By Erin Elizabeth Austin

Do you remember what it was like as a child to ride your bike down a steep hill with your feet sticking out to the side just to see how fast you could go? Did you ever swing so high it felt like you were flying or hung upside-down on the monkey bars and pretended you could walk on air? There is an uninhibited joy that children have, yet somewhere along the road to adulthood, we have the tendency to lose that excitement and zest for life.

I am often amazed at how many people claiming to be Christians walk around looking like they’ve eaten a whole box of Sour Patch Kids. So many of us have forgotten the joy we first had when we asked God to save us from our sins. Do you remember that feeling you had when you became God’s adopted son or daughter? It was exhilarating, wonderful, and amazing all at the same time – like we had just skydived, taken our first bite of homemade ice cream, and graduated from college all in one moment. We wanted to shout it out to the whole world that we were a child of the King of kings and Lord of lords. It was an emotional and spiritual high. Now, fast-forward to today. Are you still that happy, or is life just a series of dreary days with which you must live?

By Josie Siler

Last week in the post “The Island of Misfit Toys,” Erin wrote about a struggle that many of us are facing with the new health care reform bill. This is something that will affect all of us to some degree. When doctors drop us or pharmacies refuse to give us the medications that we need, we get angry. We’re ready to fight, and our friends and family are ready to fight for us. But who should we fight against? Should we fight doctors, clinics, hospitals, pharmacies, insurance companies, or the government?

During my senior year of high school, my youth group met above a coffee shop. One of the songs that we loved to sing was Chris Tomlin’s “Romans 16:19.” If you’re not familiar with the song, it goes like this…

By Erin Elizabeth Austin

“Why am I such a misfit? I am not just a nit wit! I'm an adorable reindeer. Why don't I fit in?” I’ve had this song going through my mind for the past couple of weeks. Do you recognize it? It’s a Burl Ives song called “Misfits.” Most people know the song because of the old Christmas movie, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

Yes, I know it’s almost June and nowhere near time for Christmas, but I do have a good reason for singing this song, even though it’s almost summer. Over the past month, I’ve gotten more emails from people who are experiencing a problem they never expected to happen. Literally, every day I hear from another person who’s run into this problem, and everyone is flabbergasted by what’s happening and what to do about it. The problem? The health care reform bill that was passed last year is now targeting people living with a chronic illness. Suddenly, insurance is no longer paying for medicine for which it once paid. In some cases, pharmacies aren’t even allowed to give out the medicine, even if the patient is willing to pay full cost. Some people are suddenly being turned away by physicians, and they are having to see alternative health doctors. I even know of some people who are having to find doctors in different states from their own who are willing to help them. In essence, everyone living with a chronic illness has hit the proverbial brick wall. And the one comment I hear over and over again is this: “I feel like I’m being told that I don’t matter, like I have no value because I’m sick. Just because I'm different - a misfit - shouldn't mean my life doesn't count.”

By Josie Siler

I got my first “real job” when I was thirteen-years-old. I had been “helping for cash” before that, but when I hit thirteen, I was finally old enough to get a paycheck. My first job was a great experience. A few years later, I got a job washing dishes at a local restaurant washing dishes. I learned a lot at this job, but I can’t say it was a pleasant experience. My boss was a yeller. I was scared to death of him. I was a scrawny thing and washing dishes in a nice restaurant is a hot, sweaty, physically demanding job. I worked hard because I wanted to do a good job. One day I was so tired that I stopped to rest during a lull in the dishes. Unfortunately, my boss happened to walk by and yelled at me when he saw that I wasn’t working. He gave me a random job to do and stood there and watched me do it, discouraging me all the while. I was so happy when that summer came to an end and I could quit that horrible job!

After I graduated from college I got a job working as a nursing assistant at a nursing home. I was still scrawny and this job was also physically demanding. There was one big difference though between this job and the job I had in high school as a dishwasher. I loved my boss. She was a great boss. She liked me, and if I messed up, she would correct me in a kind way. I worked hard for her because I wanted to do a good job and please her. I also wanted to take good care of the patients in my care.

By Erin Elizabeth Austin

I sat down for my interview, nervous but excited. God had provided the money to attend this writers' conference, and I knew in my heart God was going to do something amazing. Why else would He go to so much trouble to get me here?

As I went to the first of what would be many interviews, I couldn't help but hope my dream of becoming a published writer would begin with this meeting. Maybe it sounds silly, but I hoped and prayed others would catch the vision of what I felt God calling me to write. So I waited with bated breath as the interview began, and what I heard broke my heart. Not only did the person interviewing me not catch my vision, but he thought I was wasting my time. I was told I was a good writer, but I was a nobody and who would care to read anything I've written?

By Josie Siler

I was a pretty good kid growing up. I didn’t get in trouble very often, partially because I found a way to get my brother blamed for things! Oh, I would do naughty things, but I had an overactive conscience so when my parents gave me “the look” or told me they were disappointed in something I had done I would immediately get mouse tracks quickly followed by the sup-sups. For those of you unfamiliar with these terms, mouse tracks are little dots that form on your chin when you’re trying not to cry. Sup-sups are an unattractive attempt to not cry by gasping for air while tears leak out of your eyes!

I could have escaped both mouse tracks and the sup-sups if I had only obeyed my parents as the Bible instructs. The Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:1-3, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother’ (this is the first commandment with a promise), ‘that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.’ ”

By Josie Siler

“As the Scriptures say, ‘A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’” These words from Ephesians 5:31 are going to impact each of us in a different way. Some of us will feel a sense of warmth and joy, having experienced a good marriage and the love of a Godly man or woman. Some of us will feel regret, thinking of a lost love. Some of us will feel pain and anger due to a broken relationship. Some of us will feel a sense of loss and disappointment because we have never experienced this kind of love.

The Apostle Paul continues in Ephesians 5:32, “This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one.” In these verses Paul is talking about marriage, but he’s also talking about much more than that. He’s using the institution of marriage to give us an example of Christ’s relationship with the church. Being “united as one” with your husband or wife is the deepest, most intimate experience a human can experience…however it pales in comparison to the intimacy that we can experience with Christ.