It's been quite some time since I have posted an update here. Lately, I've been on an emotional roller-coaster of sorts, navigating through grief and anger as well as the process of rethinking some of my theological beliefs and worldview.
No, I'm not having a midlife crisis or deconstructing my faith. I'm just finding that in this season of life, I need to reevaluate and discard some long-held “cultural” beliefs—all the stuff that has nothing to do with Jesus or the Gospel, and frankly, I don't want to burden myself or my family with any longer.
“Cough cough... political conservatism disguised as biblical faithfulness.”
“Cough cough... cruelty and hate dressed up as defending the faith.”
Unfortunately, that is the state of the hyper-politicized church (and society) in North America today.
But that dumpster fire needs to be addressed another day...
Before all of this family tragedy and turmoil, I had set out to revamp and refocus my blog and social media. It definitely took longer than expected, but now that it is finished, I'm pretty happy with it.
It's a place where I feel I can process and write regularly again—a much-needed therapeutic outlet.
As it is being estimated that one-quarter of humanity is currently being affected by armed conflict, my prayer for this holiday season echoes the final verse of the Christmas hymn O Holy Night.
“Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His Gospel is Peace
Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother
Another year has passed, and so I thought I'd take some time (with Jen's help) to give a brief update on what is happening in the Winter family.
Our family trip to Australia in March was the year's biggest highlight. We enjoyed spending lots of time with my family and several fun outings. We finally visited Jenolan Caves after several failed attempts on previous trips – though I think the wild kangaroos we saw on the drive may have elicited a stronger reaction from the girls than the incredible caves and formations did.
We also had our usual visit to the beach, where the girls learned that sledding does exist in Australia. This was demonstrated to us by our sweet nephew Willy, who rode a boogie board while being pulled by one of his favourite cousins along the sandy beach. Unfortunately, our day trip to Katoomba was very foggy, but the girls were happy to fill in as the area's infamous “three sisters.”
Besides that, we spent ample time with family and friends and celebrated my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. Oh, I also got to take in some rugby league and soccer games. Yay, Sports!
