Oddly Godly

 2  “What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: “‘The parents eat sour grapes,      and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? Oftentimes when people talk about so-called "generational curses" they quote similar verses to this as well as a verse from Lamentations and Exodus which seem to agree with this idea. I don't agree with this in the sense that all of our sin was passed down and we're all bound to succumb to it though. I believe that what one consumes is not just consumed by themselves but it affects those around them. If a parent frequently consumes entertainment with foul language or pornography or alcohol and drugs it affects those they're around most. Notice the proverb doesn't say that if the father eats sour grapes the child eats sour grapes. It merely conveys the idea that it's effects are felt by the children. I can be an alcoholic and drug addict and affect my family and friends even if they never take a sip of...

 My church doesn't use the liturgical calendar nor did the church of my youth but I've become familiar with it through reading and interacting with christians of other denominations. I've made it part of my walk with Christ. I believe there's something special about remembering parts of our faith at the same time as christians of all denominations in all parts of the world at the same time. Awesome things happen when the body of Christ is in one accord just look in Acts chapter 2. The church uses the liturgical calendar to celebrate certain events in church history and fast and feast in reverence for the sovereign Lord. While it's obvious why events like Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, Lent, and even Advent are important to remember for the Christian, two sections of the calendar always baffled me. They both have the same name and take place between the biggest christian celebrations. Ordinary time. The time where nothing is celebrated. No particular event remembered....

 I've been an outcast my entire life. It's not a bad thing necessarily it's just a fact about my interpretation of my life. I spent a great deal of time trying to fit in. Never quite getting there. It's only been recently that I've learned I was never made to fit in. That's not my calling. What I've always thought were defects or setbacks have been some of the greatest tools God has ever given me. It took time to realize that though and I'm certain others like me aren't there yet. I have aspergers and didn't know until adulthood so I can only look back and heal my childhood self in retrospect. I wondered in my early years as a Christian just as I wondered as a child "What's wrong with me?" "Why am I not like (insert cooler person's name here) ." especially in church. I grew up in a non denominational megachurch and I felt more like an outcast there than at school and that's saying something. I had "too many qu...

 As long as I can remember I've had a fascination with the rosary. It's beauty. It's simplicity. It can be fashioned from any material from plants to plastic, glass or gems and no matter what it's made of everyone knows what it's made for. I remember being drawn to images of praying hands holding a rosary between them. Though my mom's side of the family are all Catholic in name I was never raised with any religious upbringing until a little later in my childhood and it was in a protestant church. No  rosaries between praying hands.  Prayers were said from the heart or from the pulpit not from memory. Even the prewritten prayers such as "now I lay me down to sleep" or "God is great, God is good let us thank Him for our food" were still not counted on beads. As I got older I lost my faith for a long time but never my fascination with the rosary. I kept a plastic rosary that survived a fire at the church my grandparents got married in hanging fr...