The Question That Started It All

This blog has been a long time in the making. It's part of my action toward a burden God put on my heart. This burden has taken me years to understand and to determine how to respond. This will not be the full story, not yet, but it is the foundation of the story.

I was blessed to grow up in a Christian home. My personal testimony of my relationship with Jesus is nothing out of the ordinary, and also not something that I shared extensively until the most recent years.

Around a decade ago, a friend of mine asked me if I had some secret recipe for life since I always seemed to have a positive outlook even in the face of adversity. I knew she was searching for truth, and this was an open door for me to share the gospel with her.

I started by giving her my personal testimony. I told her how the Lord had worked in my life, how I had seen the power of prayer in action, and how I preferred to focus on where we are going after this life on earth rather than the day-to-day stress we all experience. She said, “Well, that’s lovely, but I need facts and evidence." And then she asked me a simple question. She said, "Why do you believe what you believe—how do you know it’s true?”

I told her two things.

First, I said, I just know. I can feel the power of God in my life, and I promised her that if she would open her heart, have faith and believe, that God would show her the way, too.

Second, I told her, my parents, my family—they introduced me to Jesus at a young age. They taught me that the Bible is true. I have faith in God and faith in the Bible like they taught me. They love me, and they wouldn’t lie to me.

She didn’t ask me any more questions that day, but I had a question for myself after listening to the answers I had just given my friend. How did my family know the Bible was true? I didn't have an answer that wouldn't go around the same circle of answers I'd just given.

My friend had asked me for facts and evidence, and I had given her emotional answers. There is nothing wrong with emotion—we all must have an emotional connection to the Lord. But I had just defended my faith with answers that anyone from any worldview could have answered:

I just know, and my family taught me.

I realized then that my emotional personal testimony didn’t mean anything to anyone but me. It certainly wasn’t going to help my friend. I had failed her, and I had squandered an opportunity the Lord had put in front of me.

This exchange did not cause me to question my faith, but it did cause me to question my ability to defend it. From there I felt compelled to research and to read, and I found my way into Christian Apologetics, the study of the formal defense of Christianity and the existence of God. I was determined to learn as much as I could to help gather the facts and evidence my friend needed to help her understand truth.

In my research, one book quoted a staggering statistic. It said that 75% of the youth who grow up in the church abandon their faith when they go on to higher education in the face of the antagonism from atheistic professors and classmates. I don't even have kids, but this stopped me in my tracks. It bothered me to the point that I could not in good conscience sleep well at night knowing this was such a prolific problem and I had not at least tried to do something about it.

God was making something abundantly clear to me. This was not just about my friend. This was bigger than that, and I needed to obey what God was telling me.

The first thing He was telling me was not to use my research as an excuse for inaction. I had been researching for years in the name of helping my friend, but I had not done anything with what I had learned.

In 2024 I took that first step, teaching a seven-week introductory apologetics course to help our teens and tweens learn about the reliability of the Bible, evidence of the Global Flood, the myth of evolution, the resurrection of Jesus, and the highlights of other worldviews. With God's Word as our foundation, we explored the facts and the evidence from Scripture first, and then from additional sources such as archeology, scientific proofs, and other historical documentation.

I named this course and everything surrounding it “Be Ready Always." This comes from 1 Peter 3:15 which says “but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man who asketh you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.”

My friend asked me about the hope that was in me when she asked about my secret recipe for life. I wasn't ready to properly explain it then, but thanks to her question, God has led me in ways I never imagined, including to this blog.

My intent with this forum and with other social media platforms is to periodically share my knowledge and experiences as I continue to research and teach courses. I welcome any who wish to follow and learn. I am also happy to talk with anyone who may wish to hold a course with your teens or with your women's ministry.

I still don't fully know what God has in mind, but the truth is, I don't need to know. I just need to trust and obey, and He will use it for His glory.