Enriched Affections

My latest morning live session gave some insights into my own experience with Christian Deconstruction. If you aren’t familiar with this phraseology, think of it like tearing down a house in order to see what the foundation is made of. Many Christians go through this process once they are confronted with a crisis of adversity or prosperity. Jesus spoke about this directly in his parable of the different soils in Matthew 13. While only one of the plants in this parable bore fruit and proved to be genuine, two others looked like legit plants until they were confronted with trials, adversity, or the pleasures of this world. When those came around they were shown to be what they were, a fake plant. Personally, I went through this deconstruction process at the end of 2017. I was very suddenly without a spouse, job, or church. My roles of husband, pastor, ministry leader, and churchman were removed and I was left to consider what my faith really rested on. Was it based on what I wa...

Chester Frost Park, May 15, 2018 One year ago, on May 15, 2018, I enjoyed a great day at the beach with my family. My wife and I watched the girls play in the water at the park near our house. The sun was out. Things were starting to look up for my family. Yes, my marriage still needed a lot of work and I needed a better job, but things seemed to be stabilizing a bit. One year ago, on May 17, 2018, I was driving home from dropping the kids off at school in the morning. My wife hadn’t come home the previous night, saying she spent the night with one of her girl friends who wasn’t sober enough to drive herself. But I guessed at what happened. After some halting conversation and a few questions, the truth came out. She had done it again, and I knew our marriage was over. That was a confusing morning for me. I don’t think I had honestly considered divorce a real option until that moment. I hoped the fear of it would keep us together if nothing else would. Divorce wasn’t just ...