Standing Strong

My family and I have visited many churches over the years, so we have seen how several different denominations hold their services. Some of these churches have either been all for the prosperity gospel, or very much against it - that we should live as poor people like Jesus did.  In one particular church that we had been attending for quite some time, my family and I witnessed several situations that were very concerning to us. In the youth group, I remember everyone going around the room, saying what they were "believing" for. But the things they were believing for - every one of them was material possessions. When it got to my turn, I just kinda blurted out that I was believing for a piano. It was honestly the first thing I could think of at the moment, and I didn't want to look stupid in front of all these teens. Well, when you're afraid you're going to look stupid, oftentimes people pick up on that and decide to dig.  "Do you have a verse you

"You shall have no other gods before me." - Exodus 20:3  Whenever I read this scripture, I immediately dismiss it, thinking, "Got it. No problem with idolatry here." When I would read it, I would think of the gods in the Old Testament that people would worship. You know, like when the Hebrews worshipped the golden calf when Moses was trying to take them to the Promised Land? I used to think of idolatry as people who worshipped other fake gods instead of the one true God.  However, idolatry isn't just the worship of other gods, such as Buddha or Allah.   This is the definition of idolatry, according to Merriam-Webster:            1. the worship of a physical object as a god            2. immoderate attachment or devotion to something This means then, that anything we put before God, is an idol. Anything that we can't stop meditating on is an idol. The Bible makes it very clear that idolatry is a sin, not just in the Old Testament, but i

I don't know what 2018 was like for you. Maybe it was a good year. Maybe it wasn't.  For me, 2018 was a sobering year. It started in May when I was driving in a city that I was not very familiar with. As I was driving toward a specific destination, I realized I missed a turn. I turned around in a parking lot, and started going back. The sun was shining in my eyes, and I failed to see the traffic light just up ahead. I saw a car on my right hand side and thought they were at a stop sign. As I kept going, my sister in the backseat yelled, "Red li-!" A car slammed into the rear passenger door of my car, glass shattered, and my sisters screamed. As I got out of the car, I opened the rear door for my sister to climb through. She was crying. The whole side of the door, the side that she had been sitting on, had been completely destroyed. But here she was, alive. My hands started shaking, and I started crying. This was the first time I ever had to call 911.  Tha