single! young christian woman nov 10

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sing eYoung Christian Woma

A PUBLICATION OF ON MY OWN NOW MINISTRIES NOV

www.onmyownnow.c

what’s

wrongwith the

thong?

Might Have Beena Pharisee

control freaks:

Welcometo Cuba

Top 10 Indications You

Just what you need:

accuratedirections

plus:

Are you paying

to store

garbage?

http://www.onmyownnow.com/




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EDITORIN CHIEFDonna Lee Schillingerwww.twitter.com/D_L_Schillinger

ARTDIRECTIONDaniela Bermúdez

STRAIGHT TALK FROM THE PROVERBS

My Own Personal CubaBy Donna Lee Schillinger

MOVING OUT ... SETTLING INCleanliness≠GodlinessBy Kimberly Schluterman

CENTER RING

Top 10 Indications You MightHave Been a PhariseeBy Robert Beames

THE RECAP

Ten Stupid Things Christiansdo to Mess Up Their LivesBy Erik Guzman

SPARE CHANGE

Are You Paying to Store Garbage?By Julie Ann

FASHION DIVINA

What’s Wrong With the Thong?By Gwen Schumaker and Donna Lee Schillinger

JUST WHAT YOU NEED

Accurate DirectionsBy Jefrey Bridgman

NOV2

A publication ofON MY OWN NOW MINISTRIESwww.onmyownnow.com

8.

single! young christian woman

http://www.twitter.com/D_L_Schillinger


http://www.twitter.com/donamexa

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Fridge-worthy.

“In this interesting and thought-provoking exploration

of the book of Proverbs, Schillinger takes young women

along a journey that will help them to make better, saf-

er, and more sound decisions.”

Cheryl C. Malandrinos

The Book Connection blog

Now Available at www.onmyownnow.com,

at Amazon, B&N and a library and bookstore near you.

Straight talk from the proverbs for young Christian women who want to remain pure, debt-free and regret-free.

We see high drama in themovies all the

time, but inreal life, bigacting does not

win awards.



MY OWNPERSONAL

CUBA

STRAIGHT TALK

The crucible for silver andthe furnace for gold, buta woman is tested by the

praise she receives.PROVERBS 27:21

BY DONNA LEE SCHILLINGER



Does it ever cease to amaze you how movie stars seem

to crash and burn when they make it big? I don’t buy the

gossip rags, but I confess to reading the headlines while

I’m in line at the grocery store. It seems with mathemati-

cal certainty that the happy couple on the cover today will

be on the cover again announcing their split in a matter

of a few years (or less!). It isn’t fame that ruins a person,

however, if our proverb is to be trusted. Rather, fame is a

tool for testing a person and revealing their true character.

A little praise and recognition doesn’t feel like going

through the fire to me. I may feel a little heat under the

collar and turn a shade of pink, but I have never thought

of praise as a furnace, as our proverb suggests. Yet with

praise, recognition, awards and, in general, rising to the

top in work, hobby, sport or community endeavors comes

control.

Whereas men are forever and always trying to be king of

the mountain, women are control freaks. It’s the same dis-

ease, just different manifestations. We all want control.

It’s one of those natural desires that can become a posi-

tive force under God’s guidance or a negative, highly de-

structive force when employed for evil.

Anybody can have control – just get a pet and you are lord

and master over a helpless kitty cat or puppy dog. It just

doesn’t satisfy like ruling people though. That kind of con-trol isn’t as easy as adopting a pet; and yet it’s not so hard

to come by either. Most people get some measure of con-

trol in life through their job or parenting. Take for instance,

the night watchperson, nursing home attendant or hotel

maid. Each of these rather humble stations includes its

measure of control over people. What if you want an extra

shampoo or ice bucket? You’ve got to ask the maid, and if

she randomly decides not to give it to you, what are you

going to do? After all, it’s her supply cart!

Some people have authority dropped in their laps, never

having put out much effort to earn it. Others rise to the top

through a combination of natural talent, hard work and

perseverance. However it comes about, our bailiwick wil

become our furnace. People of weak character will go out

in flames – some are slow burning, some go in a flash. How

long the testing lasts is a divine matter. One wonders, for

example, why it takes some horrid world leaders so long to

finally get their comeuppance. Rest assured, God is work

ing His plan and purpose.

Hitlers and Husseins are exceptional, but you’d be sur-

prised – I always am – at how many people, when given

even the most miniscule amount of control, take it on as

if they were Castro in their own personal Cuba. Even more

frightening is that we see this often in churches. Thank

God I go to a small church without a lot of control issues

However, I know of another little church down the road

with fewer than 20 in the congregation, which is plagued

by constant power struggles. Almost every adult member

of the congregation has some title or office which they

take much too seriously. It’s a congregation of a dozen personal agendas. I wonder what God thinks about all that.

don’t have to wonder what God has to do with it though

It’s God’s house, yes; even that little hornet’s nest of a con-

gregation gathers in God’s name, and it seems that God is

using it as a furnace for those individuals. I pray they come

through the fire purified.

How are you going to handle power and authority? It’s not

long before it’s coming your way if you don’t already have

a portion. Are you going to be the person people talk about

in whispers – a dictator in your own rite? “Everything has

to be her way.” “She acts like the world revolves aroundher.” “The only opinion she cares about is her own.” Or are

you going to be the kind of leader that rolls up her sleeves

gets down and dirty with the rest to get the job done and

ignores the fact she even has any authority until a rea

need to exercise it comes along?

Will power unveil in you an

ugly ego or will it strengthenyour commitment to others?

HOLD THIS THOUGHT:

I WON’T LET PRAISE ANDPOWER GO TO MY HEAD.

A little praise and recognitiondoesn’t feel like goingthrough the re to me. I

may feel a little heat underthe collar, and turn a shade

of pink, but I have neverthought of a praise as afurnace, as our proverb

suggests.



MOVING OUT

cleanlinessby kimb

My mom always wondered why I couldn’t keep my

room clean. She said that if I would just put things

away when I was done with them, it would stay

clean. If I wait until it’s a mess, I’m never going to

want to clean it. It’s a chore. But if I keep it clean

it’s always done. As she told me this, I ponderedhow was it possible that my parents’ room was al-

ways clean. (Maybe I wasn’t getting her message?)

Occasionally there’d be some clothes on the floor

but they didn’t stay there for long.

Despite years of bucking her system, I have finally

concluded that my mom’s way is indeed superior

to mine. For the longest time, I argued that ours

were just different ways. But not anymore. I’m sorry

Mom, you were right. My way stinks. Honestly,

still don’t know how you do it.

Now I have almost 2000 square feet to keep clean

and I can’t even walk to my side of the bed. It’s of-

ficial; I’m a colossal failure in the housekeeping de-

partment. My husband doesn’t mind because he’s

even messier than I am. But I’d like to be a cleaner

neater person. I’m a total neat freak at work, and

that’s how I perceive myself. It’s quite shocking to

get home to the scene of an apparent natural di-

saster and realize that this mess is mine. By age 25

I think I should have figured it all out by now. But

I haven’t, and instead of doing anything about it,

took a nap after work today.

But that doesn’t mean I’ve given up. No. Instead

I have devised a brilliant system that is positively

foolproof (I think). Here’s my plan: don’t make a

mess. If I make a mess, clean it up. Vacuum and

dust on the same day every week. Clean the toilets



TOPINDICATIONSYOU

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might HAVE

BEEN

I H

A

PHARISEEBY ROBERT BEAMES

CENTER RING



If you were alive when Jesus walked the earth, would you have beena Pharisee? We cringe at the thought. Most of us enjoy the feeling ofsuperiority we have over the Pharisees due to their obvious hypocri-

sies. But perhaps we have more in common with these teachers of thelaw than we would like to admit. If you’re walking around with a plank

sticking out of your eye, you may already realize you have something incommon with this notorious crowd, but for everyone else, here are the

top ten indications you might have been a Pharisee.

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You constantly testGod – Jesus told the parable of

the Good Samaritan in response to

testing by an expert in the law (Luke

10:25). Occasionally God asks us to

test Him, such as with our tithe (Malachi 3:10),

but more often it is God who does the testing. He

is approachable, and He welcomes our questions.

However, we should be careful not to use the same

approach the Pharisees used with Jesus, as they

tried to manipulate Him to say or do things that

they could use for their own purposes. God does

the testing. Our job is to trust. It works best this

way.

You are motivatedby fear – The first time we

meet the Pharisees in the gospel ac-

counts, John the Baptist is asking

them, “Who told you to escape the

coming wrath?” Apparently, they

only desired to be baptized due to their fear. How-

ever, we read in 1 John 4:18, “…perfect love drives

out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.”

Sometimes we forget this truth, and approach our

service to God with an attitude of avoiding punish-

ment. Yet, our Father truly wants us to be inspiredby a zealous love for Him and for others. Fear of-

ten motivates us, but God doesn‘t use it to prompt

His children.

You find comfort inyour resume – Repeated-

ly, the Pharisees cited their lineage to

justify themselves. Most of us don’t

have a noble pedigree, but it’s still

easy to forget that our spiritual track

record, family, church or denomination, doesn’t

provide a trace of entitlement to the kingdom of

God. Only our direct relationship with the Father

qualifies us to share in the inheritance of His king-dom (Col 1:12). We are qualified by our faith in the

work of Christ alone. God isn’t impressed with our

efforts, any more than He was with those of the

Pharisees.

Your image is ev-erything – Jesus called the

Pharisees whitewashed tombs in

Matthew 23:27. By this He meant

that they look clean on the outside,

but inside are rotting, dead carcass-

es. Women strive to keep the appearance of be-

ing collected and confident, with everything under

control. However, God is much more concerned

with what’s going on inside. He continually expos-

es our motives and compels us to walk in humility,

not hypocrisy.

You justify your

disobedience – ThePharisees were famous for having

detailed regulations to protect them

from breaking any one of God’scommands, but Jesus exposed their

true intent. They made specific laws which were

easy to keep, so that they did not have to live by

the higher imperatives which were directed at the

heart. We might not murder our brother, or even

curse him out, but it’s much more difficult to show

him love and compassion. How well we perform

the bare minimum!



You say, “Yes, Sir, Iwill,” but don’t – In the

parable of two sons (Matt. 21:28),

the first son said he would not do

what was asked of him, but later

did it. The second said he would do

it, but never did. The Pharisees were like the sec-

ond son. They had a long history of talking about

what God expected of them, but rarely did theyactually do any of it. In our status quo world, many

times we do the same. We tend to be ready to talk,

rather than act.

You scoff at oth-er’s deeds – The Phari-

sees constantly judged Jesus for

His association with undesirables,

for breaking the rules or for simply

being unconventional. Yet, no one

could deny the effect He had on so many. People

felt loved. We often find error in the way another

group is showing love to others, because it doesn’t

square with our theology, methodology or maybe

we just want a reason not to do what they are do-

ing. We do well to reserve our judgment and sup-

port ministries which share the love of Jesus in

unconventional ways.

You find comfortin rules – The Pharisees had

rules about rules in order to keep

them from breaking other rules.Why was this? Probably because

following rules takes little faith.

Perhaps, we like to have our boundaries just a

little too clear, as well. It’s attainable to do a speci-

fied amount for God and we can feel justified in

this effort. Doing everything He asks us to do,

while staying closely connected with him no mat-

ter what happens, now that’s much more difficult.

Only the kind of faith which comes from God can

accomplish these things.

You feel you aredoing alright – It’s easy

enough to use to read the parable

of the Pharisee and the tax collec-

tor, (Luke 18:9-14) and scoff at the

Pharisee who thinks he is better

than the tax collector. But how different are we, re-

ally? Do we make it through a day without feeling

the need to be justified? We have a natural pro-

pensity to compare ourselves to others, so that we

feel better about ourselves – as if we could sat-

isfy the minimum criteria. But in fact, we cannot

do enough, or avoid enough, to be justified. Even

if we were “better” than everyone on the planet,

we would still miss the mark. Like the tax collec-

tor, when we truly believe this, we can be declared

righteous by faith in the redeeming power of Je-

sus’ finished work.

And the number one indication you might have

been a Pharisee…

You fail to realizethe severity of yoursin – A woman once washed the

feet of Jesus with tears of helpless-

ness and remorse over her sin (Luke

7: 36-50). It’s a rare moment that

we grieve over our sin in the appropriate manner

as did this woman, and yet an important Pharisee

looked on in disgust at her self- degradation. Ad-

mit it; we like to think we’re somebody important.Recall, however, that “God resists the proud, but

gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).

Did you see yourself in any of the above? We may

fit in more easily with that group of proud teachers

than we would like to think. (I believe he wanted

me to remind you.)

Rob Beames is the con-tributing editor of Genu-

ine Motivation: Young Christian Man , a publica-tion of On My Own Now

Ministries.

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http://genmoycm.wordpress.com/












THE RECAP

Tenstupid

thingsChristians

do tomess up

their lives

by

ErikGuzman



I’ve done some stupid things in my short life on this planet.

At the risk of incriminating myself, I’ll give you some ex-

amples.

Back in high school, on more than one occasion, I would

grab a friend, get a couple bottles of Boone’s Farm and go

driving around drinking. That’s bad enough, but just for

the thrill of it, we would drive down winding roads on the

edge of a river in the middle of the night… with our lights

off. Another time, I took acid with some friends and went jet skiing. I’ll spare you the psycho-delic details, but it’s

enough to say, we all could have died. Then, there was the

car surfing, and the time I hooked up with my crazy coked-

out roommate. Anyway, there are plenty more examples,

but you get the idea. The point is that I’ve done some stu-

pid stuff – I hope my parents don’t read this.

Now, the things I just mentioned all happened over 17

years ago before I became a Christian. That means that

the statute of limitations has run out and these events are

now part of my “testimony.” Now, I can safely share them

knowing that God gets the glory for saving a dirt bag likeme.

Even so, there are plenty of stupid things I’ve done as a

Christian too. Trust me, if God rewarded us for our good

behavior and punished us for the bad stuff, I would not

have a successful ministry, a house, a wife and three kids.

I’d be dead. I’m a firm believer in God’s grace, simply out

of practical experience.

My mentor, Steve Brown, has a list of 10 stupid things

Christians do to mess up their lives. He also has a CD

album by that name and he wrote a book titled, A Scan-dalous Freedom, which is based on those same 10 stupid

things. Here’s the list:

1. We think o God as either a childabuser, away on vacation, or SantaClaus instead o looking to Jesus tofnd out what God is really like.

2. We are obsessed with gettingbetter instead o with God’s orgive-

ness.3.We orget the gospel and sacrifcethe joy that sets us ree.

4.We wear masks instead o beingauthentic.

5. We put our leaders on pedestalsand thereby demean ourselves.

6. We demonize our enemies in-stead o acknowledging their hu-manity.

7.We live in ear.

8.We avoid the reality o pain.

9. We defne ourselves by our ail-ures instead o God’s love.

10. We surrender the reedom or

which Jesus has set us ree.

Trust me, i God rewarded us or our good

behavior and punished us or the bad stu, I would not have a successul ministry, a house, a wie and three kids. I’d be dead. I’m a frm believer in God’s grace, simply out o practical experience.

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For many Christians, that’s probably not the mental list we

would have made for ourselves. We might have come up

with a list more like this one:

1.Watching “The Bachelor.”

2.Skipping church too many times.

3.Not tithing.

4.Not reading your Bible regularly.

5. Not selling everything and giv-ing it to the poor.

6.Being a Democrat – i you’re GlennBeck.

7.Being a Republican – i you’re JimWallace.

8. Cussing, drinking, smoking,dancing, going to movies, etc.

9.Not praying enough.

10.Shopping.

Am I right or am I right? The reason we thought up items

on the second list is probably because of the second item

on the first list – and perhaps a few others.

Here’s the point of Steve’s teaching on the CD album and

in his book: Jesus has come to set us free and we mess up

our lives by preferring our prisons.

We should probably define “freedom” at this point. Ba-

sically, free means free. We’re free to live according to

God’s standards and we’re free to sin. It means that if we

don’t do what God says, He will still love us; and if we do

what God says, He won’t love us anymore. That’s because

our acceptability is based on faith in Jesus’s finished work,not on our goodness or lack thereof. If we dispute this, we

drive a stake in the heart of the gospel.

Paul explains, “For by grace you have been saved through

faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not

of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). He

also adds, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm

therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery”

(Galatians 5:1). There are some who say that the freedom

mentioned in that verse is freedom from sin. It certainly

means that, but if it doesn’t also include the freedom to

sin, then it’s not real freedom at all.

We may allow that we’re saved by grace, but think we

keep our salvation by busting our butts. But that’s not

what scripture such as the letter to the Galatians, tells us

It’s difficult to read specific passages like Galatians 3:1-3

and not get this.

Does all of that bother us? It should. God’s ways are notour ways. Does it make us want to go out and sin? If we’re

Christians, it should not. Why? It’s because of the key to

the message of freedom, which both Brown and I teach

The only people who get any better are those who know

that if they don’t get any better, God will still love them

anyway. Don’t like that answer? How’s trying really hard

working out for you? If obsessing on getting better worked

we’d all be Mother Theresa.

It’s the goodness of God that leads to repentance (Romans

2:4). We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19)

It’s God’s amazing unconditional love and the resultingfreedom that compels us (2 Corinthians 5:14).

If we don’t start with freedom, we will screw up our lives

We will never achieve the obedience we so badly desire

if we obsess on our goodness. Instead, we are called to

obsess on His goodness toward us in order to be trans-

formed into the image of the Beloved.

So now that I’m a Christian, I’m free to do all kinds of stu-

pid things and God won’t love me any less. I might mess up

my life or even kill myself, but I’m free. Does that make me

want to drop acid and take a spin on a jet ski? Nope. Myheart’s desire is to follow the One who loved me enough to

set me free to go wherever I want. I don’t expect a reward

or anything – just the joy of faithfulness and walking with

God.

He set you ree too! Nowwhat? I say embrace the

reedom and stop messingup your lie.

Erik Guzman is Executive Producer at Key Lie Network

He can be heard on the nationally syndicated talk show

Steve Brown Etc. and as announcer or Key Lie. He has

a wie, three children, a BA in Mass Communication and

an MBA. He’s also a drummer, 3rd degree black belt in Ai-

kido, and Master o Theology student at Reormed Theo-

logical Seminary.



spare change

4

ARE YOU paying

TO STOREgarbage?i

I had an epiphany recently about a major moneydrain in my life that I am currently taking steps toplug. This particular drain opened up a numberof years ago when I moved to New Mexico. I hadbeen living on my own but when I came back I com-bined with another household and therefore didn’tneed a lot of my things. I didn’t plan on staying verylong so I put my household goods and furniture ina storage unit. To make a long story short, weeksturned into months and months turned into yearsand I have continued to send in my monthly stor-age unit payment without thinking much about it.Finally I realized that if I would have gotten rid of allmy household goods in the first place, I could havebought brand new things for less than I have paid tomaintain my old things in storage.



Ah, twenty-twenty hindsight!

It may be too late for me, but hopefully I can help you learn

from my mistakes by providing a few tips on how to man-

age your “stuff” – whether you are in between permanent

residences or just need it out of the way for a while – with-

out breaking the bank.

First, you should ask yourself if a storage unit is necessaryand if the benefit outweighs the cost. If I had only stored

my goods for a short period of time, say six months or less,

the cost would have been less than buying new goods. So

unless you are positive you will be a short-term renter or

your goods are of extraordinarily high value, skip the rent-

al space and find an alternative option.

However, before you store anything, take a hard look at

what you’re about to stash away. The contents of my stor-

age unit are quite varied. You can get a good glimpse into

my childhood by browsing the boxes of Barbie and Cab-

bage Patch dolls and accessories, children’s books, school

awards and artwork. You can find equipment for all the

sports I tried in high school, college text books and dorm

room decorations. And then there are the boxes of dishes,

kitchen tools and furniture from when I lived alone.

Now the items from my childhood have some sentimen-

tal value, so I would like to find a place to store at least

some of those memories. However, books, decorations

and household goods could have gone long ago. Purging

the un-needed items is the key. It may be hard to let some

things go, so you may need a friend or two for support and

to help you think through things rationally.

Once you have separated the proverbial “sheep from

goats” you’ll need to decide on a course of action for each

group. We’ll start with the easy pile – the stuff you want

out of your life.

There are plenty of options for getting rid of stuff and the

first one I would suggest is the good old garbage can. Toss

anything that is broken, disgusting, unusable or valueless.

Once you have trashed anything unworthy, try turning the

rest into cash. If you have a lot of stuff that will appeal to

the masses a yard sale might be the way to go. If you havea few valuable or rare items, you might want to give eBay

a try to find collectors and people willing to pay higher

prices. Craigslist is also a great way to get rid of big ticket

items or collections. Be sure to research all these options

beforehand to determine which would be the easiest and

safest option and result in the highest yield. With enough

hard work and a little bit of luck, you may be able to re-

coup some of the money you paid for the items and spent

storing them. Personally, I decided to give things away

to friends and to charitable organizations that can pass

along to the needy. I may not make any sort of “profit” this

way, but I can claim donations on my taxes and it saved

me a lot of time. Be sure to get receipts and carefully track

any donations if you plan to use the tax deduction.

Now here’s the real conundrum: what to do with the stuff

you still want to hang on to but just don’t have the room

for at the present time. I have decided to make room

for my boxes in the house or garage. Unfortunately, this

means more cleaning and clearing out. If you are storing

things short term you may have an easier time finding a

place to stash your stuff. One summer during college, my

aunt let me store a few boxes in the corner of her guest

room, so maybe you are also lucky enough to have a rela-

tive or friend with some extra space. If not, consolidate

into as few boxes as possible and run everything through

the “do I need to keep this” filter again. If you must utilize

a rental storage space, opt for the smallest possible unit

or consider going in with a friend or two to cut down yourindividual cost.

Of course the number one thing to keep in mind in dealing

with your worldly stuff is this:

“Don’t store up treasures here on earth,

where moths eat them and rust de-

stroys them, and where thieves break

in and steal. Store your treasures inheaven, where moths and rust cannot

destroy, and thieves do not break in and

steal. Wherever your treasure is, there

the desires of your heart will also be.”

(Matthew 6:19-21)

Whereas you don’t want to toss or donate things you wil

soon have to purchase again because they really are need-

ed and used items, purging your life of excess stuff can be

both a practical and spiritual catharsis.

gby Julie Ann



Fashion DIVinA

6

WHAT’SWRONG

WITH THETHONG?BY

GWEN SCHUMAKERAND

DONNA LEE SCHILLINGER

“Make linen undergarmentsas a covering for the body,reaching from the waist to

the thigh.”Ex. 28:42 NIV



Fashion DIVinA on assignment here in Brazil! Todo bem!

Fashion in Brazil is drastically different than in the United

States. Notably, it includes a lot of black spandex! I can ac-

tually abide that, but one renowned Brazilian fashion that

gives me considerable pause is… the thong.

Far from the passing fad I hoped it might be, the thong has

invaded the rest of the world and it appears to be here to

stay. I really wonder about this, mainly because I think

thongs are gross and I imagine they wouldn’t be very com-

fortable. My gut reaction when contemplating the thong is

“Ew, gross! Ouch!” and “Who would want to wear that?” Ialso tend to squirm in my seat just thinking about wearing

a thong.

I have heard some people try to defend the thong by say-

ing it solves the problem of embarrassing panty lines. To

that, I might respond, so does wearing loose fitting cloth-

ing. And a host of other undies are specifically designed to

minimize the panty line.

Some say they are comfortable. Yea! For someone who

enjoys a wedgy, also known as a snuggie, grundie, gotch

pull, or Mervin, according to Wikipedia. Do any of thoseconditions sound appealing to you?

Let’s say for argument’s sake though that there are some

girls out there who genuinely feel better with a “snuggie,”

– maybe it makes them feel more secure or something – if

that’s not what’s wrong with the thong, then what is?

Well, if you think for a second that the Being that created

every cell in your body and has every hair on your head

numbered might not care about what you’re wearing on

your backside, you would be quite mistaken. Proving the

point, is one of a couple of scriptures where God describes

His choice, His mandate really, of underwear – in this case

for the priests in Old Testament times. Yep, God’s a boxer

man! No whitey-tighties for our Lord. He likes the extend-

ed variety too – from waist to thigh.

Though these instructions were for priests, it’s not far-

fetched to generalize that our Heavenly Father prefers a

modest choice of underwear for all His children – after all,

we’re are priests under the New Covenant.

Maybe you say, “No one is going to see me in my thong.”

Well, let’s hope not, but you know, your Heavenly Father

is looking. God made our wonderful bodies and it’s not

shameful to even be naked in front of Him, so we don’t

need to worry about whether He sees our butt cheeks

But you know what? When God sees us in a thong, I don’t

think He’s checking out our butt. I think what He’s looking

at, and frowning on, is our heart.

Why did we have to choose this underwear? What were

our real motives for purchasing a purple paisley thong?

Was the choice made strictly in deference to our prefer-ence for that snuggie feeling? Or was there even the most

subtle of desires to look sexy and feel sexy – even if no one

else knows it. If that motive was even the smallest part of

our choice that would be what’s wrong with the thong. For

that matter, it doesn’t have to be a thong that makes us

feel sexy. I know it’s hard to find plain Jane underwear on

the market today, and I’m not suggesting that white cotton

granny pants is the only choice God approves of. My point

is that our underwear choices, as our clothing choices in

general, should be made with a pure heart, not with an eye

to what will make us look or feel hot.

When I put deodorant on in the morning, I’m putting on

more than just a product, I’m putting on an assurance that

gives me confidence all day long that I don’t stink! When

put on an awesome new shirt in the color that really com-

pliments my eyes, I’m not just covering up my top half, I’m

adding a measure of self-confidence to my day; I look and

feel good. How about when I put on a thong, what I am

putting on besides a small triangular panel of flimsy ma-

terial held together at the points by a ribbon? Am I put-

ting on a sexy feeling that will give me an air of sensuality

all day long or worse, on that important date? If so, that’s

what’s wrong with the thong.

Why did we have to choosethis underwear? What were

our real motives for purchasinga purple paisley thong?



J U S T

W H A Tyou

N E E D

ACCURATEDIRECTIONS

by Jeffrey Bridgman

Is there anyone who can honestly say he’s never been lost?Even the best of us get turned around once in a while. But

now with GPS, MapQuest and the like, getting lost should

be a thing of the past, right? Maybe not; sometimes the

tools we rely on lead us astray.

Once on a road trip with some friends, we wanted to eat

lunch in a town I’d driven through several times before.

I remembered seeing a Quizno’s, but couldn’t remember

exactly where it was. No problem. My friends had GPS!

So we pulled it out, told it we wanted to go to Quizno’s,

and started following its directions. Ten minutes later it

gently announced: “You have reached your destination.”We looked around and we saw nothing but factories, so

we kept on driving. It seemed irritated with our lack of

direction-following-skills as it politely announced “Recal-

culating...”

On another adventure, a GPS took us on the shortest

route to see the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. We figured

the arch was downtown, so we just told it to take us to

St. Louis. After a while we realized something was wrong,

but we continued to follow the directions. Eventually we

“arrived at our destination.” Apparently, we had arrived

at the geographical center of St. Louis, which happenedto be in the slums. A more reliable way to find the Arch

would have been to look and head in the general direction

of the towering landmark.

And GPS isn’t the only fallible technology. Have you

ever gotten bum directions from MapQuest or Google?

A friend of mine used MapQuest to find the airport in

Northwest Arkansas and was directed down two miles of

dirt road and across a one-lane bridge. Experiences like

these can tempt us to give up on modern amenities and

go back to a reliable hard copy map.

Although online directions and GPS’s can be very handy,

they do have their limitations. Sometimes, information

can be wrong or out of date. Or we can easily input the

wrong destination. Although GPS’s come with beneficial

information such as the locations of businesses, these

can change fairly quickly. The routes they recommend

might not hold up to common sense. And the devices of-

ten don’t take into account things like traffic conditions

and road construction projects. The same is true for pa-

per maps, but since they don’t have as much information,

they aren’t out of date as quickly—when’s the last time

you heard of an interstate getting shut down for good?

Avoid being late or lost by combining two navigation me-

diums and don’t forget to apply common sense. I try to de-

termine which highways to take ahead of time and make a

simple list of the interchanges. MapQuest and other step-

by-step directions can be overly complex. Usually we only

need to take a handful of highways that can easily be re-

membered or written down.

I always try to keep paper maps on hand as a back-up. Do

you have a map in your car of your city or county? Often

phone books have them in the center. This year when you

get your new phone book, instead of throwing away the

old one, put it under the driver’s seat of your car. If you’re

travelling between states, stretch your legs at the first

welcome center/rest stop when you enter a new state.

Many states provide free maps at their welcome centers.

But that won’t do you much good if you need directions

to a specific place within a city. This is where the various

online map services earn their money. Those turn-by-turn

directions to our final destination can sure come in handy

– when they’re correct. Back up these directions with a

phone number for your destination, so if you get lost, you

can call and have someone at your destination talk you in

the rest of the way. Visiting the boonies where you might

not get cell phone service? Then be sure to confirm the

online directions with someone at your final destination

before you leave home.

Mapping technologies are cool and convenient, but don’trely on them as your only recourse or you may find your-

self in a 2001 Space Odyssey moment, Hal. As always, a

little preparation and common sense can go a long way in

helping to make smart navigation choices while on a trip.

single! young christian woman nov 10

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