|
| It's been so long since I've even been to this site... but I'm posting this here mainly just to have it be somewhere where I can get to it later... I don't really expect anyone to read this... it's 5 bazillion pages long. Well, I'll put it this way, in Microsoft Word it's about 10 full pages... and it's only Monday. This is just me writing about what God is revealing to me and this is what he's revealed to me since Saturday. It's spring break and I'm spending the week on my own and I'm learning a lot... so here goes.
And hey, if you do end up reading through the whole thing, maybe I'll give you a dollar... But it's really just for me to be able to have online to access it at any point even if I don't have the computer file that it's saved as on me... so there. :)
Saturday
The Boy Jesus at the Temple (Luke 2:41-52)
Jesus’ parents thought they had everything they needed. They were going the right way; they were doing the right things; they were with the right people; it was all good. After this went on for a while, however, they realized they were missing the most important part of their life: their son, Jesus.
You grew up in the church, your parents grew up in the church, and your grandparents grew up in the church and so on. You go to a Christian school and you even get A’s in all of your Bible classes. You go to church every Sunday and Wednesday. You hang out with the good Christian kids… You’ve got this whole ‘trip’ down. That is, until you realize that you’re missing the most important part of life: Jesus.
When they realized he wasn’t with them, they looked everywhere for him. They had just assumed he was right there with them, or at least somewhere in the group because they were doing everything else right, but he wasn’t. They asked around – friends, neighbors, family members, but they didn’t find him there. They headed back to Jerusalem to search for him there.
You just assume Jesus is in your life because you’re going the right way and doing the right thins… but when you stop and take a good look around, you can’t find him anywhere. You start to ask the people around you: your friends, parents, teachers… but you don’t find him there. So now you have to head back to square one to figure out how to find Jesus. You have to actually look.
His parents found him at the temple soaking up wisdom and knowledge from the teachers there. He was preparing to do what he was sent here to do. His parents were amazing at the wisdom he had, but they were upset with him. His mom asked him why he would treat them like that and told him they had been searching all over the place for him. He told them they shouldn’t have been searching for him – they should’ve known he had to be in his father’s house.
When you get back to the place you were when you lost track of Jesus, you find that he’s still there. He’s doing his job there. You get upset and ask why he left you – you explain how you looked all over for him and he never showed up. He tells you that he never left you, you’re the one who left him, you just didn’t realize it at the time. He says that you were looking for him in all the wrong places – you should’ve known where to find him all along. If you’re looking to find him in your own way or through other people or just where you think he should be, you’ll never find him. He’s not going to automatically fit himself into your life and so adjust himself to fit what you want… you have to seek him and join him where he is.
Treasure all these things in your heart as Mary did, even though she didn’t understand. As you stay with Jesus and don’t expect him to go where you want him to go, you’ll increase with him in wisdom and in favor with God and people. “We can’t fit God’s will into our lives, we must fit our lives into God’s will.”
Random Thoughts
- It’s weird being in someone else’s home – making myself home in their absence… I wonder about their lives and the way they live.
- “What if this really is as good as it gets?”
- I’m thinking of just going downtown tomorrow afternoon and just walking around… observing life.
- Tomorrow will be my first time going to church by myself since I’ve been here…
My Heart Goes Out – Warren Barfield
She sat a table away, staring into space, in her own little world. And I saw a tear in her eye, like a window to the mind of a frightened little girl. She never said a word, but I know I clearly heard a cry for help, and I wanted to answer – I wanted to tell her…
My heart goes out to you. You don’t even know me, you don’t even know… My heart goes out to you. I don’t know what else to do to reach you now – my heart goes out.
I’m still glued to my chair. She’s unaware. There’s little time. And though my intentions are good, if I’m misunderstood, the price could be high. I can’t fix whatever’s wrong, but if I fail to pass along: “someone cares,” the price couldn’t be greater. This can’t wait til later…
My heart goes out to you. You don’t even know me, you don’t even know… My heart goes out to you. I don’t know what else to do to reach you now – my heart goes out.
For God has loved the world so much, he sent his only son from Heaven to Earth. Well there’s the distance love covered – she’s just a table over, all she needs is a shoulder.
My heart goes out.
Thoughts to God
-Let your love flow through me and help someone in need of a shoulder…
Sunday
The Tract – Pioneer Square
A little boy walks around handing everyone in sight a little card telling them about salvation. I would guess he’s about 8 years old. His older brother (somewhere around 11 years old) films him from a distance. I saw one girl get up and leave before he made his way to her. I wonder how effective this method could really be. The kid didn’t even make eye contact with me when he handed me the card. I tried smiling at him and saying “thank you” because I know how nervous he must be, but he just handed me the card and hurried off to the next person.
I looked back and saw his mother handing out cards on the corner with two other kids in a stroller. Would anyone take this card seriously since an 8-year-old boy gave it to them? It spurred my thoughts; I’ll give you that. I marked my place in my book, put it down, grabbed my notebook and started writing. I can’t say the same for anyone else though. Most people didn’t even bother to see what it was all about, they just set it down and went about their conversation, a bit frustrated that a little boy interrupted it… Some people looked over it to see what it was, and then once they realized it was just a Jesus ad, they set it down.
I looked at it… And sure enough, it was like every other Jesus ad I’ve seen. I wonder if they get them all from the same place, www.tract.com? I can’t see these being very convincing. They start off on the wrong foot, so to speak. It says this: “Will you be innocent or guilty on the Day of Judgment? Listen to your conscience. You know that you will be guilty, and therefore end up in Hell.” See, if I were reading something like this for the first time and I didn’t know the rest of the story on my own, I would’ve stopped there and just had a bad impression of this God guy.
It ended the “right” way though, I guess. It had a prayer to pray for redemption and instructions to read the Bible (well, it said ‘read the Bible’) and it had the address to a website (which I visited later and it was an evangelical website, telling you how to share your faith, not answering any questions anyone might have about having faith in the first place). I looked back to where the mother had been, hoping to maybe talk to her, find out where they go to church, maybe share my story and hear hers… but they had already left. They couldn’t have been here longer than 10-15 minutes.
I don’t think that’s how Jesus wants us to spread the good news about him – with an impersonal card that tell people they’re going to Hell. I’ll give that family credit for their courage to come to Pioneer Square and try to evangelize, but I’m really disappointed that they didn’t really seem to care about people enough to actually talk to anyone and show God’s love. And what was with the video camera? Why would you film an 8 year old boy handing impersonal cards to strangers?
…Well it looks like the family is still here at Pioneer Square (2 hours later), they’re just making their way around. The father, I guess, came up and talked to 2 girls sitting next to me, but it was mainly just small talk. He asked them if they had any Christian background. I think one of them said their dad used to be a pastor or something, I’m not sure, but that was it. No real talk about faith or religion – he spent most of the time talking about how one type of tract that he had looked cooler than the other one. But he assured the girls that they both had the same message on the back. I smirked a little bit, and I’m pretty sure he saw that… He never offered me a tract that looked like a million dollar bill or asked me if I had a Christian background… I guess I can’t blame him. I mean, I wouldn’t want to talk to someone who might actually talk back…
I guess I really can’t say anything else about this family though. At least they’re doing something with their faith – even if I don’t think they’re going about it the right way – I’m just sitting here writing.
The Rest of My Day…
I’d venture to say this was one of the best days I’ve ever had. I’m not really sure how to put my finger on why though, just because. I think it’s because I started off right – I ate breakfast. :) And I did go to church by myself for the first time since I moved here. Normally, if everyone else bailed on me I would just bail too and go back to bed til 3, but I went today. I’m glad I did.
Today was just such a good day that I could have a crappy rest of the week and it would still be worth it. I hope I don’t have a crappy rest of the week, of course, but today was a good day. I wouldn’t even be able to write down half of what I experienced in just the 6ish hours I spent downtown. I mean, you saw how much I wrote about just that one family I saw in Pioneer Square… And then there’s Blair… Lair? I didn’t really catch his name that well, but that was awesome. I guess I’ll get to that. Back to church.
It was a guest speaker because the main guy was gone for some reason. I saw Ryan Rouse and James Dupey a few rows in front of me. The guy was talking about the hour of glory (God’s glory) instead of Andy Warhol’s 15 minutes of fame (human glory) – using John 12 as his main point (Jesus’ hour of glory). It was hard to follow him because he didn’t seem to have a real clear point and he kept telling stories that didn’t really tie in… but the part that I think was the main part was about the kernel of wheat and how if you love your life you’ll lose it, and if you hate it you’ll have eternal life. Don’t settle for 15 minutes of fame on earth – strive for God’s hour of glory.
He mentioned something from Donald Miller’s book, Blue Like Jazz, and it struck me. It wasn’t whatever he said from the book that struck me, though you’d think it would be. I wrote it on my hand so I wouldn’t forget: Donald Miller. His name. His books have become really popular lately – especially at school. Well, that’s really all I have to judge by, I don’t know much about what goes on outside of Cascade, as pathetic as that sounds…
So I stopped by the library on my way home to get Blue Like Jazz but they didn’t have it, so I placed a hold on it and picked up Searching For God Knows What instead. They had all of the freshman read that at the beginning of the year. I’ve been meaning to borrow it from someone and read it, but I haven’t yet. I was excited to read it. I still am… After the library I headed home, ate lunch, then packed up my back to head downtown as planned. I was sort of watching 7th Heaven in the background of making my dinner later tonight and someone had said, “You plan, and God laughs.” So true.
The plan was to park at the Lloyd Center, ride the max downtown, get off at Pioneer Square, sit and read for a few hours and be back home in time for dinner… The first two things went according to plan. :) Somehow I missed the Pioneer Square stop – I’m not really sure why. I just remember going from the stop before it all the way up to PGE Park, so I got of there. I was just going to hop on the eastbound train for a ride back, but I decided to walk. I got some fairly cool pictures, if I might say so myself. I’m no professional photographer or anything like that, I’m not even that good… but I liked what I saw and how I saw it, so I tried my best to capture that. Dang, this is only 2pm, I still have 6 more hours to write about!
I really like smiling at people when I’m walking down the sidewalk… they smile back. It’s so much better than that awkward “make-eye-contact-but-pretend-you-didn’t-see-each-other-and-stare-at-the-ground-as-you-walk-by” thing. I hope that when I smile at people it makes them feel welcome. Not that they need me to make them feel welcome, but… I don’t know. When people smile at me, even if it’s just an obligatory smile because I smiled first, I feel welcome. I feel better than just some random stranger walking by. I feel acknowledged and accepted and… welcome. I hope other people feel that why when I smile. Smiling’s my favorite! :)
So I got to Pioneer Square and took a seat on the brick steps. It’s soooo nice to have a place where people can just go and sit, you know? It doesn’t matter if they’re with a huge group of people or just by themselves, they can just sit there. And you know you’re not the only one watching everyone – and it’s not creepy or anything, it’s life. And observing other people sparks wonder and imagination in our minds, and we need that. So I sat there for a whole listening to David Crowder Band’s Illuminate. It’s a good cd – I listened to it for 6 hours straight – I planned it that way, and God was okay with that plan of mine. I pulled out my computer, surfed the net for a while (for free! Thanks Portland!), then pulled out my book to read, as per my plan. Ha. I got to the middle of page… 2 when the little boy handed me the card.
I tried just putting the card down, going back to my book, and then writing about it later, but so much for that. I pulled out my notebook right away. Not that I have any insight or wisdom that I wanted to write down in case I were to someday share it with the rest of the world, I just think better when I write. Like now. See, I don’t really talk that well, my thoughts get so jumbled up and never make sense – even to me – so I write them down and try to figure out what I think on paper. That’s how I roll.
So I wrote for a while and then I went back to just observing life. I took pictures of people – sitting, relaxing, playing hackey sack, running on the stairs, eating chocolate, living. Then I walked around downtown some more. I rode a couple of elevators in parking garages – those are my favorite. Seriously. Whoever decided to put up parking garages with elevators to ride in at all hours of the day or night sure knew what they were doing – they’re the best, I really like them. I took some more fun pictures. I ended up taking about 75 pictures from the whole day, which is a lot for me, a lot a lot. Look at this – and I haven’t even gotten to the bicycle guy yet! But I might be building that part of my day to up to be the biggest part but I’m realizing now that it was still only part… so we’ll see.
After the 2nd parking garage I went to, the one with the helipad that I used to sit on top of at night with Billie Jo, Jason, and Jay, I started walking down to the waterfront. I just happened to look in the Subway window as I passed it, and it’s a good thing I did because Silas was working there, how funny. So I went in and said hi, bought a cup of coke and talked with him for a few minutes. He’s such an interesting person. As I was l leaving he said, “Yeah, you guys come again, no one ever comes down here.” …don’t let me forget that. We go visit other people at work sometimes, and so next time I’m in the area I’ll stop by to see if he’s working.
So I walked by the waterfront for a while – took a lot of pictures of the bridges… they’re my favorite. I know, I have a lot of favorites, it’s who I am. :) But I really love the bridges. After walking for a while, I found a good spot to sit down, so I did. I surfed the net for a while longer, and then I pulled out my book to read some more. I got all the way to page 22 this time before getting distracted. He stopped his bike in front of me and I didn’t catch what he said at first so I pulled out my headphones and put down my book.
He asked me if I wouldn’t mind him reading to me from his little book about soul searching or something, and if I thought he did a good enough job if I would give him any change. I told him I only had $.50 on me, which really was true – even though I usually lie to people because I don’t like giving my money to people that I don’t know, as awful as that is. But I told him I’d be more than happy to give him what I had, so he plopped himself down on the ground next to me.
He told me to pick a number between 1 and 60-something and I picked 17, so he flipped to that page and read about how you need to love yourself. Forgive and forget the past and truly love yourself because you are a child of God… When he was done reading, I asked him if he was a Christian, and that sparked an hour or so long conversation and it was fun. He was a very weird person – he couldn’t seem to decide whether he wanted to stand up or sit down, lean on his bike or lean up against the wall, look me in the eye or look in the opposite direction; and he would either interrupt me or not fully listen to me all the time and get distracted easily, but boy did he know what he was talking about.
He knew the Bible better than anyone I know just about. Well, maybe not quite seeing as I go to a Christian school and a lot of the teachers spent their whole education studying the Bible, but this guy sure knew a lot… I wish I remembered his name…
He’s not a Christian, that’s a label. Label’s put God in a box in order for us to try to grasp ideas that we aren’t able to grasp. If we’re going to call ourselves Christians then we sure as heck be able to be 100% Christian 100% of the time. I’m paraphrasing, of course, because he talked so much and he was hard to follow sometimes even though I got the basic gist of it all. He would share some points with me, I would share some points with him, and I really enjoyed talking to him and hearing his views on everything.
He has the most emphasis on God’s spirit – that’s the most important part of our faith, he says. Without that we can’t even have faith. I remember being in the middle of saying somethi… no wait, scratch that, sorry… he was in the middle of saying something and he looked at my bad, mid-sentence, and asked me if I smoked tobacco, haha. After I said no, he just jumped right back into what he was saying. Then a little bit later, here’s where I was in the middle of saying something and he stopped me and asked if I was a Sagittarius. I said no and he said, “O—okay, go on.” He was… interesting. :)
So we talked for a while about the spirit… We spent most of the time talking about how people try to put God in this little box for whatever they want to see in him and how wrong that is. And how most people see the Bible and read it, but just stop there and don’t try to seek and understand the God that’s outside of the Bible – because even though the Bible is God-breathed and inspired by God, it was still written by men. It’s just paper and ink and it can only reveal so much about God and Jesus and the Spirit, so we can’t solely rely on the Bible. There’s so much wisdom and understanding in the Bible and it helps you to be able to know and discern the truth, but so many people just stop there and there’s so much more in life.
We started to talk about music for a little bit. I like music. A lot. I guess you could say… it’s my favorite :) He was surprised that I listen to anything from indie/folk music to hardcore/metal. I like when that surprises people – there’s so much more to life than being narrow minded about music, unless it’s country, that just needs to die a painful death. But then we talked about faith and our lives some more. I pulled out my Bible and we shared our favorite verses. He was surprised that I know as much of the Bible as I do. He seemed shocked when I told him how I had grown up in the church and everything.
We talked about church – he doesn’t like it. He’s all about private fellowship and the gathering of the saints and stuff, but he thinks when it comes to churches they just miss the main point. They get so caught up in being a church that they lose sight of what it’s really all about. He’s heard a lot of good things about Imago Dei though, I told him that’s where I’ve been going lately. He says he knows several guys from there who are truly spiritual people (not Christian, that’s a label).
He made it very clear that I can’t just rely on the fact that everyone there is a truly spiritual person and to be aware because there are a lot of corrupt people in churches. And he told me to find and talk to and get to know the 20-somethings who go there and get their views on faith. Because the leaders of the church may be on the right track to understanding God and living in the Spirit, but if the random people further down the ladder (for lack of a better description) aren’t on that same path then the leaders have missed the point completely… At least that’s what I got out of what he was saying. We parted ways not long after that. The sun was going down and I was getting cold, so I packed up and headed off. He told me he’d see me around. I hope he does. I hope I can get to know him, learn about his life and learn from his insights about God…
He might have wanted to ask me out, it was funny. Earlier in the conversation, he did one of his usual interrupting whatever was being said with a random question. He asked me what I was doing tonight and I said “nothing,” and then after an awkward silence for a moment he just went back o whatever he was saying before that… Then as I was walking off and he was riding his bike next to me for a little bit, he said, “So are you doing anything tonight with your friends? Do you have friends? Do you go to clubs? Do you listen to only Christian music?” almost all in one breath. I told him that I listen to all kinds of music and referred to our conversation about music from earlier. I started to say something about my friends all being gone for spring break and he said, “Well my name’s [Lair? Blair? Gah! I can’t remember.]. So I’ll, uh, see you around!” And off he went… and that was it, haha.
So I walked around some more, of course took some more pictures. There were these large rocks by the river that had sayings engraved on them, and one really stuck out to me. “With new hope, we build new lives. Why complain when it rains? This is what it means to be free.” I’m pretty sure that this was God speaking to me yet again today – as if he hadn’t enough already. When the bike guy and I (his name… gah!) were sharing our favorite verses, he was telling me how Romans 8 was his favorite chapter. Romans 8: 15 says, “The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.” And Romans 8:17 says, “Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings that we may also share in his glory.”
So seeing that engraved on that rock just minutes after that conversation sort of reiterated the points that were made. When we live in the Spirit we have a new hope. And when the Spirit lives in us it completely changes our life all around. And we will suffer because Jesus suffered, but we can’t complain when we suffer because it means the Spirit is working in our lives – it means we’re free from the slavery of sin. And even though we’re suffering, we know that if we love God, he’s working everything to come together for good and to glorify him (Romans 8:28).
It’s 3:30 in the morning – I should go to sleep. But I’m not sure if I can sleep. I gained a whole new perspective on life today – my mind seems to be running a mile a minute. I just want to go everything that I experienced today and do what Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 5:19-22, “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject whatever is harmful.”
I want to null over everything that happened, everything I said, everything that was said to me, everything that God revealed to me in everything else that happened today. I want to read and study and cross-reference and compare and try to understand. I want to write and organize my thoughts on paper. I want to pray – I want God to reveal so much more to me, but I need his help unraveling all that he’s already shown me… I don’t think I can make my mind slow down anytime soon, but my hand is so tired, my feet hurt, my legs are tired, I can hardly keep my eyelids open… “My spirit is willing but my flesh is so weak.”
Maybe this is what I’ll do tomorrow – try to understand. Oh, and Sarah, don’t forget… I need to write about how what I read from Donald Miller already fits into everything I’ve learned… the bike guy, the rock, the tract family, it all ties together with the last paragraph I read while I was sitting by the waterfront, before he came. And also, don’t forget… the story I read yesterday in Luke and how the insights I gained from it fit in really great with the insights I gained today… like a giant puzzle with all the pieces falling into place! Okay… sleep.
Little Funny Story
I was just sitting here on the brick steps, you know, secluded and off by myself for the most part and I'm on my computer with my headphones in, and some older lady comes and sits a few feet away from me and just looks off in the other direction for a little bit. I was wondering what she was doing and almost took my headphones out to talk to her when she got up and headed back to her husband who had just taken a picture of her and, I guess, me... It was funny... I guess you had to be there.
Jesus Christ – Brand New
Jesus Christ, that’s a pretty face, the kind you’d find on someone that could save. If they don’t put me away, well, it’ll be a miracle. Do you believe you’re missing out? That everything good is happening somewhere else? But with nobody in your bed, the night’s hard to get through. And I will die all alone, and when I arrive I won’t know anyone.
Well, Jesus Christ, I’m alone again. So what did you do those three days you were dead? Because this problem’s gonna last more than the weekend. Well, Jesus Christ, I’m not scared to die, I’m a little bit scared of what comes after. Do I get the gold chariot? Do I float through the ceiling? Do I divide and fall apart? Cause my bright is too slight to hold back all my dark. And the ship wen down in sight of land. And at the gates does Thomas ask to see my hands?
I know you’re coming in the night like a thief. I’ve had some time, O Lord, to hone my lying technique. I know you think that I’m someone you can trust, but I’m scared I’ll get scared and I swear I’ll try to nail you back up. So do you think that we could work out a sign so I’ll know it’s you and that it’s over so I won’t even try?
I know you’re coming for people like me, but we all got wood and nails, and we turn out hate in factories. We all got wood and nails, and we sleep inside of this machine.
Monday
Tying Up Loose Ends
The paragraph I had just finished reading in Donald Miller’s book, Searching For God Knows What, seems to fit in perfectly with everything else God has been revealing to me… He’s talking about this conference thing that he went to that was a step by step guide to writing step by step books, and he realized that God isn’t a step by step God. He wonders if we were created in God’s image or if we have created God in our image. He says it’s scary how people actually believe that God is who they think he is.
Miller says that in his life, God is always changing the way he thinks of Him – not that God is changing, but that he just realizes he has no idea who God fully is. A lot of people think God responds to these formulas, these step by step guides, but he doesn’t. He said after he went to this conference, he started to read the Bible as if it were a “how-to” book, looking for the formulas and steps… but that didn’t work so well for him. After he realized that was the wrong way to go about reading the Bible, he began to read it as a way of trying to understand what God was actually trying to say.
Miller says he realized then that God’s message wasn’t a formula to follow to get saved or a set of ideas that we have to understand before we can move on – it’s an invitation to know God. He says, “life is complex, and the idea that you can break it down or fix it in a few steps is rather silly.” Dude, it’s like God is slapping me in the face with all of this and trying to make it all as clear as possible by revealing it in several aspects of my life in order for me to fully understand this. So I could see that I didn’t like how the tract family was going about their evangelism, but now I understand more why I didn’t like it…
Their message is a step by step formula to get to Heaven. Step one: “Repent. Here’s a nice little prayer to help you out with that. Just repeat after me and you’re covered…” Step two: “Read your Bible and just obey everything that’s in there. That shouldn’t be too difficult, you don’t need help from anyone with that one. You can read, right? So you’re good there…” Step three: “Go to our oh-so-handy website to learn how to share the faith you have as a result of the first two steps by using more of our step by step guides. And if you have any questions or concerns, that’s really your problem – just follow the steps!” But that’s the exact opposite of how God works? You won’t get to Heaven just by following the steps, it’s way more complex than that.
And then Miller’s point about how the Bible is an invitation to know God… He doesn’t just stop with the Bible. You’re not going to understand everything that’s in there. And to reduce the amount of ways God can work to just through the Bible reduces God to something we can control, and that’s not how it is at all. He can reveal himself to us through his Spirit working in Donald Miller, or tract families, or guys on bikes, or large rocks by the river…
The most important part of it all is realizing that we’ll never fully understand anything about God – not to say that we should just give up and stop trying, because the more we try to understand the more we will understand… We’ll just never get it all, there will always be more and more an more and more. And each new thing will amaze us more than the last… it’s exciting.
| | |
| How has God changed your life?
| | |
| God is no longer a national God, but a personal one... so why do we keep trying to make it seem like Christianity is our national religion?
Just because a majority of Americans consider themselves to be Christians doesn't mean that a) they really are and b) that we are a Christian country. We weren't founded on Christian principles like most Christians claim. In fact, only 2-3 of the 10 Commandments are actually laws (do not murder, steal, or lie), and they're laws no matter what country you find yourself in. There's no mention of God or Jesus in any of our major founding documents, in fact in the 1797 America-Tripoli treaty it states, "the government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on Christian religion." That seems to make it pretty clear... so why do we keep insisting that laws and rules are in place to uphold Christian doctrines?
When it comes to law making, the new law must first pass the "Lemon Test." The first rule of that test is that the law in question must have a secular purpose. When it comes to making a new law or legally putting a stop to a practice that's taking place however, most religious rights groups have the mindset that they can change whatever is against their religion because there are more of them than there are of anyone else. But when it comes to freedom of religion (or in this case, freedom from religion) there is no majority rule, as hard as we can try.
It's just not constitutional to force our religious doctrines on non-believers. Not only is it non-constitutional, but it's ineffective. So why waste all of your time and energy trying to ban things such as homosexual marriage? Spend that same time and energy reaching out to the homosexual community and showing them God's love.
Paul said, "What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. Expel the wicked man from among you." (1 Corinthians 5:12-13)
I read a bulliten on MySpace that was "fighting back" against whoever is trying to sue people for praying at football games and stuff like that... It kind of made me mad. It said stuff like, "Our Bible tells us to pray without ceasing, and now a handful of lawyers are telling us to cease praying?" First of all, just because people are uncomfortable with you praying out loud doesn't mean you have to cease praying. Second of all, our Bible also tells us to expect persecution, rejoice in suffering, and endure hardships, so stuff like this shouldn't even come as a suprise. At least they're not killing us for praying (which they very well could be doing), think of it that way.
It also said, "Christians are just sick and tired of turning the other cheek while courts strip us of all our rights!" This is just the most retarded way of looking at things that I've ever seen. Did Jesus tell us to just turn the other cheek only until we got sick and tired of what was happening and then to fight back? No, he told us just to turn the other cheek. He never tried to fight back as people took away his rights. They killed him for crying out loud, all people are trying to do here is stop public prayers, or take the 10 commandments out of courthouses, or take God's name out of the Pledge of Allegience. I'd say we've still got it pretty good.
And do we really want to label ourselves a Christian nation? Look at all the crap that goes on around us: "sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like." (Galatians 5:19-21) Those are all everyday activities and are totally okay in the eyes of our nation. Do we really want the rest of the world looking at that and refer to us as a Christian nation? Because I don't.
I dunno, this has just been on my mind lately. So I thought I'd write it all out. I know it's long, but if you've gotten this far, let me know what you think!
| | |
| The Life and Times of Sarah, Jack and Heather
Vol. 1 6/29/2006
Well, Ive been here
in Portland for almost 2 weeks now, but it seems like Ive been here a
lot longer than that already. Lots of exciting things have happened...
Okay, maybe not so much, but Ive had fun.
I got my
room almost all decorated so that it feels like its really my room, and
I love it.
I have a huge collage of photos
covering my closet door, and pretty much everyone that I know and love
is up there, and it makes me happy just to look at
it.
These last few days, though, have
been unusually fun. Ill recap for you guys.
First of
all, on Tuesday, Jack had the day off of work, so we had exciting plans
to go to The Bins (the huge Goodwill outlet place where you buy stuff
by the pound, pretty much). But after hearing several horror stories of
people finding pants filled with diarrhea, and getting their fingers
chopped off by random knives, and crap like that (its not exactly the
most sanitary place, they just throw everything they get into these
bins and dont go through it or whatever, but thats how they can get
away with just making everything so freaking cheap, and the good stuff
is never on top, you have to dig to get to it), we sort of didnt end up
going. "Needles and knives and diarrhea, oh
my!"
Instead, we had a fun filled day of
adventure.
Jack went swimming in our pool in the
backyard for a while.
We mowed the
lawn.
We got a little
sun.
We watched an awful lot of
television and Friends on DVD (Heather has gotten Jack hooked on
Friends, since shes never really watched it before, and were about
halfway through season 6 right now).
And finished
off the day with Jack reading the phone book and relaying helpful
information to Heather and I.
Wednesday was much more eventful,
however. I know, that may seem hard to believe that something could be
more eventful than Tuesday, but just wait till you hear about
it.
Heather and I started off the day like we
usually do... by waking up really late and heading over to the school.
See, we dont have internet connection at the house were renting for the
summer. I know, youre probably thinking How can you even live like
that, Sarah?! and let me tell you, its hard at times, but Im pushing
through, trying to do the best that I can. So we get to the school,
spend a few hours on the computer, and then decide to walk to 7-11 for
old times sake.
Ive only had like 3 Slurpees since
schools been out. Dont faint. Its really true. I went from having like
2 large Slurpees every single day for like 3 weeks straight... to
having next to none, ever. But we headed out. And it was a super nice
day... not super hot like it was the few days before, but hot enough
that it wasnt... cold? Sure.
So we get to 7-11, and
Im all super excited to get my large Coke Slurpee, but to my
surprise:
You guessed it... no Coke! How do
these people live with themselves! And throwing a fit wasnt going to
work this time like it did last time when they had Coke but it wasnt
working (yeah, I threw a fit in 7-11 cause the Coke wasnt working, so
the guy went in the back and fixed it somehow for me, haha). So, I had
to settle for...
Wild Cherry.
Eh.
So then walking back, I notice this sign thats
been up for a few months now, but it makes me laugh every time I see
it.
It says:
Peeping
Tom
spotted on S.E. 89 and Burnside
4/19 at 1
a.m.
please call cops if you see him.
But
take note: it doesnt describe him at all. It doesnt say what he looks
like, if hes tall or short, or skinny or fat, or anything. It just says
call cops if you see him. It makes me laugh every time. Im laughing
right now just writing about it.
I got a free coat
today.
It was in the lost and found at
school, so it probably belongs to someone that I know or whatever,
since its really not that big of a school... but finders keepers losers
weepers, right? Just kidding, if someone tells me its their coat Ill
give it back, I guess. But it was free! It has those weird zippers
though, the kind where theres two, so that if you have it zipped up,
you can bring the bottom zipper up and have it unzipped at the bottom
and connected at the top... I dont even know if Im making sense, but I
understand what Im saying, so thats really all that matters. I dont
understand why people make clothes with zippers like that, it confuses
me. But it was free!
Then Heather and I went to the
mall to turn in applications... cause theres this silly rule type thing
that says you need jobs to get money. Yeah, were not having too much
luck finding a couple of those quite yet...
Then we
got home, ate dinner, watched some Friends, and then decided to go on a
walk to Blockbuster to turn our movie in.
On our way
to Blockbuster are these houses that weve fallen in love with, and
every time we drive by them we wish they were ours... so we took
pictures of them. :)
This ones mine. It may look
small and cheap... but I got a flyer for it, and its for sale for over
$700,000! I was in shock.
This ones Heathers. Its bigger than
mine by a couple hundred square feet, but its about $100,000 cheaper.
Yes, her house is still over $600,000. This neighborhood we live in is
insane!
This ones Jacks. Its not for sale,
but shes decided that shes going to move into the attic, secretly of
course, and pretend to be a ghost and haunt the house so that the
people will move out. And once the people move out, shell try to buy
the house, but shell barter with them by saying that since the house is
haunted they should give it to her for way cheaper, but since she knows
that its not really haunted, since shes the ghost, itll all work out
perfectly... Heather and I just smile and nod like its a perfect
idea.
So we got to Blockbuster, got a new
movie, and walked back... but we stopped by McDonalds to get ice cream,
and to take a picture of this sign:
So we got back home, watched some
more Friends, and then Heather started playing with these Mary Kay
make-up samples that she got for free today from Rebecca Lewis. Let me
start off this segment by saying Im friends with retards, haha. She
found this super dark concealer stuff, meant for black people, and
decided to turn Jack and herself black for the
night.
Then they get the brilliant idea to
go to Albertsons, all geared up, pretending to be black. Theyre
retards, Im telling you.
When were at Albertsons, Jack and I
decide to get hair dye. Midnight hair dying parties are always a
hoot.
Before:
After:
I like it. Hers looks really good on
her, and I like mine on me a lot. Mine isn't that different though,
cause I'm a wimp. It's just darker... but Jack's a
redhead.
And to finish it all off, I woke up this
morning at around 9:45ish and headed off to the library to use the
computer. It didnt open until 10, so I walked around for a few minutes
and got back at like 10:15, got a new card and headed back to the
computers only to find that they were already all in use. The library
hadnt even been open more than 15 minutes! I didnt understand. So I was
like, okay, Ill just look for a good book to read, right? But
then a huge class of like 3rd graders came in for like a field trip or
something, which I didnt understand either because its summer... but
there were kids coming out of my eyeballs, (and you all know how much I
love kids) so naturally, I had to get out of
there.
So I got home and decided to try to be all
domesticated and crap and make French toast, but I only ended up
burning the whole world... or at least just the French toast. So I gave
up and had a pop-tart.
Thats pretty much all we have
time for this week on The Life and Times of Sarah, Jack and Heather.
Join us next week for some more fun-filled adventures. But remember,
kids, dont try this at home.
| | |
| And so tomorrow morning we leave on our trip to Texas. Not without first seeing the midnight showing of Xmen 3, of course, but we leave nonetheless. This should be exciting.
| | |
|
