In Genesis 4, we read the story of Cain and Abel, the two firstborn sons of Adam and Eve. As Cain and Abel grew, they offered their own sacrifices before the Lord; Cain offering the harvest of the fields and Abel offering the firstborn of His flock. Scripture says the Lord had a high regard for Abel’s sacrifice, and none for Cain’s, which angered Cain.

This led to a confrontation between Cain and God, where God addresses Cain about his heart. “Why are you so angry? And why do you look annoyed?  If you do well [believing Me and doing what is acceptable and pleasing to Me], will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well [but ignore My instruction], sin crouches at your door; its desire is for you [to overpower you], but you must master it” (v 6b-7). This would lead the hostility in Cain’s heart to grow more unchecked to the point where he would kill Abel in cold blood, which brings further judgment from God onto Cain.

An older gentleman was featured on Humans of New York’s Facebook page this week. He shared his story of running for New York City Council ten years ago in Eastern Queens. He speaks about how even just ten years ago, in a post-9/11 city the people of his community were legally abused because they lacked political power at even the lowest levels. Most were not even voters.

This man’s community was, more specifically, South Asian Muslims.

Up until this point, we’ve gone through a lot of false gospels that run rampant in the charismatic or modern-day church, but we haven’t talked about the ways that traditional, old-school church can lead people astray from true, God-glorifying faith. Because the traditional church was so popular 50-60 years ago, chances are, you’ve been to at least one service and know what I’m talking about.

I’ve been a part of youth ministry for 10 years now. It’s pretty safe to say that I’ve seen most things, from giving a standing ovation at school plays to sitting and playing cards in a psych ward. It’s true that youth ministry requires a youth leader to put on many hats, so to speak: advisor, friend, leader, teacher, support system, cheerleader, etc. But I think one of the most important parts of youth ministry is helping a younger person through the early stages of figuring out how to make their faith their own. For a lot of youth that I’ve worked with, they’re at the point in their life where their idea of Jesus is mostly made up of what their parents and relatives say He is. Until this point, they haven’t really thought deeply about what the Bible says, just what other people have taught them it says. So as a youth leader, you have the really cool opportunity to course correct some misunderstandings they have about what the Bible says about certain things.

For church this week, Sam and I decided to go to an in-person service. During the sermon, the pastor started talking about Paul. Specifically, how Paul and some of the people that traveled with him went through some pretty severe persecution for being preachers and teachers for Christ. And while I can agree with what he was trying to say, which was that Paul and his friends counted their suffering as joy for the cause of Christ and that suffering was the worldly price for Godly obedience; I didn’t agree with his delivery of the point.

“It’s not a holiday. It’s a day of chocolate bunnies and eggs.” Those were the real-life words that came out of a coworkers mouth in my office this week. It was one of those things that pulled my mind straight out of what it was doing and into the world happening around me.

I am very blessed to have grown up with a present, God-given father. To call me a daddy’s girl is a little bit of an understatement. When I was a child– and let’s be honest, even now– there was nothing my dad wouldn’t do to make me happy. Sometimes, that meant taking down the swing set during the winter to rebuild it inside, just so I’d never have to miss a beat of playtime.