Christ, Coffee, and Cornfields

Every day, every few hours it seems like, another story about the evil stirring amongst the people of the Church marches its way into my newsfeed. I’m still trying to catch up and slow my spinning head. There are so many stories, so many sides, so much confusion and hurt. How can this possibly be the Church that God became man to create? This is not what we are made for. We are made for greatness. I don’t want to write about who did what and who is to blame. I don’t have that information. What I do know is that the Church Christ started is perfect. The people who make up His Church are not. Unfortunately, we are in a very tumultuous time. But! The Catholic Church has faced seemingly insurmountable crises before, and we are still here. During the scariest times in our history, we have seen the greatest saints rise up from the ashes. The most precious gems come from being under the most suffocating pressure. We’ve had abuse before. We’ve had blackmail, anti-popes, heresy, fi...

  I know it's not New Year's yet, but I've been reflecting quite a bit over 2016 lately. Sometimes I think people get a little OD'd on all of the posts that come around January 1, and occasionally all of the resolution and reflection can get overwhelming. With finals week upon me, learning to split holidays between my family and Jordan's, wedding planning, the election ruckus that keeps coming up on my news feed, and the tragedy that just struck Sioux Falls fresh in my head, my mind has been racing in all sorts of directions.   You know, worry and depression are best friends. I swear they go together better than peanut butter and jelly. It's an unfortunate thing that negatives come in pairs, and Satan loves to unleash them together, especially around the holidays. His other favorites are tragedy and despair, along with failure and unforgiveness (especially of one's self). Sometimes the devil's pets travel in packs, seeking to prey on the vulnerable. On...

  This is a post I wish I didn't have a need to write. Unfortunately, due to the fallen nature of being human, death is something we will all have to deal with in our lifetimes. This may be the death of a friend, family member, spouse, acquaintance, or even a well known celebrity or political figure. In some capacity, death will find its way into all of our lives and affect us in ways we never knew possible.   Yesterday, our community was reminded of the fragility of life when a teenage boy who was loved by everyone who knew him was killed in a car accident. It was a shock. As I write this, it's still a shock. It's pain. It's confusion. A sudden, tragic death is not something that we are meant to handle. The Lord does not want this for us at all! Death is not something that is of God. Neither is pain. Humans are created to love and to be happy, serving God in every way possible. How is death part of the picture??   As humans, we are broken. It's not somethin...