Tuesday, March 18, 2014

What Is Good?

“Perhaps the best definition of success is whether you have made of your soul something that does credit to its Maker. If we return ourselves to God bruised but burnished, wiser from all our mistakes and deeper from our struggles, we are successes. In Psalm 147 God is called "The Healer of Shattered Hearts" so if we live with hearts unbroken, we have failed. Risk; hurt; grow: succeed.” –Rabbi David Wolpe
  
I used to have this list on my wall at the office. It was a reminder to me to go out and achieve more, to be more, to grow beyond where I am. It was called “11-Step Action Plan for Leading a Successful, Happy Life.” It was based on an essay by Max Lincoln Schuster called “Success Is Yours,” and you can Google it if you want to read the essay. One day I was reading the list again, for probably the one hundredth time, and I just snapped and tore it off of my wall. I just couldn't live up to the 11 steps. I couldn't get past the first one—become the world's supreme expert in something. Supreme expert! Really? Yeah that was the first step in “Leading a Successful and Happy Life.”


I realized in the moment that I tore it from the wall; that I was holding myself back from becoming the best I could be because every single day I would look at the list and in my mind not measure up. I was telling myself that I was not good enough…not in actual words but in failing to get past the first thing on my “to do list.” How lame is that? It was just an essay some guy wrote that people have been passing around for years…and I let it make me feel like a failure.

Those were not the words of God. They were not from on high, nor written on stone tablets by the Holy One of Israel. They were just words of a man and how he saw the world. That is all.

I had forgotten the point…the point of everything…the #42 of the universe (inside joke for my geeky friends)…I had forgotten that when I need to know what is required of me that I need to go to the Source…God Almighty!
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. –Micah 6:8 (NIV)
I am enough. I am good. I am in love with my God, and I will walk with him all my days.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Meet Bonnie

If you've read some of the older posts, you probably know a bit about me.  It wasn't until recently that I developed a vision for 'A Dynamic and Imperfect Christian'.  I wanted to create a blog that spoke about living the Christian life.  Being a Christian has never been easy, but this world has made it even more difficult as people are forgetting what being a Christian truly means.  It means following Christ.  It means loving people especially those the world avoids or shunned.  It's about sharing a message of love, forgiveness, and acceptance.

I like to say I'm a southern Chamorro or a land-locked islander.  My mother's family is Catholic; however, I grew up Baptist.  I have had the pleasure of exploring and determining my own beliefs. I've attended Shabbat morning service. I've walked out of a "healing" ceremony.  And I've attended African-American churches.  In college, I had professors that taught that the Bible was mythology and took a world religions class that tried to teach that all religions are equally valid.  I've even spent some time at seminary.  All of that to say, I chose faith in Christ.  Having chosen it, I now must walk it and the path is hard.


*Bonnie J. Sterling calls herself a southern Chamorro and a landlocked islander. She has her first short story out in the MetaHuman Press Anthology Modern Gods titled "Ice Beauty". Her second short story, "Troubled Waters," just released in ProSe Press' To Love and Die anthology.

You can follow her on
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BonnieJAuthor.
Website: www.bonificia.com
Twitter: @bonificia

Monday, February 24, 2014

Meet Lisa

An intro post always seems so formal and I could just blow it off and give you the official spiel* but this site has more of a cozy casual vibe that I hope y'all feel. So, what is there to know about me and why I would want to contribute to the ongoing conversation here at 'A Dynamic and Imperfect Christian'?

First and foremost, I am a Christian, now that simply means that I do believe that Jesus Christ's teachings and belief in Him are the way to the afterlife, or Heaven. Saying you're a Christian can mean many different things to a lot of people, but I am going with the classic definition.

I attend a United Methodist church and have a diverse church going background. I was raised in an Assembly of God church, attended Southern Baptist vacation Bible school in the summers, and when I was thirteen until I graduated high school I attended a United Methodist church for Sunday morning services, and a non-denominational on Sunday nights and Wednesdays. While in college I attended a two different Southern Baptist  churches and after graduation I worshiped with a group of the Religious Society of Friends, aka the Quakers. These days I attend Rose Bud United Methodist church and I am the webmaster.

So to say I am a diverse Christian is right on target. I love to talk about my faith and Christianity in general or the Bible in specific, so feel free to drop me a line through the blog. I love meeting new people and interacting with them online through Facebook, Twitter, or my personal blog

I look forward to the opportunity to hash out just what it means to be a Christian in this era and how that impacts the world. 


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*Lisa M. Collins is a native Southerner; educated at the University of Arkansas in history. Lisa resides with her husband and a cat named, Baby Girl, in a sleepy little Arkansas town.

Lisa’s non-fiction has been published in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and the Dead Mule School of Southern Literature. Her writing interests are as vast as the stars in the night sky. She copy edited and researched on Understanding Global Slavery by University of California Press, and proofreads for Metahuman Press.


Lisa is the 2013 and 2014 President of ACFW Arkansas. She began writing fiction as an adult, and her current projects include a series of Science Fiction romance novels and a cookbook for the Tea and Cornbread Blog and Podcast.

Friday, February 21, 2014

Blog with a Purpose

Like most of you, I'm a complex person.  The many facets of my personality work together to create the person God intends me to be.  However, they don't always mesh well in one blog forum.  So I'm coming back to this one as an outlet for my Christian way of life. 

It seems that in today's world, it is acceptable to be anything but Christian. Well, I am unashamedly Christian. It doesn't make me a hatemonger, a racist, or uneducated.  In fact, it does the opposite.  Because of my beliefs, I love and forgive more.  I am accepting of all people whether I agree with all of their choices or not.  And I love the Bible verse that says, "Study to show thyself approved."  I think it is important for Christians to be educated.  An uneducated Christian, in my opinion (although it is rarely safe to have an opinion these days), has a greater chance of being swayed by the loud, invective speech of a world that wants to be rid of Christians.

I'm here to show the simple life of a simple Christian.  I'm not perfect, and I don't claim to be.  I also don't have all the answers, but I do believe in a God that does.