The Cry of The Trumpet

The Knight I Know by Carolyn Frances Krysiak

I cannot support choices that lead a person toward harm, but I can support the person themselves—and I can support their right to be treated with fairness and dignity. That distinction matters. It keeps me anchored in compassion without pretending that destructive patterns are harmless. Over time I’ve learned something that echoes the wisdom found in recovery circles: I didn’t cause another person’s harmful choices, I can’t control them, and I can’t cure them. Moral agency is real. Each soul chooses its own path, and no amount of worry, persuasion, or proximity can override that sacred freedom. Recognizing this frees me from the illusion that someone else’s spiritual direction rests on my shoulders, while still allowing me to care deeply about their wellbeing. When sin—or any harmful behavior—is treated as normal, it unintentionally teaches others to do the same and makes the path appear less dangerous. And normalization always has a cost. It may not show up immediately, bu...

Integrity, Influence, and What a Conversation Revealed Recently, I stepped into a political conversation almost as an experiment. I wanted to see whether calm, respectful, good‑faith dialogue was still possible on difficult topics. At first, it genuinely seemed like it was. Two of us were able to talk through concerns, ask sincere questions, and even find a workable compromise. It felt like a small reminder that “a soft answer turneth away wrath” and that reasoned conversation can still build bridges. But then the dynamic changed. A third person entered the thread already escalated, and the tone shifted instantly. My neutral questions were suddenly interpreted as extreme positions I didn’t hold. Motives were assigned to me that I never expressed. The conversation stopped being about ideas and became about assumptions, accusations, and group loyalty. What struck me most was how quickly the original conversation partner shifted once the audience changed. Positions we had calmly explored ...

Job 27:5 "... till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me." Romans 12:19 "... Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." I'm coming to realize how these two verses are realized in my life...  today there is a lot of fear and concern about politics, to the point that good people are willing to compromise their values and engage in actions that they themselves feel are wrong.  They do this because they fear that the bad guys will win if they don't fight back to the point that they are willing to use the enemy's tactics and compromise their integrity.    I stand with Job because I am assured that all will be resolved in the end by the Lord as we are told in Romans.  I can maintain my integrity and not fight fire with fire, because I know that even if the bad guys seem to win, in the end they will fail.  Sometimes bad things happen to good people.  God allows it to be so because He honors our agency.  However, he counts ever...