Christian Living Magazine March April 2024

FREE

March / April 2024

HAYLEY

Slaughter

Her life-saving donation

LOIS

Belveal Blockhan Idaho’s special Hat Lady

YOUTH

Dynamics

God and adventures

AWE

For God

His creation amazes

Hayley Slaughter, left, and Candice, right, show off their sweatshirts.

Slaughter was the 18th DOVE participant to donate an organ to a military veteran. Candice was the recipient.

Contents March / April 2024 “For you are all children of light, children of the day.

We are not of the night or of the darkness.”

— 1 Thessalonians 5:5 (ESV)

Volume 13 | Number 2

FEATURES

COLUMNS

BRIEF:

Caldwell Spring Prayer Walk marks 20 years

6 8 20

Symbolism & Salvation: The prodigal son The Renegade Psychiatrist: See the proof – God is awesome “I Get To!”®: A good perspective

7

COVER STORY

Lois Belveal Blockhan: The Hat Lady

14

Real Man’s Toolbox: About true manhood History, Culture & Faith: Thomas Jefferson’s religion Exploring God’s Great Outdoors: It’s showtime!

22

Understanding Relationships: The ‘stranger’ seasons Nutrition Nook: Losing weight & making ‘nuggets’ Maximum Health: Guard your heart Wednesday’s Child: Meet Erick

10

26 28

DEPARTMENTS

Hayley Slaughter:

Kidney donor

16

Youth Dynamics: God and adventure

18

Life through beauty: No coercion

30

PUBLISHER

GRAPHIC DESIGN

christianlivingmag@gmail.com

www.greentreedkdesign.com

Sandy Jones • 208-703-7860

EDITOR

Gaye Bunderson

Denice King • 208-918-5190

Travis Slaughter

GENERAL INFO

ADVERTISING & SALES

Larry E. Banta, Steve Bertel, Daniel Bobinski, Rick Chromey, Tom Claycomb III, Joan Endicott, Leo Hellyer, Rosie Main, Gary Moore, Ed Rybarczyk, and Janet Thompson

kim.bcliving@gmail.com

WEBSITE DESIGN

208-703-7860

Kimberly McMullen • 208-703-7509 Katy Nelson • 503-816-3042 katy.bcliving@gmail.com

24 29

IN EACH EDITION

COVER PHOTO

editorgaye@gmail.com Submit story ideas, article submissions & press releases christianlivingmag@gmail.com

12

CONTRIBUTORS

SEO Idaho

Publisher’s Corner: A gratitude attitude Bible Blanks: The man who was left-handed

4 25

Need Prayer?

Call Idaho Chaplains Association

Talk to a Chaplain

DISTRIBUTION

D&S Distribution • 208-985-6904 Christian Living is committed to encouraging and instructing individuals in their daily lives by presenting stories of people in the Treasure Valley who are living on a foundation of faith in Jesus Christ and who serve as uplifting examples to others. Views expressed in Christian Living do not necessarily represent those of the publisher. Every effort has been made by Christian Living to insure accuracy of the publication contents. However, we do not guarantee the accuracy of all information nor the absence of errors and omissions; hence, no responsibility can be or is assumed.

All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2024 by Christian Living Ministries Inc.

208-968-1991 idahoca.org

Christian Living is published every other month and is available in over 600 locations throughout southern Idaho, including grocery stores, convenience stores, medical waiting areas, and churches. If your church would like additional copies please email us today at christianlivingmag@gmail.com Annual subscriptions available for $13/year. To start your subscription or give one as a gift send your check or money order, along with complete address information, including which issue to begin with and a phone number to call in case there’s questions about your subscription to Christian Living Magazine, PO Box 867, Meridian, ID 83680.

www.christianlivingmag.com

Christian Living | March / April 2024 3

PUBLISHER’S Corner

But God…Having an attitude of gratitude

By Sandy Jones

Photos by Alexandra Brown

I’m so ready for spring! For those of us living in Southern Idaho this has been such a mild winter that it’s almost unnerving. In January we had Snowmageddon Part Deux. Here at our home we received a whopping 13” of the fluffy white stuff in two-and-ahalf days! Outside of some really cold windy days, that was pretty much our winter.

We loved those few days of snow. Our two-and-a-half year old twin granddaughters came to visit. For the first time in their little lives they got to play in the snow, and build a snowman with their Daddy and their cousins! I laughed as one of the little girls came in to warm up and told her Mommy “they’re makin’ a mess!”

Isn’t that true in life though? Sometimes you have to make a mess to make something beautiful.

Romans 8:28 has been my stronghold for the past ten years.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Does this mean that all things will be good, fun, or easy? Certainly not. What it does mean is that if we stay true to following our Lord and Savior that at some point we will see that He has used our journey, our triumphs, as well as our struggles, for His good.

All too often we want to interpret Scripture to be all about us, and sometimes that is true, but my experience with this particular Scripture has been God showing up in the good times in life, as well as the bad, and how He can use anything for His good. And to quote a missionary friend of ours, “what could be more important than that?”

God loves us completely, even when we’re unlovable by man’s definition.

He forgives us when we don’t deserve it.

He carries us when the load is too heavy to carry alone.

He rejoices with us when we have cause to celebrate.

He blesses us with miracles too many to count.

Most importantly, He sent His one and only Son, Jesus, to be our role model, and then Jesus took the sin of the entire world – my sin – your sin – everyone’s sin to the cross that we might have eternal life with Him. We celebrate this miracle each spring at Easter, one of my favorite holidays.

Who is in this week’s

Radio Sh or Pod ow You C cast hoose !

?

Join us each week as we take a deeper, more personal dive into people and ministries we’ve covered in Christian Living Magazine Saturdays at Noon MST on 94.1 FM The Voice Listen “live” at www.941thevoice.com Subscribe & Listen on your favorite streaming service!

4 March / April 2024 | Christian Living

www.christianlivingmag.com

I know I’m a great sinner, and I’m so not worthy Or the fact that a friend worked hard and lost 40 of this blessing, and, yet, He offers it freely. How pounds two years ago and blessed me with much of could I not want to love, trust and serve Him? her wardrobe. The fact of the matter is that at the Even when it’s messy. time we didn’t have the money for me to buy clothes, In my last column I shared that my husband, and yet God provided. The other day I got to thinkSteve had been diagnosed with stage IV metastatic ing about it – and was amazed when I realized that lung cancer. This has not been an easy season in I’m still wearing so many of those things as everyday our lives… BUT GOD! clothes. They’re not frayed, they’re not worn out, But God has shown up every step of the way. and they’re still great clothes. It reminded me of the He showed up in late January when Steve was suddenly struck by a saddle pulmonary embolism Israelites in the desert, when their clothes didn’t wear that blocked the airways to both lungs, causing out. Yet it’s been so easy for me to take these articles him to spend 3 days in ICU. of clothing for granted, and not recognize the miracle He showed up again a week later as Steve was they’ve been. readmitted to the hospital with an acute UTI, and Sandy Jones Yes, my husband has a serious illness, but through as we were wrestling with some pretty big decisions it I’ve been blessed with a fresh new perspective. One and Steve’s own urologist happened to be the docof gratitude. One where we praise God in the storm. tor called in to consult. The doctor knew immediately how to treat With this in mind, I simply must ask, how has God blessed you Steve, and what works with the way his body is designed.

It’s so easy for me to sit here today and write about all the times today?

God has shown up, and blessed us with another mighty miracle in Until next time… the dark, thick of things, but today I’m sitting here challenging myGod Bless! n self to recognize the everyday miracles in the good times.

All the answered prayers. Not just the prayers for healing and I know I say it each and every issue of Christian Living Magazine. peace. How about the prayers for provision?

Please frequent and support our advertisers. Like you they love The Many of us take for granted the fact that we have well-stocked Lord, and because they love The Lord they support this ministry so pantries. that we can continue to bring you the hope and promise of God’s And yet, when I stop and think about it – God is the only reason love, grace and mercy. my pantry is well-stocked.

AGENCY

In business since 1936 •Franklin Village North Subdivision

local expertise you can trust Call us for the protection you need and the service you want.

Franklin Blvd. and Cherry Ln. in Nampa Phase One - Sold Out Phase Two - Coming in August

208-344-7189

•Heron Ridge Subdivision

HOME • AUTO • LIFE • FINANCIAL BUSINESS • RVs • FLOOD

Homes Available in Phase Two Phase Three Ready to Build

ericjeglum@allstate.com

Greenhurst and Middleton Rd. in Nampa

Eric Jeglum

Se Habla Español

Mission Statement:

To honor God and serve our community by treating our clients with respect, honesty and integrity; using the resources with which God has blessed us in pursuit of their best interests.

203 11th Ave. S. • Nampa, ID • 208-466-7821 www.BrandtAgency.com www.christianlivingmag.com

You’re in good hands.

Subject to terms, conditions and availability. Allstate Fire and Casualty Ins. Co & affiliates: 2775 Sanders Rd Northbrook IL 60062. © 2021 Allstate Insurance Co.

Christian Living | March / April 2024 5

SYMBOLISM & Salvation

The Parable of the Prodigal Son

But we had to celebrate and be glad because this Many people will never darken the doors of a brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was church because they think they’ve done things that lost and is found.” are too horrible for God to forgive. Scripture is clear At its core, this parable illustrates the boundless that nothing is further from the truth. The death mercy and forgiveness of God. The father’s reof Jesus on the cross was a sacrifice that paid for all sponse to his wayward son’s return is representative sins. Not some. Not most. All. of God’s unconditional love for every person on A story Jesus tells in the 15th chapter of Luke is earth, no matter how far each may stray. Despite often called the Parable of the Prodigal Son, and the younger son’s foolishness, recklessness, and it’s a story that addresses many aspects of life on wasteful extravagance to have fleeting sinful pleaearth. It starts out with a man who has two sons. sures, the father eagerly welcomed him back with The younger son was eager for independence, so open arms. he asked his father for his share of the inheritance.

This characteristic of God is also explained in Surprisingly, the father gave his younger son half of a similar parable, the Parable of the Lost Sheep the value of his estate, and thinking he had it made, (also in Luke 15), in which Jesus says, “[T]here will the younger son set off for a distant country for what be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents he thought would be a life free from obligations. than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need Daniel Bobinski Jesus said the young man indulged in a life of no repentance.” excess and recklessness, squandering his wealth in As I mentioned earlier, many people will never wild living. However, a severe famine came along, but because the darken the doors of a church because they think they’ve done things young man had spent all his money, he found himself destitute and that are too horrible for God to forgive. This parable of the prodigal desperate. To survive, he took a humiliating job feeding pigs. son illustrates the ripple effects of repentance. God does not wag his The young man’s conditions were so bad he even considered eatfinger at us. He welcomes people with open arms if they will only ing what he was feeding the pigs. Eventually, the young man hit rock turn to Him. It’s never too late to do so, and there will be much bottom and came to his senses. He knew he had already received his rejoicing in the heavens, too. inheritance, but he realized his father’s servants were better off than However, this parable also shows that even people who appear he was. He decided to return to his father and beg that his father let righteous and obedient can harbor sinful resentment and selfhim work as a hired servant. righteousness, things that Jesus warned us about.

As the son approached his father’s property, Hidden sins of the heart can severely hinder our his father saw him from a distance and was filled ability to love others as Jesus would have us love with both joy and compassion. He ran to his son, them. embraced him, and kissed him. The son conThe parable of the prodigal son illustrates the fessed his sins and humbly asked for forgiveness. transformative power of repentance and redempHowever, before he could even finish making tion. It shows us the need for humility, even his request, the father ordered his servants to in those who outwardly appear faithful but inbring the finest robe, a ring, and sandals for his wardly may harbor unseen sins. But it also shows son. He also commanded them to prepare a feast us that God stands ready to welcome us back to celebrate his return, declaring, “For this son of with open arms, eager to forgive and restore us mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and to wholeness. is found.”

Whether you’re a non-believer or someone The father was clearly overjoyed, but the older who’s been walking with the Lord for decades, son heard what was going on and became angry. it wouldn’t hurt to humble yourself before the After all, why should the younger son be treated Lord and ask that He clean you up and bless so well when it was the older son who remained you. Repentance on earth brings rejoicing in faithful and obedient to his father?

God’s kingdom, no matter who you are or what Thinking his younger brother did not deserve you’ve done. n the treatment he was getting, the older son reDaniel Bobinski, Th.D., is an award-winning fused to join the celebration. In fact, he pointed and best-selling author and a popular speaker out all the sins his brother had committed as reaat conferences and retreats. Reach him at sons for why his return should not be celebrated. danielbobinski@protonmail.com The father answered, saying, “My son, you are Image by Sr. Maria-Magdalena R. SMCB from Pixabay or (208) 375-7606. always with me and everything I have is yours.

By Daniel Bobinski

Hope, Inspiration & a New Perspective

Just $13.00 A year

Get Christian Living Magazine delivered to your mailbox!

Two Ways to Subscribe:

Online: - or - Mail: Name, Info & Payment ChristianLivingMag.com Christian Living Magazine under “Shop” Tab PO Box 867, Meridian, ID 83680

6 March / April 2024 | Christian Living

www.christianlivingmag.com

Caldwell Spring Prayer Walk marks 20 years

The 2024 Caldwell Spring Prayer Walk marks the event's 20th anniversary. This year, the walk will be held on Saturday, April 13, beginning at 3 p.m. in Caldwell Memorial Park.

The event is held annually to pray for the city of Caldwell and its citizens, including the following: the police, paramedics, firemen, the mayor and city council members, health care workers, colleges and schools, students, teachers, administrative staff, bus drivers, for a day care center for the homeless, for food insecure families, for human trafficking victims, for graffiti to go away, for gang members to come to accept and know Jesus in their lives, that violence and illegal drugs will go away, for safety in the community, and for businesses to continue to do well.

The Caldwell mayor’s son, Bryler, age 10, holds a Walk organizer Arlene Robinett stated the “Jesus Loves U!” sign as he participates in a past walk is family friendly, for people of all ages, Caldwell Spring Prayer Walk. (Courtesy photo) and all are welcome. “Anyone who doesn't want to walk may stay at the park bandshell and pray,” Robinett said. “A potluck dinner will follow the walk and those who attend are invited to bring a favorite dish to share.”

Caldwell's mayor, Jarom Wagoner, had this to say about the annual event: “The City of Caldwell is grateful for Arlene Robinett and her dedication to not only begin the Caldwell Prayer Walk, but to continue it for two decades now. As the mayor of Caldwell, and an active participant with my family in the prayer walk, it is truly a blessing to gather so many people of different faiths to walk through and pray for our community. The blessings are real, and we look forward to this continuing for many more years.”

For more information, contact Robinett at (208) 391-8516. n

KETO HEATING & COOLING

12

months no interest financing

Serving Idaho Since 1957

WILLS & TRUSTS at One Flat Fee

It’s Always The Right Time

To Protect Your Loved Ones

But you don’t have to overpay to do it!

• Wills /Trusts (and revisions) • Living Wills & Power of Attorney • Probate • Advance Directive

Attorney Dani Grigg

dani@mcfarlandritter.com

Call For A FREE Consultation

208-477-1670

3152 S. Bown Way #102 • Boise

www.mcfarlandritter.com

Call 208-375-1100 To Schedule Appointment

You don’t have to move to have a comfortable home.

Call KETO to upgrade your furnace & A/C today!

Schedule Your Spring Service Today!

For a complete list of our services go to

www.KetoHeating.com Proudly Serving all of the Treasure Valley Since 1957

For information on efficiency rebates visit intgas.com/saveenergy

www.christianlivingmag.com

There’s never been a better time to switch to natural gas!

Christian Living | March / April 2024 7

THE RENEGADE Psychiatrist

See the proof: Our God is awesome

go and talk to him about that. He willingly talked to Ahh, the springtime! New life all around us. Flowthe guys who went there. He told them he could not ers blooming, birds singing, trees showing their new understand how this could have evolved; it is just so leaves. complex. He was told about the Creator and at least But have you taken time to be in awe? listened. Even an atheistic professor found himself in In our culture we seem to find ourselves busily awe of God’s creation. running here and there. Get this done! Hurry there!

When you stop to consider, sometimes it is Get ready, we are going to be late! Hurrying off to overwhelming in a good way. In our gross anatomy work, speeding home to get to evening activities, class, we had a group of six of us working with a doawakening early on Saturday to get the kids off nated body to learn anatomy and function. I was so to their sports or other events; carving out time, taken by the amazing human body that I wrote on maybe, on Sunday to get to church.

We are sometimes so busy we cannot stop to rethe chalkboard we used for taking notes and making flect, to think, to consider. We easily lose our AWE. diagrams Psalms 139:14: I praise you because I What exactly is awe? I think of a small child seeing am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works a beautiful butterfly taking off from the flower in are wonderful, I know that full well. the yard. Totally focused, immersed in the beauty I figured the next day it would be gone, erased Dr. Larry E. Banta of that event, eyes opened wide in surprise, mouth when the janitor cleaned the boards. However, the agape, appreciating the novelty, the wonder. You next day and the next it was still there. After a few notice the excited emotions and hear the laughter from the child weeks the janitor took time to retrace the letters so it stood out from experiencing the awe. the fading.

It lasted all year. We were awed by the complexity and Springtime can be, and should be, a time of wonder. In our wonder of what we were seeing. Many students had the opportunity northern tier we see the dead come alive. Dormant trees sprout their to come to the Lord during that first year of medical school because leaves, flowers burst up from the ground, grass turns green, birds we were in awe of the amazing things we were learning. build their nests.

Did you ever wonder how a bird knows how to build a nest? How Amazing. Wonderful. Extraordinary. do they, while the wind is blowing, carry a single straw to the angle So, how do we keep our awe, or even maybe get it back? Stop, slow in the tree branch and keep it there while they go and get another down! You are moving too fast! Give yourself time to breathe, take and another? Soon a perfect nest is built, starting from a single straw. in the wonder around you. Sit in the park for a moment. Watch the In Africa, where I lived for a time in the past, there are weaver birds landing on the lake or in the trees. Take a hike in the forest. birds. They create amazing nests in the bush. They lay their eggs But don’t just take a walk, observe. Learn something about nature. in these nests to hatch at the exact time for the very food that the newborns need. For their next stage, the food needed for that “magi- Take time to look at the bugs or ants and watch what they are doing.

Some time ago, I found a book called, “Have You Considered: cally” appears. It is such an amazing coordination I am not sure how Evidence Beyond a Reasonable Doubt” by Julie Von Vett and Bruce you can look at that and not marvel at creation.

Malone. I recommend this as a way to stimulate your awe. It is hard Matthew 6:26: Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or to put down once you start reading it. reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

As we consider some of the awesome things around us, it should Matthew 6:28-29: And why do you worry about clothes? See point us to an awesome God who did amazing things. He created all how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet this for us. However, something went wrong in the beginning when I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed sin entered the world. This awesome, loving God had to do somelike one of these. thing so that we as sinful, imperfect beings could live with Him in I spent a couple of my college years in cancer research. I was an awesome place called Heaven. He sent Jesus, who had to suffer looking into one enzyme that controlled the production of protein. for us on the cross, paying for our sins, our shortcomings, and then In fact, it turned off the gene when there was enough protein made.

How did it know that? The more I studied and examined the process being raised from the dead in the awesome resurrection that gives us of protein synthesis (the cells making proteins) the more in awe I was hope for the future and takes away the sting of death.

1 Corinthians 15:54-57: When the perishable has been clothed at the amazing complexity. The deeper I looked the more complex it with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the seemed, all the way down to the atomic level. saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed There is a concept in Creation Science called “irreducible complexity.” This basically means that it does not become more simup in victory.” plified the deeper we look into something, but in fact it remains “Where, O death, is your victory? complicated, and in some ways, more complicated. As we seek to Where, O death, is your sting?” understand nature, the more we seem to not know, and the more in The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But awe we become. thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus I have spent my career studying the brain. My brain cannot underChrist. stand the complexity of my own brain. During my medical school Let’s keep our awe for our awesome God! n years, the neuroanatomy professor was detailing some of the connecBy Larry Banta

tions in the brain, trying to explain something so very complex. He let it slip that “it was created with these complex feedback mechanisms…” The front row was where most of the few Christians in my class sat. We looked at each other: “What did he say?” “I think he said ‘created!’.” We decided amongst ourselves that two of us would

8 March / April 2024 | Christian Living

Dr. Larry Banta is an author of several books, a retired psychiatrist, and a former missionary. He served in India, Mexico and Kenya. He and his wife, Evelyn, a counselor, travel together to provide consultation and training in various international locations.

www.christianlivingmag.com

EASTER SERVICES

CHURCHES IN YOUR AREA BOISE

HE IS RISEN! 87TH

Annual

Lizard Butte Easter Sunrise Service

Sunday, March 31st, 2024 at 7:30 A.M. Parking gates open at 5AM. Handicap parking available. Please dress warmly and plan to get there early enough to park and hike up the butte.

For more information or to make a donation, visit LizardButteSunrise.com

CALDWELL

“He is not here: for he is risen, as he said.” ~ Matthew 28:6A KJV

The Sanctuary

Cowboy Church

NEW LOCATION:

Sunday Service 10 AM NEW LOCATION! 912 W. Linden Street Caldwell, ID 83605 208-329-8246 Scowboychurch.com MERIDIAN

600 N. Ten Mile Rd. Meridian, ID Join us on Sundays:

• On Campus

• 8:00 am, 9:30 am and 11:00 am

• Slavic Service 2:00 pm

• On YouTube - 11:00 am

Look for Central Valley Meridian

centralvalleybaptist.com

For information on adding your church to this directory, please call 208-703-7509 or email: boisechristianliving@ gmail.com www.christianlivingmag.com

Christian Living | March / April 2024 9

UNDERSTANDING Relationships

Expect the ‘stranger’ seasons in marriage

will take a huge investment of time just to make it Professor Stanley Hauerwas wrote the following: work. Just as distressing will be the discovery that “We never know whom we marry; we just think your spouse finds you a stranger and has begun to we do. Or even if we first marry the right person, confront you with a list of your serious shortcomjust give it a while and he or she will change. For ings. Your first response will be to tell yourself you marriage, being [the enormous thing it is] means made a bad choice and failed to find someone truly we are not the same person after we have entered compatible. it. The primary problem…learning how to love What if, however, you began your marriage and care for the stranger to whom you find yourself understanding its purpose as spiritual friendship married.” for the journey to the new creation? What if you Hauerwas’s realism rings true to people who have expected marriage to be about helping each other been married for a long time. Marriage changes grow out of your sins and flaws into the new self us. Having children changes us. A career switch God is creating? Then you will actually be expectchanges us. Age changes us. On top of everything ing the “stranger” seasons, and when you come to else, marriage brings out and reveals traits in you one you will roll up your sleeves and get to work. that were there all along but were hidden from What are the “tools” for this work? How can we everyone including you, but now they are all seen engage one another in spiritual friendship to help us Gary Moore by your spouse. on our journey toward our future selves? How do we Most people enter marriage through the “in-love” love each other so that our marriage goes on from experience, and at its peak it is euphoric. Two people can become strength to strength rather than stalling out in repetitive arguments almost obsessed with each other. Dr. Gary Chapman argues that the that end in fruitless silence? According to the late Timothy Keller, in-love phase, which he believes usually lasts several months to two the basic answer is that you must speak the truth in love with the years, includes the illusion that the beloved is perfect in every aspect power of God’s grace. that matters.

Ephesians 4:15 reads, “Speaking the truth in love, we will in all Dr. Chapman goes on to say that we are not totally naïve. We things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.” know intellectually that we will eventually have differences. But we That statement sounds platitudinous, until we break it down. As a are certain that…we will [quickly] reach agreement. We are caught divine institution, marriage has several inherent powers that we must up in the beauty and charm of the other’s personality. Our love is the most wonderful thing we have ever experienced. We observe that accept and use – the power of truth, the power of love, and the power of grace. As we use each power in the life of our spouse, we will help some married couples seem to have lost that feeling but it will never him or her grow into a person who not only reflects the character of happen to us. “Maybe they didn’t have the real thing,” we reason.

Christ but who also can love us and help us in the same way. These The in-love experience passes when the flaws in the other person three powers will do their best work in us during times when we find come home to us. Things that seemed small and inconsequential it hard to love the semi-stranger to whom we are married. n now loom large. We begin to feel that we did not really know the person after all. And this presents us with the challenge of loving a Gary Moore served as associate pastor at Cloverdale Church of person who, at the moment, seems in large part a stranger, not the God for 15 years. He does couples’ coaching and leads couples’ person you remember marrying. workshops and retreats called MUM’s the Word. He has a When this happens, people respond in a number of different ways. weekly radio program – Life Point Plus – on KBXL 94.1FM at If your purpose in marriage was to acquire a “soulmate” – a person 8:45 a.m. on Fridays. His website at www.mutualunderstanding. who would not change you and would supportively help you reach your life goals – then this particular reality of marriage will be deep- net has video teachings and other resources for couples. He may ly disorienting. You wake up to the realization that your marriage be contacted at glmoore113@gmail.com.

By Gary Moore

Gibson Chapel & Cloverdale Event Center Dave Salove

(208) 375-2212

Managing Partner

Tim T. Gibson Consultant

Jacob Garn

Bob Ross

Funeral Home Manager

Sr. Funeral Director

Our Family Serving Your Family www.cloverdalefuneralhome.com 10 March / April 2024 | Christian Living

wecare@cloverdalefuneralhome.com www.christianlivingmag.com

• Largest selection of fine furniture & decor.

• Best poly furniture, Best hardware, Best warranty!

• Come see why the Amish build the best furniture for inside and out!

Amish “Built as unto God!” American Made Outdoor Furniture Bring in this ad for

15% OFF*

Your Next Purchase! *Expires 4/30/24 See store for details.

3175 E. Copper Point Dr.•Meridian, ID 83642 10-5 Mon-Sat or by appointment | (208) 855-9885

www.heritagereflections.com

NUTRITION Nook

A simple, healthful recipe for chicken nuggets

the costly shots or products, slowly, maybe quickly, I’m excited to introduce myself to Christian the natural tendency is to return to familiar eating Living Magazine readers and to my new column, habits.

Nutrition Nook. My first career was as a regisWeight loss without a realistic lifetime eating tered dietitian. While I’m now a Christian author plan is doomed to failure. God designed our and speaker, once a dietitian always a dietitian! body to operate best on the food He created, in the I love helping my family and friends eat healthy quantities that maintain optimal health. When we and take care of their God-given bodies. try to circumvent His plan for good nutrition by goI muse that sometimes we take better care of ing on a crash diet … we crash too. our cars, which we hope will last a few years, than I recently saw a friend who had lost weight and we care for our bodies, which we expect to last a I commented how great she looked. She said her lifetime. We would never fill up a gasoline engine goal was to be thin for her high school reunion. Her car with diesel or vegetable oil, yet we often indismain concern now was keeping the weight off for criminately fill up our bodies with junk. the next two months until the reunion. And with “Why do you spend your money on junk those words, I knew that once the reunion was over, food, your hard-earned cash on cotton candy? she would regress to her past eating patterns and Listen to me, listen well: Eat only the best, fill soon the lost weight would return. Unconsciously, Janet Thompson yourself with only the finest. Pay attention, she was acknowledging it wouldn’t just be difficult to come close now, listen carefully to my life-givmaintain her weight for two months, but impossible ing, life-nourishing words.” (Isaiah 55:2, The Message) beyond that. I commented that the first time I met her she was on a My plan is to make Nutrition Nook interesting, fun, motivational, diet, and her reply was like so many, maybe even you, “I’m always and informative, along with sharing a recipe favorite with you each on a diet.” time. Since we’re now a couple months into the New Year, some The only successful “diet” is when the goal is healthy of you might’ve started 2024 with goals to lose weight and get into eating for a lifetime, not weight loss for the moment. Here’s better physical shape. Maybe you even joined a gym. I hope you’re the problem with all the fads, diets, programs, regimes … they’re still eating well and exercising, but you might not be as enthusiastic meant for immediate gratification of experiencing dramatic change as you were back in January. because that’s our world today. Slow and steady doesn’t give us the My hubby and I live in the mountains of Idaho. Our winters are immediate satisfaction we crave. That’s why quick-fix “miracle” ads long, icy, and snowy. So we joined a local gym. We stay consisare so attractive. Have you tried any of these below? tent by having a schedule. Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 4 p.m., • The 10-day Weight-Loss Program you’ll usually find us at the gym. We like going in the late after• How to Reach Your Desired Weight in a Month noon because my writing day is over and often we have the gym to While Eating All You Want ourselves. Others prefer starting their day with exercise. Whatever • Lose Up to 10 Pounds in a Week days, times, and form of exercise work best for you, develop a rouOr here’s one I recently saw: “‘Secret Method to Getting Slim tine and schedule it on your calendar. An accountability workout Fast.’ I’ve been drinking this miracle drink for 3 weeks now. My partner helps too and is fun. When the weather improves, I like to friends won’t stop asking how I became so thin in such a short take walks on the days we’re not at the gym. amount of time. I’ve become half the size I once was!”

I’m reading the Bible in a year, or I should say listening to the Even though it’s human nature to want quick results, people who Bible this year. I make my workouts enjoyable by listening to an lose weight gradually and steadily – about 1 to 2 pounds per week audio Bible on my ear pods. If you, like many, have trouble finding – are more successful at keeping the weight off. Healthy weight loss time to sit down and read the Bible, listening to it helps your workisn’t a diet, program, or gimmick. It’s developing a doable lifestyle out or exercise go faster while improving your spiritual health. of healthy eating patterns and some form of exercise.

Now to tackle what we eat!

Once you have achieved a desirable weight by relying on healthYou’ve probably noticed this phenomenon on social media. A ful eating and physical activity, you’re much more likely to be friend posts selfies looking fabulous after losing weight, as they successful at keeping the weight off over the long term. joyously grin with their achieved success. Everyone congratulates Losing weight isn’t easy. It takes commitment, but it’s so achievher or him. “Oohs and ahhhs” fill the comments. But as suddenly able. That’s the good news! as the pictures appeared, months go by with no pictures. Then you Here’s the secret revealed: There’s NO secret miracle way to get see a picture and your heart sinks … at least my dietitian’s heart slim fast and keep it off. sinks. They’ve gained all the weight back, and maybe more!

Everyone acknowledges, and few try to defy, how God created Or we see celebrities go up and down in weight over the years as gravity – stepping off a cliff = downward plunge. But many have they try, or even endorse, different diet plans. spent thousands of dollars trying to defy the way God created our What happened? Why wouldn’t everyone want to maintain his or bodies: calories in minus calories expended = our weight. It’s not her amazing weight loss? Why wouldn’t they want to stay trim and a secret and it can’t be miraculously circumvented. But millions of healthy? Why wouldn’t they want to enjoy wearing all those beauti- people buy into a lie that it’s possible. ful new smaller size clothes they bought? Maybe I’m talking to you.

The Way God Created Our Bodies The answer is usually the same – they were on a weight Energy (calories) IN and energy OUT = maintained weight loss regime they couldn’t possibly maintain for life. Fast and More IN than OUT = weight gain noticeable weight loss was the immediate goal, without a long-term More OUT than IN = weight loss maintenance plan to keep the weight off.

To lose weight, we have to use up more calories than we take Maybe they eliminated food groups, ate extremely low calories in through metabolism and exercise. One pound equals 3,500 or ready-prepared boxed or frozen meals, drank shakes, endured calories. Reduce caloric intake by 500-1,000 calories per day to shots, swallowed pills, or even underwent surgery. Does any of that lose about 1 to 2 pounds per week. That safe weight loss won’t sound familiar? Anxious for a quick fix, many resort to something throw our body into shock or deprive us of necessary minerals and drastic to get fast results, but they couldn’t eat like that for a lifetime. Once they reached the weight goal, or ran out of money for vitamins if we’re eating a balanced diet.

By Janet Thompson

12 March / April 2024 | Christian Living

www.christianlivingmag.com

Life-heart change is the only way to maintain weight change.

“I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:12-13) Identify: 1. Why you want to lose weight?

2. Why you eat?

3. When you eat?

4. What are you eating now that’s contributing to your excess weight?

Then set realistic maintainable and healthy goals: 1. One- to two-pound loss a week 2. Exercise 30 to 60 minutes most days 3. Learn how to choose and prepare healthy food 4. Reduce portion sizes and eat three meals a day 5. Track what you’re eating A balanced diet means eating a selection from five food groups in portion sizes that help lose or maintain weight without sacrificing health. The colorful www.myplate.gov website provides good information on how to determine your caloric requirement, food groups, portion sizes, and so much more for the whole family.

To be successful at long-term weight loss, we must adopt a new lifestyle, just like when we became Christians and we put off the old way of life and put on the new. The new healthy you will make changes to adopt and embrace healthy eating habits, be more physically active, and learn how to change eating behaviors and habits.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17) Next column, we’ll talk about reading labels.

Here’s a healthy, tasty recipe to kick off your new eating plan. It’s easy, yummy, and a good way to use up leftover rotisserie chicken. n

Chicken Nuggets 12 oz. can chicken or rotisserie chicken chopped 2 eggs beaten 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella or cheddar cheese Lightly salt, pepper, seasoning of your choice Optional: add 1/3 cup chopped cooked broccoli, onions, chilies, or other veggie Mix and portion into a silicone tart or muffin pan or use olive oil spray lightly on regular pan if you don’t have silicone. Cook at 350° for 15 minutes in tart pan or 20 minutes in muffin pan. Makes 9 muffin size and 12 tart size. Serve with BBQ sauce, dipping sauce, or ranch dressing Janet Thompson, award-winning Christian speaker, freelance author, and author of 20 books, is also the founder, director, and God’s servant of Woman to Woman Mentoring Ministry and About His Work Ministries. Her passion and focus is mentoring the next generation.

Her tag line is, “Sharing Life Experiences and God’s Faithfulness.”

She has a BS in Food Administration, MBA, and Master of Arts in Christian Leadership. Check out her books and sign up for her free weekly online blog and monthly newsletter at womantowomanmentoring.com. Join her on www.facebook.com/ Janetthompson.authorspeaker, LinkedIn, Pinterest, X, and Instagram.

www.christianlivingmag.com

We Buy, Sell, Trade or Consign

GUNS • SAFES • RELOADING EQUIPMENT & COMPONENTS

INVENTORY REDUCTION SALE

Including Christensen Arms Rifles, TriStar Shotguns, EEA, Taurus Handguns, Plus Many More.

COME SEE EVERYTHING! Ruger 10/22 .22lr

$

575.

1-10 round Magazine, Threaded Barrel, Scope Mount Rail

Ruger Mini 14 Ranch $1,259.

2 x 5 Round Magazines, Scope Rings

$ 2,495.

Vudoo Gun Works .17HMR V22M, 20” Threaded Barrel

Zev Tech 9mm OZ9C $1,100.

2 x 17 Round Magazines

IF YOU BUY A GUN, WE’VE GOT AMMO & THEN SOME!

Got Rock Chucks?

Cliff can come help!

GIVE HIM A CALL TODAY!

208-869-3856

Dillon Reloaders:

Cliff’s is Your n Dillo Reloading Center Dillon 550 & 750 Reloading Machine & Accessories New & Used Equipment in Stock

WE MOVE SAFES!

Law Enforcement • Military/Veteran Discounts Locally Owned Business for 40 Years For Sale • See Cliff for Details

11505 W. Fairview Ave • Boise 208-375-8694

NEW HOURS: Open Mon. - Sat. 10am - 6pm • Closed Sunday God Bless The U.S.A.!

Christian Living | March / April 2024 13

LOIS Belveal Blockhan

The hatmaker who went from victim to victory

By Steve Bertel

Reminiscent of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her hardscrabble “Little House on the Prairie” life, Lois Belveal Blockhan also grew up on a prairie. “We had no electricity, no running water, no telephone. And we hiked three miles every day to our little one-room schoolhouse; it didn’t matter if it was raining or snowing,” she remembered. “If it was really stormy, then my dad would haul us in a covered sleigh.”

It was the late 1930s. In remote North Dakota. And Lois was the second oldest of seven children. But hers was far from the idyllic life Laura Ingalls Wilder led in the “Little House” books and television series.

The children occasionally stayed overnight with their grandparents, who lived several miles away. For most of the kids, it meant an evening of fun and entertainment. But for Lois, it meant her grandfather would be taking her alone into a room and sexually abusing her. Again. “It began when I was about five, and continued until I was ten,” she said. “But I never reported it. He bribed me and threatened me, so I never said anything. Plus, in those days, children were told to keep quiet” – following the 15th century English proverb, “Children should be seen, but not heard.”

What’s more, her own father was an alcoholic. “He’d drink as often as he could – which was quite often. Beer, hard liquor, it didn’t matter. He’d buy booze and hide it, but we knew what he was doing.”

So Lois left home at age seventeen, took a three-day train trip to Mount Vernon, Washington, and moved in with her sister.

And first, life was good. But then, likely because of the trauma she had suffered at home, Lois began drinking. Not heavily. Just a drink here and there with her young friends.

And she found love. Or so she thought. The man she married turned out to be “a controller,” as she put it. “In his eyes, I could never do anything right. I couldn’t think for myself; I couldn’t express myself. I had to explain to him how I spent every dollar he made.” And he was abusive; often viciously beating and kicking her.

The couple met several times with their church pastor to discuss their strained relationship. “But I was afraid to tell the truth to our pastor – or to anybody,” Lois admitted. The reason? Her husband was a well-known and well-liked local firefighter; he had friends in the police department and friends at city hall. She figured no one would believe he was an abuser. The couple even met with a marriage counselor. “But the counselor said my husband didn’t have any problems – that I was the problem. So it got to the point where I was being blamed for all the difficulties we were having,” she said.

Eventually divorcing, Lois lived in Boise for a short time – after attending another sister’s Boise wedding – then moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. Again, life was good. In fact, much better than before. She became a very successful licensed realtor, selling highend homes and properties in ritzy neighborhoods.

But the pressures of both the high-stress job and of raising three children on her own began to take their toll. And her drinking accelerated. “I could out-drink most of the people I went out with – clients, business associates and the like,” she recalled. What’s more, her flexible working hours as a realtor only exacerbated what was quickly becoming a serious alcohol problem. “I’d start drinking about three in the afternoon and would drink about a gallon of wine a day!” she said. “Pretty soon, I was at the end of myself. I was often so spaced out, I could hardly leave my home. I couldn’t work because my drinking was interrupting everything.”

Finally, a friend recommended she enter an Alcoholics Anonymous program. So she did. “I remember, in one group discussion, the instructor told us even those with very emotional mental disorders can get well – if they chose. And that, to become sober, you must choose to become sober and choose to be honest with yourself. I looked around the room at the others and wondered, Which of those people is he talking about? Well, it wasn’t long before I realized one of the people he was talking about was me!”

14 March / April 2024 | Christian Living

Lois Belveal Blockhan, otherwise known as The Hat Lady, is shown with her daughter, Leslie Anderson, who helps her mother with vendor opportunities. Both women are wearing hats created by Lois herself. (Courtesy photo)

A few weeks later, she attended an AA-sponsored Women’s Bible Study – a meeting that changed her life forever. “I got saved October 20th, 1977! God got a hold of me and completely turned me around!” she exclaimed. “Right away, God told me who He was.

And right away, I started attending four Bible studies a week.”

But coming to know the Lord didn’t come without its challenges.

“Shortly after I was saved, I was attending an Assembly of God church service, when the Lord told me to give quite a large amount of money, some $10,000. I knew, if I gave Him that money, I would only have about $3,000 left in my bank account. So I really struggled with that. To me, it was a test of faith. But it was the first time I had really heard from the Lord, so I gave the money. I was really connected to doing what was right.”

Her faith grew even stronger over the next decade. Then, in 1988, the Lord spoke to her again. “I got a prophecy in which the Lord told me, ‘Move to your hometown.’ I asked, ‘But where’s my hometown, Lord? I’m not moving back to North Dakota, because it’s too cold there.’ I had been to Boise before, so I decided to make Boise my hometown because most of my relatives already lived there.”

It became a fortunate move for Lois in two ways: first, because that’s where she eventually met and married John Belveal, a fellow Christian. “He was a great guy. So sweet. We got along so well together,” she fondly recalled.

And secondly, John Belveal was a hat salesman – and Lois made hats. “In 1999, God had given me the idea to start making my own hats. I have a very small head, so I could never find hats that fit me; ones I wore always felt like somebody else’s hat,” she said. So she gathered up some material, sat down at her sewing machine, and went to work. Together, John and Lois joined his marketing expertise with her creative drive and the two began selling her hats at expos, farmers’ markets, county fairs and, thanks to her website, all over the world. “I’ve even sold hats in Russia,” she pointed out. They made and sold hundreds of hats every year: specialty hats, Easter hats, summer hats. Hats with flowers. Hats with bows. Hats with lace and netting. Hats with big brims, hats with small brims. All original designs. And all with materials she’d find at second-hand stores, warehouses, and fabric outlets.

www.christianlivingmag.com

In fact, her hats became so popular, Lois soon Celebration Church of God in Emmett, and Lois became known in many circles as “The Hat Lady.” can often be found seated at her sewing machine in Making hats not only provided a side income, it the 14- x 16-foot design studio her husband built also became her ministry. “It opened doors. People for her, making yet another hat. And hoping to would come up to me and say, ‘Oh, I really like minister to someone in need who crosses her path. your hat!’ – treating me like we had been friends for She also shares her testimony in front of various years. In the course of the conversation, I’d tell them women’s groups, luncheons, and church gatherings.

‘God gave me this hat business.’ And it went from “I’ve titled my talks ‘From Victim to Victory,’” she there,” she explained. said. “I not only tell my story, but I teach people the Lois has also donated hats to the St. Luke’s Mounpractical applications of the Word of God. We’re tain States Tumor Institute in Boise and its cancer responsible for what we do, the decisions we make. patients who, due to chemotherapy treatments, have It’s like a fenced yard: you open the gate and let the lost their hair. good in, and open the gate to let the bad out. It’s a John passed away in August, 2018, after the two matter of self-control – and God’s control. If you enjoyed fourteen years of blissful marriage. And alsay, ‘I can do this, Lord, with your help,’ He’ll open though Lois was devastated, the Lord comforted her the door.”

Steve Bertel – soon bringing another man into her life, another Looking back over her many years, Lois stated, strong Christian, a cowboy-hat-and-boots-wearing “You know, God had his eye on me from the day Cowboys for Christ traveling rodeo chaplain named Pete Blockhan.

I was born. When I was five, six, seven years old, I’d go to a church They were married on April 21st, 2021. service and hear the message. Afterwards, I would be happy and Lois feels Isaiah 43:18-21 best epitomizes her life, her faith, and cheered up. At the time, I didn’t understand why. her ministry. The Lord’s words read in part, “Forget the former “Now I do.” things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! … I You can check out Lois’s hat website at www.hatstoyou.us. n provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that Steve Bertel is a multi-award-winning professional radio, televithey may proclaim my praise.” sion, print media, and social media journalist, who retired after Today, at age 90, Lois has slowed down a bit. She doesn’t market a 30-year broadcasting career. Now a busy freelance writer, her hats as aggressively as she used to – “I still sell some, I still give he recently released his debut suspense novel “Dolphins of an some away,” she said – and she and Pete have curtailed many of Unjust Sea,” available on both Amazon and Kindle. Steve and their rodeo circuit trips. But they stay busy. Pete works as a carpenhis wife of 41 years live in Meridian, Idaho. He can be reached at ter and maintenance man at the church they attend, the New Life stevebertel65@gmail.com

Family is why we do it all.

We all feel the same commitment to care for our families.

Helping you meet your insurance needs is part of my commitment to you.

Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.®

• Installation • Repair • Refinish

CONTACT AN AGENT TODAY.

Call For Your FREE Estimate Today!

Miyauchi Insurance Agency, Inc

Serving Treasure Valley, McCall & Garden Valley Areas.

5126 W. Gage St., Boise

208.377.5563 www.robsrr.com www.christianlivingmag.com

Garrett Miyauchi, President 2024 Blaine St Caldwell, ID 83605 Bus: 208-455-9717

Chelsea Stutzman, MBA Owner-Agent 188 W State Street Eagle, Idaho 83616 Bus: 208-908-6500 Lic. ID 693162

chelsea@chelsinsures.com

statefarm.com® 1001390.1 State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, Bloomington, IL

Christian Living | March / April 2024 15

Hayley Slaughter An unselfish donation

By Gaye Bunderson

Hayley Slaughter is a DOVE kidney donor who lives in Mountain Home. Under the word DOVE, her sweatshirt reads, “Living Kidney Donations for Veterans.” Having now herself donated a kidney, Slaughter helps mentor other potential donors for the program. (Photo taken by Gaye Bunderson)

16 March / April 2024 | Christian Living

From the age of 8, Hayley Slaughter wanted to do something that no other child in the world ever likely wanted to do: give away one of her organs. “I’ve always wanted to be a kidney donor,” the now 35-year-old said.

She started early on in life seeking to give parts of herself away, beginning with a desire to make a bone marrow donation to help people suffering with leukemia or lymphoma. “I started donating blood at 15; and at 18, I got on the bone marrow and live tissue registry.

I thought I might be called for a kidney,” she explained.

That didn’t happen the way she thought.

What she didn’t know back then was that her desire had been planted in her heart by a Someone she didn’t know at the time, for the purpose of helping someone who wasn’t even sick yet.

The young woman who now lives in Mountain Home was born and raised in Albany, Ore. Regarding her faith back then, Slaughter said, “I believed in God, but I didn’t have a strong relationship with Him.” That all changed when she worked as a certified nursing assistant in home care and hospice settings. It was a hospice patient who originally got her to open up her spirit. “The last client I saw, I witnessed her faith in God, and I saw how beautiful that could be – she had no fear in death.”

When Slaughter started going to church, she got very involved through music. “I went to the Nazarene Church and started playing flute, and that’s when I really started getting into church and getting involved. I was the preschool director, director of the blood drives and the clothing drives.”

She attended the Mountain Home church with her family: her husband Travis and their three young children. The music made her feel closer to God. But then...

She explained: “I’m a strong-willed person, and I want things my way; but I felt God was telling us to leave that church, where we had been for 10 years.”

The “known” provided her with comfort. God wanted her to grow through the “unknown.”

“I was scared. I was starting over. I was losing the music,” she said. Nevertheless, she and Travis made the decision to attend The Rock, a church in Mountain Home, after trying another church that didn’t feel right to them.

There was music at The Rock, and people there were attempting to form a band. But Slaughter’s schedule didn’t fit anyone else’s. She admits that losing the music made her feel downcast.

“I was sulky about it and asking, ‘Why, God?’.”

She realized that at the same time, she was getting something from the sermons. The kids were growing up well. There were positives.

In March of 2022, Slaughter happened to read an article in Woman’s Day Magazine about a national project called DOVE, or Donor Outreach for Veterans, all about donating kidneys to veterans. Travis is a veteran and served 20 years in the U.S. Air Force.

“I contacted DOVE immediately,” she said. It was to be the connection she’d waited for since her registry days, and even before that.

www.christianlivingmag.com

COVER STORY

n for a U.S. veteran

She did an intake phone interview with She had spoken with donors in the past, but Sharyn Kreitzer, founder of DOVE. The prior to the transplant she was able to process of being a kidney donor began at speak over the phone with the soon-tolast. be recipient of her kidney, a 40-someShe soon filled out an online health thing female military veteran named questionnaire and spoke over the phone Candice, who suffered with FSGS, with a transplant nurse in Hackensack, or focal segmental glomerulosclerosis N.J. She’d come up as a match with kidney disease. someone in the database who needed “She told me what the donation a kidney. But after the initial elation, meant to her.” That conversation meant medical staff rejected her because her a lot to Slaughter. mother has diabetes and she has PCOS Slaughter said the Bible verse that (polycystic ovary syndrome). inspired her the most through everything “I was heartbroken. I had very was Matthew 25:40 – “The King will intensely wanted to do this. I defireply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did nitely felt God wanted me to do this,” for one of the least of these brothers and Slaughter said. sisters of mine, you did for me.’”

Then, in record time, Kreitzer She saw herself undergoing the surgery referred her to Walter Reed Naas much for the Lord as for the recipient. tional Military Medical Center The surgery saved the woman’s life. There in Bethesda, Md. She once again was the proof that God put the desire to filled out a questionnaire, and she be a kidney donor in Slaughter’s heart way addressed the medical issues in her back in childhood, and brought it to fulfilland her mother. “I wanted them ment years later. The donation took place on to know I’m healthy. I have a good June 23, 2022. body mass index, I do martial arts, Slaughter and Candice met prior to surgery and I’m careful about my diet. I and the women established a warm connecwanted to tell them, ‘Please, look tion. “She was in the OR next to me; and at me as a person’.” when my kidney was taken out, they walked it Though she had discussions over to her.” with Walter Reed, she remained in Almost everyone possesses two kidneys, Mountain Home. She was continuthough a small percentage of people are Candice and Hayley are shown in their hospital gowns the day ally assaulted by doubts about being of the kidney transplant surgery, just before the medical team took only born with one. One of Slaughter’s two selected as a kidney donor. “I was healthy kidneys was removed and surgically Hayley to the OR (operating room). The photo on the cover of the feeling they were going to reject magazine was taken a mere week after the surgery. (Courtesy photo) implanted in Candice to replace her diseased me. I felt the defeat, and I was just kidney. Despite all possible adverse outcrushed.” comes, the transfer went smoothly.

Little did she realize that that moment was not the beginning Slaughter’s husband traveled the donor journey all along with his of the end but the beginning of the culmination of an 8-year-old’s wife. She always had his support, and he flew with her to Bethesda. longtime goal.

“In the days after the surgery, Travis and I walked six miles all over Following the sense of absolute despair, Slaughter said, “That’s Washington, D.C. The month I donated, prior to the surgery, I got when I handed control over to God and said, ‘Thy will be done’.” my purple belt in taekwondo; eight months after I donated, I got my At this point, even if He decided she was not going to be a donor, brown stripe belt.”

The woman who wanted to be treated like a person – and a healthy she would endeavor to accept His will. Slaughter mentions a book one at that – had demonstrated just how well she truly was and is. She she’d read titled, “Anything: The Prayer That Unlocked My God now serves as a mentor to other donors, and the November 22 issue of and My Soul” by Christian author Jennie Allen. It has become a faWoman’s Day ran a feature specifically on her. She also received the vorite of hers; she prayed the special prayer mentioned in the book: Idaho Spirit of Freedom Award, which is presented to individuals in to essentially relinquish all control to God. only two categories: veterans and volunteers who assist veterans.

Soon, her despair led her to victory. “I realized that I hadn’t made “I use all this to share and inspire at least one person,” Slaughter God number one in my life. I wanted what I wanted instead of asking, ‘What does God want?’ I surrendered control and prayed, ‘Help said. She wants all readers to know that March 14 is World Kidney Day. Though just a few people chided her for taking the risk of beme to accept the outcome,’ because I knew I would be crushed if I ing a kidney donor, and in doing so potentially leaving her children couldn’t be a kidney donor.” motherless, most were supportive, and Slaughter hopes everyone will Six weeks after her initial contact with DOVE, she donated a kidsee the value in kidney donation. ney, a process that most generally takes 3-5 months. “When I heard Of her family she said, “We pray, we tithe, we try to be an exI’d been accepted, I yelled to my family, ‘They are going to let me be ample.” a donor!’ And I was screaming.”

Slaughter herself is a great example. “God blessed me with two Prior to her hospitalization at Walter Reed, she was required to kidneys, and I only needed one,” she said. Because of that, a woman undergo a series of tests, some of which she was able to do locally, who served her country remains alive and healthy today. n including blood, urine, and glucose tests. She then went to Walter Reed for the remaining tests before being cleared and later flying For more information, go to DoveTransplant.org. back for the surgery.

www.christianlivingmag.com

Christian Living | March / April 2024 17

YOUTH Dynamics

God and adventure meet in unique program

A raft full of Youth Dynamics students and their parents navigate the Go Left rapid on the Upper Main Payette River. It is the first major rapid on that section of the Payette.

Their guide is Ryan Bentley, base director for the Adventures Base in Horseshoe Bend. (Photo submitted by Youth Dynamics)

By Gaye Bunderson

Think nature. Think whitewater, hiking, scenery, and wildlife.

Now, think about God. That’s the goal of an organization called Youth Dynamics: fuse the outdoors with thoughts about the Creator and what He might mean to your life.

Brandon Burie is a marketing coordinator and staff member with Youth Dynamics in southern and west central Idaho. The non-profit was founded in 1970 in Washington state and launched in the Gem State in 2006, with an Adventures Base in Horseshoe Bend.

“We operate primarily two different styles of locations,” Burie explained. “Adventures Bases are where the trips run out of and we have four: Idaho (Horseshoe Bend and Grangeville); Washington (Plain); and Oregon (Canby). A program called Communities Ministry happens throughout the three states in 14 current locations.

Idaho locations are Horseshoe Bend, Riggins, and now Emmett.

This is where the after school drop-in programs such as Connect and Discover Groups happen. Horseshoe Bend is unique in that it is both an Adventures Base and a Communities Ministry site.”

Whatever the location and program, the emphases are always young people and adventure.

“We’re primarily an outreach ministry,” Burie stated. “We assume students don’t know about Christ. We try to use meaningful relationships and impactful adventure to connect young people with Him. We set an example of, ‘We love you; we love Christ. It doesn’t matter where you’re at – believer or unbeliever – we’re here to welcome you’.”

Just exactly what that adventure looks like might vary from base to base; but in Horseshoe Bend, 27.4 miles from Boise, participants do a lot of rock climbing, river rafting, kayaking, and single-day hikes. A 7- to 8-day Owyhee River excursion is also offered.

Whether a single- or multi-day event, the day starts with a devotion, followed by a 20- to 30-minute quiet time; during the evening, adventurers discuss the highs and lows of the day, and all participants are asked, “How did you experience God today?”

No one is put on the spot and, in fact, according to Burie, one recent conversation went like this: “One student had a spiritual hard heart, but he loved the adventures. Eventually, he softened his heart just a little and opened up to the possibility of a higher power. When

18 March / April 2024 | Christian Living

we’d ask people, ‘How did you experience God today?’, he’d say, ‘I don’t believe in God so I’m not going to answer’. But he’s started to show signs of coming around.”

Another student comes to everything, Burie said – all the events.

She calls her parents “toxic Christians” and is “very resistant to faith,” he said. She did nonetheless accept a Bible on one occasion.

The ministry process is about setting an example, acting and serving with love, and sharing – when the opportunity arises – what God has done in each YD staff members’ life.

Many youths respond to the process quickly. “For some, it just takes a moment for them to accept the Lord,” Burie said. And late last year, one student was baptized during a service at a Horseshoe Bend church.

A side benefit of the adventures is their lower cost. Burie explained: “A 6-day Lower Salmon River raft trip can cost upwards of $1,500$2,000. We offer it at far less – about $400 – and we have a scholarship fund.”

Youth Dynamics also provides the technical gear for everything.

Each base is equipped with the essential tools needed for youth to explore nature, including food, equipment, training, and insurance.

“With the different landscapes offered by each location, each trip is unique and provides its own special opportunities and blessings,” Burie said.

Burie said of his exploring-adventure ministry, after a very stormy trip on the Owyhee that left participants drenched for days: “There is more to adventure than simply consuming an experience. When in dynamic environments, we must be active participants. The experience leaves us with both highs and lows. Mixed in are moments or challenges that are hard and need to be processed.

“We leave adventures as changed people, bonded with those we adventured with and a better understanding of ourselves. When we make Christ a focal point of the experience, we grow closer to Him, just like we did our companions.”

There is a 6-person team at the Horseshoe Bend base, as well as 4-6 seasonal staff. When hiking and other warm weather activities are curtailed by seasonal changes, a ministry to students is still available through such events as indoor games and other programs that help students make connections – hence the name Connect.

www.christianlivingmag.com

Youth Dynamics wants to deepen the ministry and grow and expand. The organization wants to connect youth with local churches, and there is a need for more Discover Groups, as mentioned above.

According to Burie: “Discover Groups are programs we would like to see restarted soon, as students grow and staff resources grow. The goal of Discover Groups is to go a little deeper with students who are taking steps in their faith and have established a relationship with Youth Dynamics staff. This would be space for students to wrestle with the complexities of the gospel and how it interacts with their life, as well as have room for more honest and vulnerable relationships.”

The non-profit is also always looking for more volunteers and more people to fill staff positions. “There’s a million ways to get involved,” Burie stated. “Financial partnerships are also necessary.”

Other facets of Youth Dynamics are its leadership program for young people. This is a “6-week internship opportunity for young adults ages 16-19 to work closely with stateside missionaries who use wilderness adventures to share the love of Christ. Students experience discipleship, adventure, challenge, and leadership. The program runs from July 5-August 14 each year and students may experience inflatable kayaking, whitewater rafting, rock climbing, horseback riding, backpacking, hiking, a challenge course, and mountaineering, depending on base location.” (Information taken from yd.org. To learn more about YD Adventures Idaho, go to https://yd.org/adventures/idaho/.)

Following are a few comments from young people who have participated in the leadership program. (Comments provided, without names, by Garrett Koepke, Staffing Manager-Idaho, Youth Dynamics.)

• “I grew in the ability to relate to the Bible, and not be scared at this big historical book, find and define myself in Christ, and figure out my faith alongside and share it with others.”

• “I learned that God is a big enough God to handle the hard questions, the angry cries, and the questions of unbelief.”

• “I was really challenged to know why I believe what I do, and to have grace and understanding when people share a different view.”

Another facet is working with area church youth groups to provide outdoor, faith-based experiences. Said Burie: “Our staff will assist churches in building a custom-facilitated experience for your group that will best meet your goals, whether it is team building, leadership development, discipleship, ‘owning your faith’, creating trust within the group, or helping young people to find their personal identity in Christ.”

At age 25, Burie has been involved in the Christian adventure experience since 2018, working with an outfitter in Colorado and with church youth groups. He ended up in Idaho after applying for an internship in Washington during the pandemic in 2020 and being told there were no internships there, but “Idaho can take you.” Along with being the marketing coordinator in Horseshoe Bend, he is also a guide and facilitator and in that capacity goes on all YD adventures with other staff and young people.

He grew up in church, specifically the Dutch Reformed Church in Michigan, where he lived with his family. “That’s the way it was there.

The three priorities were work, family, church. That was the cultural norm.”

He currently attends Hill City Church in Boise’s North End after taking the church’s youth group on a rock climbing event.

Burie said the most important thing about what he does now – and what Youth Dynamics is all about – is the emphasis on meaningful relationships and impactful adventures, as stated. “The ultimate goal,” he said, “is to see students have a lifelong adventure with Christ and His Church.” n Burie may be reached by email at bburie@yd.org or by cell at (616) 414-0640.

Groceries from Over 15+ Countries: Germany, Italy, Poland, Israel, Turkey, Romania, France, Sri Lanka, Bulgaria, Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia, Hungary, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus & more

Produce • Seafood • Deli • Bakery

FRESH PRODUCE

Large

Bakery Selection of pastries, & cookies, cakes & over Coffee 250+ kinds

Numbers 6; 24-27 “I’ve always loved different European foods and love to try new foods as well... so many fresh, frozen, and even mixed European favorites... an amazing trip to a foodie’s Disneyland!”

MEAT - SAUSAGES - CHEESE Great Selection Enjoy Our Dine-In Café or Order-To-Go Hot & Cold DELI - Ready to EAT Soups, Salads, Sandwhiches & More

of candies

FRESH DILL

950 E. Fairview Ave., Meridian, ID 83642 • 208.807.2962 Open Mon.-Fri. 10AM - 8PM • Sat. 10AM - 7PM • Sun. 10AM - 6PM

www.christianlivingmag.com

Christian Living | March / April 2024 19

I GET TO!®

Keep perspective in difficult times spring break,’ I want to yell, ‘I’ll take your place!’”

Her tears flowed, and ours followed.

“We often take for granted the very things that The inspiration from Shielda’s life, along with so most deserve our gratitude.” – Cynthia Ozick many others, serves as ongoing powerful reminders of the difference perspective can make in our lives.

My friend Shielda was diagnosed with Amyotrophic As was poignantly illustrated by Shielda, one of the Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), more commonly known as greatest opportunities for transforming our thinking is Lou Gehrig’s disease. Shielda had worked at a school when we realize what a blessing it is to WORK. with special-needs kids for eight years and loved beThis one perspective absolutely transforms any ing able to help them learn and grow. person or organization that chooses to fully embrace By the way, Lou Gehrig’s disease (or ALS) is what it: “I Get To!”® … go to work! my mother passed away from at the age of forty-six “There are only two ways to look at life…one and my paternal grandmother at the age of fifty-four. is as if nothing is a miracle from God, and the For those unfamiliar with the disease, it basically other is that everything is a miracle from God. I’m holds its victims prisoner in a body in which the choosing the miracles. ” ~ Albert Einstein nerves slowly die, causing the muscles to stop funcI love the movie about Patch Adams. It serves as a tioning as well. Their minds are alert, but their bodies wonderful reminder of the need for humor and laughJoan Endicott gradually shut down. ter in life—especially in the most challenging situaI would usually visit Shielda on Tuesdays, which tions having to do with one’s health. Dr. Adams said, was interesting to later hear of the book, “Tuesdays with Morrie,” by Mitch Albom (2002), who shares his experiences visiting his friend who “I want, as a doctor, to say it does matter to your health to be happy. It also has ALS. On one of my visits, I had mentioned to Shielda about a may be the most important health factor in your life.” He epitomizes the philosophy that Laughter is the best medicine. video project I was doing about keeping our perspecFor those of us who’ve traveled the healthcare tive on what matters most in life and she was happy to be part of it. Her ability to speak had been gone for “There are only two road—either walking the road ourselves or alongside others—we know first-hand the value of humor and a while, so after I would ask the question, she would ways to look at life… laughter during such times. type her answer into her keyboard, one finger at a While speaking at a healthcare convention, the time. Then our friend Jacque would read her answers one is as if nothing is three particular keynotes I shared were entitled: “I aloud. a miracle from God, Get To!”®, “Authentic Care in Healthcare,” and During the interview, when I asked her what she the Serve!” It’s very rewarding to hear the missed most about losing her physical abilities, she and the other is that “Enjoy personal stories these caring folks share with me. One said, “I miss being able to get up and go to work every dedicated lady told me about the huge priority their everything is a day. When I hear Danny [her son] and Randy [her makes to incorporate humor and music therapy husband] getting up in the morning, taking their miracle from God. team for their patients and what a difference it makes. One showers to get ready for school and work, I wish I of their music therapists always helps patients write a could get up and go to work, too. I also miss being I’m choosing the song, which they want to give as a gift to their family able to do things around my home for my family— miracles. ”. members and loved ones. Although usually the songs cooking, cleaning, polishing floors, and doing special things for them—things I know they like.” She went are serious and reflective, one elderly woman had lost —Albert Einstein on to say, “When I hear teachers say, ‘I can’t wait for her teeth and she was pretty frustrated about that.

By Joan Endicott

He’s Not Here…

“Our Guns Are More Fun”

He Is Risen!!

Hallelujah!

Visit our friendly, helpful, experienced sales team.

We can find the right fit for you!

Full Service Firearm Store

2809 Garrity Blvd. • Nampa, ID 83687

www.armageddonarmory.com • (208) 465-3577 FREE Bibles • Pray for U.S. Armed Forces

20 March / April 2024 | Christian Living

We love what we do, but we need some help…

FREE Bibles • Pray for U.S. Armed Forces

FREE Bibles • Pray for U.S. Armed Forces

FREE Bibles • Pray y for U.S. Armed Forces

Please consider becoming a donor to Christian Living Magazine.

A one-time gift or a monthly donation Everything helps!

Scan to donate or mail your check to: P.O. Box 867 Meridian, ID 83680 www.christianlivingmag.com

She knew she only had a few weeks left to live and she did not want to waste money on new teeth for such a short period of time, so she and the therapist wrote a funny song about that. It actually sounded like a love song; “I miss you so—wish you were still here—why did you have to go—I can’t do anything without you (chew)”…not until the end did you know it was about her teeth.

Shielda would often let me know she considered me her comic relief. In fact, we learned the hard way that I shouldn’t visit her during mealtimes because if I would make her laugh while she was being fed through her tube it would come spewing out. Although I thought it was hysterical when that happened, the nurses weren’t so entertained. I loved being able to make her laugh—when she laughed, she was able to, even briefly, escape the ongoing physical challenges she faced 24/7.

One day when I walked into her bedroom, she was sitting in her wheelchair and the nurse was putting shaving cream on her chin, holding a razor in her other hand. After I greeted her and kissed her on the head, she typed into her keyboard, “I didn’t want anyone to know I needed my chin shaved.” I laughed, hugged her and said, “Whaaat? Oh my dear, nobody cares—we all have unwanted hair somewhere—you’re just lucky you don’t have a bush coming out of your ears—that’d be gross, wouldn’t it?” We all laughed.

Then I decided to join her, so I got the shaving cream, put some on my face and handed it to the nurse who put some on hers. For quite a while we played and formed various looks on our faces and had a great time. We even took pictures, which she thoroughly enjoyed showing off!

After we were done, I went and washed my face and came back with little pieces of tissue on my chin, as if I’d cut myself shaving. She laughed and laughed to the point that her eyes watered. What could have been one of her most embarrassing moments became a fun Kodak moment instead, thanks to the wonderful God-given gifts of humor, fun and laughter!

What power we have to help make the best of life’s most difficult situations by ensuring we keep these essential ingredients handy!

“A merry heart does good, like medicine…” — Proverbs 17:22 n Grab your FREE full copy of Joan Endicott’s “I Get To!”® book at JoanEndicott.com.

Joan is an Award-Winning Keynote Speaker, Author and Coach who’s coaching has reached over 30 countries. Meet her and enjoy her encouraging messages on Facebook and Instagram!

www.christianlivingmag.com

Realtor, GRI, APR, CRS

Call or Text:

208 880-5039 Email: wixy@sellidaho.com 16201 Idaho Center Blvd.

Nampa, ID 83687 For the best place to find homes for sale, Or to sign up for automatic updates, go to…

“For the Lord is good.

His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation.” ~Psalms 100:5

Christian Living | March / April 2024 21

REAL Man’s Toolbox

Manhood – where the rubber hits the road

in everything by prayer and supplication with What is manhood? Well, quite honestly, it appears thanksgiving let your requests be made known that it depends on who you ask. It also appears to to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses change over time. If you asked someone in 1950 all comprehension, will guard your hearts and what manhood was, you would get a completely your minds in Christ Jesus.” Our lives will remain different answer than if you asked someone in 2024. balanced if we will keep our eyes and our hearts on When God created mankind, He created them as Jesus Christ and His example. man and woman, in His image, but each with their To be a godly man, we also need to Avoid own distinct differences.

Destructive Behavior. There is no shortage of This column is titled Real Man’s Toolbox so we destructive behaviors for us to fall into. One of the are going to delve into manhood, and particularly key doorways into destructive behaviors is isolation.

Christian manhood. Many young men, and young When we isolate, we look into anything that we can women, did not have a great example of manhood to validate ourselves, and many times we end up folaround them when they were growing up. Without lowing destructive behaviors. Once again we must this foundational example, many young people of keep our focus on the Lord, and remember that today have no idea what manhood means, or what a the only way we can overcome the temptations that real man looks, sounds, or acts like.

Leo Hellyer Satan places in our path is through the strength of There is a wonderfully enlightening book called, Jesus Christ.

“The Measure of a Man” written by Gene Getz, Another attribute of a godly man is to Become a Disciplined which presents twenty attributes of a godly man. On the back cover Man. Getz points out that the best way to be a disciplined man of the book it states, “True masculinity is not measured by strength, is to “fix our eyes on Jesus.” When we have lived our lives on this wealth, or position, but by twenty biblical qualities drawn from the earth for a while, we get to the point where we know the answers to Apostle Paul’s letters to his young protégés Timothy and Titus. Inhow to be a godly man. A disciplined man is one who consistently spiring, encouraging and practical, this classic book shows how you can measure up to Christ’s fullness as a husband, father, and mentor ignores the temptations of Satan and takes the hard road and does to other men.” what is right, true, and godly. Disciplined men are consistent men.

A few of the key attributes that Getz presents in his book are: Disciplined men are men who are humble, obedient to God, pray Building a Good Reputation, Living a Balanced Life, Avoiding consistently, and have servant’s hearts.

Destructive Behavior, and Becoming a Disciplined Man. This is the To tie everything up in a neat bundle, Getz closes out this book type of a book that you can go back to from time to time – and get with Romans 12:1-2. “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the something new each time. mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, One of the foundational Bible passages in this book is 1 Timothy acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

3:1-7, where we read about overseers and deacons, leaders of the And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by church. These attributes are also applicable for leaders of the family, the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will neighborhood, business, community and nation. of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Building a Good Reputation takes a lot of time and effort. To I highly recommend that you add “The Measure of a Man” by build a good reputation, you must have something to judge by. For Gene Getz to your Real Man’s Toolbox. This should be a foundaa Christian man, our template for a good reputation of course is tional part of your Christian library for living. Real men are led by Jesus Christ. Yes, I agree, we will never achieve the reputation of Jesus Christ, but we can and should strive every day to become more God, interact with the society around them, are willing to take a stand, and do all things in love. n and more Christ-like. A good reputation is something that must be worked on every moment of every day. One slip up can tarnish a Leo Hellyer is a non-staff pastor with a local church and has good reputation in an instant. We should not compare ourselves to been married to his wife Norma for 50 years. The couple volunother men, but to the example of Jesus Christ. We must live in this teered with the Boise FamilyLife Ministry Team for 20 years. Leo world, but not become of this world.

Living a Balanced Life can be extremely difficult in the world we has also been serving with Boise Rescue Mission Ministries for 20 years and is currently serving at the River of Life Rescue Mislive in today. There are many distractions and challenges to take us sion. He is president and chief firearms instructor with Helping off course in our journey of life. There are many things that can pull Hands Firearms Training LLC. If you have questions about Real at a man’s heart: family, business, finances, politics, relationships, Man’s Toolbox, or need other assistance, he may be reached at leisure activities, possessions, etc. Getz refers to Philippians 4:6-7 in addressing how to live a balanced life. “Be anxious for nothing, but silverplate426@msn.com or (208) 340-5544.

By Leo Hellyer

HELP US BRING GOOD NEWS TO KIDS! We offer FREE, exciting, fun-filled 90 minute Bible clubs in PUBLIC SCHOOLS for kids in K-5th grades.

Games! Prizes!

Songs!

Bible lessons!

Snacks and more!

We offer free confidential pregnancy testing, verification and limited ultrasounds.

Call 208-466-4000 to schedule an appointment

V ll Child Evangelism Fellowship® -Treasure Valley

www.tvcef.com

22 March / April 2024 | Christian Living

www.christianlivingmag.com

MAXIMUM Health

Above all else … guard your heart

Image by Prawny from Pixabay

By Rosie Main

In the hustle and bustle of modern life, stress has become an unwelcome companion for many, taking a toll on both our mental and physical well-being. As followers of Christ, we are called to honor our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit, and addressing stress-related heart issues is crucial for maintaining good health. In this article, we will explore the powerful intersection of faith, lifestyle choices, and an anti-inflammatory diet, offering practical solutions to cultivate a heart at peace.

The Heart-Health Connection

The Bible reminds us in Proverbs 4:23 (NIV), “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Our physical hearts, intricately designed by our Creator, play a vital role in our overall well-being. Chronic stress can contribute to heart issues, making it imperative for us to take intentional steps to nurture our hearts.

1. Embracing faith through prayer and meditation. In times of stress, turning to our faith becomes a source of strength and solace. The act of prayer not only connects us with the divine but

Fellowship of Christian Businessmen

also serves as a powerful stress-reliever. Spend time in quiet contemplation, seeking God’s guidance and pouring out your heart before Him. Trust that, as it says in Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV), “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

2. Cultivating a healthy lifestyle. God calls us to steward our bodies well, and a healthy lifestyle is a testament to this stewardship.

Regular exercise, adequate sleep, and mindful breathing exercises are essential components of stress management. Engaging in activities that bring joy and relaxation, such as spending time in nature or pursuing hobbies, can significantly contribute to a healthier heart.

3. Nourishing your body with an anti-inflammatory diet.

Diet plays a pivotal role in heart health, and adopting an antiinflammatory diet can be a transformative step. Focus on whole, nutrient-dense foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and lean proteins. Incorporate omega-3 fatty acids, found in fish and flaxseeds, which are known for their anti-inflammatory properties. Limit processed foods, sugar, and excessive caffeine intake, as they can contribute to inflammation.

Are You 62+ And Considering A New Home...

But Have No Appetite For A Mortgage Payment?

SOUND TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE?

JOIN US

Tuesdays at 7:00 am IHOP 3525 E Fairview Ave. • Meridian, ID 83642 Questions call: (208) 841-7899

&

Thursdays at Noon Original Pancake House 5900 W Fairview Ave., Boise Questions call: (208) 859-6038 24 March / April 2024 | Christian Living

Call us and let’s discuss how you may be able to have your cake AND eat it, too! caronscakery.co.uk

Integrity First.

People Always!

208.891.1222 MATTHEW 7:24

Katita Slemp

Veteran owned business • IdahoBliss.com www.christianlivingmag.com

BIBLE BLANKS by Steve Bertel

For further support with your health goals or more information, go to MainHealthSolutions.com.

Fill in each answer, one letter per square.

Then arrange the letters in the highlighted squares to reveal the name of …

THE MAN WHO WAS LEFT-HANDED

1. The ___ were “strong and tall”

2. Romans reminds us, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to ___ ___.”

3. Jesus told the twelve, “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as ___ .”

4. Joshua was buried in the land of his inheritance, north of Mount ___

And THE MAN WHO WAS LEFT-HANDED is …

ANSWERS: 1. ANAKITES (Deuteronomy 9:2) 2. HIS PURPOSE (Romans 8:28) 3. DOVES (Matthew 10:16) 4. GAASH (Joshua 24:29-30) THE MAN WHO WAS LEFT-HANDED is:EHUD (Judges 3:15)

4. Practicing gratitude and mindfulness. In the midst of life’s challenges, cultivating an attitude of gratitude can shift our focus from stressors to blessings. Counting our blessings, even in the face of difficulties, fosters a positive mindset. Combine this with mindfulness techniques, such as deep breathing and meditation, to anchor yourself in the present moment and alleviate stress.

5. Seeking support and community. As Christians, we are not called to walk this journey alone. Surround yourself with a supportive community of believers who can provide encouragement, prayer, and practical assistance. Sharing your burdens with Rosie Main others lightens the load and reinforces the importance of love and fellowship in our faith.

Addressing stress-related heart issues requires a holistic approach that combines faith, lifestyle choices, and dietary habits. By embracing a life centered on prayer, cultivating a healthy lifestyle, adopting an anti-inflammatory diet, practicing gratitude, and seeking community support, we can honor God with our bodies and experience the peace that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7, NIV). Remember, in the midst of life’s storms, there is a divine anchor for our souls.

I am learning to give it all to Him and remain in Him, and I pray you do the same. n

Keeping an eye on your car repairs – even when it’s out of sight.

(That’s driving joy.)

OUR DIGITAL VEHICLE INSPECTION TELLS YOU WHAT’S GOING ON EVERY STEP OF THE WAY. Trust is important. That’s why we offer a free Digital Vehicle Inspection. We send an inspection report with photos letting you know what’s working and what needs attention. At CBA, you’re always in the driver’s seat.

Fixing cars, driving joy.

Two Locations to Choose From Meridian Rd. | (208) 565-1515 | cbac.com/meridian-rd Meridian | (208) 888-0070 | cbac.com/meridian 87 E. Calderwood Drive, Meridian, ID 83642 1402 W McMillan Rd, Meridian, ID 83646 Coming Soon to Star! www.christianlivingmag.com

Christian Living | March / April 2024 25

HISTORY, Culture and Faith

The religious views of Thomas Jefferson (Part 1)

By Dr. Rick Chromey

Jefferson’s personal history...disgraceful conduct... reputation for free thinking and loose morality is admitted. 1 “An atheist and fanatic.” 2 “[His] knowledge of and admiration for the teachings of Jesus have never been equaled by any other president.3 “Jefferson’s religion...was misunderstood... criticisms came from those who knew neither Jefferson nor his religious beliefs.” 4

children (all baptized Anglican). During his time, Jefferson was a dedicated Episcopalian. In 1776, Jefferson penned an extensive treatise he called “Notes on Religion” that included an affirmation of historic Christian doctrines.7 It’s why Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence incorporated biblical themes that appealed for Divine Protection, argued for Divine Creation, and reminded readers of Divine Judgment. He also included four clear acknowledgments of God. To his dying day, Jefferson seemed to maintain some form of Episcopalian faith.

Historian Charles B. Sanford argued: “From the evidence of his life, we may safely conclude that Jefferson remained a member in good standing of his local Episcopal church all his life, in outward form at least.”8

It’s been two centuries since Thomas Jefferson lived and died. And his religious views still remain mysterious and murky.

Historically, his most combative critics? Christians.

Today, skeptics and Christians alike believe the Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay Monticello man was anti-Christian, agnostic, or Jefferson flirted with doubt and disbelief. atheist, pointing to certain writings, or theological/politiBefore he turned 40, Thomas Jefferson suffered the horrific cal positions, or his “Jefferson Bible” – a vapid, empty and loss of three children. Then, his beloved Martha died. These beself-designed gospel. reavements deeply depressed Jefferson for weeks.

Finding the truth isn’t easy. Thomas Jefferson is a hard nut to Eventually he accepted a diplomat role in France. Once in Paris, crack. its secular, hedonistic culture enticed the spiritually wrecked Jefferson to embrace a lifestyle of disbelief and self-indulgence. His Jefferson’s religious views were complex, but Christian. reading list now included skeptics, like David Hume.

As a man of the Enlightenment, Thomas studied philosophy, But it didn’t stick. Jefferson eventually rejected Hume’s ideas: “I politics, science, history and religion. His private library contained remember well the enthusiasm with which I devoured [Hume’s nearly 6,500 books. And yet, on matters of religion, he wrote sparwritings] when young, and the length of time, the research and ingly. Nevertheless, in every missive Jefferson was never vague, reflection which were necessary to eradicate the poison it instilled disingenuous, or confused about his theology. into my mind.” 9 Jefferson did have strong words for certain churches. He opposed Nevertheless, the French “ways” did influence Jefferson. He was the Anglican (Episcopal) church – the Virginia state religion – for never the same after 1789. its ecclesiastical hierarchies. As a Protestant, he was anti-Catholic, yet never “anti-Christian” (as certain New England denominations A new kind of Christian feared and political opponents promoted).

The early 1800s were precarious times. France was at war, and And there’s no evidence Jefferson denounced, nor ceased practicrecovering from bloody, secular revolution. Meanwhile, America ing Christianity. was test driving its new Constitution while a Second Great Awakening baptized the nation in a religious fervor that framed “Christian” Thomas Jefferson’s religious views demand context.

Jefferson’s more salient written statements seem to promote skepti- America for over a century.

This “awakening” birthed new types of non-denominational cism, but wider context offers clarity churches that promoted Christian unity, local church autonomy and In 1787, Jefferson encouraged his nephew Peter Carr to “question a restored or “primitive” faith. Thomas Jefferson, who opposed hierwith boldness even the existence of a god; because, if there be one, archical religion and appreciated unity and autonomy was drawn to he must more approve the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.”5 Is Jefferson embracing secular rationalism in this state- this type of Christianity.

In fact, after retirement, he regularly attended religious services at ment? Maybe. But the context also suggests Jefferson simply wanted the Albemarle Courthouse that featured preachers from a variety of Peter to view religion with more tolerance.

Jefferson penned in 1801: “I … reposed my head on that pillow of different denominations.10 ignorance which a benevolent creator has made so soft for us, know“I am a real Christian,” Jefferson confessed to a friend, a decade ing how much we should be forced to use it.” 6 before his death, “that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus Is this evidence of Jefferson’s agnosticism? Possibly. However, the Christ.” 11 context is clear. Jefferson, responding to a query about the soul’s What he meant by that declaration remains debatable. transmigration into eternity, is stating the topic wasn’t worth his Yet it proves Thomas Jefferson was never fully atheist nor agnostic, time. He preferred “ignorance” or apathy. despite what critics – then and now – say about him. His Christianity was clearly unorthodox. Historians have described him as either Jefferson’s framing faith was Anglican. a liberal Episcopalian or conservative Unitarian. Jefferson did reject Thomas Jefferson’s religious views – particularly his Christianity – (again, to what degree) core Christian doctrines, including Jesus’ were founded in his Anglican faith. divinity, resurrection and atonement.

Jefferson was baptized and raised Anglican (Episcopal). Later, for Jefferson’s refusal to explain his religious views makes determining political purposes, he affirmed its denominational creed because all his precise opinions difficult, save one. In an apologetical letter to the Virginia office holders were required to be Anglican (as it was the devout Dr. Benjamin Rush, he rejected “state religion” and avowed: state religion).

“I have sworn, upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every Thomas married a devout Anglican (Martha) and they had six form of tyranny over the mind of man.” 12

26 March / April 2024 | Christian Living

www.christianlivingmag.com

Nevertheless, historian Henry Randall, one of Jefferson’s earliest and most partisan biographers, concluded: “Mr. Jefferson never, at any period of life, made himself an aggressive assailant of Christianity; ... never, in a solitary instance, sought directly or indirectly to proselyte a human being to unchristian views, or to shake his conviction in Christian ones.” 13 Agree or disagree, Thomas Jefferson proved a new kind of Christian for a new kind of nation.

And maybe that’s what he envisioned.

Next issue: The Bible of Thomas Jefferson Dr. Rick Chromey is a historian, author and speaker who helps people interpret history, navigate culture, and explore faith. Since 2022, he’s worked as a Lewis and Clark historian for American Cruise Lines on the Columbia and Snake rivers. He is available to speak to churches, schools and organizations about topics related to history, apologetics, leadership and Christian education.

Christian Living readers may use this QR code to subscribe to Rick’s inspirational (history, culture, faith) Morning MANNA! (M-F) email. www.mannasolutions.org

Dr. Rick Chromey

Sources: 1) “The Private Character of Thomas Jefferson” from The New Englander, printed in The Living Age, No. 892, July 6, 1861: 515.

2) Alexander Hamilton’s charge against Jefferson, according to Charles B. Sanford, The Religious Life of Thomas Jefferson (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1984): 1.

3) Ibid, 3.

4) Ibid, 6.

5) Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Peter Carr, with Enclosure, 10 August 1787: https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-12-02-0021 6) Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Isaac Story, 5 December 1801: https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-36-02-0025 7) Thomas Jefferson, The Works of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Paul Leicester Ford, Volume 2 (New York: G.P. Putman’s Sons, 1904), 255. Google Book download.

8) Sanford, Religious Life of Jefferson, 1984: 5.

9) Letter from Thomas Jefferson to William Duane, 12 August 1810: https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-03-02-0001-0002 10) “Thomas Jefferson and Religious Freedom,” The Jefferson Monticello: https://www.monticello.org/research-education/thomas-jefferson-encyclopedia/thomas-jefferson-and-religiousfreedom/#fn-13 11) Thomas Jefferson, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Albert Ellery Bergh, editor (Washington, D.C.: The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1904), Vol. XIV, p. 385, to Charles Thomson on January 9, 1816.

12) Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, September 23, 1800: https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-32-02-0102 13) Henry S. Randall, The Life of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 1 (New York: Derby & Jackson, 1858): 495-96. Google Book download.

If You Decide To Carry, Carry Responsibly!

Leo Hellyer President & Chief Firearms Instructor

NRA CERTIFIED INSTRUCTORS: ENHANCE YOUR CERTIFICATIONS

BECOME A USCCA CERTIFIED INSRTRUCTOR

ENHANCED CONCEALED CARRY TRAINING USCCA INSTRUCTOR CERTIFICATION TRAINING

• Tax Preparation • Business & Personal • QuickBooks Consulting • Bookkeeping • Payroll • New Business Startup Our Mission Since 1974:

To Provide Quality Tax & Accounting Services with honesty and integrity at a reasonable price

MIKE LOCKNANE LPA • DOUG & CINDY TEUSCHER 208.340.5544

silverplate426@msn.com

www.christianlivingmag.com

1712 9th St So • 208.467.1894 • Nampa www.locknaneaccounting.com Mon-Fri 9am to 5pm (Closed 12-1)

Christian Living | March / April 2024 27

EXPLORING God’s Great Outdoors

It’s been showtime for outdoor men and women Luther-AR came out with a space-age looking stock for Ruger 10/22’s. I’ve got to trick out a 10/22 Editor’s note: This column was written in early with one. The 10/22 is the most trick-outtable (is January for publication in the current March/ that a word?) gun on the market, isn’t it?

April issue of Christian Living Magazine.

Then there are all of the big outdoor clothes manufacturers there. I met the night before the We’re just coming off of the show season. January/ show kicked off with 5.11 and got to check out all of February is the best time to have the outdoor shows their gear. Then LOWA has some cool boots. They since things have slowed down in the outdoors have a ball bearing in the eyelet so the boot lace world. At least as much as it ever does in Idaho. pulls smoothly. Smart.

That is, other than snowshoeing, cougar hunting, Then I met with eWool, which has some heated ice fishing, varmint hunting….. gloves, vest and socks that I have to test out if Katy It seems like every state has its own big outdoor doesn’t confiscate them. They have rechargeable show. But I’m talking about big shows like the ATA heat pads in them that last up to 16 hours.

(Archery Trade Assn.), DSC (Dallas Safari Club InSince I’m big time into airguns, I had to stop by ternational, Conv. & Expo), SCI (Safari Club Interand see my buddies at Predator International and national), and the mother of them all – the SHOT Tom Claycomb III check out their new JSB pellets.

Show (Shooting Hunting Outdoor Trade show).

And who doesn’t like holsters? So I had to circle I conducted three seminars at the DSC show and by and see Katarina at Falco. It is always enjoyable to see her and am flying to Nashville in three days, in early February, to conduct three seminars at SCI. But due to limited space, today we’re only go- her products.

I hit it hard from daylight to dark for five days and visited a ton of ing to talk about the SHOT Show. It’s fresh on my mind since I just companies and saw a ton of gear. And, we will now end with a Proreturned from it three days ago.

Tip to enhance your Christian life.

As far as I know the SHOT is the largest outdoor show in the Christian Tip #2 – Okay, 25 years ago in Idaho if you pulled up world. Manufacturers from around the world attend. Pretty much every gun, knife, outdoor clothing and outdoor gear manufacturer to a 4-way stop sign in Nampa and the other driver clearly got to his has a booth there. stop sign 3-seconds before you, he’d still wave you on. Now? Yeah, It kicks off on a Monday at the gun range. For this event, only the drivers are over the top rude. It is not the same Idaho it was writers and buyers/manufacturers are invited. They invite writers years ago due to the influx of rude drivers. so they’ll test the new guns/ammo and get them publicity. If a new For years...decades...I have nonchalantly tried not to be an idiot product is coming out, manufacturers wait to unveil it at the SHOT. in return. But it seems almost impossible not to return the rudeness.

In November I went on a writers’ hunt in which Savage was the But something stuck in my mind 10 years ago. I saw a driver driving gun sponsor. We got to hunt with two new guns that hadn’t even down the freeway. He was driving a safe distance from the car in been released yet. We had to sign disclosure forms that we wouldn’t front of him. Some derelict wheeled over right in front of him into write about them until January. So, at the range we get to shoot the the small gap. The safe-distance driver didn’t honk at him or run new guns and ammo. right up on his tail. He just moved back another 50 feet. I observed The actual show kicks off on Tuesday and ends on Friday. There this happening I believe three times and every time he just slowed are a quadrillion booths, with manufacturers displaying their goods. down and backed up to his safe distance.

I go to get sponsors and to test the new products so as to be able to Finally, the other day I thought, “I’m not making any improvewrite product reviews.

For instance, I write a weekly product review for AmmolandShoot- ments in my politeness.” I had two options.

1. Order a Howitzer tank off Amazon and nuke all of the idiot ingSportsNews, mainly covering knives. So of course I met with a drivers (very tempting option). lot of knife companies such as Spyderco, Outdoor Edge, WE Knives, 2. Or, get serious about driving like a Christian and not being one CRKT, Buck etc. in word only. So, I wrote a note on a sticky pad and stuck on the Then of course I’ve got to check out what’s new in the gun world. dash of all of my rigs that said, “YOU ARE NOW ENTERING So I go see my buddies at Umarex Airguns, Mossberg, Henry ReYOUR MISSION FIELD.” peating Arms, Anderson Manufacturing, Savage Arms and Ruger.

I learned, it’s not really that hard to change your behavior if you’re Umarex came out with a new airgun that you can bowfish with. It serious. Sure, I still slip (okay, daily), but if you struggle with this like shoots an arrow and has a bottle reel. Then I have to upgrade to a I do, you might try it out. n side lever Gauntlet PCP. Then Henry has a 12 ga. and .410 single shot turkey gun. I can’t believe a .410 works on turkeys but they say For more information, contact Tom at tomclaycomb3rd@gmail.com with the new tungsten loads that it will roll them.

By Tom Claycomb III

No Appointment Needed Free & Confidential

Compassionate Pregnancy Support • Pregnancy Testing • Information • Referrals • Material Aid birthrightofboise.com 1530 W State St, Suite A Meridian, ID 83642 208-342-1898

If you have found this or another article valuable, please consider helping us bring stories like this to our community by supporting Christian Living Magazine, a 501(c)3 ministry, at

ChristianLivingmag.com

28 March / April 2024 | Christian Living

No one walks alone . w w w. p a t h p re g . o rg

1327 W Beacon St. • Boise • 208-384-9504

www.christianlivingmag.com

WEDNESDAY’S Child

Meet Erick

The following information is provided

by Wednesday's Child, an organization that helps Idaho foster children find permanent homes.

Sixteen-year-old Erick is a wellrounded teen with big plans for his future.

Erick has so many varied interests that we’re sure you’ll easily find at least a few things in common with him. He loves to stay busy and has a passion for activities like fishing, camping, doing woodworking projects, bowling and playing basketball and football. He’s looking forward to family days spent having adventures, as well as lazy days at home together watching his favorite teams – the Dallas Cowboys or the Boston Celtics – play.

Like most teens, Erick enjoys watching movies and playing video games in his downtime. He also loves to read and to express himself by writing music. A family that loves to travel and try new things would be a great match for him.

Erick is a resilient young man who has shown a lot of growth and responsibility over the past few years and has been focused on becoming more independent. He enjoys cooking his own meals at times, particularly quesadillas, and has worked a part-time job. Erick has also been prioritizing keeping his grades up in school and is really proud of his effort in this area. Erick hopes to one day become a popular social media streamer.

Erick may be getting older, but that has not deterred his longing for a Forever Family to call his own. He needs a family that understands trauma, grief and loss and the challenges it can create for kids. Parents who can provide clear expectations and structure, but also be fun-loving, forgiving and easy going, would be an exceptional fit for him. He will do best as the only or youngest child in the home. He would ideally love to find his adoptive home in the eastern Idaho area in order to keep some of his important connections; however, Erick and his Permanency Team are also open to hearing from and considering families that reside outside of the area and may be a good match for him.

Finding a committed, loving family is sure to be life-changing for this amazing teen and will help him continue to grow, thrive and move forward with the bright future that he envisions for himself. If you think that your family sounds like a great fit for Erick, we’re looking forward to receiving your inquiry today (see contact information below). n For more information on the Idaho Wednesday’s Child Program, visit www.idahowednesdayschild.org, or contact Specialized Recruitment Services Administrator Shawn White at swhite52@ewu.edu or cell (208) 488-8989.

Miss an issue?

Want to re-read a past article?

Our Past Editions can all be found at: ChristianLivingmag.com “Like” Us on

Facebook Find us by searching for Christian Living Magazine

www.christianlivingmag.com

“WE WORKED VERY HARD FOR WHAT WE HAVE. IF IT’S GOING TO DO ANYTHING, LET IT DO SOME GOOD TO HELP OTHERS.”

PLAN YOUR LEGACY WITH THE SALVATION ARMY Like many people, you probably have a Will and/ or a Living Trust in place. But important assets life insurance, brokerage or bank accounts, jointly owned property and, in particular, retirement accounts - may be set up to pass outside of your Will or Trust through beneficiary designations.

They can present a variety of tax and legal traps that may negatively affect your estate distribution plans for your heirs.

Our FREE Will Planning Booklet has valuable information on planning a legacy that conveys your assets, responsibilities, values, and beliefs in an orderly, thoughtful way to those you trust and wish to honor Prepare Your Will or Trust Easy Step-By-Step Process Affordable Will Creation Use your phone’s camera to access the Online Will Creation Services.

To request your FREE Booklet: Call, Email or Scan the Link above to Order.

David Durant, ChFC®, FCEP Director of Gift Planning

david.durant@usw.salvationarmy.org Office: 503.794.3285 Toll Free: 800.481.3280 The Salvation Army Boise Corps | 9492 W Emerald St., Boise, ID 83704 The Salvation Army Cascade Division | Serving Oregon and Southern Idaho

Christian Living | March / April 2024 29

SHE never coerces

Looking at life through beauty …

By Ed Rybarczyk

Why is there so much strife today? How is it that dearly-held friendships can so quickly unravel? Why does it seem like society is coming apart at the seams? One fitting answer to our collective unraveling is that we no longer perceive life in shared ways. Subsequently, long-established value systems have fallen apart. The institutions that form the skeletal structure for collective life have been invaded and re-programmed. The social glue that held relationships together for centuries has been bathed in a corrosive solvent of cynicism and suspicion. What used to be minor irritations are now major flashpoints. What can we Christians do?

For 15 years I taught a college theology class titled, “Developing a Christian Worldview.” The more I studied and analyzed contemporary American culture, the more I grew to realize that the issue of perception was, in significant ways, the root of societal dissolution.

We no longer look at life in sweepingly shared ways. We no longer believe deeply-held things about the most important issues in life.

And that’s true even across the varied church denominations. Again, one is shaken to one’s core: “What can I do?”

Well, we cannot give up. We cannot become weary in well doing (Gal. 6:9). We cannot despair. After all, we serve a faithful Lord who was, himself, faithful to the end. In both the light of Christ (our ultimate north-star orientation) and the darkness of our fractious era, I suggest an alternative approach to perceiving life: beauty.

Why beauty? Because beauty is a non-confrontive offer. Beauty never forces herself upon anyone. Beauty never coerces anyone to recognize her. Beauty always comes in peaceful, non-violent ways.

Beauty is a gift, an invitation to union, a quiet space between power grabs, a loving offer. Beauty suggests that there is a something-more woven into life (both eternity and eternal qualities), but she never grabs anyone by the throat and forces them to acknowledge her.

Given her own peaceful demeanor, is it any wonder, then, that she is so easily ignored, boxed up, and stored away in the basement by today’s violence and love-of-death?

Think with me: western culture, driven by cynicism, has taught itself to say, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” In schools, the arts – modes of beauty – are always the first programs to face budget cuts. Beauty, together with her sisters goodness and truth, has been intentionally eliminated. And the craven spiritual logic for this elimination goes like this: if there are transcendent values that

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

abide across life, if there are qualities that are greater than the self, then they are threats. After all, if transcendents are greater than the self-as-king they must be destroyed! Abiding and transcendent values threaten the self as the ultimate standard. Transcendents threaten the whims and wiles of the heart. Goodness, truth, and beauty – the three classic transcendents – threaten the notion that “I” am the final arbiter for doing reality.

But for millennia hardly anyone believed beauty was a subjective fabrication. For centuries following Jesus western culture agreed that beauty is objectively real. When asked, “What is beauty?”, Aristotle pithily answered by saying, “That is a blind man’s question.”

No right-minded person denied the existence of beauty.

Come.

C ome me See. See Play.

See Play la Everything You Need For Your:

• Camping Program • Retreat • Family Reunion

Affordable Rates

• Wedding • Anniversary Celebration

Reserve Today!

Located Loc ated t d On On The Th The West Westt Side Side Of B Sid Beautiful Cascade Lake ake k On On West Westt Mount M Mountain taiin R Road oad d

208-468-8976 • cascadechristiancamp.org cascadechristiancamp.idaho@gmail.com

30 March / April 2024 | Christian Living

www.christianlivingmag.com

There’s some macrocosmic, big-picture framing Second, beauty can help us to perceive and for you. What about microcosmic, real-life, twentynavigate life aware that there is always a somethingfirst century application? A couple, sure. more going on, there are invisible elements to life First, for Christians and our mission? We need to that go deeper. On this point, we ought to prefer stop viewing people as evangelistic targets and start quality over quantity. When choosing close friends? viewing them as human persons. The evangelical Quality over quantity. Pour into that treasured tendency is to see a non-believer and begin wonderrelationship like never before; such relationships ing how to witness to them in order to get them are so rare! At Sunday church? Oh please, quality saved. Me? I’m all for sharing the gospel! But this is over quantity. At the supermarket? Quality over a matter of prioritization, not a binary all-or-nothquantity. And believe me, because I tend toward being matter. If we looked at people as beings whom ing a penny-pincher, I am aware this is a matter of Jesus wants to heal, renew, and transform, instead budgeting! I’m not urging fiscal irresponsibility. But of as notches on our soul-winning gun holsters, they across our lives it is true that quality is as important would hear and perceive us differently. If we acted first toward relational ends instead of forcing some as quantity. Like my brother puts it, “Buy once, targeted goal, we would be experienced by others as Ed Rybarczyk cry once.” Try to budget for the best instead of the more-authentic. This would be a subject-to-subject merely sufficient. interaction instead of a superior-to-inferior transacFinally, because beauty doesn’t play by the rules of our strictly tion. We would be treating them as beautiful, in themselves. transactional culture, begin praying and asking the Lord where For His part, Jesus treated everyone as having been created in beauty is present if somewhat hidden. Look to find the good in a the image of God. He never spoke down to anyone. Even when He person or a situation. Treasure a word of truth that is spoken in a was irritated or prophetic He never spoke or acted condescendcrowd of liars. God’s Holy Spirit can awaken you to the beauty that ingly. Fittingly, we could say that Jesus, out of His own beauty as the incarnate God, acted with beauty toward the beauty of others. is woven through life, even if it is hard to perceive. n This is remarkable: Jesus, even when He was rebuking someone, Ed Rybarczyk, PhD, is both an ordained minister and a retired never dismissed people’s agency. He never talked to them like History of Theology professor. He now produces and hosts the they were incapable. Never believed they were victimized beyond Uncensored Unprofessor podcast @ uncensoredunprofessor.com. repair. Characterized by beauty, Jesus offered them the truth in beautiful fashion.

He can be reached at uncensoredunprofessor@gmail.com.

TRY OUR SEARCH ENGINE

CARS, RVS, BOATS, MOTORCYCLES, ATVS NAMPA BRANCH

716 E Colorado Ave • Nampa, ID 83686 208.466.0916 www.christianlivingmag.com

YOUR DEPOSITS ARE INSURED UP TO $500,000 By member choice, this institution is not federally insured. *Must qualify for membership, some restrictions apply.

Christian Living | March / April 2024 31

1,000

$

SAVE UP TO

*

OR ZERO INTEREST IF PAID IN FULL WITHIN 18 MONTHS**

On flooring purchases made with your Flooring America Synchrony Home™ credit card between 03/21/2024 and 05/16/2024. Interest will be charged to your account from the purchase date if the promotional balance is not paid in full within 18 months. Minimum monthly payments required.

BOISE • FEDERAL WAY

BOISE

2895 S. Federal Way 208-287-2487

11522 West Fairview Ave. 208-287-4447

DILLABAUGHSFLOORINGAMERICA.COM *At participating stores only. Discount applies to materials only on select items; cushion, labor, and installation charges are additional. Prior orders exempt. Cannot be combined with any other offer. Offer ends 05/16/2024. All offers are for retail customers only and are not applicable to contract/commercial work. See store for details on all offers and warranties. ©2024 Flooring America®. All Rights Reserved. **At participating stores only. See store for details.

No interest will be charged on the promo balance if you pay the promo balance amount in full within 18 months. If you do not, interest will be charged on the promo balance from the purchase date. The required minimum monthly payments may or may not pay off the promo balance before the end of the promotional period. Regular account terms apply to non-promo purchases and, after promo period ends, to the promotional balance. For new accounts: Purchase APR is 29.99%. Minimum Interest Charge is $2. Existing cardholders should see their credit card agreement for their applicable terms. Subject to credit approval.