Shattered Silence

The Scavenger Hunt   Every year at Christmas since I can remember, my Dad has made me a witty scavenger hunt leading up to my biggest present hidden somewhere in the house.   As I grew older, I began to realize that I didn’t want presents so much as people and experiences rather than things, yet, never the less, year after year, I would beg my Dad to make me one of these hunts regardless of the present at the end of the puzzling codes and clues.   Accordingly, year after year, he would make me one, and to this day, it is still my favorite Christmas present that I physically receive because of the mystery, solving, and hide and seek that takes place.   Over 2000 year ago, some people I’ve heard much about also fell in love with this expectation of mystery and solving the latest collection of scavenger hunt clues that they held at their fingertips- they just didn’t know it yet.   In the Old Testament, it is cited various times by numerous Prophets and words of Scripture that som

Abraham and Isaac: What’s Your Isaac?   (Festival of Carols) “Then God said, “Take your son to the land of Moriah and kill your son there as a sacrifice for me. This must be Isaac, your only son, the one you love. Use him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains there. I will tell you which mountain” “(Genesis 22:2, ERV).   As a Christian, I have come to the understanding that God often works in ways we are unable to understand, especially when uncomfortable situations occur, making us question if He alone is really good.   Yet despite our circumstances, mishaps, highs, and lows, Jesus reminds us in Romans 8:28 that we can rest assured, for “God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them” (Romans 8:28, ERV).   Despite this comfort, however, in the deepest inquires of my heart, I still ponder calamities as they occur.   In fact, I question their existence in my life and begin to ask if I’m trul