I've seen the headlines, I've heard the talk, I've gotten the memos at work. I am well aware of the Swine Flu or rather the not-so-Swine flu. I've managed to keep away from all of my regular media outlets, except for the headlines I see as I log into my e-mail account. I've decided not to go back. There is nothing lost by avoiding the news media outlets that take any marketable train-wreck of a story and drag it ten miles farther than it has legs to go. I'm through with that. It's over for me. During my media fast, I received an e-mail about something political that I was urged to act upon. There was a follow up e-mail that said something about the sender getting the feeling that I wasn't a regular reader and responder to critical updates on issues that should get my attention. I wasn't during the month of April and now I'm not, indefinitely.
*whew* That's a burden off my shoulders. I find that the president doesn't return my calls, anyway. Not this president...not any president... But the Lord, God returns my calls.
"Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." - Psalm 50:14-15
"In contrast, in The Dark Knight, civilization is corrupt because human hearts are corrupt. Even those who are trying to cleanse Chicago—ahem, I mean Gotham—of organized crime are capable of doing dastardly deeds in pursuit of what they think is the good. While WALL-E’s biggest villain is a largely de-humanized corporation (Wal-Mart stand-in Buy n Large), The Dark Knight asks us to wrestle with our internal villains, our own desires for power and glory and revenge. “So where’s the hope in that?” you may ask. It’s only once we recognize our own sinful urges that we can be changed—and we can change society—for the better, in true humility. If evil is externalized in some institution, then we will continue blind to how we commit murder, adultery, etc., in our hearts. We’ll think we can separate ourselves from evil simply by refusing to support a certain institution. (And I’m not just talking about liberals boycotting Wal-Mart here—the Religious Right has done the same thing, just with different institutions.) True hope for change is grounded in admitting our own corruption, the impossibility of keeping ourselves entirely clean, and calling on Jesus to save and heal us."
Not sure what I'll be doing at noon today...but I know what I won't be doing. I won't be blowing up anything, looting anything, threatening to move to France (although I did see a really cool show about castles in France that would be great fun to run around in for a couple of years) or otherwise crashing the party. I may do my own 'sackcloth and ashes' thing, especially after a very sobering sanctity of life Sunday service at church. This is a day of celebration for many and a sad day for many. It's not like the 'big game' coming up. I'm thrilled to see Kurt Warner take the Cardinals to the *****bowl, but if they lose to the Steelers, I'll be disappointed because my guy didn't win. Today I am not disappointed. I am grieving many things today. I know that God moves the heart of those in authority to do his will and those in authority are God's agents. Have we chosen our own bondage? Have we chosen our own judgment? Are we celebrating color and design and fashion, while substance and foundation are being destroyed?
I saw something interesting yesterday that set my mind to thinking about grieving, and what we do to ourselves when we can't look ahead, but are constantly looking behind and trying to soothe our hurting heart. I will be blogging about that, starting tomorrow.
(Verse)
We were so young
And only playing around
And I was ready for adventure
Not for settling down
So when Janey told me she was pregnant
And that she wanted to be my wife
I said wait a minute Janey
We're only seventeen
We're just starting out our young lives
Let's keep our heads together girl
Let's look at all of our options
But we both new what the choices where
There was abortion or adoption
And the doctor we say, he said it wasn't really life
Just a formless mass of cells
So Janey and I, we made our choice
And we promised that we'd never tell
But leaving the clinic, we heard some talk
And it shattered our little world
The doctor was telling the nurses
That the baby was a girl
(Chorus)
Would she have brown hair
Did she have blue eyes
I've tried to imagine what she would look like so many times
Would she be a tall girl
The questions on my mind
Did she have blue eyes like Janey's
And brown hair like mine
(Verse)
I say Janey just the other day
In a prolife movement line
We were in front of the court house steps
Praying and carrying signs
And Janey came up to talk to me
And there were tears in her blue eyes
She said there has been millions of innocent babies
Like ours have already died
And I can't stand on the sidelines anymore
And watch that number grow
Not after what you and I've gone through
Not knowing what we know
I still wake up late some nights
And think I hear her call my name
And I still have her photograph
In an empty picture frame
I read the following article today on Salon.com by Camile Paglia. I think she did an excellent job of exposing the media bias and the sad state of "old man" politics in Washington. I am especially hopeful about what she said regarding Sarah Palin and the possibility that President-Elect Obama might not ram reams of hair-raising executive orders through in his first days in office:
Today, I'm watching the former vice-presidential candidate being sold-out by her own party. If she and her running mate had won, would we all be talking today about how "historic" this election was? She would have been the first woman vice president, but she doesn't fit, does she? Why? I read a commentary by an Obama voter, laughing about how Sarah Palin is being sold out by her own party and lied about and criticized and harrassed. As funny as it is to him, it is nonetheless true, and I am just cynical enough to believe that it was the plan from the start, to rid the Republican party of the "undesirables". This is a painful lesson for Christians who trusted a worldly system, with which to partner. It's painful and at the same time, liberating. All of the political compromising over social issues has compromised the gospel of Christ.
If you know me and are reading my blog today, please understand this: The world we live in is a sinking ship. It is unredeemable by anyone, except Christ alone. It is wonderful when a group of people can throw off the bonds of slavery and oppression, but it is not a victory when we turn around and oppress someone else, instead. Today, thousands of American babies...black, white, hispanic, male, female, disabled or not...will be slaughtered at their most vulnerable. Of the candidates that we had to choose from this election season, only one on both presidential tickets was unabashedly commited to the sanctity of human life. Today, she is being called ignorant and a hillbilly and criticized and belittled, with no one to defend her in the press, but herself. She is a married woman with children. An openly Christian woman, with a life and struggles that are indentifiable by many, many other Christian women. But through her struggle since she was nominated and then betrayed, I have learned this: For the gospel of Christ, God's word says He will give us strength and joy to withstand persecution and hardship. I do not believe God intends for us to suffer for a political party. Whatever it is you assumed I believed because of my party affiliation, you need to talk to me instead and let me actually answer your questions instead of talking AT me.
That said, you really won't need to assume my beliefs. I won't have a party affiliation. Now, let's talk.
I changed my mind. We can talk later. The junk I'm reading in the media is getting worse, less true and irresponsible. I'm taking a break.
"Today's evangelical political activists seem to be unaware of how much their methodology parallels that of liberal Christians at the start of the twentieth century. Like those misguided idealists, contemporary evangelicals have become enamored with temporal issues at the expense of eternal values. Evangelical activists in essence are simply preaching a politically conservative version of the old social gospel, emphasizing social and cultural concerns above spiritual ones."
I looked over the election returns last night and this morning. I was more interested in the ballot issues than anything else. I have been a single issue voter for many years, but these recent years I have really been questioning whether I should be any kind of voter at all. Should I register? Should I register as an Independent? Should I stop reading current events? Is any time on the issues, time well spent?
Through a computer error and then a missed deadline, my husband couldn't vote anywhere this year. I had a choice. He didn't and he was miffed. He got caught between our old address and our new address, right at the wrong time. So, I took my "I Voted" sticker to Starbucks and got my free cup of coffee and gave it to him as a consolation. Yes, I know. That probably seems like a great sacrifice for some of you, but it wasn't really. I hate dislike coffee. Now, if I could have gotten a free hot chocolate, I doubt he would have even seen the cup.
Anyway, this morning I picked up Dietrich Bonhoffer again. I started reading it months ago and I've been too busy to read more than a paragraph at a time since then. But this morning I started reading the chapter about discipline and indulgence...dull prayer and a lack of passion for God's word...resistance to hardship and a sense of jaded comfort. I have bought the belief that "doing" something about temporal issues is what it means to be a Christian in our culture. Should God's people be fighting temporal battles with worldly methods? Although I currently have the privilege to vote and to speak openly about my views, those privileges could evaporate and I am wholly unprepared for being without those. My prayers are dull. My passion for God's word ebbs and flows. I keep listening to those who say I'm not "doing" enough, when in actuality, all of the "doing" is stealing away my intimacy with God. It is that intimacy that is the source of all strength and power. Even all of the opportunities or demands for "doing" for the church can become too much, too many and overwhelming. The work of God is prayer, obeying God's word and reaching the world with the gospel of Christ. There is no other work.
The article that I linked to above by John MacArthur talks about the history of the church and the lessons we can learn from it's past times of political involvement. One of the things that I noticed and find very distressing is that whatever issue a Christian chooses to vote on, they will be slapped with whatever label is fashionable for the political party with which they associate. Have you read the blogs, articles and commentaries this morning? Which are you? Are you now considered a marxist or a racist? Which face is being used to represent who you are? Are you being seen as fluffy, empty and appeasing, or angry, and bitter and self-righteous? I want to be represented by Christ alone.
In Christ alone my hope is found;
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This cornerstone, this solid ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My comforter, my all in all—
Here in the love of Christ I stand
Today, I read a thread on a forum regarding political issues about why Barak Obama isn't a Christian. It was pointed out that the word "Christian" in our culture has more of a connotation of being 'nice' or being' an 'American'. I hadn't thought about that very in depth before now. When I read the title of the thread, it made me cringe a little because of the connotation that everyone places on the word "Christian". What most people in the country hear when they hear the word "Christian" is often altogether different than "believer" or "believer in Christ" or "follower of Christ" or "disciple". I think that the reason people are offended when you say they aren't a Christian, is because it's the equivalent of saying that they don't LOVE GOD.
"Love" in this culture is such a wishy-washy term and at this point and so is "God". In reality, God is the definer of those terms, but in listening to those who have access to cameras and a microphone, both "God" and "love" are defined by whoever talks the loudest and most often. Consequently, a person's religious label evokes such silly emotionalism because those terms have become wishy-washy as well, due to the hammering through all the political discourse. For example, I heard Michael Moore on TV last week, getting all choked up over Colin Powell defending Obama's religious status. Michael Moore said something along the lines of "I don't agree with many of Colin Powell's political views but I was so moved when he said 'hey! what's wrong with being a muslim in this country?" Well, since our culture is in the process of obliterating the true meaning of terms, and replacing the meaning with mere fashion, then of course there's nothing wrong with being anything, if you wear it like an accessory. But if we want to really talk about whether or not the president of our country should be muslim, then some very uncomfortable things are going to need to be discussed.
However, as countrymen, there are many that are no longer talking about things in a meaningful way. There is no meat, but only heartfelt...what? We don't really know, but whatever it is, it was heartfelt. Politicians in our current cultural climate need to be a master of the heartfelt, soundbite. Speeches don't get noticed, but soundbites and headlines are what make people react. Those who have reacted to titles without reading the text or watching the videos have demonstrated what is a problem for all of us anymore. Why react without investigating or trying to understand first? It's why the media has lost the confidence of many people. They play on this weakness.
So, this makes me ask, how should we react to things that happen in our culture? What should we look like as followers of Christ? What would the apostle Paul be saying to the church in America? If God is in control of all governing authorities, what is our place and what should we say and do?
I recently posted the following on this blog :
"Here then is my charge: First, supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings should be made on behalf of all men: for kings and rulers in positions of responsibility, so that our common life may be lived in peace and quiet, with a proper sense of God and of our responsibility to him for what we do with our lives."
- 1Tim2:1-2
I have not followed this command in scripture throughout this election season. In my life there has been more politics than prayer and more griping than gratitude. Where does our responsibility lie? It lies with God. We have a responsibility to him. The more I am talking and debating and worrying, the less I am blessing the name of the Lord.
1 Timothy 2:1-2 - Here then is my charge: First, supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings should be made on behalf of all men: for kings and rulers in positions of responsibility, so that our common life may be lived in peace and quiet, with a proper sense of God and of our responsibility to him for what we do with our lives.
School is out for the summer and my husband (The Cottage Schoolhouse's Headmaster, Mark) will be the kids' teacher this fall. I recently started a new job and I have to drive 35 miles each way to get there. My husband and I have talked a lot about the price of gas these past few weeks, but I LOVE the job. I'm so thankful to have the job. I looked for a long time and the Lord provided at an unexpected time, not just something I could do to help pay the bills, but something that is challenging and fun. My heart has just not been in it to complain. I started reading The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer and I am ashamed of any complaining. I keep the book in my locker at work and this weekend, I regret leaving it behind. On Friday night, all I was hearing and reading was railing against the price of gas and our presidential candidate choices and our current leaders...all of this right after reading that Dietrich Bonhoeffer was saddened that his German countrymen had made the fuhrer their idol and their god in the 1930's. Bonhoeffer felt his work as a college professor had lost it's meaning in the climate of the horror that was happening around him:
" In 1939, through arrangements made by Reinhold Niebuhr, he fled to the United States, but returned to Germany after a short stay. He believed it was necessary to suffer with his people if he was to be an effective minister after the war. The last two years of his life were spent in a Berlin prison. In 1945 he was executed for complicity in a plot on Hitler's life." (Probe Ministries.com)
I can't imagine the choices one would have to make in the climate of the times, but from prison, after his choices led him to imprisonment and execution, Bonhoeffer wrote letters on Christian ethics that were smuggled out of prison and published:
"The strength of Bonhoeffer's Ethics lies not in its systematic resolution of problems facing the church, but rather the acknowledgment that life is complex and that all systems outside of humble submission to the Word of God are doomed to failure. As unsettling as Bonhoeffer's Ethics may be, it is a refreshing call to the contemporary church to repent and return to a life characterized by prayer, the traditional mark of the early church." (Probe Ministries.com)
So, I dare you...I dare you to repent of all complaining and grumbling and return to a life of prayer and time in the Word of God. I dare you to not look to our earthly leaders for any kind of "change" or "salvation", but in all things, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Do we start every sentence with gratefulness to God? That would certainly change the words that come after, wouldn't it? Instead, we tend to complain full throttle first, and then thank God...or say, "Well I'm thankful, BUT..." Have you ever done a lot of work on something and then someone comes along and sees only the errors or omissions? We cry out to God over all of of our life's errors and omissions. I dare you to refuse to do this any longer. I dare you to repent, and thank and pray.
..."But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:8-9
She replied: "No, actually, there has been cooling, if you take 1998 as your point of reference. If you take 2002 as your point of reference, then temperatures have plateaued. This is certainly not what you'd expect if carbon dioxide is driving temperature because carbon dioxide levels have been increasing but temperatures have actually been coming down over the last 10 years."
"Once upon a time, the most frequently asked question about homeschooling was, 'Is that legal?' I always thought it a strange one. If I say I'm taking responsibility for my own children's need for food, no one questions if that's legal. If I say I'm taking responsibility for my children's need to be healthy, again, no questions asked. In fact, I could be hauled off to jail if I didn't take care of those responsibilities. Since taking responsibility for my children's need for education isn't very different from taking care of their need for food and health, I find this turn-around interesting. When it comes to 'which books they read' instead of 'which vegetables they eat for dinner,' all of a sudden it's a legal issue. Please allow this book to help you ponder the significance of this."
Last May, someone gave me a WalMart bag full of compact fluorescent light bulbs...you know, the curly ones. I brought them home willingly, believing that they would save us money on electric bills and that they would last much longer than incandescent bulbs...for all my believing, there isn't a scrap of truth in it, if I'm to base it on the WalMart bag full of, now dead, compact fluorescent light bulbs. Some of the bulbs died while in use. Some of them died just sitting in their packaging, waiting to be used. And rumor has it that they are too hazardous to just throw away. So, what now? I guess I'll just go back to what works...but wait!
Did you know that we will lose our choice in this matter in a few years? Did you know that congress passed a law that will make it illegal to "deal" in incandescent light bulbs? Does this sound foolish to you? It seems a complete waste of time to even think on this, until you consider this- that in a few years, you will, for any reason, stop the beating heart of your unborn child in the name of "choice", but would be breaking the law in your choice of light bulb.
We may already know, or have already heard, but don't care...let's think this through.
Most of the time, I get annoyed at anything on TV. I would love to have it off most days, but unfortunately for me, it's on every day, often for hours. Whether it's video games or a DVD or a show on Satellite TV, it's on and I'm trying to get out of the room. I like to use movies and shows for educational purposes, but if I had my way, it would be once a week. I am, however, on the computer a great deal of the time. I can't even remember what it was like before we had the internet. That said, I've always thought I would love to go back to a time when we had none of the modern media technology that we all use daily. The blog article that I linked to above has made me rethink that desire. I don't know. Maybe I just need balance.
The storm hit a week ago. We had been trying to get ready for our trip and the TV was off. I cleaned out the van, while I enjoyed the balmy evening and as a few drops of rain fell, I finished the job and went inside. I sat down to rest for a bit and we turned on the TV at about 7:45. We saw the storm warnings and not 10 minutes later our power went out. It was only out for 2 minutes, but I went in the backyard just in time to see the funnel cloud and hear the roar. Our home and the homes around us were not damaged, but the tornado hit a subdivision less than a mile from here. It also did considerable damage all around the county. My uncle told me today that over 300 people are without homes.
We left town on Wednesday morning, after trying to see the damage that was done. We were blocked from going into any of those areas. We could see trees down and an overturned car in a ditch, but we didn't hear many details until a few days later. When we came home, we went by our church. The building took a beating, but the pastor's family is safe. The above picture was taken by the pastor's son. The sign says it all.
