My Online Faith Journal

    Our sermon last Sunday was about the fruit of the Spirit.  The pastor was talking about love and referred to the opposite of love as bitterness.  I am not sure that I agree with that, as I see the opposite of love being apathy, but I can certainly see why he would feel that way.  I felt convicted that I have allowed in the past some bitterness to creep in and take root.  I want to be free from that and walk in the love that Christ would want me to love other people with.  Sometimes people make it near impossible to love or even like them.      I didn't realize when I left the church I worked at years ago just how angry and bitter I was.  I was so disappointed that it didn't work out and that people who were initially excited about our coming turned on us very early on.  You wouldn't believe the angry and hostile emails I got from church members.  Fights about things like easter egg hunts and whether or not we would have a softball team.  It all seemed so petty and ch

     Recently, I applied to be a moderator on christianforums.com and started training to do this.  As a moderator, you talk to other people a lot about the faith.  I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to share what I know with others.  The forum is something I have been a part of for the last seven years.       The moderators have a number of steps that they take to let a person know that they have  broken the rules, warnings and infractions can be imposed.  Of course, if someone does something really horrible then they can be immediately banned.  So far, I've actually banned two people while I've been in training.  Both of them were advertising web sites on the forum which is prohibited.      One thing I have noticed about many christians is that they are harsh.  People are willing to argue and call each other names and really act ugly towards each other because someone doesn't agree with their position.  I've noticed this in the church also.  It's a

   Over the past 7 years, I have been working in a variety of mental health settings.  From hospitals, to the community in a variety of settings and variety of ages.  My youngest client on my case load was three and my oldest was around 65.  People have sought help for a variety of reasons including housing, managing symptoms, needing medication and sometimes just needing some support and an ear to listent to their story.  In some cases, I have enjoyed the people I have worked with and in some cases I have been glad to move on.  In most cases, I think I can say without being prideful I have been helpful, but not always.      One of the hardest things to deal with is when people are less than truthful about their situation.  People come to treatment for a variety of reasons.  Sometimes they come because others want them there.  Other times, they come because they want records showing they sought help due to a disability claim or because of a court case.  In some cases, they actually w