5 Ways to Spot Spiritual Junk Food

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5 Ways to Spot Spiritual Junk Food

I like “Sour Patch Kids.”

You could even say I’m passionate about those little, chewy gummies. The sweet and the sour hit me with a combination that I really enjoy. Sometimes, I even experience a sudden rush of blood to my face when I eat them. My wife knows  these are my choice movie snack while watching a good film. I know for her, it’s “Milk Duds.” I’m sure in the proper setting you have your preferred snacks and “go-to” junk food, as well.

Junk food is like momentary fun, disguised as food.

It’s the stuff that’s high in calorie, but has no real nutritional sustenance. It’s the kind of food that hits you hard, but leaves you empty. For a brief moment, you get elevated and your glucose level spikes to provide a burst of energy, then the wave settles and you’re left just as empty as when you first consumed [insert choice junk food here], and aside from the short-lived high you discover that there was really nothing in what you ate to help your body long term.

So let me ask you, have you ever experienced this while sitting in church?

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Beauty and the Bump

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Beauty and the Bump

I just got done reading part of a book about loving your body. Like, saying to your legs,

“I’m so thankful that you work and you get me around. You are really great legs. I have great legs.”

Right now body image is a huge mystery to me. I’m in the last trimester of pregnancy with my second child and I couldn’t be happier about her arrival for two reasons:

1. She will finally be here! I get to look into those eyes, touch those little feet and hands, I get to feel utterly helpless and she actually will be.

2. I get to take control of my body again…kind of. I mean, I will be like a human buffet for months and just because the kid is outside of my body doesn’t mean that it’s not still sustaining her.

But I am looking forward to the new season. With a newborn this season is short but it also feels like an eternity.

I’m going to be honest. I do not feel beautiful being pregnant. I’m already tall and I’ve never been super slim. I’m about average build. BUT, when I’m pregnant I feel like The Hamburglar or Big Bird or the guy who dresses up like the cow from Chick-fil-a, not a real cow. I feel imposing. Like if I walk up behind you I might scare the snot out of you but then you see that I’m pregnant so I’m really just cute and cuddly. Not only am I tall, but I have this layer of “baby love”.

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Binge. Purge. Repeat.

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Binge. Purge. Repeat.

Our culture is one of excess. We binge and purge. Everyone. There is really no exception. I’m not just talking about food. I’m talking about entertainment, spending, leisure, sex, social media, the list goes on. If you think you’re the exception then you can stop reading right now, I suppose I’m not talking to you.

I’m talking to people like me.

For example, someone might say (myself included), I don’t watch a lot of TV. Well, that’s nice. Neither do I. BUT when I find a show on Netflix that I like, I will watch it until there is no more to watch. Binge. I will deprive myself of sleep, I will shirk responsibility. When I have a bit of free time, guess where it’s going? And sometimes, if you’re lucky, you get your spouse in on the action and you waste your lives together. What does it matter? There are only a limited number of shows you can watch, so eventually you will come out of your entertainment induced stupor and once again embrace the light of day.

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Sounds Like...

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Sounds Like...

God has given all of us a passion. Something we just love doing. I love conveying that passion through music. I can be as vulnerable as I want to be. I let people see a side of me that I wouldn't normally be comfortable with. But, on the other hand, with music I never really felt like I fit in anywhere specific. I've got power when I want it but not a huge range. I feel like I stand somewhere in the middle of soul and folk. I can sing low and I can sing loud. Man, I can blow your hair back. But I don't always want to. I don't always want to be heard. 

I got a vocal scholarship for college, but I didn't really connect with classical training. So, because I'm a PK (pastor's kid) I found myself leading worship and I love it. There is nothing like leading people into a greater awareness of God and the reality of who He is. Although, I soon realized if I'm standing on a stage for people to see me, then the moment I leave the stage it's over. People may pat me on the back and say I did a good job but it ends there. Still, if I decide I have this one chance when I'm singing or speaking to move people; for them to leaving thinking, or inspired, or changed by God, it's then that I tap in to something eternal, something bigger than myself.

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Change

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Change

First, I would like to apologize for our silence. Pregnancy and an odd combination of varying circumstances had put us out of commission for a while. But we're back and we couldn't be happier about it! 

I feel like a certain amount of responsibility comes with a name like "We are the Vigilant". You might be wondering why we picked such an intense name for a blog, ministry, etc. Why not pick something a little more palatable? A little more "vanilla," if you will? And all I can say is, it just clicked. It touched on something that was our heart's cry. Not that Matt and I would just be vigilant, but that people would be inspired to wake up, to be aware, to say WE are the vigilant. Anyways...since the name of the blog implies we are watching and looking out for what's coming next, I guess that means we should at least be ready for whatever that is. So, I guess that also means we get to be the first to change, the first to adjust. 

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Why the Message Still Matters

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Why the Message Still Matters

The first time I ever stood in front of a crowd to speak, I made sure to dapper up. I slicked my hair back, put on my best sweater and pair of corduroys, made VERY certain to smell nice, stepped on stage, and then…

I totally forgot to hold the microphone close enough to my mouth so anyone could hear me. During my message no one bothered to say anything. It wasn’t until after the event when I asked a friend what they thought, that I actually knew what had happened. My friend’s response?

“It was good,” they said. “I just couldn’t hear you.”

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Year in Review

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Year in Review

So, we knew we wanted to share about this past year. We wanted to share where we are coming from. But first, I want to say that this past year has been a “butt kicker”. There have been moments where we loved it and where we hated it. I’ll be honest, the majority of the time I hated it, but for what we’ve learned and how far we’ve come, I wouldn’t change it for the world.

This past year we also started MissionBrand. This is a company specifically designed to support missionaries through the sale of custom apparel that my incredibly talented husband designs. We learned a lot from this experience, too. Things don’t always go the way you expect them to. We received an incredible amount of moral support and encouragement. A lot of people have said that we inspired them to take steps of faith out into the unknown. This meant so much to us! Would I do it again? Um…Oh God, please don’t ask us to do this again. Will He ask us to do this again? Probably.

In January 2013, we said goodbye to some incredible students that it had been our privilege of ministering to since 2009, both as volunteers and then as their youth pastors. This was one of the most challenging things we have ever had to walk through. During that season, we had some of the most rewarding and heartbreaking experiences of our lives. We learned a lot and we didn’t do everything perfectly but, by God’s grace, we did our best.

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We Are The Vigilant

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We Are The Vigilant

What is “We are the Vigilant”?

Or, perhaps the more appropriate question is “what does it mean to be Vigilant?”

About a year ago my husband and I sat down to talk about what we wanted. We have these conversations often. But this conversation was different. We were taking a giant step. We were launching a business that would seek to support missionaries through the design and sale of apparel. Those we knew thought it was a great idea. We thought it was a great idea. In fact, we still think it’s a great idea. We know that our mandate as Christians is to “go and make disciples of all nations” according to Matthew 28:19. We believe we will one day go abroad to do some of the work we’re so passionate in supporting. But in the midst of that conversation we had to admit something was missing. We were leaving vocational student ministry to strike out on our own, only our passion for students and reaching younger generations had not changed. Even now, we are still just as zealous to see students serve God with passion and consistency. It was out of this conversation that the idea for We are the Vigilant was born.

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