Crystal

Simul justus et peccator. Believer. Patriot 🇺🇸

[Allie Beth Stuckey @conservmillen]

One year without Charlie. It still doesn’t feel real. What a life, what a testimony. We miss you.

[Grace to You @gracetoyou]

"It's my joy, Charlie, and I'm glad to be in good company."

[The White House @WhiteHouse]

One year ago, we tragically lost a fearless patriot. A champion for freedom and for our country.

Charlie Kirk changed the course of American history. His courage, conviction, and love of country will never be forgotten. ❤️

"Well done, good and faithful servant"

[Allie Beth Stuckey @conservmillen]

Hard to believe tomorrow will be one year. His voice will continue to be deeply missed.

See you again one day.

[M.A. Franklin @FoundationDads]

A child who memorizes a psalm at age 7 might not understand it.

But at seventeen, in the middle of the night, when the world is pressing in and he doesn't know what to do, the words might surface at the precise moment he needs them. They will be there because you put them there.

This is the work of a parent. You are planting things for your children that might not bloom for a decade (or more). Scripture, poetry, the great speeches of greater men.

[Crystal @Medic_BSN]

“Christians sit across from people they love, talk about weather, politics, ball games, grandchildren, and supper, then swallow the name of Jesus because the moment feels uncomfortable…. Speak before the room is clear.”

[Pastor Rich Bitterman @w_bitterman]

One day, a man discusses the future of countries. The next, the country discusses him in the past tense. He was gone between two sunsets.

A dead man’s calendar can still look busy. Meetings remain written in their squares. Unanswered messages wait inside a glowing screen, each one addressed to someone who can no longer reply. Death does not clear the desk before it enters the room. It simply comes.

Lindsey Graham’s sudden death still places a cold hand upon every living shoulder. It reminds us that tomorrow has never signed a promise to return. We build our lives upon the quiet assumption that another day waits nearby. Forgiveness is saved for later and hard conversations remain buried beneath the hope of a better hour. Christians sit across from people they love, talk about weather, politics, ball games, grandchildren, and supper, then swallow the name of Jesus because the moment feels uncomfortable.

Meanwhile, the clock keeps moving toward an appointment written on a calendar we cannot see, “It is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).

That word, appointed, removes death from the realm of chance. God knows the hour when each heart will beat for the last time. We often reschedule dentists, cancel lunches and move meetings into next week. This appointment remains fixed. Our ignorance of the date never changes its certainty and scripture refuses to paint death with soft colors. Death entered the world through sin. God formed Adam from the dust, breathed life into him and placed him beneath the goodness of His rule. Adam rebelled, and then humanity followed. Every grave now carries us back to Eden, where the creature reached for God’s throne and found dust waiting beneath his feet.

Death feels unnatural because it is an intruder. It tears souls from bodies, husbands from wives, parents from children and voices from rooms that still remember their sound. Beneath every funeral lies a greater terror. After death comes judgment.

Power cannot bribe that court. Reputation cannot sway its verdict. Religion cannot hide the stains we carried beneath our Sunday clothes. Every secret enters the light, where excuses fall silent. The holy God before whom angels cover their faces will judge us with perfect righteousness.

Our need reaches far deeper than a longer life. We need a Savior. Jesus entered our world of hospital rooms, funeral clothes and sealed tombs. Outside the grave of Lazarus, He heard the broken voices of two grieving sisters. He saw tears running down familiar faces. Then the One who knew He would soon raise the dead stood beside them and wept. Those tears reveal the heart of Christ. He never treats human sorrow as a lesson to be delivered from a safe distance. Christ steps close enough to feel the ache. Yet compassion alone could not rescue us. Guilt required payment. Death required a conqueror.

So Jesus turned His face toward Jerusalem. Soldiers drove iron through the hands that had touched lepers and lifted children. The mouth that spoke peace to storms tasted sour wine. Darkness covered the land while the sinless Son of God stood in the place of sinners. The lies we defended, the pride we fed, the lust we concealed and the worship we withheld were laid upon Him. All of it was ours. The sentence fell upon Christ.

At Calvary, God did more than show us love. He satisfied His justice. Jesus bore the wrath our rebellion deserved and offered His righteous life for guilty people who possessed none of their own. His blood purchased forgiveness. Through His death, the way home opened.

A criminal hung beside Him with minutes left to live. The thief could repair nothing. His hands were fastened open. That stained record could never be rewritten. He could climb down from the cross neither to repay his victims nor to prove that his repentance was sincere. All he carried into those final breaths was guilt.

He turned his dying face toward Jesus and asked to be remembered. Christ gave him far more, “Today you shall be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).

Grace reached a man at the edge of eternity. Paradise opened to empty hands because the Savior beside him was paying the cost. The thief brought his sin. Jesus supplied everything else. Then Christ died. His body was wrapped in linen and carried into a borrowed grave. A stone closed the entrance. Saturday passed beneath a terrible silence. His disciples hid behind locked doors while grieving women prepared spices for a corpse. Early Sunday morning, they walked toward the tomb expecting death to remain where they had left it. The stone had moved.

Mary later heard her name spoken by the voice she thought had been silenced forever. Hands pierced by nails were warm with life. From the mouth that cried, “It is finished,” came words of peace for frightened disciples. Jesus rose bodily from the grave. He did not survive as an idea, a memory, or a cause. The crucified Christ stood alive.

History’s great shock came from an empty tomb. Death entered certain of another victory and came out carrying its own defeat. Christ lives and everyone joined to Him through faith will live with Him. This is the gospel. You have sinned against the God who made you. Judgment waits beyond your final breath. Jesus lived the righteous life you have failed to live, carried the guilt you could never remove, died beneath the sentence you deserved and rose in triumph from the grave.

Turn from sin and lay down the right to rule your own life. Rest the full weight of your soul upon Christ, His blood, His righteousness, and His resurrection. He receives ruined people. A filthy past cannot exhaust His mercy. An accusing conscience cannot overpower His promise. The Savior who welcomed a dying thief still welcomes sinners who come with empty hands.

Perhaps years remain before your appointment. Your name may be spoken in the past tense before another sunset. Come today. Then think of the people whose names live in your phone. Picture the chair they occupy at your table. Hear the voice you would give anything to hear again if death entered tonight.

Love them enough to speak. Speak of the cross. Point them to the empty grave. Tell them Christ saves.

Someone you love is a wisp of smoke passing through a keyhole.

Speak before the room is empty.

[Crystal @Medic_BSN]

“Healthy membership…transforms (Believers) from passive consumers into active defenders of the faith.” Amen.

[Wes Huff @WesleyLHuff]

If you love Jesus you should love what Jesus loves, and that ultimately means you should be an official, active, and serving member of your local church (Eph. 5:25).

Church membership should be normal for Christians. Lives lived in regular accountability demonstrate the gospel’s reality to the world, particularly through the mutual love that Jesus identified as the mark of his followers. This is both biblical and strengthens evangelistic witness. Weaker and newer Christians gain feeding and accountability through membership, and mature and seasoned believers demonstrate authentic Christian living.

Hebrews calls believers to “consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works,” explicitly warning against forsaking assembly “as the manner of some is” (Heb. 10:24–25). This suggests participation isn’t optional but essential to spiritual health.

Church membership preserves biblical truth by establishing who bears responsibility for rooting out false teaching and protecting the gospel when leadership itself becomes compromised. Paul’s letter to the Galatians exemplifies this. I say this as a positional elder in my church — Paul appealed to the whole congregation rather than leadership alone to address doctrinal corruption. Think about it: how are you to “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal 6:2), which positions mutual care as a central Christian obligation, if you’re not actively in a membership role? Thessalonians similarly exhorts believers to “encourage one another and build one another up” (1 Thess 5:11), framing encouragement as a reciprocal responsibility that requires presence and investment.

Healthy membership equips believers to recognize heresy when taught or communicated and transforms them from passive consumers into active defenders of the faith.

Acts depicts the early church persevering in apostolic teaching, communion, and gathering daily, with believers holding possessions in common (Acts 2:42–47), a portrait of intensive communal engagement rather than individual isolated devotion or nominal affiliation.

Ultimately, practicing membership glorifies God as Christians gather to form his body, living under the life giving words of scripture, fellowshipping with one another sacrificially, and reflecting his character.

[Natalie F Danelishen @Chesschick01]

I always think of this quote on memorial weekend.

[Crystal @Medic_BSN]

@TonyAJaw @TeeplesCY You’ve gone to the wrong churches. Look for a Reformed church - Elder led, no women pastors, Bible teaching…

[Clint Teeples @TeeplesCY]

"If I told you there was one free thing you could do every Sunday that would make your kids happier, healthier, smarter, and closer to you, you'd think I was selling something."

Take your kids to church regularly. I don't care if you believe. The data is so lopsided that skipping it is the parenting equivalent of refusing vegetables because you don't like the taste.

Grades. Religious teens get As at almost twice the rate of nonreligious teens. In a class of 100, that's 24 A-students instead of 14. Church gives a kid the same academic boost as being born rich instead of poor.

College. Working-class religious kids earn bachelor's degrees at double the rate of their nonreligious peers. Middle-class kids do it at 1.5x the rate. For families without a trust fund, this is one of the most powerful forms of upward mobility social scientists have measured.

Character. Religious teens are far less likely to lie, cheat, or do things they hope their parents never find out about. They're more likely to care about racial equality, the elderly, and the poor. They reject the idea that morality is whatever works for you in the moment. That kind of kid doesn't happen by accident. It's built.

Closeness. 60% of parents of religious teens say they feel "extremely close" to their kid, compared to 50% of nonreligious parents. The kids report the same thing back. They get along better with their parents, talk about hard stuff, and actually want to spend time with their family.

Despair. Religious teens are dramatically less likely to be depressed, anxious, lonely, or feel that life is meaningless. 90% of devoted religious teens never binge drink, compared to 41% of the disengaged. Economists named the modern epidemic "deaths of despair." Regular church attendance is one of the strongest known buffers against it. Parents are spending fortunes trying to solve teen mental health. The most evidence-backed intervention is free.

Purpose. Religious young adults report higher purpose, gratitude, life satisfaction, and resilience. These are the exact traits every parent says they want their kid to have.

Here's why it works. Affluent families already surround their kids with networks of stable, accomplished adults through neighborhoods, schools, and parents' colleagues. Working and middle-class families usually don't. A congregation is often the last institution in American life that puts your kid in weekly contact with dozens of stable, employed, sober adults who know their name. It used to be called "a village." Now it barely exists outside of churches.

"But I don't believe." Your kid doesn't need your theology. They need you to show up.

"But church is boring." So is sitting through a kindergarten music recital. Parenting is the deliberate choice to be bored on purpose for someone you love.

There's a church within 15 minutes of nearly every American home. You don't need money, connections, or credentials to walk in. Nothing else in this country will surround your kid with engaged adults, teach them moral seriousness, and give them a stable weekly rhythm at zero cost.

You already drive them to practices that produce far less. The free thing on Sunday produces more, on more dimensions, than almost anything else you do as a parent.

You don't have to believe anything. You just have to take them.

[Robby Starbuck @robbystarbuck]

If we have to pay taxes, then the government should at least send us postcards about the specific fraud ring we’re sponsoring. Kind of like animal non-profits send updates on the animal you sponsor. Am I sponsoring a Somali daycare scam or a Persian hospice scam? I want to know!

[Nick shirley @nickshirleyy]

Happy Tax Day! May we all fund learing centers across the country with our hard earned tax dollars 🙏🏼

[Secretary Marco Rubio @SecRubio]

He is Risen.

[Nicolas Hulscher, MPH @NicHulscher]

🔥RFK JR: “A compliant child must take between 69 and 92 vaccines to stay in school in some states, and NOT ONE of them has been safety tested in a pre-licensing placebo-controlled trial."

"That is just MALPRACTICE."

"The people who are in charge of that are now gone.”

[Crystal @Medic_BSN]

@mattvanswol Love God most - let them see you in the Word & walking in obedience to Him, take your family to church consistently as a priority, love their mother well, homeschool them, serve in church.

[Crystal @Medic_BSN]

@conservmillen Well done, Allie! 🎯 Foot on the gas!

[Crystal @Medic_BSN]

@sourpatchlyds @Jillie_Alexis Home birth!

[Crystal @Medic_BSN]

@TomBuck @FoundersMin Love this exchange.

[Danny @Truth_matters20]

Voddie Baucham responds to atheist's objections to the Bible on The Ben Shapiro Show:

Ben: "Another argument that comes up frequently is the miracle argument. You guys believe in a bunch of documents that contain in them a bunch of physical impossibilities."

Voddie: "Number one: get off your moral high horse, because you believe in a big bang and have never seen one—so let's stop playing that game instantly."

[Crystal @Medic_BSN]

@ImKingGinger @virgilwalker @nickshirleyy Buy from @nickshirleyy , not knock offs. https://t.co/382TleoAvO

[Crystal @Medic_BSN]

@Bobby_Bailey23 @virgilwalker @nickshirleyy Only buy from @nickshirleyy

https://t.co/382TleoAvO