Things I Forgot Over the Summer

My office is cold.
Campus Pipeline (Internet access) experiences technical difficulties at the worst possible times.
To obtain extra printer paper means a walk to the next building.
Girls like to talk on their cell phones while they're in the bathroom.
Some students are completely clueless.

I'm having a good day despite the drizzly weather, which is causing me to have a bad hair day. But I have not been to my first class yet, so things could change.

Tomorrow will be a yucky day because of the tropical storm which will be here by then. Our campus has terrible drainage problems, so there will be standing water everywhere. Oh, joy!

UPDATE:
Things changed. As I was in the office next door helping with a computer problem, my officemate left for class and shut the door behind her, locking it, with my keys on my desk instead of in my pocket. I had to go to class without any materials, but because I'm so charming and brilliant, my students hardly knew the difference.
;-)

He means business!

Thanks to Ship of Fools for this image.

I detect a theme here.

Me on Myself

If you were to meet me out in public somewhere, you would never know that I am the persona behind Tangled Weblog. I tend to have a big (but polite, I hope) mouth on my blog (and on the blogs where I leave comments), but in the “real world” I am nothing of the sort. (Well, I’m polite, but not a big mouth.)(I do use a lot of parenthetical comments in verbal conversation as well, but probably not as many as I use here.) I do not go about proclaiming my opinions unless I’m with very close friends and family.

I am not good around large groups of people or even small groups of people I don’t know. If I were to be invited to a function where I wouldn’t know anyone, and Husband couldn’t go, I wouldn’t go. A friend of Husband’s invited us over for a July 4^th cookout. There must have been a hundred people there, and I knew no one save a couple of ladies that I had briefly met several years ago. I felt weird and was glad when we left.

I’ll bet that people who meet me for the first time think that I’m stuck up, but really, I just have a hard time knowing what to say to people that I don’t know. It’s really difficult to establish common ground. I don’t want to talk about myself—that would be rude. But if I ask questions about the person, he or she might think I’m being nosy. I know I’m not the only one who feels this way, but it seems like it sometimes. I will say that as I have gotten older, I have become a little more outgoing and will talk to strangers, but that’s usually in the line at Wal-Mart when I know I’ll never see that person again.

That’s why this blogging experience has been very interesting. When I began this blog, I had no idea what I’d talk about. I had been reading a few blogs and had left a couple of anonymous comments, and one day without giving it a lot of thought, I just started a blog. And I offered some opinions. To my great surprise, people began reading it and leaving nice comments, and they kept coming back, and I consider them to be my friends. What’s been really cool is that I met up with some Nashville bloggers by pure chance, and we share some similar views on things. I’ve met some cool people from other places as well, and I’ve learned a lot, too. (Have y’all created mental images of your blogging friends that haven’t posted their photo in their profile?)

If we were to meet standing in line at the Wal-Mart, we might speak (complaining about the fact that there are 40 checkouts, but only 6 of them are open), but that would probably be it. We might never become friends if we had met out in the real world.

I’m just going to sort of trail off here now without really summing up my thoughts, because, mainly, I’m still thinking about it all (and because I have to go finish painting the kitchen).

Land of Contradiction

As I have grown up and become more aware of “how things work” here in the U.S., I have noticed some interesting contradictions. Across the world, people look to us as the model of how a country and a people should be. They see a country with a government that allows its citizens to enjoy abundant freedoms while also enjoying the pursuit of happiness. The U.S. is the “land of opportunity,” the place where if people combine a little ambition with some elbow grease, they can enjoy a life of economic freedom, good health, and a full stomach. Besides that, if a person is really on his toes, he can get an education followed by a great job, and he can begin amassing wealth to pass on to his children. He can enjoy the “good life” with a fine house, nice cars, and multitudes of comforts and conveniences.

Those of us who have lived here all our lives are in an especially good situation. We have the natural right to obtain all these benefits. It’s our birthright just for having the good fortune to have ancestors who came here before us. In fact, it is more than a birthright; it is a duty. We have a responsibility to get a good education and earn a good living to provide for our children and keep them and ourselves from becoming burdens to the rest of society.

But there are some among us who, in fact, do become burdens. These are the lazy, shiftless people who refuse to earn their own living. It is their own fault that they are poor and can’t pay their bills. When they do work, they don’t spend their earnings wisely. Because of their lack of ambition, their children don’t have enough to eat and have no hope of ever going to college and bettering themselves. These people force the rest of us to have to sacrifice our hard-earned money to fund welfare programs that only enable them to sit back and collect a paycheck for doing nothing.

This is the scenario that a lot of people believe. In fact, it makes us feel better to believe that when people are suffering in poverty it is their own fault for not doing as much as they could to better themselves. If we believe that they are responsible for their own plight, it justifies our not caring. The fact of the matter is that many people who are needy became so through no fault of their own. According to one study, approximately 2 million Americans are affected by bankruptcy every year because they are overwhelmed with medical bills, and most of those filing for bankruptcy are middle class college graduates who own their own homes*. One catastrophic illness has the potential to take a family from a comfortable middle class existence to a state of having to depend on others for food and housing.

Some will argue that many people who file bankruptcy have gotten themselves into such a situation because of overspending. That may very well be true. Many Americans own several credit cards and have charged all of them to their limits. Various sources report that the average family owes somewhere between six and twelve thousand dollars in credit card charges. Obviously, individuals need to be more prudent about their spending and begin saving more money. However, we live in a society that tells us that we need to spend in order to remain happy. Advertisers play on our emotions and convince us that we need the latest, newest improved model of everything. Credit card companies send new offers in the mail every week, making it easy to transfer balances and raise credit limits. This is still no excuse for consumers’ overspending.

However, it is a fact that our economy is based on consumer spending. When Americans decide to save money and overall spending decreases, the economy begins to falter. It is our duty to keep the economy thriving so as not to threaten our way of life. We were told as much by the President right after 9/11.

The United States is a country of contradictions. We project the image that we are a prosperous nation (and we are) that offers abundant opportunity (and we do). However, there are those who work at backbreaking labor every day and still live paycheck to paycheck hoping that the car doesn’t break down or the refrigerator keeps running, knowing that one small emergency will keep them from paying their bills or buying food. And there are college graduates working in white collar jobs who live in the same manner.

Our country has made it shameful to be in a state of need. I suspect this is so that those who “have” can feel better about having plenty when his neighbors are doing without. Those of us who are the “haves” need to pay careful attention and show a lot more concern for those “lazy” people because one day, it might be us in that situation.

*“Medical Bills Leading Cause of Bankruptcy, Harvard Study Finds.” Consumer Affairs.Com. 5 Feb. 2005. http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2005/bankruptcy_study.html.

My Newest Cousin

I know how much y'all love to see pictures of babies, so here's a pic of my newest cousin, Annabelle Blue Cook, born yesterday.

Waffles, Anyone?

Kevin presents some very interesting quotes from Republicans concerning the previous President's war effort in Bosnia. Definitely worth a read.

Israel's Troubles

I have been watching the happenings in Gaza with the Jewish people being forced out of their homes because of the government's decision to pull out of the area, and I have no idea what to make of it.

I know of God's promise to Abraham back in the ancient times to give this land to him and his descendents if they remained faithful to God. In fact, the borders of the "promised land" are much wider than what Israel has claimed for the last 50 years. Looking at the story of the history of Israel in the OT, it seems that they never received all of the promised land because of their unfaithfulness to God.

I've always heard that God doesn't retract his promises, so I'm guessing that the covenant God made with Abraham still holds true.

What do y'all think about this, or have you given it any thought? Does it matter to those of us who don't live there?

Wisdom from M.A.S.H.

Colonel Potter: "If they can invent better ways to kill each other, why can't they come up with a way to end this stupid war?"

Something's Fishy!

Last night when I went to bed, three fish were living in my aquarium. This morning when I woke up, there were at least a dozen new fish in there. One of my Mollies had babies last night!

I drove one of these this weekend:

Husband is installing a walking track at the local Lions Club; I smoothed it out with the roller. (It actually wasn't this particular roller; I forgot to take a picture of the one I drove before he took it back to the rental place.)

Web of Protection

My mom emailed me this little story. I thought it was pretty neat.

GOD AND THE SPIDER

During World War II, a US marine was separated from his unit on a Pacific
island. The fighting had been intense, and in the smoke and the crossfire
he had lost touch with his comrades.

Alone in the jungle, he could he hear enemy soldiers coming in his
direction. Scrambling for cover, he found his way up a high ridge to
several small caves in the rock. Quickly he crawled inside one of the
caves. Although safe for the moment, he realized that once the enemy
soldiers looking for him swept up the ridge, they would quickly search
all the caves and he would be killed.

As he waited, he prayed, "Lord, if it be your will, please protect me.
Whatever your will though, I love you and trust you. Amen."

After praying, he lay quietly listening to the enemy begin to draw close.
He thought, "Well, I guess the Lord isn't going to help me out of this
one." Then he saw a spider begin to build a web over the front of his
cave.

As he watched, listening to the enemy searching for him all the while,
the spider layered strand after strand of web across the opening of the
cave.

"Hah, he thought. "What I need is a brick wall and what the Lord has sent
me is a spider web. God does have a sense of humor."

As the enemy drew closer he watched from the darkness of his hideout and
could see them searching one cave after another. As they came to his, he
g ot ready to make his last stand. To his amazement, however, after
glancing in the direction of his cave, they moved on. Suddenly, he
realized that with the spider web over the entrance, his cave looked as
if no one had entered for quite a while. "Lord, forgive me," prayed the
young man. "I had forgotten that in you a spider's web is stronger than a
brick wall."

We all face times of great trouble. When we do, it is so easy to forget
the victories that God would work in our lives, sometimes in the most
surprising ways. As the great leader, Nehemiah, reminded the people of
Israel when they faced the task of rebuilding Jerusalem, "In God we will
have success!" [Nehemiah 2:20]

And remember: Whatever is happening in your life, in God, a mere spider's
web becomes a brick wall of protection.

Gone to the Dogs

As I was sitting on the bed this morning reading the blogs, Pete, one of my Jack Russells, was lying next to me snoozing peacefully. When I reached over and rubbed his head, he responded by rolling over onto his back and showing me his belly, wanting me to rub it instead. After a minute or so, I stopped, but he wasn’t ready to quit. When he wants a petting, he nudges his head up underneath my hand, or he paws at my arm (which really hurts, by the way, when his toenails rake across my skin) until I give in and pet him. He won’t let me stop until he’s ready—he could go on forever (kind of like the way I would let Husband scratch my back until it bled if he would). If I want to stop petting him, I have to actually get up and move, or I have to be firm with him and hurt his feelings. It doesn’t take much to hurt his feelings, either. One firm word will do it.

A funny thing about him is that if he does something he shouldn’t have done, he’ll punish himself. For instance, if he has an accident in the house and knows that I have found it, he’ll hunker down and slink off to the bedroom. He tries to hide under the bed, but he can only get himself halfway there. It’s funny to see him with his little backside sticking out.

As I am writing this, Emily, my Cocker Spaniel, is sitting next to the bed looking at me intently and whining periodically. She’s letting me know that it’s time to eat (she would eat all day long if I let her—she used to be overweight—we changed her diet so that she’d lose five pound, which is a lot for a little dog). When I acknowledged her presence, Pete became jealous and started pawing at my hand again, making it nearly impossible to type.

Trixie, Pete’s sister (although they look nothing alike as far as physical shape) is off doing her own thing. She’s probably under the bed or in the living room under the couch. She likes to be by herself when we’re in the house, but she comes out when there’s some action, and she loves to watch Animal Planet on TV. I actually have to change the channel to get her to calm down (she even barks at the horses when Husband watches Gunsmoke). It’s sort of funny though, when Pete catches Trixie barking at the TV, he goes and makes her stop. It’s as if he doesn’t want her to have any fun.

Trixie has a really terrible habit. Sometimes when she comes back after exploring around our five acres, she will stink to high heaven after having rolled around in the most foul, putrid, disgusting smelling mess that she can find. When she does this, I have to stop what I am doing and immediately give her a bath because there’s no way she can be in the house like that. It’s all I can do sometimes not to throw up when this happens.

Trixie and Pete need a lot of supervision when they are outside. They will run off after anything that moves, ignoring any danger that may be lurking. Emily is more sensible. I can trust her to look after herself and can let her out without supervision.

As much trouble as they can get into, Husband and I love those little dogs. It’s funny how humans can be so ga-ga over a completely different species. They don’t act, think, or talk like us, but they bring us such enjoyment. We’d do anything for them.

I am convinced that our dogs love Husband and me. They may not understand love as humans define it, but in their own way, they love us, and I think they like to try to please us. We’re like gods to them. They trust us to take care of them, rub their bellies when they want it, give them food when they need it—although sometimes they act as if they are half starved, like we’re going to forget to feed them; they can be very demanding at times.

Dogs and humans are a lot alike. We humans have personalities that are quite different from each other; we have our idiosyncrasies—we even have some disgusting habits. And God looks down on us and takes great pleasure in us. He sees the things we do and loves us anyway—even when we’ve been rolling around in filth. We love him the best that we can; we don’t know that our definition of love is so very different from his, but we try. And we don’t even have to get it right—he’ll rub our bellies anyway if we’ll just roll over and let him.

Being Yourself?

Dr. Mike had a really good post yesterday about being naked before God, family, and friends.

(No, not nekkid--get out of the gutter!)

Advice From Armchair Physicians

I could use your advice. Several months ago as I was walking across the parking lot, my foot turned out from under me causing me to fall. The top of my foot from the front of my ankle across to the top of the middle of my foot (if you can picture that) has stayed somewhat sore. Day before yesterday I accidently stepped in a hole in the yard with the same foot, which turned out from under me, causing me to fall again. (I was pretty pitiful; you should have seen me sitting in my front yard whimpering with no one there to give me any sympathy!)

Now my foot is very sore, but it's the same amount of sore just resting as it is walking on it. I don't limp on it much, except when I first get up in the morning or after I have been sitting for a few minutes. It really isn't hindering me from doing anything--it's just sore.

Do you think this is a problem I need to visit a podiatrist about, or do I just have a sore tendon?

Edit: 8:06.
Also, is it just me getting older, or does anyone else find that web pages that have black backgrounds with light type are blurry?

March to Justice?

How can a man be charged with the murder of his wife and abuse of a corpse when no corpse has ever been found, and no evidence of foul play had been discovered?

Very Puzzling

Here's a passage I find quite baffling:
“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to have all of you, to sift you like wheat. ³² But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen and build up your brothers.”
³³ Peter said, “Lord, I am ready to go to prison with you, and even to die with you.”
³⁴ But Jesus said, “Peter, let me tell you something. The rooster will not crow tomorrow morning until you have denied three times that you even know me.”
³⁵ Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you out to preach the Good News and you did not have money, a traveler’s bag, or extra clothing, did you lack anything?”

“No,” they replied.
³⁶ “But now,” he said, “take your money and a traveler’s bag. And if you don’t have a sword, sell your clothes and buy one! ³⁷ For the time has come for this prophecy about me to be fulfilled: ‘He was counted among those who were rebels.’ Yes, everything written about me by the prophets will come true.”
³⁸ “Lord,” they replied, “we have two swords among us.”

“That’s enough,” he said.

Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 1997, c1996 (electronic ed.) (Lk 22:31). Wheaton: Tyndale House.

Savings and Loans

Remember the $10 I saved by dropping the text and picture messaging from my cell phone plan? I got a letter last week saying that the state's matching 401k contribution for state employees is being increased from $20 to $30. What a cool "coincidence"!

In other money news, I just returned from the bank where I made the final payment on the Kenworth. Debt reduction just shifted into high gear!

Learning Obedience

Hebrews 5.8 says, "So even though Jesus was God's son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered" (NLT).

Why did Jesus have to learn obedience? I have heard many people say that Jesus could not have sinned because God is incapable of sin, and Jesus and his father are one. So if he couldn't sin, why did he have to learn obedience?

One size does not fit all.

Spent a girls' day at the mall yesterday with Mom, Sister-in-law, and her four girls, and boy was I tired by the end of the day. Sister-in-law (from now on abbreviated SIL) wanted me to pick out school clothes for the 2nd grader. Last year in 1st grade, her little girl was picked on a lot, and apparently some of it stemmed from her clothes, so SIL wanted to make sure that 2nd grader has cool clothes this year. SIL thinks I am more fashion savvy than she is; I don't know about that, but I'll take the compliment.

I guess since I've been around college students for so long, I had forgotten that little kids can be so mean to each other.

Anyway, the shopping trip was pretty successful except for one area--pants. 2nd grader is a little bit chunky around the middle--not fat, but not a skinny kid. It seems, though, that little girls' pants are made for miniature super models. If the pants fit around the waist, they are much too long. We did find some really cute pants that had drawstrings around the hem that could be gathered up so that they don't drag the ground, and they looked great on 2nd grader, but they cost over $30. Why on earth do little girl pants cost so much? I cannot fathom paying that much for clothes for kids, especially when they will only be able to wear them for one year or less before growing out of them. It's ridiculous. Makes me very glad that I don't have kids of my own that I have to shop for.

Have any of you experienced this type of problem when shopping for little kids? Is there a company that makes reasonably priced, fashionable clothes that fit girls of different shapes and sizes? SIL and I would be greatful for such a place.

Hot Mushrooms

I just returned from Kroger where I experienced a dillema. As I was putting my groceries in the truck, I noticed a bag with one item in it. When I looked inside, I found a package of mushrooms. My first thought was, "The guy in front of me didn't get his mushrooms." I hate it when that kind of thing happens to me.

Then I thought, "Hey, I needed some mushrooms." I'm fixing kabobs tonight and had forgotten all about the mushrooms. I don't eat them, but Husband likes them.

Then I thought, "But those aren't my mushrooms; they belong to somebody else." But that person was already gone, I reasoned, so there really was no harm in keeping them. I also reasoned that the mushrooms weren't technically stolen because they had been paid for.

I continued to dialogue in my head about whether or not to keep the mushrooms. Anyone passing by would never have known that I was having a terrible crisis of conscience going on as I was loading my grocery sacks. The sweat on my forehead wasn't attributable only to the heat.

I placed the last sack in the truck, pushed my cart to the cart corral (I hate it when people don't put their carts back where they belong--I have a story about that too!), opened the driver's door, and started to get in, anticipating the cool of the air conditioning and my Mavericks CD starting as soon as I turned the key. I barely got one foot up onto the running board.

"Dang it, why do you do this to me?" I exclaimed as I got back out of the truck, opened the rear door, grabbed the bag and headed back into the store. I took the bag to the customer service counter and told the girl working there that someone would probably be calling saying that he didn't get his mushrooms. She thanked me. I headed around to the produce section, picked up a package of mushrooms, went back through the checkout and paid for them. Then I got back into my truck and didn't think about it any more until I got home and started telling you about it.

This is the sort of thing I go through. I have gone back into stores to pay for a 50 cent item that I have accidently "stolen." Usually the customer service people think I'm crazy.

I sincerely hope that this is a test and that I'm about to get a big reward for it. But I rather suspect that God just likes to have a little fun with me every now and then.

TV Disappointments

Previews for the new fall TV shows have begun, and let me say that I am unimpressed. Now, I don't watch a lot of TV, but there are a few shows that I like. CSI is not one of them. Or three of them, or however many incarnations that show has now. I notice that CBS will be bringing in at least one new crime show--thankfully, not another CSI. But how many more crime shows do we really need?

CBS has cancelled my very favorite show, Joan of Arcadia. Joan was a good, clean, family-oriented program in which a teenager talked to God and tried to do what God wanted. I guess viewers couldn't handle that. Now, instead of Joan talking to God, Jennifer Love Hewitt will talk to dead people.

I guess I'll be watching more Andy Griffith and Leave it to Beaver on TVLand.

Beware: Don't look like a suspicious character!

If it rains today, don't risk being mistaken for a terrorist and shot to death. Wear this raincoat:



And when you carry a bag, carry this one:

Good Stewards?

Lakewood Church in Houston moved into its new facilities this past weekend, the old Compaq Center where the Houston Rockets used to play. To convert it to a church--complete with giant video screens, waterfalls, and a giant globe--cost around $90 million. (For pictures go to http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/news/071605_local_lakewood.html# and click on "See images.")

I wonder how much the waterfalls cost and how many hungry people could have been fed instead?

Your suggestions, please.

In my freshman writing course, I usually teach an evaluation essay. This requires students to make a judgement statement about something (a book, movie, etc.) and back up the judgement with reasons and evidence. (You'd be surprised at how difficult the reasons and evidence part is for some students!) In the past, we have watched a movie in class, and they have written a review of the movie. I'm thinking of doing that again this semester, and I'd like some suggestions for movies that would be appropriate for 18-20-year-olds with a variety of interests. The movie needs to have a story that is more complex than just the basic "boy meets girl and they get together after some conflicts" or the "good guy goes after the bad guy and lots of things get blown up" stories. In the past we have watched The Count of Monte Cristo, The Shawshank Redemption, Open Range, and Ladder 49 (which actually wasn't that good of a choice for this assignment). In other words, the story needs to be one that has some meaning and will make the students think a little bit, but I also don't want it to be too "artsy."

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

PS. I'm feeling much better although I am still a little congested. Thanks for your prayers!

Work to live, or live to work?

You might want to put your toes under your chair for this one. I had to.

A survey released earlier this year of 7,718 American workers found that:

“[. . .] only 45 percent of workers say they are satisfied (33 percent) or extremely satisfied (12 percent) with their jobs. At the same time, a much lower number actually feel very "engaged" by their jobs. Only 20 percent feel very passionate about their jobs; less than 15 percent agree that they feel strongly energized by their work; and only 31 percent (strongly or moderately) believe that their employer inspires the best in them.”

“Increasing numbers of employees are coping with burnout (42 percent), while one-third (33 percent) believe they have reached a dead end in their jobs, and 21 percent are eager to change their jobs.”

“Nearly all workers were seeking more time off -- and a better balance between work and leisure” ("New Employer/Employee Equation Survey,” conducted by Harris Interactive, Inc.).

If this survey is accurate, this means that most American workers
are unhappy with their work and feel that what they are doing is
not worthwhile. How sad that we spend at least 40 hours per
week doing something that we’d rather not be doing, feeling
that we aren’t doing our best work, and wishing we were somewhere else.

I wonder, though, how much of the fault lies with the workers
themselves? Why do workers stay in careers they don’t really like?
 (I’m not talking here about unskilled, minimum wage earners
who don’t really have much choice in their careers, but
college-educated or other skilled workers.) Why do so many
 people not do what they really want to do?

I assert that most people do not have the career that they really want because they feel they must take the job that will pay the bills. They are not willing to sacrifice lifestyle in order to take a job that they will really enjoy. Lots of middle class Americans stretch themselves to the limit in order to live in a house that is probably too high-priced for their budget so that they will be in a “better” neighborhood. They buy or lease a new car every two to three years. They make sure that their kids wear the most fashionable clothes and participate in plenty of extracurricular activities (to keep up their self-esteem). They use up their savings to take a vacation to the beach every summer. Rather than scale back their lifestyle, most people would rather work in a career that they don’t really care for in order to live what society claims is the “American Dream.”

The sad thing is that a lot of Christians fall into this category. Although we know that Jesus called us to a life of sacrifice and servanthood, many of us believe that sacrifice means eating out only once or twice in a week in order to put more money in the offering plate on Sunday. I know that a lot of Christian parents will say that they work they way they do so that their children will have better lives and good opportunities, and I certainly understand that. We want to ensure that our children have good futures. However, if we really believe that God is in charge of the future, why aren’t we modeling the ethic of self sacrifice so that we can help others in the now? Why not work at a career that is more fulfilling or allows more family time and do without some of the perks that we have come to believe we are entitled to?

Perhaps the work we’d really rather be doing is what God intended us to do in the first place. He knows us better than we know ourselves, so he knows what is going to make us happy. He wouldn’t call us to a life of sacrifice if he weren’t going to make sure that all of our needs are met. He wouldn’t ask us to be servants if he weren’t going to make sure that we feel fulfilled in our work.

The other day, I heard a news story that gave me pause. I’m not sure about the exact details, but what is important is the essence of what the lady said. Some ladies make pies at church every Saturday and sell them in order to give the money to charity. One of the ladies, commenting on their endeavor, said something to the effect that while Christians aren’t supposed to feel good about their work for the Lord, she does feel good about what she’s doing. I guess the notion is that when we work for the Lord it should be a sacrifice, and sacrifice necessitates negative feelings. I think some people think that all pleasure comes from the devil.

Why would God call us to do something that we would hate doing? Psalm 37.3-4 says, “Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” He wants us to be happy and fulfilled, and when we seek to please him by being a true disciple, he will see to it that we are happy.

Sacrifice and servanthood are not ideas that society values as particularly appetizing, but is what society is serving up really satisfying our hunger for fulfillment? No matter how hard we try, we cannot bring our own fulfillment; true and lasting fulfillment comes from God.

Pass the Salt

This week I have been suffering from a sinus infection brought on by an allergy attack, and I have been unable to breathe. A bad side effect to this is that my taste buds are off and nothing has tasted good for the last few days. We have gone out to eat a couple of times, and nothing I ate had any flavor. I had to pour the salt on to get anything to taste halfway good. The first thing I’ve eaten this week that has tasted good was some pasta sauce I made last night that I socked with salt and spices.

Ironically, this ties in with the bible passage I made note of in my last post. As I was reading the passage in Luke about counting the cost of being a disciple of Jesus, I noticed that the passage ended with Jesus saying something about salt that loses its flavor and becomes worthless (Luke 14. 25-35). Jesus also told his disciples that they are the salt of the earth (Matthew 5.13). Now, I have never really given this passage a lot of thought, but now that I think about it, I’m curious, and I wonder how the saltiness idea connects with the counting the cost of being his disciple idea.

I looked up salt in some of my resources and here are some interesting things I found out about it:

Salt brings out flavor in otherwise bland foods—of course, we knew this already. Anybody who has ever made real pancakes or biscuits (not Bisquick) and left out the salt can attest to this fact.

Salt is used as a preservative. Meat cured in salt doesn’t have to be refrigerated—think country ham. (By the way, how does anybody eat that stuff? Yuck!)

Salty ground is infertile; no vegetation grows around the Dead Sea (hence the name). In the bible, salt was sown on people’s land to render it infertile.

Salt was rubbed on newborn babies. I imagine this acts as a cleansing agent and kills germs. Some cultures still do this.

Salt was always offered with sacrifices. I’m guessing this was symbolic of purity and lack of decay (the preservative quality), but I’ll bet on days when there were a lot of offerings to “process,” the salt kept the sacrifices fresh.

Salt was symbolic of covenants.

Salt was a valuable commodity. Roman soldiers were often paid in salt—hence the saying “not worth his salt.”

Some of the salt that was found near the Dead Sea was like rock salt but it was sometimes impure because it was subject to the elements and the outer layer of it was flavorless.

Now what do we do with this information? If we are disciples of Jesus, we are called to be the salt of the earth. How do the qualities of salt come into play in our lives? If salt is a preservative, we must be a preservative of sorts. Our world is in a state of moral decay, so we are the part of the world that is not decaying, the part that is staying pure. Salt brings out flavor, so we should bring “flavor” to the world. The lives of Jesus’ disciples should be a different flavor from the lives of other people—we should live differently. And I think we should also bring flavor to bland situations—I’m thinking of those types of Christians who are afraid to have any fun.

Now I’m wondering about the salty, infertile ground part. Is there such a thing as being a too salty disciple? Maybe we can become so fanatical that we turn people off instead of attracting them. I don’t know.

Being sick with this sinus infection gave me another thought about it. Just like I can’t taste anything that isn’t good and salty while I’m sick, people who are spiritually sick need a good salty person to help them along their journey of getting better.

OK, my brain is hurting now, and I’m not sure that I’m making any sense here. Perhaps you can add some thoughts about how to be a good, salty disciple.

Two Masters

Disclaimer: Writing this one made me just a little bit uncomfortable.

Jesus taught that people can’t have two masters and that we cannot serve both God and money. Most Christians would probably not say that they are serving money rather than God, but how accurate are we when we say that? I believe that most of us have our hearts in the right place—we aren’t actively out chasing the almighty dollar trying to get rich just for the sake of having more and more money, and we likely aren’t spending every dollar on frivolous material items that we don’t really need. We contribute to church and charity and help others who are in need whenever we can. But even though we do all this, are we fully serving God, or are we, in actuality, serving money?

Proverbs 22.7 tells us that just as the rich rule over the poor, so is the borrower servant to the lender. When we borrow money, for whatever reason, we become beholden to the person or institution who loaned us that money. As good Christians, we know that we are obligated to pay back that money, so we order our lives in such a way as to make sure that we can earn enough to pay a little each month on that loan. Some of us even take out insurance policies that will pay off the loan in the event that something happens and we can’t earn money. We are very prudent to not place our means of income in jeopardy.

I assert that because we are in debt, we are unable to fully serve God even if our hearts want to. Every time we make a big decision, we take into consideration how much money we owe and how much we are earning. Our debt level often makes it very difficult to follow where God’s spirit is leading us to serve. How many of us can immediately drop what we are doing to follow Jesus in the same way that we see his disciples do in the bible? Peter and Andrew and James and John left their fishing nets and followed Jesus at once when he called to them. Matthew immediately left his desk at the tax office to follow Jesus. How many of us can just get up and go wherever he leads on only a moment’s notice? How many of us can take a lower paying job that frees up time to serve him? How many times have we seen stories about people in need and wished we could go across the country and help, if only we didn’t have to take time off our job that pays the mortgage? I am not saying it is bad to be a homeowner, but if God calls us to physically relocate, most of us will have to ask him to wait a month so that we can sell the house and pack up the possessions. As much as we hate to admit it, our debt has caused many of us to serve money more than we serve God.

Jesus said that the cost of being his disciple is high and that we should make sure we know what that cost is before we begin the journey. Are we willing to pay that high price? Which is more costly—totally being his disciple or trying to serve two masters?

What if we really lived like Jesus?

Thanks to Tony, I am reading Mere Discipleship by Lee C. Camp. After having read the first two chapters, I am intrigued by the question that Camp raises: What if everyone really lived the way that Jesus and his disciples lived; what if we made Jesus’ life an example and model for our own? The popular opinion, Camp asserts, is that

“the way of Christ is simply not a relevant social ethic, lest injustice reign and the violent vanquish the righteous. Christians cannot take the way of Christ seriously, or society will fall apart, will sink into a spiral of unmitigated violence. Justice is at stake. Civilization itself is at stake. Jesus could not have meant that we take him seriously in the realm of social and political realities—after all, what would happen if everybody did that?! Consequently, “Jesus,” “Christianity,” and even “discipleship” are reduced to a mere “spirituality,” a realm that has little if anything to do with the concrete realities of culture, civilization, and politics.” (page 34)

Christ’s teachings, says Camp, “inform our attitudes, but not our actions” (36). His teachings are something that we internalize for the sake of our spirituality but don’t necessarily live out because it isn’t practical in our society.

I have to wonder, what would happen if all Christians started to live the kind of life that Jesus and the apostles did? What would that entail?

Jesus had a completely self-sacrificing attitude, not just in his death on the cross, but in his life as well. His own personal comfort was secondary to the needs of others. He did not own a house full of stuff. He spent his time taking care of the needs of others rather than working at a job to pay for a house and all the materials to fill it.

What if Christians suddenly decided to live on less money than we earn, buying only what is necessary for life, and using the rest to help others? What if we downsized our houses, got rid of cars with payments and drove—gasp!—paid for cars, stopped eating out so much, bought fewer new clothes, did without the latest gadgets, etc. I think if we did that, we could work less because we wouldn’t have so much to pay for, and we could spend more time with our families, and we could spend more time just being nice to people. We would be healthier because of the reduced stress. Of course, we probably wouldn’t have computers and be here blogging about it.

However, there would be some repercussions on the national economy if Christians suddenly lived like Christ. If we downsized and paid off all our debt, the economy would suffer without our paying all that interest on houses, cars, and credit card purchases. Stores would lose money because we wouldn’t be buying so much. Stocks would plummet. It could cause chaos. We would be blamed for the downfall of the American way of life—and then talk about persecution!

So I guess we’d better stay the way we are. We don’t want to rock the boat or have people look at us like we’re crazy. Living too much like Jesus would be a burden and a cross that we don’t want to shoulder—no matter what Jesus said.

Giveaway

I just gave away a coffee maker that I no longer use. Instead of it sitting in my closet taking up space, it will now serve someone who can use it.

I have been asking God for help in simplifying, and I think this is a good way to start. Freecycle is a network of groups that allows people to post items to give away. I posted my coffee maker as sort of a test to see how well this works, and within just a few hours I had four people wanting it. A lady just left my house--she drove all the way from town to pick it up.

If you don't want to fool with trying to sell stuff, and you don't care who gets your stuff or for what reason they get it, you might want to try this.

You clean out your closet, and somebody comes and gets the stuff! What a concept!

Making Change

Today I have been looking for ways to cut spending in order to increase giving. This morning I have dropped the unlimited text and picture messaging from my cell phone service. This has freed up $9.99 (and probably some tax as well). Honestly, why in the world do I need to text message someone? And why do I need to send photos over the phone? I carry a digital camera in my backpack--if people want to see a picture that I take, they can wait until I get home. Also, there's really no need to surf the Internet from my phone.

I have also dropped our alarm monitoring service. This will save $25.95 a month. Of course, the lady tried to get me to keep the service, reminding me that I also have smoke alarm monitoring. She offered to cut the fee to $15.00, which I politely declined. I figure that it's all just stuff--why should I pay someone to watch it? No one broke in, nor did we have a fire before we had the service; I think we'll be fine without it. Besides, it just doesn't sit well with me to pay someone to "watch" my earthly treasures.

I now have $35.94 to use for other purposes, and I plan to use part of it for giving and the rest for debt reduction. $35.94 isn't much, but it's a start. It feels good to have done this today. I don't feel any more righteous, but I feel like I have accomplished something. I have probably lost my blessing for telling you this, but that's OK. I've been blessed pretty well already.

Another story about trees

A couple of years ago, I decided that we needed some trees in our yard, and being too cheap to go to a nursery and buy some, I went into the woods and dug up some tiny little oak trees about a foot tall and planted these in places in my yard. That same year, we had trouble with our lawnmower, and when we finally got it fixed, the grass was taller than my little trees. Husband just wanted to hurry and get the grass cut before the mower broke again, so he paid no attention to where my trees were planted and mowed them all down.

However, one tree came back, so whenever I got the chance to mow (I don’t mow much—he thinks I am too hard on his equipment), I would carefully go around the little tree, and it grew to about two feet tall. Then the mower broke again, and we had a neighbor come and cut the yard. Of course, he cut my tree down again. But a few weeks later, there it was, peeking out of the ground again, so I threatened Husband with bodily harm if he cut that tree down again, and we have left it alone, and it is now about two feet tall again.

This spring we decided to finally shell out some money and buy some decent sized trees, and we planted them in a straight row down both sides of the driveway. The problem is that while the little oak tree falls into the straight line, it sits about two feet from one of the newly planted dogwoods which are evenly spaced in a very uniform row (Husband is all about symmetry.). So it throws everything off. We decided that the little oak has to go in order to preserve the perfect lines, but neither of us has mowed it down. I told Husband a few days ago that maybe we should just leave it there; it won’t hurt anything, and trees grow close together in the woods and do fine. He just kind of grunted, but the last time he mowed, he didn’t cut it down.

That little oak tree must have a good root system developed in order to keep coming back the way it does. As I’ve said before, I think people are like trees. If we establish a good root system, we can be cut down, knocked around, and trampled on, but we’ll still bounce back. We might not be the prettiest, and we might not fall into that straight line where everyone wants us to be, but we will be strong and sturdy and will eventually provide lots more shade than the rest of the trees.

I love that persistent little oak tree more than the pretty dogwoods—which, by the way, are struggling to survive in this dry summer weather—and I’m going to protect it from being cut down again. I suspect that God feels the same way about his out-of-line, but persistent, children.

God and Country

Tomorrow is July the 4th, and I will admit that I most likely will not spend time in quiet contemplation of the country we call the United States, the freedoms we enjoy as Americans and how we gained them, or what it means to be an American. I probably won't spend time thinking about our troops who are serving abroad or those people in other countries who are less fortunate than we are. I'm going to take a day off from all that and go to the lake.

Lately I've thought a lot about our country, and while I know that I am very fortunate to live here and enjoy a fine house, a good job, and all the food I care to eat, I can't help but think that I might be better off spiritually if I lived in a poor nation where I had to struggle to find enough food to keep me alive and had to sleep out in the heat or the cold. Of course, I am thankful that I don't live that way; however, I think that because of my circumstances, I have become complacent to the point that I think I am entitled to have a fine house, a good job, and more food than I can eat.

When I am truly honest, I know that the only reason I am blessed with so much is not because our government has created great opportunities for its citizens or because I took advantage of the educational opportunities we have to better myself. The only reason I am blessed with material comforts is because of God's mercy and kindness. I have done nothing to earn any of this, nor do I somehow deserve it. The more I think about it, the more humiliated I feel. I have not made God's kingdom my primary concern; I have not shared my goods with the poor; I have not sought to bring justice to the oppressed--yet God has blessed me anyway! What will I do now to show my gratitude to him?

a weird thing about me and Capital Letters

One of my weaknesses that makes it hard for me to be a writing teacher (other than spelling--we've already talked about that) is that I am a slow reader. When I read, I "say" each word in my head--I actually need to "hear" the sound of the word to fully comprehend what is being said. I don't understand how some people "speed read" by glancing at a group of words and understanding the meaning. But my reading speed has picked up out of necessity, as I usually grade about 550 essays in one 13 week semester.

One of the things that hinders the speed of my reading certain items is the use of capital letters where they don't usually belong. I'm talking about the use of Him and He in the middle of a sentence when referring to Jesus or God. Usually it's pretty easy to pick out a proper name in the middle of a sentence and not have that interfere with my reading, but I'm having a lot of trouble training myself to recognize He and Him as proper names. When I see one of those words coming up, I have already geared myself that it will be the first word of a new sentence, so I read it that way, and then when I discover that wasn't the case, I have to go back and re-read. It takes me forever to read my BSF notes because of this. And you would think that since I've been a Christian all of my life since at least the time I was learning to read that I would have gotten used to this, but I haven't.

Sometimes a student of mine will want to write about a Christian topic and will want to know if "he" and "him" are supposed to be capitalized, and I say that that was a convention invented a very long time ago that we really don't have to do. But I also tell the student that if he or she feels bad about not using a capital letter, then by all means please do so--but God isn't going to get mad at us if we don't use the capital H.

So if you ever are reading my blog and see that I don't use the capital H, it isn't meant to be disrespectful. Also, I have noticed that I usually don't use the capital B when referring to the bible, but I don't know why that is. Again, it isn't meant to be disrespectful.

Are you a teacher?

James said, "Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged by God with greater strictness" (3.1 NLT).

Are those of us who blog about Christian ideas and who cite bible verses actually teaching? Or are we simply offering opinions? Or is there any difference? Someone who reads what we write is going to be impacted in some way be what he or she reads.

Does the phrase "in the church" qualify this statement--we aren't technically "in" the church. Or is this talking about the church body as a whole and pertaining to all Christians any time, any place? The NIV text of this verse doesn't even use the phrase "in the church": "Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly." (This brings to mind the topic of accuracy in bible translations, but that's another blog.) So does this mean that anyone who teaches anything will be held to a higher standard?

I always am very careful about what I say here. I spend a considerable amount of time finding the best way to express my ideas, sometimes rewriting a single sentence again and again until I'm sure that the words I use and the possible tone they convey are expressing the exact meaning that I want to get across. I'm always thinking about my audience and how they might interpret--or misinterpret--what I say. So far I haven't been called on the carpet for anything, but I'm sure the time will come.

So I guess I'm going to continue to err on the side of caution and be very careful of what I say here.

Separation of Church and Sex

Yesterday the local news reported a story about a newborn baby found on the steps of a church in East Tennessee. According to the report, an anonymous call was made to the pastor who found the baby shortly thereafter. The report stated, “A spokesman for a Blount County group that aims to protect newborns says Tennessee's Safe Haven Law would have protected the mother from prosecution if she had left the child at a hospital, birthing center, community health clinic or outpatient clinic.”

Does this mean that the authorities will now be looking for her so that they can press abandonment charges because she apparently misunderstood the law and left the baby at the wrong place?

This story got me to thinking about Christians and how some of us are hung up on sex. Now, I don’t know this woman’s (girl’s?) situation, but my imagination being as active as it is has come up with a possible scenario: The girl comes from a conservative Christian home. Sex outside of marriage is not just frowned upon but is condemned and routinely preached against from her church’s pulpit. This girl let her hormones get the better of her and had sex with her boyfriend, which resulted in a pregnancy. She “knows” that her parents will react harshly and probably will kick her out of the house (after all, she is the biggest sinner in her church right now), so she doesn’t tell anyone and hides the pregnancy. She begins to have a fondness for baggy sweat pants and oversized shirts, and she is able to successfully disguise her baby weight. She gives birth in a bathroom—maybe she has told a friend and has some help—and knowing that the law says that newborn babies can be left at a “safe haven,” she decides to leave the baby at the church. Even though the church would condemn her for having sex outside of marriage and bringing an illegitimate child into the world, no church lady is going to turn away such a precious gift from God. (Is the irony coming through here?)

All of this deception and heartache could have been avoided if the church loosened up and actually talked realistically about sex. Why not give teenagers some real life information about it rather than just preaching about how bad and sinful it is, making teens feel like they are demon possessed for having raging hormones? And when a teen does unfortunately end up pregnant, why does the church so often ostracize the poor girl instead of lovingly taking her under its wing and helping her through the difficulty?.

We are called to bear one another’s burdens, but it seems that the church often has an aversion to helping those who fall upon hard times because of poor choices—pregnancy, drug addiction, etc.—but isn’t everyone susceptible to making a bad choice, saved and unsaved alike? We sometimes have the attitude that those who are “saved” are somehow corrupt if they happen to fall into temptation and make a bad decision, and we want to separate them from the church so that they won’t corrupt the rest of us. In reality, those people need the love of the church more than the “righteous” people do. The world will know who the real Christians are by their love, not by their judgemental attitudes.

I don't know what kind of title to give this.

In the past week, two different Republican politicians have accused Democrats of being anti-Christian.

In a radio interview on Monday, Alan Keyes said:

“The notion that the Republican party is a party that is responding--particularly I think of the moral perspective of Christian people--and that that is somehow an evidence of bigotry is I think evidence of the kind of bigoted mindset that now prevails among the Democrat leadership. They really have become a thoroughly anti-Christian party, committed to an agenda that seeks the destruction of all people of faith.”

and

“I think that the stances as we see and the kind of pejorative attacks and language of somebody like Howard Dean, we're dealing now with a party that has veered into the anti-Christian. And unless you are willing to reject all of the biblical values that Christianity is based upon, and just wear the label of Christian so that you can get votes or something, then the Democrats don't want you around.

If you are actually walking in Christ's footsteps, preaching His gospel, trying to follow His word and the law of His Father, then the Democrats are actually assaulting you and trying to curtail your freedom.” (link)


On Monday in a heated discussion on the House floor, John Hostettler said:

"the long war on Christianity in America . . . continues unabated with aid and comfort to those who would eradicate any vestige of our Christian heritage being supplied by the usual suspects, the Democrats."

and

"Like a moth to a flame, Democrats can't help themselves when it comes to denigrating and demonizing Christians." (link)

These remarks are from men who profess to be Christians. The irony here is that while they say that Democrats are actively persecuting all things Christian, these Christian men are demonizing the entire Democratic party. Have these men not read their bibles?

Don’t speak evil against each other, my dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize each other and condemn each other, then you are criticizing and condemning God’s law. But you are not a judge who can decide whether the law is right or wrong. Your job is to obey it. God alone, who made the law, can rightly judge among us. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to condemn your neighbor? (James 4. 11-12 NLT)

Shouldn’t these men, as Christians, take a higher moral ground and respond humbly rather than stoop to the level that they accuse Democrats of being on? When they make the accusation that Democrats are anti-Christian, are they not in essence calling liars their Democratic colleagues who say they are Christian?

I noticed that both these incidents took place on Monday. Perhaps Mr. Keyes and Mr. Hostettler both had a bad weekend. Maybe I'll give them the benefit of that doubt for now.

Speaking of Spelling . . .

Here's a little poem I like to share with my students:

Spelling Poem

Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong.

Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.

Writing in the Real World

I would like to get some opinions about writing in the "real world."

I have learned two things from my students over the years: 1) Most of them do not like to write, and 2) Most of them avoid reading when at all possible.

At the beginning of every semester I ask my students if they spend very much time reading, and most of them will say that they hate to read and do not do it unless they absolutely have to. When I tell them that those of them who do make it a habit to read a lot are usually pretty good writers, and that those of them who avoid reading usually are not very good writers, the non-readers seem quite shocked. I explain that the way to learn to write good sentences and paragraphs is to read good sentences and paragraphs. (Those of you with young children: Start now getting them interested in reading if you want them to do well in school.)

Another thing that most of my students don't understand is that in the "real world," people do have to write sometimes, whether it be a company memo, a newsletter, or even a complaint letter.

Here's what I'd like to know from you: Aside from blogging, how much and how often do you have occasion to write, and what types of things do you write? Also, does your reading affect your writing in any way?

I am hoping that if my students see comments from "real world people" they will be impacted in some way to take reading and writing more seriously.

Good news for Tennesseans

I just got my copy of "Revenue Review" from the TN Dept. of Revenue (one of the "perks" of owning a business in TN--by the way, every time that envelope arrives in the mail that says TN Dept. of Revenue on it, I start to panic), and it says that starting in August of 2006 "Tennessee will have an annual sales tax holiday that starts each year at 12:01 a.m. on the first Friday in August and ends at 11:59 p.m. on the following Sunday. During the holiday, the following items are exempt from sales tax: 1) clothing with a price of $100 or less per item; 2) school supplies with a price of $100 or less per item; and 3) computers with a price of $1500 or less per item." Clothing accessories, computer software, art supplies, sports equipment, and protective equipment (Does this mean jock straps?) are not included.

Make note of this and don't go to Wal-Mart on those days.

An honest question about a touchy subject.

I keep hearing conservative Christian radio preachers and politicians say that it is imperative that we pass a federal marriage amendment that recognizes marriage only between one man and one woman--basically prohibiting any states from passing marriage laws favorable to homosexual people. They say that allowing homosexuals to marry will endanger the institution of marriage. What I don't hear them say is just how marriage for heterosexuals will be in jeopardy. I guess I always miss that part. I really want to know how my rights as a married person or the rights of any other Christian heterosexual who is married or wants to marry will be in jeopardy. Can you explain it to me?

Really, I'm not trying to be a smart alec here--I really don't know the answer.

Trees and Things

For some time now, I have been praying for the spiritual growth of someone dear to me, and for the same amount of time, I have been quite frustrated with this person's lack of growth. I ask God all the time, "When are you going to do something?" The other day I got really fed up and decided that it was a waste of my time to keep praying about it and told God that.

Not long after that, Mom and I were sitting on my patio underneath the shade tree that I had planted a few years ago when she mentioned that at the time I planted that tree, she didn't have much hope that it would survive. Indeed, when Husband and I put it in the ground, it was a stick with leaves on it, and a few days later, the leaves shriveled up and turned brown. I decided to go and pull it up, but for some reason I kept neglecting to go out there and do it. Then one day I looked out, and that tree had started growing new leaves and new branches and was all pretty and green. Now that tree is almost as tall as the house and provides a tremendous amount of cool shade.

I guess sometimes people are like trees. The growth that we want to see isn't evident on the outside for a long time because all its strength is going into putting down good roots. Eventually when the roots are established, the fruit (or leaves) will be evident to everyone looking at it. Growth is a slow process, and most of it takes place under the surface where we can't see it.

OK, now I feel really silly that I had to learn this lesson from such a simple illustration. Maybe I'm the one that is growing so slowly!

Celebrities again

The other day over at Preston's blog, he mentioned some organizations that are working on fighting hunger and poverty and a couple of celebrities who are involved with the organizations.

That got me to thinking about what I was talking about the other day--our society's obsession with celebrities. I wonder, if celebrities who are Christians would come out for Jesus in a very vocal way and start endorsing organizations that fight against hunger and poverty--and say that this is how Jesus and the apostles wanted us to demonstrate our love for each other--and if Christian celebrities were to set that example, would that help Christians to be more unified and more people to be attracted to Christianity?

Just a thought.

PS Happy Father's Day to all you dads!

Render Unto Caesar

I recently ran across this comment on another blog (actually, the topic under discussion didn’t really have anything to do with what appears here; the discussion had sort of gone off on a tangent, and I didn’t want to comment there and add to any confusion):

The State is given the power of the sword, and it is for that reason we pay taxes. To tax some in order to provide "benefits" for others is not only inefficient (bureaucracies cost enormous sums to sustain), which is bad stewardship, but it is also a form of theft, in addition to taking from people the blessing of providing charity individually in the name of Christ.

I really had to take issue with parts of this. Now, I hate to pay taxes as much as anyone else. On April 15^th as I begrudgingly write my check to Uncle Sam, I think about all the terrible ways that my hard-earned money will be wasted rather than what good might happen with it. However, although government bureaucracies can indeed be very inefficient and even wasteful, many needy Americans get some services that they need because I pay my taxes.

I have heard many people say that it isn’t fair (and that it’s even thievery) for the government to take money out of the hands of hardworking people and give it to others who haven’t lifted a finger to earn it, and to an extent I agree with this idea. Paul taught against idleness saying that whoever does not work should not eat (2 Thes. 3.10). I believe that able-bodied people who receive benefits from the government should do some kind of work, to the best of their ability, to earn their benefits, if only for a few hours each week. Everyone has some sort of skill or could perform some sort of task that could be utilized somewhere in society. A good example of how this works is with the organization Habitat for Humanity. People who receive a new house have to put in hours working on not only their house, but houses for others as well. As another example, on college campuses, students can participate in work-study programs, receiving partial scholarships for a few hours work on campus every week. Government agencies could implement work programs like these just as easily as private organizations can. In this way, recipients of benefits have the satisfaction of personal responsibility, and taxpayers have the satisfaction of knowing that their tax dollars are not enabling laziness and idleness.

Those of us who profess to believe in God have a responsibility to obey his commands. For Christians, Jesus said that the entire law can be summed up in “Love God with all your heart,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” One of the things that God repeatedly took issue with in the bible was when people overlooked the plight of the poor, foreigners, widows and orphans. (If you look up just the word widows, you’ll find that these four categories of people are almost always mentioned together in the OT.) In fact, God set up some laws to protect the interests of these disadvantaged people, and one of these laws was a 10% tax on crops to be paid every third year (Deut. 14.28-29). Now, we like to use the word “tithe”; it sounds so noble and holy, but let’s call it what it really was—it was a tax paid to the government of Israel, the leader of which just happened to be God and not an elected official. God even set up a “bureaucracy” (the Levites) to keep up with and dispense the tithes. So to imply that God does not endorse the use of taxation to help the disadvantaged is a misreading of the bible. (Incidentally, “bureaucracy” is not a negative word; here’s the definition: Administration of a government chiefly through bureaus or departments staffed with nonelected officials.)

Finally, to say that we are robbed of a blessing by having to pay taxes rather than to help others on our own is a false claim. In Romans 13.1-7, Paul discusses the need to obey the government and to pay taxes because God is the one who has put that government in place. Yes, some governments are corrupt. Yes, some government programs are ineffective. However, God is in control; he allowed those programs to be put into place, so it is our duty to support those programs with our taxes. We’ll be blessed when we do what we’re supposed to do. To think that we are doing a better service if we give to a charity instead of to the government is not necessarily correct either. Charities have levels of bureaucracy to ensure that monies are distributed properly, and even some of the best charities have been known to have problems. If we totally avoid any bureaucracy by giving directly to poor people, we aren’t being nearly as effective as larger organizations which have the ability to obtain large quantities of food or more services for less money.

I have to say that I am one of the first to criticize the government and how it does things, and I’ll say again that I hate paying taxes. But from now on when I begin to complain, I’m going to try to remind myself that God says that paying taxes is good. When I do what I’m supposed to do, I am blessed. After the money leaves my hands, God will deal with those who spend it.

Sorry this is so long.

Dumb Question

If I enjoyed sharing my bed with little boys and freely admitted this fact to the public, would I be in jail right now?

Part of the Crowd

Just been thinking about what I was saying about our obsession with celebrities and how we will stand in line for hours for an autograph, and we’ll even spend our hard-earned money to fly across the ocean in order to stand in that line just to spend a few seconds with that person who seems so larger than life. Nashville is full of these people right now attending Fan Fair, and just down the road in Manchester is a group of about 75,000 people who are attending Bonaroo. Some of these Bonaroo people are the same ones who spend their time traveling all over the country from concert to concert following bands like The Grateful Dead, Phish, and Widespread Panic. The Fan Fair people and the Bonaroo people have their differences, but they are similar, I think, in that they are both searching for some kind of fulfillment of an empty spot in their lives.

I have noticed that this phenomenon was not invented in the 20^th century. We know from the bible that at one time Jesus fed a crowd of 5,000 people, and another time a crowd of 4,000 (and some commentaries say that was just the number of men!), so I can only imagine that hundreds of people were following him around most of the time. (I’m getting the mental image of Forrest Gump running down the road with the crowd of people running behind him.) Jesus couldn’t go into a town without being recognized. Everywhere he went, people wanted to get close enough to touch him. He frequently taught from a boat out in the lake, probably so that the crowd wouldn’t mob him.

I have to wonder what these people hoped to gain by following Jesus around. I’m sure that some of them genuinely were interested in his teaching and wanted to know God better. I know that many people came to him to be healed from various diseases and maladies. A lot of people probably had an idea that he was the Messiah and were hoping for him to rescue Israel then and there, and they wanted a piece of the kingdom. Some were probably there for personal gain. I can imagine little entrepreneurial endeavors going on at the Jesus venues. People found out where he would be and hitched up their cart to their donkey and arrived early to set up shop to sell sandwiches and soup to all the other followers.

A lot of people, I’m sure, were just like these people at Fan Fair in Nashville. They just wanted to get close to a celebrity. They wanted to be able to go home and tell all their friends that they got to shake hands with Jesus and feel important. Maybe some of them were like these concert goers (is “groupies” still the right word?) and they felt a sense of community and belonging when they were with a crowd of people with a similar interest. While they were there with the crowd, their sense of emptiness was not as acute, but when they went home and the excitement wore off, the same emptiness returned.

I think this is the problem with a lot of people today. We have a sense of emptiness that needs to be filled. We feel lonely and just want someone to notice us and make us feel special. Yes, cultivating a relationship with God through the love of Jesus can ease that pain, but even people who have developed that relationship and have been in it for a long time are still needy. They go to church and feel a sense of belonging for a couple of hours, but that feeling has long worn off by Monday afternoon. And some cannot find that sense of belonging for even those couple of hours because of the prejudices of those inside the church.

Our churches need to do a better job of welcoming a diversity of thought inside the church doors. When a lost seeker comes inside, the church needs to be welcoming without being dogmatic. And when those who have already found the love of Jesus come searching for a welcoming crowd, we need to celebrate that which we have in common—Christ’s love for us and our love for him. And we need to do a better job of loving those who don’t think exactly as we do. When someone’s ideas don’t line up with our own, instead of dismissing him or her as wrong, we need to open our hearts and learn from that person. To do so does not compromise our own values, and it brings us much closer to the humility that Jesus said we should have.

I do not look like Renee Zellweger.

The other day Husband came home and said, “Guess whose driveway we paved today.”

Husband is an owner-operator dump trick driver, hauling asphalt and gravel for a company that builds roads, parking lots, driveways, and such. So he’s been in a lot of different neighborhoods, and anything that’s new around the Nashville area, he’s probably seen up close.

“I don’t know,” I said. “Whose?”

“Guess!” he replied.

Well, Husband doesn’t usually play the guessing game, so I figured it had to be somebody very important. “Well, where did you work today?” I figured if I knew the location, I might could come up with a name.

“Outside of Franklin,” he said.

“Um…....One of the Judd’s?” I don’t know anybody else around that area.

“No, guess again.”

“I don’t know. I can’t guess. Just tell me.”

“Kenny and Renee,” he said.

“Kenny and Renee,” I repeated. I was clueless.

“You mean you don’t know Kenny and Renee?”

“Kenny…….Rogers?” I tell you, I’m clueless.

“No, Kenny Chesney and Renee Zellweger.”

“Oh,” I said. Now this news just did not impact me the way that he apparently expected it to. He seemed a little disappointed that I wasn’t more enthused. (You see, we’ve discussed Renee before; one of my students told me once that I look like Renee, and my husband agreed. I told him he was nuts—I’m much better looking!). To tell you the truth, I wasn’t all that enthused because people’s celebrity status has never really impressed me all that much, even when I was thirteen and saw Reba McEntyre in J. C. Penney or when I was older and working in the grocery store and Allen Jackson came in. (Oh, I also saw Allen Jackson at the Chapel Hill tractor pull. He had to stand in line at the Port-O-John just like everybody else.) Living in the Nashville area, you sometimes have the chance to bump into celebrities, and honestly, I don’t see why some people think it’s such a big deal.

But apparently it is. The CMA Music Festival (formerly known as Fan Fair) is going on right now, and people have traveled from far and wide just for the chance at rubbing elbows with a country music star. These people stand in long lines for hours under the hot sun in humidity so thick you can practically see it just for an autograph and maybe a picture with a “star.” And they will go home and show it off to all their friends and blow up the pictures and frame them and hang them in a prominent spot in their house. They will always remember the day they met Deirks Bentley, or Mel Tillis, or Jessica Andrews (Husband knows her dad) as one of the best days of their life.

Now tell me, how have these people’s lives been enriched by the experience? How will they be better people because of it? If one of the defining moments (as Dr. Phil would call it) of my life is the day I stood in line for five hours to get an autograph from insert famous person’s name here, that isn’t saying a lot for me. I kind of feel sorry for those people.

“So, did you see her?”

“I’m not sure. A woman drove in in a gray Lexus, but I’m not sure if it was her.”

“Well, what did you see?”

“Well, they’ve got a big shed with several real nice John Deere tractors.”

Now that’s really impressive!

My Desire vs. God's Will

Recently I visited another blog and took part in a discussion of family planning. The discussion was over the choice of whether or not to have children and why people believe what they do about birth control. For the most part, the participants did not believe in the use of birth control (and some believe to use it is a sin). The overwhelming opinion of the discussion was that the bible says that children are a blessing and that married people are to be fruitful and multiply and that God is ultimately the decision maker on who should and should not have children and when and how many children a couple will have.

Now leave it to me to have a different opinion. Neither Husband nor I have any desire to have any children. In my discussion I came to the conclusion that maybe God has no use for us to have any, and if God wanted us to have children, he would give us that desire. I also said that after prayerfully considering God's will for my life and am completely at peace with my decision not to have children. Therefore, I see the decision to use birth control just as much an act of faith as the decision for others not to use it.

Today I was listening to the radio and heard a verse that I have read many times before, Philippians 2.12-13: “[ . . . ] continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, ^ for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” God works in me to will (or desire) and to act according to his good purpose. That pretty much confirmed for me the argument that I had been making. I think that most of the time, when God wants me to do something, he’ll put that desire in my heart. Here’s an example: (Bear with me, this story really does have a point.) When I was in college, I decided to major in English. I just liked the subject and enjoyed putting my thoughts down on paper. (I even like writing research papers—weird, I know!) Now, I didn’t pray about the decision to change my major; I just had a desire to study English, so I did. However, I thought, “What am I going to do with a degree in English if I don’t teach it?” so I enrolled in education classes so that I could get my license to teach high school English. I took the first class in the series, and really learned a lot. Then I began the second class in the series, and for some reason, I just didn’t have the desire to continue. It wasn’t that teaching didn’t seem attractive, but I just didn’t want to continue taking those classes. So I decided to drop the class (again without praying about it), and as soon as I did—I mean, at the moment I handed in the paperwork—I felt a real sense of peace about the situation. I’ll spare you any more details of how I actually did become a teacher, but the main point here is that I had a desire, and I acted on it. Maybe some will say that I should have spent time in prayer over the decision, but I think that this is just how God works with me.

I believe that we as humans have diverse wants and desires for a reason. We aren’t all meant to do the same types of work—our personalities aren’t all suited for the same types of things. God made us individuals with individual thought processes and individual personalities for a reason. He speaks to us in different ways. He has a path for everybody, and not everybody is meant to go down the same path. What is right for one person is not necessarily what is right for another. And the way I make decisions about things may not seem right to some, but it seems right for me.

I hope I haven’t rambled too much here, but this makes sense to me. What are your thoughts?

Parts is parts.

For the past few days there’s been a lady teacher (is it too sexist to say “lady teacher”?) on the radio talking about Christian women and the way we dress. I haven’t heard all she’s said because this apparently has been a series over several days. I caught part of it last week and part of it yesterday as I was running errands in town. Anyway, she has stressed the need for Christian women to maintain modesty in their dress so as not to cause men to stumble. I’ve pretty much agreed with what she said. Christian women really don’t have any business showing off their parts to men they aren’t married to. She talked about how men can be very easily enticed, and we don’t want to be the cause of any man to stumble in his Christian walk, and we certainly don’t want to go around tempting other women’s husbands.

This all sounds good to me. You wouldn’t believe the way some of my female college students dress when the weather starts to get warm, and even when it’s still cold out. All that cleavage has got to be distracting to the guys in class. And some of these girls don’t need to be sitting on the front row wearing their low rise jeans with guys sitting behind them. So yes, I agree, women need to be a little more concerned about modesty.

Now here’s where I have a problem. This lady teacher started getting specific yesterday. She mentioned certain body parts that are alluring to men and how we need to keep them covered up. Of course, breasts. We don’t want our bosoms popping out for men to see. Thighs—no miniskirts or Daisy Dukes. The back—OK, I can see where that might be a problem for some men. The shoulders—so does that mean that Christian women shouldn’t wear tank tops? How far do we have to take this? What if some men find long, flowing hair sexy? If we have to consider every body part that a man might find enticing, then we shouldn’t even wear sandals! Heaven forbid that I tempt some man with my toe rings.

OK, I know I’m getting a little silly here, but seriously, how much do Christian women need to cover up? And what is the man’s responsibility here?

I can't come to a conclusion about unity.

This past year in BSF, we studied the Acts of the Apostles, reading Acts and several NT letters. The one theme that kept jumping out at me was the idea of unity. The apostles continually reminded believers to be unified, to not become distracted by ideas that could cause divisions between them. Paul told the Ephesians, "Be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love. Always keep yourselves united in the Holy Spirit, and bind yourselves together with peace" (4.2-3 NLT).

I like that phrase, make allowance for each other's faults. Why do we get so bent out of shape over people's human tendancies? We all have faults, but I guess in order to make ourselves feel better, we like to think that our faults aren't as bad as someone else's faults. I've been plenty guilty of this, and that's a fault in itself; it's just a part of being human, I suppose.

What's interesting is that what I might consider a fault in a person, someone else might consider a good quality in that person. So if I go badmouthing that person for his or her "fault," I am offending the people who like that person, and I am guilty of not controlling my tongue, making my religion worthless and creating the risk of starting a virtual forest fire, as James would say.

Just because we are all human with our own selfish tendencies, one little remark can cause severe disunity in a body of believers. How sad. But what's even sadder to me is that we don't really seem to want to overcome this tendency. We want our way, and we want everyone else to do it our way too. Examples: Churches split up all the time over issues that shouldn't even be important--like what style of worship to have; Christian friends get mad at each other over politics--church politics and government politics; we hold to certain doctrines that may or may not be perfectly correct scripturally and ostracize those who don't agree. The list goes on. We create and perpetuate divisions because we'd rather be right than unified. In reality, the spiritual lives of Christians sometimes aren't that much better than the spiritual lives of those outside the church because we go on creating chaos for ourselves. No wonder so many unbelievers remain unbelievers.

OK, the English teacher in me says that now I'm supposed to write a conclusion paragraph, but right now I can't come to a conclusion, so I think I'll get up and get some more coffee.

Secrets

I'm probably way behind the times in finding this, but recently I visited the Postsecret blog. If you haven't seen it, you should take a few minutes and go look. The site invites readers to anonymously mail in a postcard on which they have written a secret about themselves. Many of the postcards are really creative. Some are funny ("I like the smell of my own farts."), and some are sad ("I am contemptuous of others so it hurts less when they are indifferent to me.").

I was amazed at some of the secrets that people revealed and at how similar some of the secrets were. It really got me to thinking about how little we really know about the people around us, and it saddened me to realize that many people hurt very badly deep down inside but never tell anyone of their hurt for fear of being ridiculed or hated. How sad that we feel we can't share our vulnerabilities with one another.

Oh God, let me be more compassionate and sensitive of others' needs, and let me help them carry their burdens as they help me carry mine.