I rarely mention politics because it can get ugly fast and rarely makes any friends. However, if you can step out of your opinions/convictions for just a second and just laugh at some of the truths in this blog, I think you'll enjoy it...don't agree or disagree, just be amused...
http://stuffchristianslike.net/2010/07/secretly-being-liberal/
And my fave comment...
I'm somewhat more conservative than liberal, although I certainly listen to NPR (except Ira Glass, his voice is like a freshman at a college radio station) and am sick of the culture war politics and right-wing talk radio is only rivaled in annoyingness by Sojo ;)
Still, here's a few things I noticed Liberal Evangelicals like (and I like some of these too, I'll happily admit). ... See More
- Saying "God is not a Republican," conceding to add "nor a Democrat" if pushed.
- Begrudgingly admitting that Bush did a stellar job with his AIDS initiatives in Africa.
- Jim Wallis
- Watching Fox News, Complaining about Fox News
- Derek Webb
- Social Justice, endlessly arguing about exactly what "Social Justice" is.
- Begrudgingly admitting that Rick Warren's got a good sense of missions and social justice
- Thinking about being Catholic up until the point they talk about celibacy and birth control.
- Billy Graham (because he's a Democrat, and he seems to like all the Presidents equally)
- Portraying Mormon Glen Beck, Catholic Sean Hannity, and lapsed mainliner Rush Limbaugh as representatives of conservative Evangelicalism.
- Bono
- Francis Collins (me, too -- he rocks! Yay for Obama for nominating him.)
Friday, July 23, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
'Nuff Said...
I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn't work. So I quit being a "law (wo)man" so that I could be God's (wo)man. Christ's life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.
Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God's grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.
---Galatians 2:19-21
Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God's grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.
---Galatians 2:19-21
Monday, July 12, 2010
I will persevere...
"It's not enough to have a dream unless I'm willing to pursue it. It's not enough to know what's right unless I'm strong enough to do it. It's not enough to join the crowd, to be acknowledged and accepted. I must be true to my ideals, even if I'm excluded and rejected. It's not enough to learn the truth unless I also learn to live it. It's not enough to reach for love unless I care enough to give it."-Anonymous
Do you ever feel completely peerless? I sure do. Especially lately...I've been feeling really disconnected. I have always been a person with a thousand acquaintances and very few close friends; but, recently, even my few close relationships feel more distant and obscured. I know that a lot of it is the season of life that I am in. Raising toddlers keeps you at a disadvantage socially and relationally...goodness, even my husband and I don't get the time together we'd like. Many of my closest friends are hundreds of miles away; however, it seems to be a little more than that. Sometimes I wonder if I haven't become a bit jaded in friendships, I am more suspecting of people's motives and more cautious in the sharing of the intimacies of close friendships such as, confidences, loyalties, shared experiences, and the degree of honesty or openness.
I can't tell you the number of times in my life I've heard, "Don't you ever slow down? Do you over-analyze everything? Don't you know how to have fun? Do you ever put down the books, newspaper, dictionary, etc.? Don't you ever quit being serious?" And while I know these people weren't friends and failed to understand the uniqueness the Father gave me, their voices still echo somewhere in my mind and make me wonder if those are the reasons I'm in this place in my life. It's really ridiculous the depths to which people/the enemy will stoop to destroy a person. So, while I know that people reject what they don't understand and that the greatest challenge for people is relating to what's different, I still struggle with this inner dialogue.
It's strange, though, that I don't feel these things with God right now, I actually feel closer to Him than ever. Makes me feel like I'm having my own Island of Patmos experience (Patmos is where the apostle John was exiled and ended up writing his contributions to the New Testament). So, while there is a certain degree of loneliness in my life, I don't feel all alone...just peerless. I have my husband, I have mentors, teachers, and, most importantly, my heavenly Father. I don't mean to diminish the awesomeness of these relationships or the gratefulness I have for them, I'm just craving some good old-fashioned girl time. Does that make me shallow? Doubtfully.
I haven't found an immediate solution to these feelings, issues, whatever you want to call them, I've just found that I know that there is a purpose being served during this season. I think I'm learning to accept the unique character, personality traits and giftings my Father gave me. I'm redefining myself in Him and for the purpose of His kingdom instead of the box people are always trying, and failing, to shove me into. And I am learning, learning, learning about authenticity, truth, and what it means to REALLY love people! So these things encourage me along with some other more personal, yet God-directed, pursuits. I am determined to get past my insecurities and fear of failure. And I will persevere...
I am not one for super hard-core rock very often at all. The lyrics to this song grabbed me...even if they may not suit me perfectly, I know they must someone.
Hatebreed's "Perseverance" Lyrics
I know your fear of loss
And your struggles with faith
And how it takes everything that you have to face the day
The virtues you possess now bring you eternal pain
All you have is contempt for a life you can't obtain
All your heroes have failed you
Yet you try and prevail
Face your torment and dismantle your doubt
Refuse this legacy of shame and deceit
Cause the only real truth in your life that you know is hostility
Your world is coming apart
Remain steadfast
Perseverance
Against all opposition
Crushing all limitations
Pure strength through solitude
Discipline and determination
You can't accept what you've been told
Anchored in sin you must reverse your descent
Declare the weight of the world has yet to claim you
And admit that your faults will not restrain you
Glimpses of fate bring light to your despair
Realise hope isn't short of your grasp
Resurrect every dream that you've buried alive
And never succumb to the war that you fight in your heart
Your world is coming apart
Remain steadfast
Perseverance
Against all opposition
Crushing all limitations
Pure strength through solitude
Discipline and determination
Do you ever feel completely peerless? I sure do. Especially lately...I've been feeling really disconnected. I have always been a person with a thousand acquaintances and very few close friends; but, recently, even my few close relationships feel more distant and obscured. I know that a lot of it is the season of life that I am in. Raising toddlers keeps you at a disadvantage socially and relationally...goodness, even my husband and I don't get the time together we'd like. Many of my closest friends are hundreds of miles away; however, it seems to be a little more than that. Sometimes I wonder if I haven't become a bit jaded in friendships, I am more suspecting of people's motives and more cautious in the sharing of the intimacies of close friendships such as, confidences, loyalties, shared experiences, and the degree of honesty or openness.
I can't tell you the number of times in my life I've heard, "Don't you ever slow down? Do you over-analyze everything? Don't you know how to have fun? Do you ever put down the books, newspaper, dictionary, etc.? Don't you ever quit being serious?" And while I know these people weren't friends and failed to understand the uniqueness the Father gave me, their voices still echo somewhere in my mind and make me wonder if those are the reasons I'm in this place in my life. It's really ridiculous the depths to which people/the enemy will stoop to destroy a person. So, while I know that people reject what they don't understand and that the greatest challenge for people is relating to what's different, I still struggle with this inner dialogue.
It's strange, though, that I don't feel these things with God right now, I actually feel closer to Him than ever. Makes me feel like I'm having my own Island of Patmos experience (Patmos is where the apostle John was exiled and ended up writing his contributions to the New Testament). So, while there is a certain degree of loneliness in my life, I don't feel all alone...just peerless. I have my husband, I have mentors, teachers, and, most importantly, my heavenly Father. I don't mean to diminish the awesomeness of these relationships or the gratefulness I have for them, I'm just craving some good old-fashioned girl time. Does that make me shallow? Doubtfully.
I haven't found an immediate solution to these feelings, issues, whatever you want to call them, I've just found that I know that there is a purpose being served during this season. I think I'm learning to accept the unique character, personality traits and giftings my Father gave me. I'm redefining myself in Him and for the purpose of His kingdom instead of the box people are always trying, and failing, to shove me into. And I am learning, learning, learning about authenticity, truth, and what it means to REALLY love people! So these things encourage me along with some other more personal, yet God-directed, pursuits. I am determined to get past my insecurities and fear of failure. And I will persevere...
I am not one for super hard-core rock very often at all. The lyrics to this song grabbed me...even if they may not suit me perfectly, I know they must someone.
Hatebreed's "Perseverance" Lyrics
I know your fear of loss
And your struggles with faith
And how it takes everything that you have to face the day
The virtues you possess now bring you eternal pain
All you have is contempt for a life you can't obtain
All your heroes have failed you
Yet you try and prevail
Face your torment and dismantle your doubt
Refuse this legacy of shame and deceit
Cause the only real truth in your life that you know is hostility
Your world is coming apart
Remain steadfast
Perseverance
Against all opposition
Crushing all limitations
Pure strength through solitude
Discipline and determination
You can't accept what you've been told
Anchored in sin you must reverse your descent
Declare the weight of the world has yet to claim you
And admit that your faults will not restrain you
Glimpses of fate bring light to your despair
Realise hope isn't short of your grasp
Resurrect every dream that you've buried alive
And never succumb to the war that you fight in your heart
Your world is coming apart
Remain steadfast
Perseverance
Against all opposition
Crushing all limitations
Pure strength through solitude
Discipline and determination
Thursday, July 8, 2010
The Keeper
I've been digging through some of my old writings...looking for something specific (which I still haven't found because I'm easily distracted by all the other things...such as old radio ads I wrote and voiced, essays from high school and college, and even some old notes passed in class, etc.). I did find this; however, and I am astounded that even at the tender age of sixteen I had a passion for love over correction/judgment. I think I've always resented someone who'd rather serve as God's police officer rather than an on-staff doctor/healer. And I know I've always celebrated people who love to celebrate others. That's probably why I was attracted to the teachers I admired in school...their characters tended toward encouragement, inspiration, and nurturing vs. constant correction or disappointment...But, I digress. I hope you enjoy this poem from 16 yr. old Beth.
May 9, 1999
The Keeper
Gentle creature of an endearing kind,
flutters through the spacious blue sky.
Grace surrounds it, an aura of light,
the colors of dawn trace its flight.
In a field of colorful jewels it lands,
and the petal on which it rests never bends.
I sit there content to watch it rest,
and with a certain thought my mind is pressed.
"Such a beautiful creature of sweet perfection
was not always so," says my mind in correction.
An unattractive creature it once was,
slow, clumsy, and covered with fuzz.
But when the time of its adolescence ended,
out of a cocoon came the creature God intended.
"From a sluggish creature to one full of grace."
I thought with understanding shown on my face.
So many people are much like this small wonder
but others on that thought do not often ponder.
They dismiss these potentially beautiful beings,
without thought and blinded to what the Creator is seeing.
An unfinished masterpiece into a work of art;
but, instead, they ignore the call of His heart.
I look up to see it flutter away,
but with my thoughts I am content to stay.
What a tragedy to see such a creature leave,
yet renewed in my heart is a purpose so deep.
I do not wish to impede a life of such beauty
for to see to their protection is my God-given duty.
With a purpose in my heart I up and stroll away.
feeling a paradigm shift has occurred on this day.
Yet I ask, "Will I fail in my purpose and can I succeed,
and will you help me and begin to plant a small seed.
Let not one creature whose season of change has not come
be discouraged or defeated by those whose hearts are numb.
Encourage and protect these undeveloped creatures.
Be their support, their mentors, and their teachers.
For one day when you briefly glance away
a nearly divine transformation will take place.
That sluggish creature and seeming object of duty,
will become a gloriously wing-ed beauty.
And, freely, it too will fly away,
and there will be no sorrow felt on that day.
For you were its keeper in its time of need,
and your joy will be full for you planted the seed."
May 9, 1999
The Keeper
Gentle creature of an endearing kind,
flutters through the spacious blue sky.
Grace surrounds it, an aura of light,
the colors of dawn trace its flight.
In a field of colorful jewels it lands,
and the petal on which it rests never bends.
I sit there content to watch it rest,
and with a certain thought my mind is pressed.
"Such a beautiful creature of sweet perfection
was not always so," says my mind in correction.
An unattractive creature it once was,
slow, clumsy, and covered with fuzz.
But when the time of its adolescence ended,
out of a cocoon came the creature God intended.
"From a sluggish creature to one full of grace."
I thought with understanding shown on my face.
So many people are much like this small wonder
but others on that thought do not often ponder.
They dismiss these potentially beautiful beings,
without thought and blinded to what the Creator is seeing.
An unfinished masterpiece into a work of art;
but, instead, they ignore the call of His heart.
I look up to see it flutter away,
but with my thoughts I am content to stay.
What a tragedy to see such a creature leave,
yet renewed in my heart is a purpose so deep.
I do not wish to impede a life of such beauty
for to see to their protection is my God-given duty.
With a purpose in my heart I up and stroll away.
feeling a paradigm shift has occurred on this day.
Yet I ask, "Will I fail in my purpose and can I succeed,
and will you help me and begin to plant a small seed.
Let not one creature whose season of change has not come
be discouraged or defeated by those whose hearts are numb.
Encourage and protect these undeveloped creatures.
Be their support, their mentors, and their teachers.
For one day when you briefly glance away
a nearly divine transformation will take place.
That sluggish creature and seeming object of duty,
will become a gloriously wing-ed beauty.
And, freely, it too will fly away,
and there will be no sorrow felt on that day.
For you were its keeper in its time of need,
and your joy will be full for you planted the seed."
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