Anyone else remember that game? That was a great game.
Well, I have had so many interesting comments and responses to recent posts, my brain's in overload processing it all. I never expected what God has been doing in me to change my thinking by way of this blog and all the people that have embraced it. I'm thankful to every one of you. If you haven't read the comment section of the last post, please do so post haste! You will not be sorry, and you may be changed for the better. (Name that song!)
I had a reminder from a reader-friend by way of facebook that I forgot something important in my baby-food making. (Baby FOOD making, not baby making! Ha!) She referred to the list of fruits and veggies that have the most pesticide and chemical residue on them, and PEACHES are number one. (At least on the list I have.) So I should have peeled my peaches before I pureed them unless they were organic, and I'm not positive they were. While we're on the topic, does anyone have a good way to peel peaches? Does the skin come off after a few seconds in boiling water? That works for tomatoes. I'm wondering if it would work for peaches. I guess there's one way to find out.
I have much to say today. I'm going to try to pack it all into one post, because I'm taking a week-long hiatus from facebook and blogger as I try to get in the swing of homeschool plus toddler and nursing infant. Fun times! Toddler has also decided the first week of school is as good a time as any to potty train herself, so we've had the added pleasure of toilet paper stuffing up the toilet, and a naked little bottom running everywhere. I'm sure you wanted me to share.
So, in the matter of finances, I found a good article that helped me feel a little better about the amount of money we are spending on food as a family of six. Here's the link to the article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29681240/ In a nutshell it says that from ultra-frugal to liberally spending, people very from about $550 to over $1000 a month for groceries for a family of four. Of total yearly income, around 10-12% is the average for groceries/food. Which we fall comfortably into.
In the matter of health, I'm afraid I have to admit my failing once again. With school starting, and a hip that has been hurting, I've been very lax as far as the Shred and the elliptical the past few days. I need some motivation. I can't dig up the will lately. HELP ME!
In the matter of relationships, I've been learning from this blog that when we tear down walls of criticism and judgment of others we find out lots of interesting things about the people around us. I'm learning that confrontation and discussion of important problems is necessary to tear down said walls, and that HONESTY is key. So I'm being honest even if it gives me an ulcer. You are welcome as well.
In the matter of spirituality, I just have to say that I decided to just take my mp3 player to the elliptical last night instead of netflix, and I had an awesome time of worship listening to a few amazing songs. Talk about stress relief! Go to http://sovereigngracemusic.org/ for some GREAT music (they often have free songs, you can become a fan on facebook for info), or check out the Christian section at amazon.com mp3 downloads. So much good stuff out there! My current faves: "Rock of Ages" by Sovereign Grace, "Lead Me" by Sanctus Real, "Before the Morning" by Josh Wilson, "What Faith Can Do" by Kutless, "Strong Enough to Save" by Tenth Avenue North, "How He Loves" by David Crowder Band. I have more if you want them. Just ask.
So I leave you for one week. In the meantime I'll be researching the ideas that you had for future posts. Thank you again for reading my blog and taking the time to think with me and respond. I'm grateful for how God is using you in my life.
Have a great week!
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
What to do with Entertainment, Part 2
I'm sorry. I got really tired last night at 12:39 a.m. for some strange reason. I didn't even get to my point so I'm sure I was entirely confusing.
There is one thing about entertainment that I want to make stridently clear. Stridently.
I have not "arrived" in this area. I am still testing the limits of my conscience, guided by the Holy Spirit.
I know that my top ten yesterday have elements that are negative as well as ones that are positive. My struggle is with that balance. I call myself a "big picture" Christian. I want to know what the main point of anything is. The thing to remember, is that the Bible has a great deal of sex, violence, and all manner of nasty happenings and people. They aren't the point, and they are never portrayed positively, but they have to be there to get the whole picture.
That's why I find Christian entertainment overwhelmingly benign. I enjoy it, and I support it, because I'm hoping it will improve, but somehow we got it into our heads that being a good Christian means ignoring evil. We are supposed to be "wise as serpents and innocent as doves." How can we do that if we take apart every work of art and fiction and entertainment the world offers and pick it apart to point out the frailties of human nature, as if we ourselves do not possess that same nature and were just as much slaves to it as them at one point?
I have heard the term "Pagan Christians" referred to in this culture, and I do think there is a definite strain of this disease making it's way through the body of Christ. The Bible says in Revelation that this time will be marked by "lukewarmness," so of course it is going to affect us. But I am not sure that this term is as all-inclusive as some seem to want to believe. It goes back to that judging issue. We are not at liberty to judge others based on where they are in their relationship with Christ, and just because one person is more sensitive to something than someone else does not necessarily mean that the second person is wrong or engaged in behavior displeasing to Christ unless the Bible clearly says so.
I'm going to be pretty blunt with the previous generation or two. You've got a few ideas that don't seem quite biblical. It seems like you've twisted a few things said in the Bible to meet your own preferences and traditions. So when I hear you say that Twilight is evil because it is about a fictional character called a "vampire" and Wicked is evil because the main character is referred to as a witch by others, well, it just makes me think of your heroes. I grew up in a group that REALLY liked Shakespeare. I like parts of Shakespeare too, but there are enough negative elements that I could call it "pagan" as easily as some call modern entertainment the same. Shakespeare was sarcastic, inconsistent in his theology, risque and he liked to use edgy language. If this is acceptable just because he's a few hundred years removed, that doesn't make sense to me. It seems hypocritical, if I can be perfectly honest.
That being said, I am not speaking from a podium of all-knowing wisdom. I am still VERY much working through this. I can only be honest and tell you the things that have made my wheels turn and my brain figure things out about people and places and happenings that caused me, in turn, to be inspired to create.
And now, from one clueless blogger to you, I ask for your wisdom and insights. Tell me where I'm way off, let me know if you agree.
Thanks for reading!
There is one thing about entertainment that I want to make stridently clear. Stridently.
I have not "arrived" in this area. I am still testing the limits of my conscience, guided by the Holy Spirit.
I know that my top ten yesterday have elements that are negative as well as ones that are positive. My struggle is with that balance. I call myself a "big picture" Christian. I want to know what the main point of anything is. The thing to remember, is that the Bible has a great deal of sex, violence, and all manner of nasty happenings and people. They aren't the point, and they are never portrayed positively, but they have to be there to get the whole picture.
That's why I find Christian entertainment overwhelmingly benign. I enjoy it, and I support it, because I'm hoping it will improve, but somehow we got it into our heads that being a good Christian means ignoring evil. We are supposed to be "wise as serpents and innocent as doves." How can we do that if we take apart every work of art and fiction and entertainment the world offers and pick it apart to point out the frailties of human nature, as if we ourselves do not possess that same nature and were just as much slaves to it as them at one point?
I have heard the term "Pagan Christians" referred to in this culture, and I do think there is a definite strain of this disease making it's way through the body of Christ. The Bible says in Revelation that this time will be marked by "lukewarmness," so of course it is going to affect us. But I am not sure that this term is as all-inclusive as some seem to want to believe. It goes back to that judging issue. We are not at liberty to judge others based on where they are in their relationship with Christ, and just because one person is more sensitive to something than someone else does not necessarily mean that the second person is wrong or engaged in behavior displeasing to Christ unless the Bible clearly says so.
I'm going to be pretty blunt with the previous generation or two. You've got a few ideas that don't seem quite biblical. It seems like you've twisted a few things said in the Bible to meet your own preferences and traditions. So when I hear you say that Twilight is evil because it is about a fictional character called a "vampire" and Wicked is evil because the main character is referred to as a witch by others, well, it just makes me think of your heroes. I grew up in a group that REALLY liked Shakespeare. I like parts of Shakespeare too, but there are enough negative elements that I could call it "pagan" as easily as some call modern entertainment the same. Shakespeare was sarcastic, inconsistent in his theology, risque and he liked to use edgy language. If this is acceptable just because he's a few hundred years removed, that doesn't make sense to me. It seems hypocritical, if I can be perfectly honest.
That being said, I am not speaking from a podium of all-knowing wisdom. I am still VERY much working through this. I can only be honest and tell you the things that have made my wheels turn and my brain figure things out about people and places and happenings that caused me, in turn, to be inspired to create.
And now, from one clueless blogger to you, I ask for your wisdom and insights. Tell me where I'm way off, let me know if you agree.
Thanks for reading!
Sunday, August 29, 2010
What to do with Entertainment?
This is a hard post to write. Because I know that everyone has wildly different ideas about entertainment. Mostly based on generation. And I'm sure to offend someone no matter what I say. But I'm not writing to please anyone except the Lord, so I write.
There is part of me that would like to either skip this topic completely or dance around it a little bit. Because there are some people in my circles who think they have this all figured out, and tend to judge others based on everything they don't know. I'm talking about people who judge something without ever reading/watching/listening to it. With some things, of course, this is appropriate. When something is filled with objectionable content or has a message that does not line up with the Bible, it's pretty obvious from the description or the commercial. But there's plenty of entertainment that has really inspired me over the years that I could have judged from the outside and missed out.
I'm going to take a deep breath now and give my top ten most inspiring ever in the area of entertainment. These are things that have made me think more deeply, have inspired my own creative process by either the subject matter or the characters (usually the latter) and yes, all of these have helped me become closer to Christ in one way or another. If you don't like this list and want to judge me, go ahead. You can even comment your judgment. But you have to give your top ten first. And even if you don't want to judge me you can also leave your top ten. I'd really like you to. And we're all going to be completely and totally honest and not say anything fake just to keep others from judging us. All right. Here goes. In no particular order. (It's a given that the Bible is number one.)
The Passion of the Christ (movie)
Fringe (television)
The X-Files (television)
Harry Potter (secular book series)
Twilight Saga (secular book series)
Mark of the Lion (Christian book series)
Lost (television)
Wicked (musical)
The Sound of Music (musical/movie)
Anne of Green Gables (classic book/movie)
Pride and Prejudice (classic book/movie)
About now you're saying "Wow. She makes a whole lot more sense now." Or "She makes no sense whatsoever." My sisters are just thinking about all the things I left out. I will too. Later.
These are the things that first come to mind. Some are recent, some go back to my childhood. You may notice that the list is heavy on the secular. There is a reason for that. I have a problem with stories that don't really present problems. So far, Christian literature, television and movies don't have the kind of depth that inspires me. There are exceptions in literature, especially in the past few years. I'm still waiting for Christian movies to loose that cheesy twinge and be believable. "Fireproof" came closer. That might have made my top twenty.
Anyway, it's not my point today to nitpick. I should really get to bed. I think we'll have to continue this discussion tomorrow.
So until then, leave your top ten most inspiring.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Where We Miss the Mark
Thank you to all who chimed in with topics we could discuss. There were some excellent ideas, and I'm excited to do some research and bring some of those things to you in the next few days.
I'm going to switch around the order a little, and start with the topic I promised I would get to - as a follow up to the post about "rules" we tend to treat as biblical, when in fact they are simply tradition or preference.
But as we all realize, there's another side to the proverbial coin. As important as mentioning when we have added rules, it's equally important to bring up the rules that we don't take seriously.
You know. The ones we snicker at. The ones we giggle behind our hands and act like they are cute or sassy, or the ways we really act like God got it wrong and we've decided that this or that command he gave doesn't apply to us. The Bible defines sin as "missing the mark." So we'll look at the ways we've been missing God's mark in favor of our own.
This is a hard post to write. Because admitting it surely puts me on the spot to do something about it in my own life and heart. Reading it will do the same for you, so if you prefer to remain ignorant, you may want to skip this.
Seriously. I'm about to start. Skedaddle if you're not into changing behavior.
I almost skedaddled too. Then I remembered I'm the writer.
There are lots of possibilities. But I chose three to talk about today. Two of them are very convicting for me. The first one is a pet peeve of mine that will be easier to talk about so I'll start with that one.
1.Disrespecting God's name. I grew up being taught that you should even capitalize the pronouns when referring to God. Jews don't write his name completely, leaving the "o" out and replacing it with a -, because they do not want to be in a situation where they might have to erase God's name. They also refrain from speaking it. Over and over in the old and new testaments, God reminds us that his name is powerful. Pray in it, and see miracles. Speak in it and you've given what you're about to say quite an introduction.
So how exactly do you disrespect a name? This culture doesn't take names too seriously. When you ask someone why they named their child whatever they named them, they usually say "because I liked how it sounded." Names mean something to God. He thinks through what he names people. He has hundreds of names for himself in the Word. Revelation says our name is written in his book of life when we put our trust in Christ and choose to make him our Lord.
Exodus 20:7 says "You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name." This seems pretty clear cut. Use it the right way or don't use it at all.
So how do we misuse God's name? It's interesting that in order for a movie to be rated "R" it has to use expletives that are considered particularly coarse by the culture, but misusing God's name is perfectly acceptable on educational pre-school cartoons. To me, the most shocking words you could use are not the ones that make my skin crawl.
Try these on for size. "Oh my God," "Oh my Lord," "Jesus Christ," "Holy [insert just about anything]," "Jesus," "God," "God Almighty," "God in heaven." We hear these A LOT and not just in church listening to the preacher pray. They are purely and simply "misusing God's name" and according to Exodus 20:7, users incur guilt.
Let's take it a step further. We have sanitized versions of the above, that even most Christians don't think twice about using. What about "Oh my Gosh," "Golly," "Lordy," "Geez," "Gee," "Oh my goodness," (I am guilty of that one, so I suppose I have some work to do on my own language as well.) There's also curse words that we use that don't take God's Word seriously, and are therefore a misuse of his words. "Damn it," (or "darn,") "What the hell," (or "heck,") "God Damn" or ("Gosh darn,") or even "Awesome," (I overdo this one) or "Amazing."
What's left to say? You ask. I ask. Well, maybe the point is, don't say anything. The Bible says "Let your yes be yes and your no be no." Probably a good idea. Not probably.
WHEW! Quotation overload. Now that we are all appropriately convicted, let's move on.
2. Gluttony (or self-indulgence). We all think immediately and only of food when we hear the word "gluttony." It is certainly enough to convict me. But there is a bigger principle involved. Our country is (WE are) excessive to the extreme in all the wrong places. We never get hungry because we are always eating. We overdose on entertainment, on sweets, on clothes, on possessions and call it being "blessed." You and I both know that when we want something, we usually get it.
The Bible says that anything we try to fill ourselves up with that isn't Jesus is going to give us problems. (For study, read Genesis 25:30-34, Numbers 11, Hebrews 12:16-17, Exodus 16:20, 21, 27, Proverbs 23:2, Daniel 5. John 4:10, Ephesians 5:15-18,James 5:5) So in order to prevent us from knowing the apathetic, lifeless, sluggish existence that comes from overdoing anything, God told us to only overdo him. Only be passionate about Christ. Only let the Spirit consume you, because if you let anything temporary replace him, you regret it.
In short - we were created to thrive on worshipping and loving God, to give him glory. If we worship or love anything else in that same way we have missed the mark and not done what is best for ourselves or him.
3. Judging. We call it other things. "Concern for." ("I'm concerned for so-and-so because of what I think they did or said or thought, so we better pray for them.) Basically, sanitized gossip. God has strong words for judgmental Christians in Romans 14. Seriously, read it. Right now. I did, and I immediately thought about all the ways I do not obey. Matthew 18 gives us the only exception. If a fellow believer SINS AGAINST YOU. And even then, the first step is to talk about it openly between only that person and yourself. Only in cases of extreme rebellion and sinfulness are issues to be brought up with anyone else.
That's incredibly convicting. I guess I've got some work to do inside.
Well, enough conviction for one day, I say! If you've got it all together in these areas, congratulations! If not, leave a comment and let me know we're on the same page and we'll keep each other accountable.
Next I'll be tackling the topic of entertainment and what God has to say about it. If I tried to do it here I'd have one of those REEEAALLY long posts and nobody likes a long winded blogger.
So until next time!
I'm going to switch around the order a little, and start with the topic I promised I would get to - as a follow up to the post about "rules" we tend to treat as biblical, when in fact they are simply tradition or preference.
But as we all realize, there's another side to the proverbial coin. As important as mentioning when we have added rules, it's equally important to bring up the rules that we don't take seriously.
You know. The ones we snicker at. The ones we giggle behind our hands and act like they are cute or sassy, or the ways we really act like God got it wrong and we've decided that this or that command he gave doesn't apply to us. The Bible defines sin as "missing the mark." So we'll look at the ways we've been missing God's mark in favor of our own.
This is a hard post to write. Because admitting it surely puts me on the spot to do something about it in my own life and heart. Reading it will do the same for you, so if you prefer to remain ignorant, you may want to skip this.
Seriously. I'm about to start. Skedaddle if you're not into changing behavior.
I almost skedaddled too. Then I remembered I'm the writer.
There are lots of possibilities. But I chose three to talk about today. Two of them are very convicting for me. The first one is a pet peeve of mine that will be easier to talk about so I'll start with that one.
1.Disrespecting God's name. I grew up being taught that you should even capitalize the pronouns when referring to God. Jews don't write his name completely, leaving the "o" out and replacing it with a -, because they do not want to be in a situation where they might have to erase God's name. They also refrain from speaking it. Over and over in the old and new testaments, God reminds us that his name is powerful. Pray in it, and see miracles. Speak in it and you've given what you're about to say quite an introduction.
So how exactly do you disrespect a name? This culture doesn't take names too seriously. When you ask someone why they named their child whatever they named them, they usually say "because I liked how it sounded." Names mean something to God. He thinks through what he names people. He has hundreds of names for himself in the Word. Revelation says our name is written in his book of life when we put our trust in Christ and choose to make him our Lord.
Exodus 20:7 says "You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name." This seems pretty clear cut. Use it the right way or don't use it at all.
So how do we misuse God's name? It's interesting that in order for a movie to be rated "R" it has to use expletives that are considered particularly coarse by the culture, but misusing God's name is perfectly acceptable on educational pre-school cartoons. To me, the most shocking words you could use are not the ones that make my skin crawl.
Try these on for size. "Oh my God," "Oh my Lord," "Jesus Christ," "Holy [insert just about anything]," "Jesus," "God," "God Almighty," "God in heaven." We hear these A LOT and not just in church listening to the preacher pray. They are purely and simply "misusing God's name" and according to Exodus 20:7, users incur guilt.
Let's take it a step further. We have sanitized versions of the above, that even most Christians don't think twice about using. What about "Oh my Gosh," "Golly," "Lordy," "Geez," "Gee," "Oh my goodness," (I am guilty of that one, so I suppose I have some work to do on my own language as well.) There's also curse words that we use that don't take God's Word seriously, and are therefore a misuse of his words. "Damn it," (or "darn,") "What the hell," (or "heck,") "God Damn" or ("Gosh darn,") or even "Awesome," (I overdo this one) or "Amazing."
What's left to say? You ask. I ask. Well, maybe the point is, don't say anything. The Bible says "Let your yes be yes and your no be no." Probably a good idea. Not probably.
WHEW! Quotation overload. Now that we are all appropriately convicted, let's move on.
2. Gluttony (or self-indulgence). We all think immediately and only of food when we hear the word "gluttony." It is certainly enough to convict me. But there is a bigger principle involved. Our country is (WE are) excessive to the extreme in all the wrong places. We never get hungry because we are always eating. We overdose on entertainment, on sweets, on clothes, on possessions and call it being "blessed." You and I both know that when we want something, we usually get it.
The Bible says that anything we try to fill ourselves up with that isn't Jesus is going to give us problems. (For study, read Genesis 25:30-34, Numbers 11, Hebrews 12:16-17, Exodus 16:20, 21, 27, Proverbs 23:2, Daniel 5. John 4:10, Ephesians 5:15-18,James 5:5) So in order to prevent us from knowing the apathetic, lifeless, sluggish existence that comes from overdoing anything, God told us to only overdo him. Only be passionate about Christ. Only let the Spirit consume you, because if you let anything temporary replace him, you regret it.
In short - we were created to thrive on worshipping and loving God, to give him glory. If we worship or love anything else in that same way we have missed the mark and not done what is best for ourselves or him.
3. Judging. We call it other things. "Concern for." ("I'm concerned for so-and-so because of what I think they did or said or thought, so we better pray for them.) Basically, sanitized gossip. God has strong words for judgmental Christians in Romans 14. Seriously, read it. Right now. I did, and I immediately thought about all the ways I do not obey. Matthew 18 gives us the only exception. If a fellow believer SINS AGAINST YOU. And even then, the first step is to talk about it openly between only that person and yourself. Only in cases of extreme rebellion and sinfulness are issues to be brought up with anyone else.
That's incredibly convicting. I guess I've got some work to do inside.
Well, enough conviction for one day, I say! If you've got it all together in these areas, congratulations! If not, leave a comment and let me know we're on the same page and we'll keep each other accountable.
Next I'll be tackling the topic of entertainment and what God has to say about it. If I tried to do it here I'd have one of those REEEAALLY long posts and nobody likes a long winded blogger.
So until next time!
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Still Here
I know that you think I have all failed. I know that you think I am not going to finish what I start. The truth is, it's hard to think of new things to say for some of these topics. I can usually think of a spiritual or relational post, but the others are giving me some trouble.
That's why I'm asking for your help. What are some things you'd like to discuss here? Is there something you'd like to know more about in one of these areas that I could research and post on, get a discussion going?
Now's the time to speak up. If no one comments, I'll take that as a hint that we may have exhausted these topics for now, until something new comes to me.
What about finances? What about the environment? What about health? Let me have it.
That's why I'm asking for your help. What are some things you'd like to discuss here? Is there something you'd like to know more about in one of these areas that I could research and post on, get a discussion going?
Now's the time to speak up. If no one comments, I'll take that as a hint that we may have exhausted these topics for now, until something new comes to me.
What about finances? What about the environment? What about health? Let me have it.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Mom's Best Organic
First of all, I'm sorry I haven't blogged in a few days. Perhaps you are not.
Second of all, I'm sorry in advance to the majority of you who will find my topic of choice today incredibly non-applicable to your own situation. Perhaps you will say that I should keep it to myself if it's not helpful to most. And perhaps you would be right. But perhaps I would remind you that this is my blog and I can write about whatever I want to write about.
But that would be rude. So again, I apologize.
Anyway, now that everyone has rolled their eyes and clicked off my boring, unhelpful blog, I will get to my point. Baby J has reached the ripe old age of four months, and has been spending dinner time perched in someone's arms staring intensely at our food and drooling a river all over his clothes. I know that I can't hold him off much longer, so my thoughts have turned to how I am going to appropriately and as inexpensively as possible feed this next little human in the line of little humans I have to feed.
I'm sure his appetite will rival his brother and sisters, who will quite possibly have eaten us out of house and home by the time they reach puberty, after which they will most likely eat us out of everything after that which is possibly left. Baby J shows no signs of being any different. It seems that MacGyver and I can only create famished eating machines. And so poor MacGyver's salary for the next twenty years or so will be spent keeping these people from eating the furniture.
In the past, I've bought just about every kind of baby food you can imagine. Now that I'm in my organic/natural state of mind, there really is no option (at Walmart, anyway) but Earth's Best Organic. I have completely forgotten how much these little 2 1/2 oz jars cost, but I believe it's around a dollar (possibly a little less for the smallest jar.)
So today I rounded up Eldest and we went to the farmer's market to buy $3-4 worth of peaches. At the grocery store I bought extra organic baby carrots (Somewhere around $3.) I set about my experiment in the kitchen, armed with a food processor and ice cube trays. I cooked the carrots until they were not quite as crunchy as raw, but not soft. I washed off the peaches, cut them in half, removed the pits and stuffed them into the food processor. Everyone complained and put their hands over their ears, but regardless, about three minutes later we had pureed peaches, almost exactly like the jars of peaches only I left the skin on so there are red flecks.
After that, the carrots met their demise. These needed some of the water that I cooked them in to get to the right consistency, and a few minutes later around 60-70 1 oz portions were in the freezer. A couple hours after that, I transferred them to a ziploc bag where they will happily await Baby J's anticipated baby food debut.
35 jars of baby food would be.... uh.... (I'm afraid to guess because my math is just THAT bad.) around $30 I suppose? Give or take? Feel free to shame me if I am wrong. And I spent a whopping $6.
I'm a happy camper. So when I am about spending horrid amounts of money on food for this crew, I can keep in mind that it could always be more.
Comments? Suggestions? Math corrections?
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Explanations
I have made my decision, I have staked my claim.
I have drawn the line in the sand, and I'll not be ashamed
With the world behind me, and the cross before
By the grace of God, I will serve the Lord. - Carman
Here comes another one.
I felt like last week I didn't explain myself very well when I spoke about some things I learned as a child that I had to unlearn as an adult. I sort of spoke to those who already agreed with me rather than explain myself to those who would disagree. Honestly, I really didn't think anyone would disagree. So I'm here this week to more softly explain why I came to the conclusions I have on those topics, as well as talk about something else: Things that are undeniably biblical that we do not take seriously as Christians and that weaken our credibility and therefore our testimony.
1. In the matter of dancing and lively music. I grew up in a very conservative Pastor's family and church. And an even more conservative Christian school. My parents preferred their church music to sound different than their secular music. My school basically said that anything with a beat was offensive to God.
So at first I felt guilty for not only appreciating the sounds of orchestral music and choir singing, but also the "Christian contemporary" music of the time. In fact, there was very little music I didn't respond to. I loved the variation and the different "personalities" of musical styles.
So I examined my guilt and determined to get to the bottom of it. Was there a biblical mandate to point to that would give me some direction? I realized that no matter what it was, if there was something in my life that was offensive to God, I didn't want to hold on to it.
Around this time, a new singer came onto the stage. His name was Carman, and his style was... different. In fact, he had many styles. He did ballads, he did story songs, he did hymns, he did rap, he did other things that were unique to him alone. He had fun with music. But it wasn't just his musical creativity that drew me to his ministry. It was his passion. It was his unfailing, unreserved, limitless passion for Christ, and for seeing young people come to know the Lord. I can say without any reservation within that his love and tenacious commitment to Jesus Christ set fire to my own relationship with my Savior. He taught me that it was okay to love Jesus with abandon, to be devoted to the Word and to express it in whatever way he had put in my spirit to do so.
To their credit, though my parents didn't understand our connection to his music, they supported it. Probably because they could see it was building us up, nurturing our faith that was just starting to set off on its own. There were those at my school that disagreed strongly with my choices. But through it all, they could offer me nothing biblical to stand on. The only thing God kept leading me to was the verse that says quite clearly "Do not let your good be evil spoken of."
So I didn't. And I still won't. I'm here to say with all the conviction I can muster that God never intended for his people to be separated because of different musical preferences. Over and over God says for his people to be united. To be one. To get past the petty arguments and traditions we get stuck in our heads and learn to love one another even though we're different.
I remember hearing more than once in my childhood that denominations were good. That we shouldn't worship with people who have different interpretations of Scripture. That we shouldn't have to be exposed to other people who believe different things than we do, because all we would do is fight. I just can't find any biblical evidence for that. In fact, 1 Corinthians 1 refutes that quite clearly:
I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas[a]"; still another, "I follow Christ."
Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don't remember if I baptized anyone else.)For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
So I don't buy the "if we can't get along we aren't responsible to be unified" argument. God wants us to figure out how to get along. ALL his children, not just the ones that agree with each other.
Wow. I did not mean to be so long winded. You long winded posters are rubbing off on me!
2. Alcohol from a biblical perspective. I didn't even give this a second thought until I was an adult. I went to my fiance's family's home for the first time at Christmas. At dinner I was offered a glass of champagne. Righteous indignation rose up within me and I wanted to shout "absolutely not!" and run out of the room. But then I wondered if anyone would ask me why. Actually, the first time I refused, I think some of them did ask me why. And I had no reasonable answer. If I had already come to the prayerful conclusion that I wanted to refrain from alcohol use because I was fearful of the pull it might have on me, I could have honestly said that and everyone would have accepted it. But the only answer I had was "Because it's wrong!" and I had no proof of that whatsoever. The Bible says several times that drunkenness is wrong. Not alcohol.
So I accepted a glass of champagne. And I drank it, waiting for it to take over my mind and make me lose all reason and become a heathen. It didn't do one single thing to me. And from that moment on I decided if I couldn't come up with a reason to condemn it, I wasn't going to make it an issue between me and people in my life that would be confused by my condemnation without clear, simple, biblical truth to back it up.
(This being said, I really and truly do not mind that some Christians abstain. I think that's a responsible thing to do if you have a reason to. Even if you don't have a reason, no where in the Bible does God say drinking something that has alcohol in it is mandatory. What I cannot do is judge another person based on choices they have made that are between their conscience and God's Word. What I cannot do is lead a younger and more naive Christian to believe that abstaining from alcohol makes them more righteous in God's eyes. Because I have no Scriptural proof.)
And I have to address this idea that floats around in conservative circles that biblical wine was not alcoholic. I have researched biblical times quite thoroughly for books I have written, and not once did I find any evidence for this theory. I did find that "cheap" wine was watered down, and poor people usually drank cheap wine. But they tended to drink wine as a replacement for water, because the alcohol kept them from getting sick with tainted water. The wine that proceeded Jesus' wine in his first miracle would have been the cheap watered down sort that a wedding ended on because no one noticed at that point. His apparently had some kick to it.
If anyone can offer any proof to the contrary, I am open to adjusting my views with some good solid evidence.
3. The Puritan thing. I am NOT saying that there weren't Puritans who loved the Lord and lived for him to the best of their ability. There are some beautiful writings that have been preserved for us from the time. And I do admire their tenacity to cross an ocean, face disease and all manner of hardship to set up a new country. But I must speak about the first time I doubted the sugar-coated version of the historical record I learned.
It was one of those documentaries where people are chosen to live for a period of time exactly as some group in history lived. A pastor's family was chosen to live the Puritan life. I will never forget that Pastor looking through the documents and records, seeing the undeniable legalism and intolerance and being in tears because he had been taught so differently. These were people that outlawed Christmas. These were people who burned innocent people at the stake because someone called them a witch. These were people who humiliated one another and antagonized anyone who dared to question the powers that be. A good deal of them were Pharisees, pure and simple.
We can't look at history the way we want it to be. We can't just pick out the parts we like and reject the rest. There is real danger in doing so, because if we can't look honestly at what's happened in the past we will most certainly repeat it.
So I don't ask you to agree with me, and I doubt anyone has even made it to the end of this post. But if you're still here, you are welcome to refute and argue any point I've made with Scripture. I am glad to have those of you who disagree here, because I think it's important to talk these things through. We've been avoiding issues for too long. Let's think these things through together. I am not perfect, I can be just as wrong as anyone else, and I will not hold on to anything that God would have me let go.
I guess my next topic will have to wait for next time. I want to discuss the things that Christians do that are most certainly not okay according to the Bible. You probably can already guess what they are. And it's not as easy to write, because it's going to convict me as much as anyone else. Time for more changes!
Go ahead. Comment away. My fingers are tired.
I have drawn the line in the sand, and I'll not be ashamed
With the world behind me, and the cross before
By the grace of God, I will serve the Lord. - Carman
Here comes another one.
I felt like last week I didn't explain myself very well when I spoke about some things I learned as a child that I had to unlearn as an adult. I sort of spoke to those who already agreed with me rather than explain myself to those who would disagree. Honestly, I really didn't think anyone would disagree. So I'm here this week to more softly explain why I came to the conclusions I have on those topics, as well as talk about something else: Things that are undeniably biblical that we do not take seriously as Christians and that weaken our credibility and therefore our testimony.
1. In the matter of dancing and lively music. I grew up in a very conservative Pastor's family and church. And an even more conservative Christian school. My parents preferred their church music to sound different than their secular music. My school basically said that anything with a beat was offensive to God.
So at first I felt guilty for not only appreciating the sounds of orchestral music and choir singing, but also the "Christian contemporary" music of the time. In fact, there was very little music I didn't respond to. I loved the variation and the different "personalities" of musical styles.
So I examined my guilt and determined to get to the bottom of it. Was there a biblical mandate to point to that would give me some direction? I realized that no matter what it was, if there was something in my life that was offensive to God, I didn't want to hold on to it.
Around this time, a new singer came onto the stage. His name was Carman, and his style was... different. In fact, he had many styles. He did ballads, he did story songs, he did hymns, he did rap, he did other things that were unique to him alone. He had fun with music. But it wasn't just his musical creativity that drew me to his ministry. It was his passion. It was his unfailing, unreserved, limitless passion for Christ, and for seeing young people come to know the Lord. I can say without any reservation within that his love and tenacious commitment to Jesus Christ set fire to my own relationship with my Savior. He taught me that it was okay to love Jesus with abandon, to be devoted to the Word and to express it in whatever way he had put in my spirit to do so.
To their credit, though my parents didn't understand our connection to his music, they supported it. Probably because they could see it was building us up, nurturing our faith that was just starting to set off on its own. There were those at my school that disagreed strongly with my choices. But through it all, they could offer me nothing biblical to stand on. The only thing God kept leading me to was the verse that says quite clearly "Do not let your good be evil spoken of."
So I didn't. And I still won't. I'm here to say with all the conviction I can muster that God never intended for his people to be separated because of different musical preferences. Over and over God says for his people to be united. To be one. To get past the petty arguments and traditions we get stuck in our heads and learn to love one another even though we're different.
I remember hearing more than once in my childhood that denominations were good. That we shouldn't worship with people who have different interpretations of Scripture. That we shouldn't have to be exposed to other people who believe different things than we do, because all we would do is fight. I just can't find any biblical evidence for that. In fact, 1 Corinthians 1 refutes that quite clearly:
I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas[a]"; still another, "I follow Christ."
Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don't remember if I baptized anyone else.)For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
So I don't buy the "if we can't get along we aren't responsible to be unified" argument. God wants us to figure out how to get along. ALL his children, not just the ones that agree with each other.
Wow. I did not mean to be so long winded. You long winded posters are rubbing off on me!
2. Alcohol from a biblical perspective. I didn't even give this a second thought until I was an adult. I went to my fiance's family's home for the first time at Christmas. At dinner I was offered a glass of champagne. Righteous indignation rose up within me and I wanted to shout "absolutely not!" and run out of the room. But then I wondered if anyone would ask me why. Actually, the first time I refused, I think some of them did ask me why. And I had no reasonable answer. If I had already come to the prayerful conclusion that I wanted to refrain from alcohol use because I was fearful of the pull it might have on me, I could have honestly said that and everyone would have accepted it. But the only answer I had was "Because it's wrong!" and I had no proof of that whatsoever. The Bible says several times that drunkenness is wrong. Not alcohol.
So I accepted a glass of champagne. And I drank it, waiting for it to take over my mind and make me lose all reason and become a heathen. It didn't do one single thing to me. And from that moment on I decided if I couldn't come up with a reason to condemn it, I wasn't going to make it an issue between me and people in my life that would be confused by my condemnation without clear, simple, biblical truth to back it up.
(This being said, I really and truly do not mind that some Christians abstain. I think that's a responsible thing to do if you have a reason to. Even if you don't have a reason, no where in the Bible does God say drinking something that has alcohol in it is mandatory. What I cannot do is judge another person based on choices they have made that are between their conscience and God's Word. What I cannot do is lead a younger and more naive Christian to believe that abstaining from alcohol makes them more righteous in God's eyes. Because I have no Scriptural proof.)
And I have to address this idea that floats around in conservative circles that biblical wine was not alcoholic. I have researched biblical times quite thoroughly for books I have written, and not once did I find any evidence for this theory. I did find that "cheap" wine was watered down, and poor people usually drank cheap wine. But they tended to drink wine as a replacement for water, because the alcohol kept them from getting sick with tainted water. The wine that proceeded Jesus' wine in his first miracle would have been the cheap watered down sort that a wedding ended on because no one noticed at that point. His apparently had some kick to it.
If anyone can offer any proof to the contrary, I am open to adjusting my views with some good solid evidence.
3. The Puritan thing. I am NOT saying that there weren't Puritans who loved the Lord and lived for him to the best of their ability. There are some beautiful writings that have been preserved for us from the time. And I do admire their tenacity to cross an ocean, face disease and all manner of hardship to set up a new country. But I must speak about the first time I doubted the sugar-coated version of the historical record I learned.
It was one of those documentaries where people are chosen to live for a period of time exactly as some group in history lived. A pastor's family was chosen to live the Puritan life. I will never forget that Pastor looking through the documents and records, seeing the undeniable legalism and intolerance and being in tears because he had been taught so differently. These were people that outlawed Christmas. These were people who burned innocent people at the stake because someone called them a witch. These were people who humiliated one another and antagonized anyone who dared to question the powers that be. A good deal of them were Pharisees, pure and simple.
We can't look at history the way we want it to be. We can't just pick out the parts we like and reject the rest. There is real danger in doing so, because if we can't look honestly at what's happened in the past we will most certainly repeat it.
So I don't ask you to agree with me, and I doubt anyone has even made it to the end of this post. But if you're still here, you are welcome to refute and argue any point I've made with Scripture. I am glad to have those of you who disagree here, because I think it's important to talk these things through. We've been avoiding issues for too long. Let's think these things through together. I am not perfect, I can be just as wrong as anyone else, and I will not hold on to anything that God would have me let go.
I guess my next topic will have to wait for next time. I want to discuss the things that Christians do that are most certainly not okay according to the Bible. You probably can already guess what they are. And it's not as easy to write, because it's going to convict me as much as anyone else. Time for more changes!
Go ahead. Comment away. My fingers are tired.
Book of Faces
No, these guys weren't doing their social networking online. They were playing star wars lego games. Very serious, world changing star wars lego games, apparently.
I'm pondering. What kind of name is "facebook?" I realize it's catchy and modern and edgy... but it doesn't have anything to do with the site. There are no faces (unless you upload one, I guess) and it's not a book. Facebook makes me think of a phonebook that has the pictures of everyone listed. Is that what facebook was created for? To be a listing of people's faces and information in order to contact them?
I guess it makes a little sense. But I still don't like it.
Oh well.
Anyway, I'm wondering today about whether our obsession with online social interaction is a positive or negative influence on our relationships or perhaps both. I'm also wondering if that sentence was properly constructed, but only my sister would have noticed if it wasn't until I decided to point it out...
I'm a bit rambly today. I suppose you could tell. It's probably a good idea to refrain from blogging when rambly. It's probably also a good idea to resist the urge to make up words. Blog wasn't even a word till a few years ago, so you never know when you're going to create the next new thing. Or... word. I wonder if all the teenagers will soon be saying "rambly." Not that all the teenagers think I'm altogether that cool.
I really need to stop. I should probably do some backspacing as well but I won't, because I'm just that lazy today. Hey, "backspacing." I made up another word. I'm so creative.
All right, I'll get to the point. Is facebook the creator of new friendships, the sustainer of old ones, and the builder of the established? Or is facebook creating a society that hides behind computer screens and increasingly finds it difficult to talk to people face-to-face, one-on-one?
Here are my thoughts.
Yes. To both.
What? I have to explain? Alright.
Facebook has helped me make some new friends. There are people in my circle that were too shy to talk to me and I took their shyness for revulsion so I didn't talk to them, because I'm a bit "shy" myself in some ways. So becoming friends on facebook and realizing all the things we had in common gave them and me the courage to talk in person. So now, I've got a few friends I wouldn't have had otherwise.
Facebook has helped me to find long lost friends. My high school principal (the awesome kind of principal,) my close friend who grew up down the street from me, my old piano teacher, one of the boys in my class all the way through school, my two best buds in college. You all have these stories too. In fact, there aren't too many people from my past I wasn't able to find on facebook. I wouldn't have any connection to these people or even know where they are if it weren't for facebook.
Facebook has sustained present relationships. I hate the phone. Those of you that have called me know I don't answer it all the time. I don't even respond to messages sometimes that clearly say "please call me back at this number." I send a facebook message instead. I know, it's a little weird to have a phone phobia. If you also have one please let me know I'm not alone. Or else I might have to have myself commited to overcome my irrational fear of telecommunications.
So I facebook people instead. I suppose this is because I am far more confident behind my written words than my spoken. And if that's weird then I willingly own my weirdness.
But I also think it's possible for facebook to come between people if you let it. If you never talk face to face, if you never have that human contact that grows you as a person, if you never learn to read other people's body language, their expressions... well, that's all part of knowing someone else.
So that's my two cents for the day. I'm sorry I'm not wealthy in wisdom and able to provide 25 cents or 50.
If you've got anything to add, start typing!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Chicken Little
Some of us, maybe even the majority grew up being taught to be skeptical of everything. You know, "trust no one" and so on. So my thoughts today may seem a little dire. You can roll your eyes and even make cracks at me in your comments. I welcome any kind of feedback because I am just that desperate to be heard. Or read, rather. I don't really want to be heard because that would involve talking and I'm not so in to that. Ask MacGyver. Drives him crazy.
So, I've been thinking with the predictions in the news lately that we should be planning ahead. Up till about 90 years or so ago, we had no strong antidote for disease and infection. Then someone discovered antibiotics. Well, since then we've kind of figured we are set. No silly little germ is going to get us down. We have been safe for so long that we haven't even entertained the thought that someday the germs might overcome our defenses.
Well, I think it's happening. Unless the stories in the news are pure fiction, we might be seeing the beginning of a return to life without antibiotics.
So what does this mean? Will the devastation of the early 20th century repeat itself? Who knows. Anything is possible in a degrading and imperfect world. I am hopeful that Jesus will return before this, but that's a rather selfish thought in light of what he's waiting for.
So anyway, what to do? I've been thinking about this. At least we know that handwashing, wearing masks and gloves can slow the spread of disease. We know that staying out of public places as much as possible will offer some protection. We know that rest, good nutrition, and isolation of sick people will help. I suppose if it came to be that a disease was starting to run rampant, it would be smart to stock up and stay in. Of course, that's what everyone does when crisis comes. So why not start to stock up now, before everyone else is doing the same thing? Why not keep a supply of food and drink in the basement, using it as we go and restocking it to keep it fresh?
That's part of the reason I've gone to a 1-3 month space between the bulk of my groceries. The biggest reason is just having time to homeschool instead of taking 4 children shopping every week.
And that's another thing I'm kinda glad I'm doing now instead of later. Homeschooling. That's a topic for another day, because I know we have all sorts of opinions and preconceived notions about it. So did I. Until I did it. But anyway, at least we are all set if the next plague hits.
Okay, your turn. Go ahead and scoff and scorn and rebuke me. I can take it. I'm the one that started it!
Have a great and germ-free day!
So, I've been thinking with the predictions in the news lately that we should be planning ahead. Up till about 90 years or so ago, we had no strong antidote for disease and infection. Then someone discovered antibiotics. Well, since then we've kind of figured we are set. No silly little germ is going to get us down. We have been safe for so long that we haven't even entertained the thought that someday the germs might overcome our defenses.
Well, I think it's happening. Unless the stories in the news are pure fiction, we might be seeing the beginning of a return to life without antibiotics.
So what does this mean? Will the devastation of the early 20th century repeat itself? Who knows. Anything is possible in a degrading and imperfect world. I am hopeful that Jesus will return before this, but that's a rather selfish thought in light of what he's waiting for.
So anyway, what to do? I've been thinking about this. At least we know that handwashing, wearing masks and gloves can slow the spread of disease. We know that staying out of public places as much as possible will offer some protection. We know that rest, good nutrition, and isolation of sick people will help. I suppose if it came to be that a disease was starting to run rampant, it would be smart to stock up and stay in. Of course, that's what everyone does when crisis comes. So why not start to stock up now, before everyone else is doing the same thing? Why not keep a supply of food and drink in the basement, using it as we go and restocking it to keep it fresh?
That's part of the reason I've gone to a 1-3 month space between the bulk of my groceries. The biggest reason is just having time to homeschool instead of taking 4 children shopping every week.
And that's another thing I'm kinda glad I'm doing now instead of later. Homeschooling. That's a topic for another day, because I know we have all sorts of opinions and preconceived notions about it. So did I. Until I did it. But anyway, at least we are all set if the next plague hits.
Okay, your turn. Go ahead and scoff and scorn and rebuke me. I can take it. I'm the one that started it!
Have a great and germ-free day!
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
More Diaper Buzz
I don't mean to go on about this. I know I've already reported on our experiences in switching to cloth diapers. But I feel compelled to say again how happy we've been with this change, and to offer a few suggestions to those who are seriously considering this possibility.
1. Give it a few weeks. It took about 3 weeks for me to figure out how to use cloth diapers to their fullest potential. It is absolutely true that if you don't care for them properly or adjust them appropriately you will have problems. But when you get into a routine that works for you, they work just as good if not better than the best disposables out there. I think it's very true that they do not reach their highest capacity of liquid retention until you've washed them a few times. At first I had to change them every 2 hours to prevent leaks. Now I change them about as often as I did with disposables. (Which wasn't often.)
2. Rinse. Many cloth enthusiasts insist that this is not necessary. That to clean cloth diapers you only need to knock solids in the toilet and throw them in the washer. Maybe for some this is true, but for our particular situation, for the consistency of my kid's "solids" or "not-so-solids" I really have to rinse them out for effective cleaning. It may also have to do with having a high efficiency washer, which doesn't use anywhere near as much water or soap as a regular washer. What MacGyver did for me is install one of those cheap plastic sink/tubs next the washer with a sprayer. I spray off everything I can with cold water and then just leave the diaper to soak in an inch or so of cold water until my next load of diapers. Before I added this step, all of my diapers were coming out of the washer and dryer dingy and with a little bit of a questionable smell.
3. Follow care instructions carefully. Cloth diapers need special care. They shouldn't be cleaned with much detergent at all and it should be either homemade or approved by the manufacturer. I didn't follow this advice with cloth pull-ups I bought in the past and you can tell by looking at them. If you overload with detergent and bleach they will not work as well and their life expectancy will not be as long. And if they start to leak, chances are they just need to be rinsed and rinsed and rinsed without soap for awhile to get the buildup off. This is known as "stripping."
The instructions warn that using vinegar, baking soda or bleach too often will cause buildup. I try to use just a splash of vinegar every other or every 3 times I wash. And when they start to have a slight odor, I use just a tablespoon or so of bleach, but I am cautious about only doing this every few washes. It does take care of any smell starting to emanate.
4. Adjust. The diapers I bought have adjusters inside them. I had to play around with them and find out what settings Baby J needed to keep them from leaking. I also learned to put them on to prevent leaks too. You have to keep the front up high as you are snapping them in place, then pull the back up and make sure the elastic around the legs is snug against the skin. Since I learned to do this, they rarely leak.
Again, I will reiterate - I've been extremely happy with this decision. They are not bothersome. They save you money after a few month's use. They save garbage dumps from unnecessary refuse. They save baby's bottom from unnecessary chemicals and irritants. They are an all around good idea, and I'm thankful to have them!
Monday, August 9, 2010
A New Plan
Something someone posted or said to me recently stuck. And my first reaction to it was negative. Something like "That would NEVER work!" And then I got to thinking how nice it would be if it did work.
I suppose it might be helpful if I share with you the idea first. Someone told me that they buy the bulk of their groceries at the beginning of the month. For the rest of the weeks they only buy things such as milk or produce. In my mind I argued that this is just impossible, to buy so much at one time and be able to plan for an entire month in one shopping trip.
But I decided to try it.
At the beginning of the month I went to Sam's. I got three month's worth of the things I buy there (toilet paper, paper towels, olive oil, nuts, etc.) Then I went to Trader Joe's and got what I could only get there, enough for a month. Organic meat, cheese, Ezekiel 4:9 bread, etc. Then I went to Meijer (yes I did this all in one day with four children!)and got things there that Walmart doesn't have (organic salsa, cereal, etc.) The rest of the month I go to Walmart for a quick trip and get the produce and such for the week. It sounds complicated, but it's working out! I think this is going to help us when homeschool starts in a couple weeks, especially since I've got myself a new kindergartner this year!
So all this to say, thanks for the idea!
I suppose it might be helpful if I share with you the idea first. Someone told me that they buy the bulk of their groceries at the beginning of the month. For the rest of the weeks they only buy things such as milk or produce. In my mind I argued that this is just impossible, to buy so much at one time and be able to plan for an entire month in one shopping trip.
But I decided to try it.
At the beginning of the month I went to Sam's. I got three month's worth of the things I buy there (toilet paper, paper towels, olive oil, nuts, etc.) Then I went to Trader Joe's and got what I could only get there, enough for a month. Organic meat, cheese, Ezekiel 4:9 bread, etc. Then I went to Meijer (yes I did this all in one day with four children!)and got things there that Walmart doesn't have (organic salsa, cereal, etc.) The rest of the month I go to Walmart for a quick trip and get the produce and such for the week. It sounds complicated, but it's working out! I think this is going to help us when homeschool starts in a couple weeks, especially since I've got myself a new kindergartner this year!
So all this to say, thanks for the idea!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Ruffling Feathers
I sit here in trepidation. Because what I have to say today might upset a few people. I've got some words for my fellow Christians. The born again, baptized, Spirit filled variety. And I've got a few caveats before I begin.
1. These are my opinions. I am not saying with 100% confidence that I'm absolutely right on all of them.
2. I believe with all my heart that the Bible is truth. If you disagree with me please do it biblically. It's the language I speak.
3. I am not trying to start an argument. I'm just asking my brothers and sisters to consider my words. Disagreements are invited. But any poster must keep in mind that I have four small children and am a little short on time. Please keep your words as few as possible if you want me to respond, and be direct.
4. Some of you might agree with me. Please say so, because if we continue to hide behind traditions that aren't based on truth then we'll have a hard time growing into a new place.
Here goes. I hate this. I hate picking fights. Even though that's not really what I'm doing.
Here are my top three things that I was taught growing up (Christian school, mostly) that I've come to realize weren't exactly biblically originated.
1. Dancing and Rock and Roll is of the devil. I think we're all pretty much past this but I'm just saying.
2. It's wrong to drink even a sip of alcohol. Actually, this is not just questionable, it is unbiblical. The Bible says at least once that wine is a gift to gladden the heart of man. What the Bible warns strongly against is abuse of alcohol. Drunkenness. This just goes right back to the garden. God said "Don't eat from that tree" and Eve added "And don't touch it either." Why in the world do we always think we have to add addendum's onto God's decrees?
3. The Pilgrims/Puritans were a bunch of courageous, holy people who risked their lives to begin a country where we could follow God the way we want to and because of that America belongs to Christians. It's true that they left England and came here to start a new way of life where they could be free of persecution. But in truth most of them just started persecuting one another instead. They were a narrow minded, nasty bunch that basically wanted to start their own religion based on legalism. I didn't like hearing this when I started reading into it and realized everything I'd been taught was a great stretch from the truth. And again, I'm sure there were a few decent people who had good intentions. But living the Puritanical life wasn't what we claim we should "get back to." It was hell.
This is why I don't buy into the "reclaim America for Jesus" crusade. There have been many strong, able leaders in our country that loved the Lord. There still are. It's true we are free (at the moment) to mostly worship the way the Bible instructs us to. That is a blessing from God. I'm VERY grateful for all the men and women who have given their lives to keep this country free. It is an oasis in a sad world. But sometimes the things that Christians get up in arms over embarrass me as a fellow believer. Maybe it's just that some people who call themselves Christians don't really know what God is all about. To know, all you have to do is look at Jesus. He expected persecution. He withstood it. He never tried to take over any countries or crusade against evil empires. Because he knew that it wasn't time for his kingdom yet. If we belong to him, it's not time for our kingdom yet either. So we need to get over America belonging to us. It doesn't.
Well, I said it. Maybe if we all took a good hard look at what we're standing for and shook off all the excess that we've added to what God said, people might take us a little more seriously. Maybe if we tried building relationships and telling the truth about how broken we are or were and what God did or is doing to fix us then we might be able to help others.
Leave a comment if you have something to say. Thanks for reading.
Goodnight.
1. These are my opinions. I am not saying with 100% confidence that I'm absolutely right on all of them.
2. I believe with all my heart that the Bible is truth. If you disagree with me please do it biblically. It's the language I speak.
3. I am not trying to start an argument. I'm just asking my brothers and sisters to consider my words. Disagreements are invited. But any poster must keep in mind that I have four small children and am a little short on time. Please keep your words as few as possible if you want me to respond, and be direct.
4. Some of you might agree with me. Please say so, because if we continue to hide behind traditions that aren't based on truth then we'll have a hard time growing into a new place.
Here goes. I hate this. I hate picking fights. Even though that's not really what I'm doing.
Here are my top three things that I was taught growing up (Christian school, mostly) that I've come to realize weren't exactly biblically originated.
1. Dancing and Rock and Roll is of the devil. I think we're all pretty much past this but I'm just saying.
2. It's wrong to drink even a sip of alcohol. Actually, this is not just questionable, it is unbiblical. The Bible says at least once that wine is a gift to gladden the heart of man. What the Bible warns strongly against is abuse of alcohol. Drunkenness. This just goes right back to the garden. God said "Don't eat from that tree" and Eve added "And don't touch it either." Why in the world do we always think we have to add addendum's onto God's decrees?
3. The Pilgrims/Puritans were a bunch of courageous, holy people who risked their lives to begin a country where we could follow God the way we want to and because of that America belongs to Christians. It's true that they left England and came here to start a new way of life where they could be free of persecution. But in truth most of them just started persecuting one another instead. They were a narrow minded, nasty bunch that basically wanted to start their own religion based on legalism. I didn't like hearing this when I started reading into it and realized everything I'd been taught was a great stretch from the truth. And again, I'm sure there were a few decent people who had good intentions. But living the Puritanical life wasn't what we claim we should "get back to." It was hell.
This is why I don't buy into the "reclaim America for Jesus" crusade. There have been many strong, able leaders in our country that loved the Lord. There still are. It's true we are free (at the moment) to mostly worship the way the Bible instructs us to. That is a blessing from God. I'm VERY grateful for all the men and women who have given their lives to keep this country free. It is an oasis in a sad world. But sometimes the things that Christians get up in arms over embarrass me as a fellow believer. Maybe it's just that some people who call themselves Christians don't really know what God is all about. To know, all you have to do is look at Jesus. He expected persecution. He withstood it. He never tried to take over any countries or crusade against evil empires. Because he knew that it wasn't time for his kingdom yet. If we belong to him, it's not time for our kingdom yet either. So we need to get over America belonging to us. It doesn't.
Well, I said it. Maybe if we all took a good hard look at what we're standing for and shook off all the excess that we've added to what God said, people might take us a little more seriously. Maybe if we tried building relationships and telling the truth about how broken we are or were and what God did or is doing to fix us then we might be able to help others.
Leave a comment if you have something to say. Thanks for reading.
Goodnight.
Tortoise meets Hare
First of all, before I get into it, may I please have the support of every woman who thinks this is completely disgusting?
MacGyver says it is the only place he can charge his razor, full of little stubbly bits. He says it's the only place that's convenient. He says he needs it to be there when he gets up at 5 am and heads to work for a full day of tireless grinding effort to put food on the table and clothes on our backs...
Okay, that was my imaginative version of what he said. But still. Am I insane to be a little weirded out by a razor charging on my stove?
Thank you for your support.
That being said, I promised MacGyver when I asked if I could write about us today that I would be fair. And so I shall.
The idea occurred to me a few days ago when a friend mentioned that an injury had made her husband a little crabby. I was in shock, because I've never seen her husband without a huge smile on his face. Then I got to wondering - how many people think MacGyver and I always smile and have complete harmony in our home?
Then I laughed. Really, really laughed. MacGyver is laughing too as he reads this, I can see it. Actually he's probably just shaking his head. Love you, Honey.
Here's the real story. Fourteen and a half years ago God thought it would be HILARIOUS to introduce the Tortoise to the Hare. Then he decided to let Hare in on a little secret. "Tortoise is for you. But you're going to have to wait a VERY long time."
I honestly sighed a little when I shook hands with MacGyver the first time and realized that I wasn't going to be getting married and having a family anytime soon. But I cheered up pretty quickly when I realized he was worth it.
All through high school, I dreamed about what my husband would be like. I thought maybe I'd found him a few times. I knew he would have to have the ingenuity of MacGyver, the boyish innocence and morality of the Kid, the depth of Mulder, and the manliness of Sully, because those were my heroes at the time.
And he did. He had every last one of those qualities that I was hoping for. Trouble is, I didn't realize that my man would come with a few of their negative qualities as well. One of them being, as I have mentioned... he's slow.
Not slow of mind. Quite the contrary, he's a genius. He's never met a broken thing he can't put back in working order. Hence his nickname. He has an answer for every scientific, mathematical quandary Eldest can come up with. When she asks me, I just raise my eyebrow and say "Ask your Dad" as my mind spins out of control with the horridness that is scientific math.
No, no, MacGyver is what we shall call... "careful." He's a double triple checker. He's a "let's not rush into anything" sort of guy. He's a "let's get all the facts out on the table and analyze them to death" sort of guy.
Then there's me. I'm a "if it feels right, jump in with both feet and let what happens happen" kind of girl. When we got married and MacGyver realized this, he was horrified. We spent almost every day of our first year of marriage fighting the fight of justice. His cause was "caution" and my cause was "seize the day."
Well, here we are almost ten years later, and we've both changed. We've come to some sort of treaty. In fact, we've come to see the other's major points and embraced them. I can see how it's good to be careful sometimes. He can see that life will pass you by if you wait too long. We know we need the other one to help us be more than we could be by ourselves. So after all, God had a good plan.
But that's not to say that there aren't still occasional battles at Tortoise and Hare's home. That's not to say that sometimes Hare doesn't leave Tortoise in the dust getting tired of waiting for him to catch up. That's not to say that Tortoise doesn't sometimes go slower just to get Hare's dander up...
Yes. We have days. Now we have a referee. Eldest lets us know when we're out of line. Sometimes we purposefully wait until she's sound asleep to argue because she's so good at guilt. And she isn't sound asleep till the wee hours of the morning.
But all this to say is that I'm glad God gave me a Tortoise. Being married to another Hare would not be a fun life. I suppose he could have given me someone more in the middle, but I probably would have found that boring. As much as I hate the drama... I like it a little. Please don't tell MacGyver. Oh wait... he reads this.
The day I married MacGyver I wasn't completely sure that he really wanted to be married to me. Ten years later, I'm amazed at how far we've come. Even in more recent months, I can honestly say that I know he loves me, and that for whatever reason, he's glad he's married to me. And even though it's hard for me to express sometimes, I love him more each day. I'm really really hard on him, I know, but I look up to him for his relentlessness, his courage, his thoughtfulness and his commitment to excellence. He inspires me, helps me be what I'm supposed to be, and he teaches me that it's okay to be a work in progress, because that's what God specializes in.
Thanks for the last ten years, MacGyver. Just think of the possibilities for the next ten.
Maybe you'll even stop charging your razor on the stove.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Setbacks
I'm prepared to be a little more honest than I am comfortable with tonight. I'm sure it will come as a shock to all of you because you have this all figured out, but I am not doing as well as I would like to be with my eating habits.
I am eating mostly good things. I've got the fruits and veggies stacked up, whole grains galore, plenty of protein. But I am way off balance most days in when and how much I eat. Some days (like today) I just don't feel that hungry. I forgot to eat much of anything for lunch or dinner. This is not the norm right now, I'm usually famished. I hope this won't bring a blush to anyone's face but I am (to put it quite delicately) exclusively nursing a 15 or 16 pound 3 month old. Okay, that wasn't very delicate. (And yes, my tiptoeing around the subject is quite sarcastic because I think it's a little ridiculous that people can get so uppity about a woman feeding her baby the way God provided for her to do. And I'm going to step up on my soapbox for just a minute and proclaim that locking nursing moms away in "nursing rooms" or shaming them into blanketing themselves from head to toe while feeding is a little extreme. You really aren't going to see anything. And yes, we do see you staring at us in horror. And I'm not just talking about the church folk.)
Sorry... I'm a little "ranty" tonight. I told a friend yesterday that I usually erase my ranting but I think I'll leave it in this time so you know that sometimes I do rant.
Back to my deep dark confessions. On my famished days, which are many at the moment, I'm pretty sure I'm eating too much. I say pretty sure because it's hard to gauge. I don't eat as much as MacGyver, but he's a freak of nature that surely must have some sort of black hole inside him. I eat about as much as my kids during the day, maybe a little less. But then bedtime comes and I rush to the kitchen for a snack which sometimes becomes two snacks as I sit and do lesson plans or write. It's this bedtime snacking that is getting me into trouble. I think if I could do away with this save one small high protein snack I would be getting on the right track. I also have to admit that I've let ice cream and peanut butter sneak back in. It's hard to resist when it's here, and MacGyver can't live without ice cream and Second born loves the peanut butter.
I am doing pretty well with exercise at the moment. I could be doing better, but I'm pretty consistent. I guess I'd give myself a C+ or a B-.
I'm a little discouraged about my general health at the moment. My throat has been hurting for awhile and I've been sneezing a lot, but I can't figure out what I'm suddenly allergic to. I've been getting migraines again - I've had to take medicine for them 3 times in the past week and a half. This concerns me, because I thought they were better. It can't be dietary, because I haven't really changed anything and I'm avoiding the things that give me instant headaches. It could be weather related, as the weather has been a little moody... anyway, I'm hoping that they ease off again, because they aren't compatible with... life.
And there is an annoying prankster who keeps calling our house around midnight. What in the world do you do about that?
So, all this to say... I don't know what I'm saying today. I'm a work in progress as far as this eating thing goes. Anybody else?
Goodnight.
I am eating mostly good things. I've got the fruits and veggies stacked up, whole grains galore, plenty of protein. But I am way off balance most days in when and how much I eat. Some days (like today) I just don't feel that hungry. I forgot to eat much of anything for lunch or dinner. This is not the norm right now, I'm usually famished. I hope this won't bring a blush to anyone's face but I am (to put it quite delicately) exclusively nursing a 15 or 16 pound 3 month old. Okay, that wasn't very delicate. (And yes, my tiptoeing around the subject is quite sarcastic because I think it's a little ridiculous that people can get so uppity about a woman feeding her baby the way God provided for her to do. And I'm going to step up on my soapbox for just a minute and proclaim that locking nursing moms away in "nursing rooms" or shaming them into blanketing themselves from head to toe while feeding is a little extreme. You really aren't going to see anything. And yes, we do see you staring at us in horror. And I'm not just talking about the church folk.)
Sorry... I'm a little "ranty" tonight. I told a friend yesterday that I usually erase my ranting but I think I'll leave it in this time so you know that sometimes I do rant.
Back to my deep dark confessions. On my famished days, which are many at the moment, I'm pretty sure I'm eating too much. I say pretty sure because it's hard to gauge. I don't eat as much as MacGyver, but he's a freak of nature that surely must have some sort of black hole inside him. I eat about as much as my kids during the day, maybe a little less. But then bedtime comes and I rush to the kitchen for a snack which sometimes becomes two snacks as I sit and do lesson plans or write. It's this bedtime snacking that is getting me into trouble. I think if I could do away with this save one small high protein snack I would be getting on the right track. I also have to admit that I've let ice cream and peanut butter sneak back in. It's hard to resist when it's here, and MacGyver can't live without ice cream and Second born loves the peanut butter.
I am doing pretty well with exercise at the moment. I could be doing better, but I'm pretty consistent. I guess I'd give myself a C+ or a B-.
I'm a little discouraged about my general health at the moment. My throat has been hurting for awhile and I've been sneezing a lot, but I can't figure out what I'm suddenly allergic to. I've been getting migraines again - I've had to take medicine for them 3 times in the past week and a half. This concerns me, because I thought they were better. It can't be dietary, because I haven't really changed anything and I'm avoiding the things that give me instant headaches. It could be weather related, as the weather has been a little moody... anyway, I'm hoping that they ease off again, because they aren't compatible with... life.
And there is an annoying prankster who keeps calling our house around midnight. What in the world do you do about that?
So, all this to say... I don't know what I'm saying today. I'm a work in progress as far as this eating thing goes. Anybody else?
Goodnight.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Science 101 with MacGyver
MacGyver's a hands-on kind of Dad. He believes kids learn best by doing. In fact, yesterday we went to Home Depot to pick out new sinks for our master bathroom. When we got out of the van, Toddler pointed at the store and yelled "Ho Dedo!" with as much enthusiasm as a two year old can muster.
But on to my point. Today at lunch Eldest asked about volcanoes. First she wanted assurance that there were none in Ohio. Then she wanted to know what and where the biggest volcanoes were. MacGyver told her about Vesuvius, Olympus and the Hawaiian volcanoes. Then he told us about Yellowstone. Apparently there is a volcano there that scientists say has the potential to completely wipe the entire earth of life.
Eldest became quite concerned about this. Fortunately we were able to point to the Bible's assurance that God has everything under control.
I guess because I've always lived within the protective comforter of God's care, I've never really considered the power of nature. That there is pressure within our earth that has the ability to destroy life within minutes and hours. I think of Pompeii, who didn't wake up the morning of their demise wondering if it would be their last day on earth.
I guess my only point today is that something so powerful should be respected and taken care of. It's the right thing to do. I've mentioned a few of the things we've tried to start doing to be more respectful of our planet: Switch to cloth diapers, recycle, use less garbage, eat organically grown food. We aren't always as consistent with this as we need to be, but every step we've taken has been rewarding. I'm not sorry we have done any of it, and we've gained a great sense of accomplishment through our efforts.
Anyone have any new ideas? Goals? Concerns? Post them here.
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