Uncategorized – Natters Matters

Potty Training Pt 2: The Bathtub

One of my favorite sayings is that you have to laugh or you’ll cry. One of the instances where I really felt this was when my husband and I both got a stomach bug at the same time.

This was unusual not because I was sick. I tend to have a knack for catching illnesses, but it was unusual because Josh was sick. He is one of those super humans who never gets super sick. To make it more unusual that we were both sick with the same illness at the same time.

Anyone who has ever had the stomach flu knows that it’s a miserable illness especially if you have kids.

We might not have any children quite yet, but our dog had eaten a dead bird while we weren’t paying attention. For some reason, that inner wolf in her only existed in instinct, and not so much in the strength of her stomach. So in the midst of dealing with our own issues, we were getting up in the middle of the night to take her out so she didn’t have diarrhea explosions topped with feathers all over our carpet.

Unfortunately although our illness cleared up in like two to three days, Ginger’s inner wolf got her in trouble with another dead bird which continued the bowel issues.

I was complaining to a coworker about Ginger’s knack for crapping all about my living space. She told me a story about finding her dog pooping in the shower. Without thinking, I said, “Man, I wish she would do that.”

As God’s Providence would have it, that night Ginger pooped in our bathtub.

She had finally snubbed the luxury of the carpet and chosen the hated corner of the bathtub.

Josh suspected it was because at this point we had given her a bath more than once. She fulfilled the husky stereotype that was not super excited about getting a bath. He thought that she had started choosing to poop in the bathtub because she hated her baths so much.

Whether that’s true or not, I’ll never know, but it was super convenient, albeit gross, for her to having her accidents in our bathtub rather than on our carpet in our bedroom closest for the third time of the night.

The Inevitability of Death

Note: Ha! I found the article I that I lost several times and wrote again for the fourth or fifth time.

Over the Covid season, I have been pondering about what our ancestors might have thought about us hiding in our houses and closing down businesses. I thought about reading Laura Ingles-Wilder books and about how Mary lost her sight from a fever. I thought about how that family nearly perished in the Dakotas when a harsh winter came through their town. I thought about Charles Dicken’s novels where they talked about children in child labor or in the case of “Nicholas Nickleby” of boys being dropped off at a boarding school where they would be starved and beaten. (This was based on true events and actually caused many parents to pull their boys out of the school.) I thought about the Pilgrims and about how many people died in just that first year alone.

The reason why I bring up our ancestors is because I want you to put a perspective on this past mad, mad year, 2020. Honestly, I concur that 2020 has been pretty awful as far as all of the drama in the White House, Covid-19 restrictions in the US, and the insane riots.

I want to clarify quickly that this is not to dismiss everyone’s troubles. I know that a lot of people do not have an easy life and have suffered many trials, but I also know that we have never been in a time of such wealth and prosperity as now mostly because of all of our technological advances. What I am trying to say is that people had the same problems as today… and more.

But… think back to Russia during the Cold War under the Soviet Union. People were getting dragged out of their homes in the middle of the night to a remote building where they were shot in the back of the head. What was their crime? They whispered something against the Soviets. If you push back further to 1900, according to the CDC up to 30% of infants did not live past a year. To put that in perspective, the mortality rate among infants in the U.S. now is 24 out of 100,000. To put it into a percentage, it would be about 0.024% percent of children die before the age of four.

To look at some other percentages, according to the Grunge, one out of three women would die in childbirth during the Middle Ages. Now, in the U.S. the mortality rate during childbirth is 17 women for every 100,000 women.

The reason why I bring all of this data up is because I want people to understand how life has changed through the course of human history. Our ancestors did not have an easy life. The goal of many people was to just survive unless you happened to be one of the ten percent of population who was born into royalty.

Today, we are a society numbed to our own prosperity, possibly due in part that most of us do not know our history well.

Now look at today and the current reaction to the illness casually referred to as “The Rona,” an illness where only 6% percentage of people who die while they have the illness had absolutely no underlying conditions. An illness which has been compared to a bad case of the flu. The flu which kills anywhere between 3,000 to an alarming 49,000 people every year.

The reason why I am greatly disappointed in the “Rona” is simply this: I was expecting the Black Death, and I got a really bad case of the flu.

I am not trying to dismiss the fact that people have died with the corona as the cherry on top to all of their other medical issues and that some people have genuinely had a terrible case of the corona and perished. As someone who believes in the value and dignity of every man being created in the image of God. I do think that those lives should be mourned… but one of the ugly truths about life that I personally have had to learn is that death is just a part of life.

I know I sound like that I completely contradicted myself, but hear me out. At what cost have we gone into lock down, masked up, and told everyone to stay away from each other? Especially among the poorer classes of people, depression and suicide are expected to rise. I think about the tens of thousands of small businesses that will never reopen in the future. Do you think that you can take away jobs and lively hoods away from people and that will not have the same effect?

The Black Plague

Now, if the Rona was the Black Plague, I would too be hiding under my table wearing two masks and spraying every person who got within two feet of me with sanitizer. Here’s the thing though, from what I have observed, I don’t know maybe it is different where you are at, but I am not seeing bodies laying in the street. I am not seeing entire families and towns vanishing because of the corona. What I am seeing, is people going into the hospital or staying at home with a wretched case of the flu… and then I see them at work two weeks later doing just fine.

I compare these two because when this observation struck me. The terror of the corona weaned. I wish that my terror had weaned when I realized that this could just be my ticket to see my Lord and Savior face to face, but more on that later. People have been hiding in isolation since the beginning of March because they are so terrified. It makes me so sad, not only because I deeply want to see these people, but because as an anxious person, I completely understand the burden that fear is.

Here is the ugly reality. You are going to get sick. It might not be the corona, it could be the flu. It could be cancer. You might be one of those unfortunate souls who actually contracts the Black Death (yes, it is still around, if you follow Drudge Report, he usually has a story about that). We cannot hide from life forever. You might say that you are waiting for a vaccine. Fauci actually says that you should maintain your precautions even with a vaccine. (I am not joking). We will probably be told that we should continue to hide in our houses. Terrible news. 30,000 Americans die at home from unintentional injuries.

All of humanity are on a march towards death. We can thank Adam and Eve for that one.

“By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to the dust you shall return.” Genesis 3:19, ESV

My speculation, and that is really all it is, is that because we have become such a secular culture who has bought the lie from Satan that there is no afterlife that we have reacted in a way to always be safe. There is no doubt in my mind that America is a safety obsessed culture. We all know the stories about helicopter parents, and the new rise of the lawnmower parents. The helicopter parents will watch and ask about their child’s every move, but the lawnmower parents will clear a pathway for their children so that their child never encounters adversity. I think that we all know a lawnmower or helicopter parent so I will not go into more detail.

You can be the safest person on the planet, and guess what, you will still die. Why? Because God said that you would. You could die in a car accident on your way to get your groceries. You could die by falling down your steps. You could contract the Corona and be one of the few people who actually dies of it. There are millions and millions of ways that you could die. Ultimately, we go when our time is up.

For obvious reasons, do not go and drive off of a cliff in complete disregard for safety saying, “whelp, when God says I need to go, I’ll go.” Be wise. Do not go testing God that way, and do not walk around in a hazmat suit everywhere you go. Understand that civilizations and technological advances weren’t made by people who cowered in terror, but people who were willing to take risks.

Now for the reason why you, Christian, should not be absolutely terrified of death. I think that you already know the answer. If you are convinced that Jesus Christ paid the full penalty of your sins and that you will stand justified before God on Judgment Day, then you can rest assured that you will enter a rest that will be so much sweeter than the best that this world has to offer.

“Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” Rev. 21:3–4, NASB

To Live is Christ and to Die is Gain

I cannot guarantee you that your death will be painless. I cannot guarantee you that if you leave your house that you will not get the corona. The one thing that I can guarantee you that if you are truly a Christian, that you can hold to this truth: Being with Christ will be more wonderful than anything this world has to offer. Go and encourage other Christians and remind them of this truth. Reach out to the unbeliever who is petrified of death. Show courage in the face of this panic. Be a light in this strange, dark time. Christ already defeated death for us.

“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore , my beloved brother, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the word of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. 1 Cor. 15:55–58 ESV

Short Update and an Endorsement for Bible College

I am back!

I thought that I would have the time to write while I was in school, but I was wrong. Anytime I was able to write or had incentive to write was converted into energy to be used for one of the many papers required for school. Then as soon as the school year was over, I was thrown into wedding planning mode and for some reason my workaholic self thought that working full-time until a few days before my wedding was a good idea. Life seems to just stay very busy to say the least, but I digress.

I have to say that my freshman year of college was quite the adventure and learning experience. I am not just talking about the academic sphere although I would say that was the biggest category. Four specific lessons stood out to me when thinking about what I learned over the past school year.

Lesson One: Humility. I have to ashamedly admit that I am a very proud creature when it comes to my knowledge on the Bible and theological issues. Bible College was a nice kick in my rear end in that regard. My favorite saying in the first few weeks of college was, “I am learning how much I do not know.” Our freshman year started with Genesis and ended in Revelation. For the first two weeks, our class wrestled through the controversies surrounding the Creation account, and from there we worked our way through the long historical accounts and the confusing prophetic books. I knew nothing about interpreting prophetic books, and I would say by no means that one semester in college makes me capable of understanding the wheels within wheels covered in eyes in Ezekiel. However, it did give me some of the tools necessary for understanding the poetry and imagery in Hosea and how it applies to Christians today.

Lesson Two: Exegesis is extremely difficult. I had several papers where exegesis was required. Some were definitely harder than others. The kingdom of God was an easier paper to write rather than my paper on biblical manhood and womanhood from 1 Timothy 2:8–15. If you do not know that passage, look it up and just try to figure out verse fifteen specifically. Exegesis sounds easy at face value. Just read the Bible and whatever it says it clearly means that… right? Well, that’s mostly true. Immediate context is key and helpful, but one also has to pay attention to the context of how the passage relates to the Bible as a whole. It sometimes makes exegesis easier, but it can also make things much more difficult. For example, James saying that faith without works is dead is completely uncontroversial until you look at what the Apostle Paul has to say about faith in relation to works. It takes time to sit down and carefully read in order to understand the context that they were both writing in and what problems that they were addressing in order to understand how they do not contradict each other. Context is not the only influencer. The genre of the books in the Bible is another factor. Psalms and 1 Samuel require different approaches because Psalms is poetry and 1 Samuel is a historical book. I say all of this to show that more goes into exegesis than one might think. This should not intimidate the lay person from trying to interpret Scripture, but rather encourage those who might struggle to understand certain passages in Scripture.

Lesson Three: If you can learn to read well, you can educate yourself well. Reading is very much underrated in our digital world. We are all told to read more, but the problem is that we are not taught how to read well and with a critical mind. By critical, I do not mean that you are nit picking, rather I mean that you are thinking through the author’s arguments taking what is good and thinking through why they might be wrong rather than just taking it in. It seemed that before I read without much of a filter.

One of my dear professors had us read some of a book called, How to Read a Book, which introduced us to several new principles. Regretfully, I do not always apply all of them, but they opened my eyes to how badly I had been reading. One of the very first things the author encouraged his readers to do was to write in the books that we were reading. This opened up a whole new realm for me. One of the first controversial topics we took on in the first semester was Creation. We read a book called 40 Questions about Creation & Evolution. Being someone who grew up reading much of Ken Ham’s material, I had all of my young earth creationist arguments ready to blow. I covered the edges of the pages with notes arguing against the various points of view. This engaging in a conversation with the author helped me think through why I thought the author was wrong instead of flossing over the pages going, “that’s wrong.”

Lesson Four, it is good for Christians of other denominations to talk and unite together on issues… but it is also good for them to attend different churches. Many denominations are orthodox and are able to get along well, but the existence of different denominations is good for the body of Christ. I had a diverse class when it came to different denominations. We had Pentecostals, Reformed, Baptists, Church of Nazarene, and Presbyterians. We had people on the cessationist side of the spectrum and the continuationist side. We had Old Earth Creationists and Young Earth Creationists. However, we were all united in the blood of Christ. We could all stand together in defense of justification by faith and faith alone. We did not call each other’s faith into question even though we were extremely convinced in our convictions. We would debate the issues and lay out our best cards, but at the end of the day, we could unite as brothers in the faith and worship the Lord our God.

I write all of this partially to be an endorsement for going to Bible college, but not just any old Bible college. A good Bible college that will give you good exegetical tools, have a critical mind, and surround you in a community of believers who truly love God and love Jesus. You do not have to go to Bethlehem College & Seminary specifically (although I would highly recommend it). Nor do you have to stay and finish up your degree at Bible college, but a year or just a semester at Bible college can help solidify the foundation of one’s faith and equip you with tools on how to approach the Bible which you can use for the rest of your life.

I hope to be writing more and mostly focusing on reviewing books since I am trying to get back into reading. Working full time keeps me very busy, but writing is my passion, and I would love to stick with it.

Why You Can’t Just Stop Worrying

“Stop thinking about it.”

“Just stop worrying about it.”

“Relax, it’s going to be okay.”

And the examples could go on and on. All of these sentences come from well intentioned people. I myself have used these phrases in trying to comfort someone. If you’re someone prone to anxiety, you know full well that you can’t “just stop worrying about it”. The solution is much deeper than that and has to do with your heart.

You Can’t Just Forget About It

Anxiety crawls into your mind and constantly pesters you. If you have a big job interview coming up and your lifestyle is dependent on it, you’re going to worry about it. It doesn’t matter if you go somewhere and do something fun to try to drown out your thoughts, you’re still going to be thinking about the interview. You may be smiling and having fun, but internally you’re tearing your hair out.

Maybe it’s not something as big as an interview. Maybe it’s just trying to finish all your homework on time. Maybe all of your in-laws are coming over, and the house is in complete disarray, and you’re already busy preparing meals. Whatever it is. You know that you can’t just shove it aside and not think about it. You will try your very best to distract yourself. Either it will succeed for the time being or it might not distract you at all.

Stop Trying to Forget It

Trying to forget a problem has never solved it. You can’t just forget whatever is causing you anxiety. You need to stop and think about why the thing is causing you stress. Then once you’ve worked out that, you need to ask yourself if there is anything you can do to help relieve that anxiety. For example: if you’re really stressed out because your list of things to do keeps growing, then get up and do some of the things. It will help aleve your anxiety.

Sometimes, however, we are anxious over something we have no control over. My family has a history of cancer, will I contract cancer? How am I going to pay for my bills? Will all my children become apostate? Will I ever find a spouse?

It’s questions like this that fester down in our hearts constantly. We can’t control what the outcome of them are. So what can we do?

Bad Things Happen

First thing is to acknowledge is that bad things happen. No matter how many times people tell you “it’s going to be okay”, it’s not always going to be okay every time which is why we worry.

God is a good God, but those of us who have been a Christian for awhile would be lying to say that He doesn’t ever let the worst happen. You may get cancer. You may not be able to pay your bills. All your kids may become apostate. You might be single the rest of your life.

Worse yet, even Jesus doesn’t promise you that he will give you an automatically good life in fact he promises the opposite.

“Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.”

‭‭JOHN‬ ‭15:20‬ ‭NASB‬‬

“Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division; for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three.”

‭‭LUKE‬ ‭12:51-52‬ ‭NASB‬‬

A Loving Father

So what do we do then? How can we ever rest easy? How can we stop worrying knowing that bad things will happen?

These questions bring us to our second point we must acknowledge. God is a good God who loves us. He is in complete control of everything. He knows what is best for us and allows the bad things to happen for our good.

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

‭ROMANS‬ ‭8:28‬ NASB

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

‭‭JAMES‬ ‭1:2-4‬ ‭NASB

“Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.”

‭‭JAMES‬ ‭1:12‬ ‭NASB‬‬

God is our loving father. He loves us to the point where he sacrificed his son to save us from our sins. He will take care of us during the hard times and the good times. So we must trust God that even when the scary things happen that He will take care of us.

The Battle

Thirdly and finally, we trust God not that He won’t let the big scary things happen, but that He is bigger than the problem and that He will help you through whatever the big thing is. Jesus himself said to take one day at a time. Sometimes it’s all you can do.

“”For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?

“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

‭‭MATTHEW‬ ‭6:25-27, 34‬ ‭NASB‬‬

It’s not as simple as just “stop worrying about it”. It’s much deeper than that. It’s looking up to God and casting your anxiety on Him like: “I don’t know what’s going to happen. This scary thing is coming. You are in full control of the universe, and nothing can happen without You knowing. You will be by my side whether the best or worst case scenario happens.”

Anxiety has had me wrapped around its finger for as long as I can remember. It’s an ongoing battle and will continue to be. It’s not a quick easy fix. It takes time, energy, the power of the Holy Spirit, and faith. Seek encouragement and help from other believers. Spend time in God’s word and meditate on His promises knowing He’s a good God who loves you.