Month: November 2020

Thankful For Nothing

In a world of everything, I am thankful for nothing.

I know, it feels like everything—that thing that you did…

You made a mistake, you screwed up—words you said, choices you made, plans you created. The moment got the best of you, it wasn’t supposed to happen that way—everything spiraling out of control. The crack on the ceiling became the whole house falling. It was bad—really, really bad.

So now, you run, but you can’t run fast enough—the medication, can’t medicate deep enough. Your success, can’t be successful enough. What you want to let go, won’t seem to let go—the guilt, the shame, the cost, the regret. At times, it’s all so overwhelming. What you did, it feels like—everything.

In your mind it’s haunting you, certainly this is all reason for His doubt, reason for His questioning—reason for your one-eye-open living. Will you get the ax? Will God storm out of the heavens like a drunk out of a bar—put you in your place under an angry thumb? Is this the time you pushed Him too far?

I know, it feels like everything—that thing that happened to you…

They stole your innocence, betrayed your trust—said terrible things, did terrible things. It wasn’t fair, wasn’t right—completely wrong in every way—stealing things that can’t be replaced. The hurts run deep, straight to the arteries of your soul—you’ll never be the same. Tragedy has many faces—some innocent, some not. You weren’t suppose to be alone, but now you are—the chair where they sat—now empty. No greater pain you have ever felt than being without, being alone—once loving in the physical, to now love in memory only.

So, you run, but you can’t run fast enough—the medication, can’t medicate deep enough. Your success, can’t be successful enough. What you want to let go, won’t seem to let go—the bitterness, the anger, the revenge—the hurt, the loss, the emptiness. What happened to you, it feels like—everything.

That’s why, in your mind, the questions pound you—is He real, was He asleep at the wheel? How could this ever happen under a God who’s supposed to be so loving? Beating His chest, crying every tear, feeling hung out to dry—perhaps these doubts should have been doubted long before. What you thought was a trust now seems so un-trustable.

I know, it feels like everything—what you are doing, who you are becoming, the life you are living…

The real you, the fake you, something in between—your secret thoughts, insecurities, desires, dreams. Passions in your heart—if only to love and be loved in return—declared of value, overflowing with worth. Fully accepted—never to die with your song still inside. You’ve got one life—air to breathe, breaths to take. Am I good enough? Am I like-able, love-able? Do I qualify “as is,” or something different? Status, labels, “likes” on Facebook—I don’t want to waste anytime. Fit in here, fit in there—maybe have no fit at all. Am I getting this right? Doing this well?

And so you run, but you can’t run fast enough—the medication, can’t medicate deep enough. Your success, can’t be successful enough. What you want to let go, won’t seem to let go—the insecurities, the uncertainties, the voices in your head—the naysayers, fair-weather players—the push to be seen, heard, affirmed, believed.

What you are doing, who you are becoming, the life you are living—it feels like—everything.

That’s why, in this world of everything, I am so thankful for nothing.

For nothing can subtract from God’s love for you. Nothing can change His mind, reduce His delight—kink the garden hose of His favor drenching you.

No mistake, no miscue, no atrocity—nothing of you can edit anything of Him.

All decided, once and for all—God’s perfect, unconditional, unrestricted love. Always has, always is, always will be, for there is nothing more pure and more sure than God’s heart—His love, His affections for you—nothing.

There’s nothing for Him to reexamine, to revaluate, to retract—nothing from Him withheld, reserved, restrained.

Nothing.

Nothing else is God but love—perfect, eternal, unconditional, unlimited love. All, poured out for you, for me, for everyone.

In a world of everything, I am thankful for nothing.

For nothing can improve upon the you that God has already finished—there’s nothing of blemish, nothing of sin, nothing of darkness in you within. Nothing to work on, nothing to strive for, nothing to earn—you are whole, complete, righteous, forgiven, forever pure. It’s nothing of what you do, only everything of what He did—there’s nothing left to do, only everything to believe, in Him

It’s not about what people think—not what people say. Not the height of your attitude, not the depth of your gratitude—nothing half empty, nothing half full. Nothing of your religious effort, believing, or work—nothing at all.

Nothing to fear, nothing of which to be ashamed, nothing of tarnish upon your name.

You are righteousness, when you get it all wrong—you are success, when failures go on and on—you are whole, even as it all unravels to the ground.

As He is, so are you—nothing less than the beauty of Jesus—nothing.

In a world of everything, I am thankful for nothing.

For nothing is the sum distance between you and God—He is beside you, within you, all around you, as you. Nothing closer, nothing thicker, nothing more real than the realness of His hand holding yours—you have never been alone.

He is your strength when yours is nothing—He is your guide, when your sight sees nothing. He is your hope, when hope seems like nothing.

Grace is awakening to the hug God has always had around you—a Grace that nothing can remove.

So, in a world of everything, I am so thankful for nothing.

Absolutely… nothing.

For in the nothing, I find everything for which to be thankful…

Nothing.

 

Grace is brave. Be brave.

Check out Chris Kratzer’s new book getting rave reviews… Leatherbound Terrorism.

In Leatherbound Terrorism, Chris chases the evils of conservative Evangelicalism out of the shadows and gives powerful voice to the cries of the religiously oppressed. Confronting issues like racism, sexism, homophobia, religious greed, hypocrisy, nationalism, white supremacy, privilege, and the weaponizing of the Bible, Leatherbound Terrorism pulls no punches. Endorsed by best selling authors Steve McVey and Baxter Kruger, Leatherbound Terrorism will challenge you, inspire you, and most certainly cause you to rethink your faith and life.

Sorry, Christian Trump Supporter, I Just Can’t Trust You Anymore

It used to be different.

I may not have always agreed with you, but I respected you and your views. It seemed as if being a person of truth and goodness was a value we mutually upheld.

Sure, we haven’t always seen eye to eye, but I never thought it would come to this.

Everything has changed.

So much, that as difficult as it is to say and an even more difficult reality to swallow, if I’m honest, I just can’t trust you anymore. I wish things were different, but they’re not.

Somehow, someway, you still support Trump.

From where I sit, the person you once were is no longer the person you have become.

It baffles me to my core.

Even after he publicly mocks the disabled, brags about “grabbing pussy,” swindles people for cash, labels brown-skinned people as criminals, bullies his perceived enemies, embraces racism and white supremacy, pays off porn stars, lies incessantly, and pimps conspiracy theories, you still give him your “amen” and “hallelujah.”

How can this be?

Are you really that blind and callous?

For Christ’s sake, you won’t even wear a damn mask to protect the life of your neighbor. Your church won’t practice social distancing for the thwarting of a deadly pandemic. And, worse yet, you actually believe Trump was sent by God with anointing.

You actually teach your children to admire him.

You donate your money and your heart to his narcissism.

You give headspace to his lies and ridiculous conspiracy theories.

You give him a pass on everything you have fiercely denounced in others.

You twist the Bible like a breakdancer on crack and rape the person of Jesus in order to rationalize your addiction to power and preferential treatment within society.

Hell, you can’t even see your own white privilege staring you straight in the face.

Trust me, it’s a hard thing to say and even a harder thing to behold, but you’ve come off the rails of having a capacity for discernment and self-control. Your moral compass is calibrated to the black hole of your selfishness, and your soul worships a golden calf glittered with white, conservative Christian supremacy. In the end, there is nearly nothing evangelical, Christian, loving, or Jesus-esque about you. Like the Wizard behind the curtain, the sheep’s clothing that garments your veneer has been torn wide open to reveal the wolf that has long lurked inside you.

I still can’t believe it.

If you can’t see Trump for who he is, your faith for the evil it embraces, and yourself for the person you have become, how am I supposed to see you in my life?

If you lack the courage and clarity to stand for what is right and stand against what is wrong, where should you stand in my life?

I’m sorry, Christian Trump supporter, I just can’t trust you anymore.

The writing is on the wall.

 

I can’t trust you with educating my children.

I can’t trust you with speaking into my spiritual life.

I can’t trust what you say about God.

 

I can’t trust you with advising my values and choices.

I can’t trust you to discern good from bad.

I can’t trust you to steer away from fact-denying.

I can’t even trust you to have my best interests at heart.

 

I can’t trust you to tell the truth.

I can’t trust you to discern evil.

I can’t trust you to be fair.

I can’t even trust you to denounce murder and violence.

 

I can’t trust you with my friends.

I can’t trust you with my family.

I can’t trust you with my safety.

I can’t even trust you with the little things.

Little things like holding my mail, serving me food, and walking my dog.

 

Yes, it’s that serious, Yes, it’s that real. Yes, it’s that specific.

Your allegiance to his ridiculousness is the betrayal of our relationship.

So, until you can vehemently reject Trump’s brutal policies of family separations and kids in cages, you can stop lecturing me about being pro-life.

Until you can mandate the removal of police brutality, economic and racial injustice, and educational segregation, you can put down your microphone, “all lives matter.”

Until you are willing to tear down walls of discrimination, racism, and the unwelcoming of refugees, foreigners, and immigrants, you can keep your Old Testament quotations to yourself.

Until you turn the focus towards repenting of your own sins and the sins of your conservative Evangelical faith, you can forget about making me into your spiritual project and Chia Pet-for-Jesus as you hope to grow me into your hypocritical system of believing.

Until you cease to pursue the nationalism of your faith and a false religious freedom that is bent towards your benefit, can you stop trying to convince me that you worship Jesus and not Caesar.

Until you learn to lean not on your own understanding, put people first, and embrace the divinity and affirmation of all, you can stop insisting you occupy the inside scoop on God, the Bible, and how everyone else should be living.

Until you publicly reject the white, sexist, Republican, gun-wielding Jesus of conservative Evangelicalism, you can throw in the towel of your futile attempts to convince me that you worship the Jesus of Nazareth.

Until your faith becomes about the least-of-these instead of the privileged-of-these, the least-of-these instead of the whitest-of-these, the least-of-these instead of the sexist-of-these, and the least-of-these instead of the self-righteous-of-these, you can take everything about your faith, everything about your beliefs, and everything about who you have become and dance it all in front of me, but the scales have fallen from eyes and the truth has set me free.

Your loyalty to Trump has shown me everything I need to know about you, your faith, and the god you serve.

You can’t be trusted.

So, let me save you some time and disheartenment.

I will not believe the beliefs you believe.

I will not worship the idols to which you bow.

I will not become the evil you have become.

And most of all, I will not open my eyes, my heart, nor my life to any person or entity like you whose faith is so dedicated and committed to seeking its own way, that it is even willing to discriminate, demonize, and destroy all that is true, good, factual, and humane.

Sorry, Christian Trump Supporter, I just can’t trust you anymore.

And, to be honest, it scares me that I ever did.

 

Grace is brave. Be brave.

Check out Chris Kratzer’s new book getting rave reviews… Leatherbound Terrorism.

In Leatherbound Terrorism, Chris chases the evils of conservative Evangelicalism out of the shadows and gives powerful voice to the cries of the religiously oppressed. Confronting issues like racism, sexism, homophobia, religious greed, hypocrisy, nationalism, white supremacy, privilege, and the weaponizing of the Bible, Leatherbound Terrorism pulls no punches. Endorsed by best selling authors Steve McVey and Baxter Kruger, Leatherbound Terrorism will challenge you, inspire you, and most certainly cause you to rethink your faith and life.

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