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Review of Soldier On and Giveaway
By Bethany Kilcrease Ladies, if you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to read Christian fiction featuring both an implied steamy sex scene and Luther’s Small Catechism all within the first chapter, then wonder no more! Sisters of Katie Luther blogger Vanessa Rasanen makes her authorial debut with Soldier On, which might be said to fall within the contemporary Christian military genre if such a category exists. Prior to late August 2018, I had never read anything approaching a contemporary Christian novel. Moreover, while I do have some experience in the Christianity department, my experience with military deployment is nonexistent. Wouldn’t reading this book be like a life-long…
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When Christian Love Needs to be Tough
By Vanessa Rasanen There is much about this life in faith that seems confusing to those who live outside it. This shouldn’t shock us, of course, since God tells us quite clearly that His word is folly to those who don’t believe. They won’t understand why we give so much of our income to the church — even before putting any into our own savings. They don’t get why we wake up early every Sunday to get to church even when there’s a foot of snow outside. And they certainly cannot fathom why we would dare to share something as personal as our faith with those who have no interest…
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The Offense of Failed Empathy
By Vanessa Rasanen There’s perhaps a point in each of our lives when even the most docile and genial of us have wanted to firmly kick another person in the shin. Hard. If I were a betting woman — which, who are we kidding, I totally am if there’s a blackjack table and a babysitter nearby — I’d wager that more often than not this urge is due, in no small part, to the other person’s less than tactful comments. In short, “Oh no, they didn’t!” Of course we live in the age of offense, where even those of us who mock it become offended just as easily. (Even if…
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6 Ways to Support the Military in Your Congregation
By Vanessa Rasanen Our nation has been at war for a decade and a half — even if the word “war” isn’t actually used. While our media has slowed in their coverage, many military families continue to face deployments, separation, and hardships. Now, before you click away thinking this post doesn’t apply to you or your church, not so fast. Whether your congregation is one block or hundreds of miles from the nearest military installation, you may have military and their families in attendance. National guardsmen and reservists often live away from their units, perhaps even in entirely different states. While families differ in their needs and preferences for support, the…
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Easter Afternoon
By Allison Hull Everybody’s in the house. All right. We need to eat. Peanut butter sandwiches for all, and you can get your own drink. Mommy and daddy are just going to lay down for a few minutes and just shut our ey… And they’re out. Is this anyone else’s Easter Sunday afternoon? After going full force through Holy Week and then getting up early for the Sunrise service, smiling, keeping the kids in check, running up and down the choir loft stairs 5 times, then trying to keep the kids’ clothes clean while they eat messily and do it all again for the second service, and finally walking out…
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The Harm of Sharing Personal Testimony
By Vanessa Rasanen Witness and testimony are good and biblical, but somewhere along the lines these became little about Jesus and much more about us. Instead of sharing the Gospel — the good news of His Grace and Salvation (and, ahem, why people need it) — too often we’re sharing stories of life-change or conversion. Left and right, here and there, we hear stories — moving, emotional, impressive, and heartbreaking — of how faith in Christ has helped someone, picked them up out of the rubble, dragged them away from the rock-bottom they had hit, and brought them into a life of joy and peace. Now, I like a good motivational story as much as the next…
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Offering Forgiveness When You Would Rather Not
By Vanessa Rasanen This Spring was hard. Well, about 6 months of this year was hard. I’d like to say that was solely due to our losing three babies early into the pregnancies, but to be honest, peace for our lost little ones came somewhat quickly. Much quicker than I expected. Yes, even after the first loss. Instead, I traded grief and mourning for bitterness and frustration. Okay, frustration is a lie. I was pissed. Hurt, angry, enraged. Seething, might be a good word. Someone’s words regarding that first miscarriage had hit hard and cut deep just a day or two after we found out. The initial shock and disbelief soon…
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Loving Your Neighbor When You Don’t Like People
By Vanessa Rasanen People are idiots. There, I said it. There are the morons who couldn’t be bothered to actually read my writing before commenting……. you have the time to write a scathing comment accusing me of taking my children to dive bars where they aren’t allowed, but you couldn’t take the five minutes to read where I specifically say we don’t do that? Awesome. Then there are the people who take your position on one thing and twist it into meaning something completely psycho — because of course, my wanting a big family must mean I look down on people who don’t have children or don’t want a big family, too… obviously my desire…
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Have You Noticed the Change?
By Keri Wolfmueller A prayer request for the Scheer family. “You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.” 2 Corinthians 1:11 Dear Readers, We feel it has become time to share with you an important event happening in the life of this blog’s creator and Editor, Holly Scheer. Perhaps you have noticed a change around here. Maybe there hasn’t been the consistency you’ve come to expect. Maybe you’ve noticed there are fewer posts. Does it seem a bit disorganized? There is a reason. Holly has another vocation aside from the Editor…
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7 Simple Ways to Serve Your Sunday School Teacher
By Pam Thompson I’ve been teaching Sunday School off and on (more on than off) since I was in high school. You could probably say I am a professional Sunday School teacher. I’ve taught classes that had only my own children enrolled other classes with as many as 15 eager (and not-so-eager) students. Teaching Sunday School is a labor of love, but there are some things that would make my job even better. Insist on respectful behavior. A Sunday School teacher may or may not have a teaching degree, but they do have authority over their students. Most Sunday School periods are as short as 40 minutes, which is not a lot…
