Bless'D Newsletter 12 - A Change of Plans

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Have you ever planned a trip to the minutest detail? And then shared the itinerary? With the people you are going to stay with? People who wished you would just camp out there with them the entire time?

And have you ever had to change that plan? And break their hearts? And make them sad?

Paul had planned such a trip and not a mere vacation. And it wasn't just family or friends he was scheduled to see. It was an entire church of people: the Church in Corinth.

"I intended to come to you first so that you would get a second opportunity to see us, and through your help to go on into Macedonia and then from Macedonia to come back to you and be helped on our way into Judea by you" (2 Corinthians 1:15-16).

But something went wrong:

"I made up my own mind not to pay you another painful visit" (2 Corinthians 2:1).

Except in this case, it wasn't a something, but a someone:

"If anyone has caused sadness, he has not saddened me alone, but to some extent (not to exaggerate) he has saddened all of you as well" (2 Corinthians 2:5).

Paul had planned to make two stops in Corinth on his missionary trip. Instead, he sent Titus ahead of him with a letter (see 7:7-12), a letter which saddened them.

It is unknown who the person was that caused Paul to miss his stop. Paul knew, though, that if he did stop he would have to confront this person and that would put a damper on what was supposed to be a joyful reunion.

So plans changed.

Paul, in this passage, is defending the change of plans. He lays out the planned itinerary and his thought process behind it and goes on to explain why the plans had to change.

But right in the middle between the plans and the change of plans, Paul plants today's verses:

"But it is God who establishes us together with you in Christ and who anointed us, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a down payment" (2 Corinthians 2:21-22).

Some scholars see this as an aside, a rabbit trail, a squirrel (from a dog's point of view). I see it as integral to Paul's reasoning.

Paul has just finished explaining that according to human reasoning, he has told them in no uncertain terms that he would be visiting. And now, according to human reasoning, he has told them in no uncertain terms that he would not be seeing them.

But God, Paul says will work things out to be a "Yes" (v.20).

Now, Paul had no certainty he would ever see the Corinthians again ... from a human perspective or "according to the flesh" as the Greek renders it.

But in the spirit, Paul has the hope of seeing them again at that great reunion of souls that have placed their trust in Christ. He knows he will see them in Heaven.

Paul is saying his plans have been ruined and even if the Corinthians don't get to see him again in this life, they will meet again. That is a promise of God.

Paul plants these verses right before he brings up the offense and the offender. I think he's doing this to get the Corinthians to go easy on the offender as he states in chapter 2 verses 6-8. It's not the end of the world that Paul doesn't get to visit this time, and the Corinthians shouldn't take out their anger on the offender.

As believers, we have this same hope today. I have aging parents that live on the opposite side of the continent. Every time I visit, I wonder if that will be the last time I get to see them in this life. But, because they are believers, I know for certain I will see them again.

Lift your eyes to Heaven. Rejoice that you are not without this hope. And work to bring others into the faith, so they too can have the blessed hope of a future in glory surrounded by the family of faith.

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This week's devotional comes from our "EMPOWERED" word art posted on social media:

Store Updates

• The Father's Day and Graduate mugs have been removed from our store. The wall banners will go away on June 27th (in just a little under two weeks).
• Not technically a store update, but we are severing our relationship with RedBubble. More on that in the "Behind the Scenes @ Bless'D" section at the end of this email.

The Week in Social Media

You can find us on Facebook and Pinterest:

• ​https://facebook.com/BlessdNameArt​
• ​https://www.pinterest.com/blessdnameart/​

Here are our Pinterest posts from this past week (click on the post's title to view and re-pin):

>> June 2 2025 1:39 PM - Football: Sealed​

>> June 4 2025 4:41 PM - Clouds n Sky - Empowered​

>> June 6 2025 1:20 PM - Linville Wildflowers: Forgiven​

>> June 7 2025 1:48 PM - BlessD Personalized Name Art - 15×16 Canvas Tote Bag - Rhododendron​

>> June 9 2025 11:23 AM - Purple Daisies: Worships​

>> June 11 2025 12:47 PM - North Santiam: Yields Fruit​

>> June 14 2025 11:02 AM - BlessD Personalized Name Art - Adult T-Shirt - Ballet​

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That's it for this week's posts.

Behind the Scenes @ Bless'D

This week's Behind the Scenes might be a bit controversial. You see, once again, we find ourselves in the throes of Pride Month, a month -- a whole month, mind you -- dedicated not to those who have risen above the mediocre and made a stamp on national history and not to a moment that forged our national destiny. No, it is a month dedicated to a "protected class" of citizens protected because of bedroom proclivities that are no one's public business.

Presidents Washington and Lincoln? They no longer even get their own birthdays celebrated. They have to split the difference and share some random date in the middle without even their names on it.

So, I'm going to offend some of you by not camping there a good bit longer and calling it what it is. Yes, I know "proclivities" is a euphemism for much more descriptive words I could use. Yes, I know why people are trying to make their private business so public, but all that's for another discussion on another day.

Instead, I'm here today to discuss the art of the boycott.

You see, in our line of business, we often have to do business with vendors that don't always see the world the way we do. One in particular is making a big whopping to-do out of this month. And that's a problem for us.

Generally, I don't believe in boycotts. Or, rather, I should say I don't believe in boycotting companies as much as I believe in boycotting products.

This belief goes way back to when a clothing retailer, Dave and Barry's, used to be in business out on the east coast. I remember walking in to that store one day. I think I was looking for chinos. Anyway, I just remember staring at a wall of t-shirt designs quite a few of which were distasteful. And it struck me right then and there the power of the free market.

You see, I wasn't there to buy a t-shirt, and if I was, I wouldn't be buying a distasteful one. I would be buying one that appealed to my sensibilities and didn't go against my morality. And if enough customers did the same, Dave and Barry's would stop selling the ones that, well, weren't selling.

If I boycott the product (which is natural when it's a product I can't align with), that is one less sale of that product. And if I buy an alternate product from the same store, that is one more sale of a non-offending item. I get to mess with the balance of sales with my one simple purchase decision.

If instead I boycott the store, I would have no affect on the balance of sales. The store doesn't get to see that they sold less of one undesirable thing and one more of a desirable product instead. They just lose all those prospective sales and go out of business if enough are lost.

So the question comes down to motivation. Do I want to teach the store a lesson they can learn so they can become a better neighbor? Or do I want to teach the store a lesson by putting them out of business? Do I want to pursue remediation? Or do I want to pursue vengeance?

I don't believe Christians are called to vengeance. "'Vengeance is mine, I will repay,' says the Lord" (Romans 12:19b). So, when it is possible, I try to upset the balance of sales. I purchase what I like. I ignore what I don't.

But it is so much more nuanced than that. Do I go to a bar and order a soda because I want to remediate that bar into a soda shop? Probably not. So, there is a line somewhere in there that says this establishment, this business, this vendor has a main purpose and goal that I cannot align with and I must boycott because, yes, they probably do need to go out of business.

What if a portion of sales goes toward something I vehemently disagree with? The only answer I can give is what if your employer stopped buying your time with money (paying you for work) because you give to your church? If we all stopped paying each other for goods and services based on what people support freely with what has now become their own money, the economy would grind to a halt.

I think putting people in a position where they're not able to put a roof over their heads, feed their kids, and keep their employees positioned where they can do likewise is a greater evil than failing to boycott them for the 1% they give to a charitable cause you yourself cannot support. And I understand that is probably a controversial stance among my crowd. But I can't boycott everything, and I don't have the bandwidth to constantly research who's giving what to what entities.

So back to our conundrum with our vendor. Are they boldly and blatantly defying what we know to be God's morality? Yes. Does their main goal and purpose defy God's morality? Well, not really.

Another question I could ask but refrain from is "is this stance ideologically driven?" But the reason I always refrain from asking the question is I know what their main motivation is or should be as a business: profit.

As many a company has learned over the recent years (Bud Light and Target come to mind), people don't buy ideology. And if you're pushing an ideology, they may just boycott you. I personally have been boycotting Bud Light my entire life since I don't drink, but I was glad to see their customer base boycott them. There is no balance of sales to disrupt when the main product is being advertised in an immoral manner. But it's still boycotting the product. Their customers didn't stop buying beer. They just switched to a brand that wasn't offending their morality.

I did boycott Target over their in-store, in-your-face ideologically-driven displays of products I didn't want to have to explain to my children. They still haven't removed some of the products or adjusted their ideology, but they have backed down to the point where I could possibly see myself shopping there again.

Here with our vendor is a case where we ask ourselves, "Do we pull our presence in a sea of various products because the vendor has chosen to highlight a subset that we're vehemently opposed to?" Normally, I would lean toward no, but here's the problem:

• This vendor has been flooding our inboxes with Pride Month every single day.
• The "above-the-fold" portion of their webpage (the part you don't have to scroll down to see) is mostly consumed by a rather huge banner ad promoting the sale.
• Every page on their website including our product pages have a scrolling banner across the top saying, "25% Sitewide - Shop Pride Designs & Support LGBTQIA+ Independent Artists" or "AS TOLD BY ART: Support Independent Art & Artists This Pride." Yes, in bold and underlined just like that missing the words "off" and "month" respectively.

There is no way to avoid the messaging. It's like you went to Target and saw these giant ads hanging from the ceiling as you entered, posted above every display over every item, told about it by the cashier, found it printed on your receipt and on a special-edition circular now shoved in your mailbox every single day since you visited the store. Now that is worth boycotting.

We have to place ourselves in our own customers shoes. We were promoting this vendor, RedBubble, by making our three or so weekly devotional designs available on products there and telling you, our customer, that you could go to RedBubble to get those.

If you did, you would be handing your email address to this company, and you would be inundated with Pride Month at a sickening level. We do not want this to be your experience.

So, as of this week, we have stopped promoting RedBubble products in our social media posts and other communications.

We will continue to post our devotional art and link it up to the personalized version on our website as we have already been doing for a while now. We will just no longer be providing a link to the RedBubble version in the description.

We have stopped posting designs to RedBubble and have closed our account. We cannot continue on this platform if it is going to treat our customers in this manner.

We apologize if you intended to purchase any of our devotional designs. We have copies of them all if you would like them on any of the products from our website. Just shoot us an email at orders@blessdnameart.com with the one you're interested in, and we will help you from there.

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NOTE: Our response to this unfortunate turn of events has taken a lot of thought and is partially the reason we didn't send out a newsletter last week.

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That's it for this week's newsletter. See you next week!

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Hey there, Reader! Make one yours or give to a friend! Check out our personalized name art store at https://blessdnameart.com. Home decor, drinkware, tote bags, and t-shirts all personalized from our list of over 200 scriptures.