Chris Hambleton's Blog, page 5

Rethinking the Rapture

The Rapture. The Vanishing. Millions of sets of empty clothes lying in the streets, in cars, in airports. The subject of one of the greatest best-selling Christian fiction works of all time (“The Left Behind Series”).

To briefly introduce the subject, the Rapture is typically viewed as the event in which Jesus returns in the sky and all living believers in Christ will instantly be caught up with Him in the clouds (“raptured”), removed from the earth and be transformed into their heavenly form...

Building Tru-Strength

Crossfit. Strength-training. Endurance exercises. Bigger, better, faster, stronger, longer, more. No pain, no gain.

Thegym I frequent (Tru-fit) is big into Crossfit, the current workout-regimendu jour that’s swept across America over the last several years. However, what they don’t tell you is that it can be very rough on your body after awhile, particularly when it comes to yourjoints and muscle-damage. Though we shouldn’t just “accept” aging and all that comes with it, we shouldn’t necessar...

The Lord of the Flood

Who is God — really? How often do we stop and actually consider who He IS? If Godwere to take Myers-Briggs test, who would He turn out tobe? Would He be an INTJ, ISTP, ESFJ, or one (or more!) of the sixteen different personality types that identify/define us?

(photo credit: Seth Reed)

Now that your curiosity has been piqued, I must confess that I cannotpossiblyanswer that question, nor shouldI even attempt to. I would venture to guess that God — the Creator of everything and everyone — would...

If You Were in the Bible…

Have you ever wondered howyour story would readif it was written into the Bible? How would it start? How would it end? What would be some of the highlights?

Would your life-storybe glossed-over like many in the early chapters of Genesis and Matthew/Luke, where only a “X begat Y and lived Z years and died” verse was written? Would you even want your storyto be mentioned? Would you want others to justbe given the highlights, or would you want your life to be described in glorious — or humiliati...

Learning to be Fearless

Fear. That sickening, sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach. That brief moment of hesitation which can cause you to completely freezelike a marble statue. Much of our everyday fears come from some form of change, which can be sudden and unexpected or looming and something to dread.

The older I’ve become, the more I’ve noticed that I tend to gravitate towards routines and stability and away fromchange — especially big, personal changes. As creatures of habit, welike our routines and stabi...

Dating, Injustice, and Psalm 73

Have you ever asked yourself,”What does she see in him?” or “What does he see in her?” There are some couples that just don’t seem to make anysense, particularly to outside observers.

The other nightat Starbucks while waiting for youth-group to end, this attractiveyoung woman walked in and stood at the counter. She was very well-dressed and put-together, and could’ve easily graced the cover of a magazine. While she was waiting, a young man walked in and stood next toher: grungy/hipster clothe...

Softening the Soil and Pulling Weeds

Weeds. The bane of every gardener, horticulturalist, and lawn aficionado. Every garden and lawn has them — even the most meticulously kept ones (though the weeds may be tiny!). I especially hate dandelions and field bindweed that seems to take over certain parts of thelawn. The front yard usually isn’t too bad, but the back yard is a different story… thank goodness hardly anyone sees that on a regular basis!

There are thousands upon thousands of different kinds of weeds. There are those thatg...

The Ends and the Means

“The ends justify the means.”

Of all the philosophies in the world, I’ve come to believe that this one is among the most innocent, but also the most dangerous. It’sbeen used to justify anything from cutting corners on menial tasks like sweeping dirt under the rug to monstrous things like murder and genocide. Practically any “means” can be justified if the “ends” are important enough or desired enough. We have this uncanny ability to justify nearly any and every evil under the sun to achieve t...

This Too Shall Pass

It’s been said that March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. But if that’s the case, then I’ve been stuck in early March for the last five weeks! In the past month, we’ve been to the vet twice, the dentist three times (with one root canal), paid two hefty tax bills, flown across the country, had a death in the family, a piano concert for my oldest daughter, released a new author website, and worked a couple of 60-hour weeks. Today’s the first day in a long while I’ve felt like I c...

The Day of Reckoning

Well, it’s that time of year again — the day of reckoning. The day of accounting. Atime for sweating and the biting of nails. For some, the day of dread.

No, I’m not speaking of taxes (though it is that season) — it’s the time for annual reviews.In the midst of our scrambling around to get the new beta site working, the managers kept to the corporate schedule and gave us our reviews last week. I did much better than I had expected, but the day was so busy and stressful that I didn’t really ha...