 24, 2009. I thought it was great and expressed my impressions every time I hear folks like Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, et al interviewed or read from their respective books.

For the record, I don't believe in atheists. I don't believe they actually exist. To be so angry at something requires that one believes it exists. Atheists are too angry at God to actually believe He doesn't exist. 

I think that makes me an Aatheist. 

- Christy 

Atheists: No God, no reason, just whining