Reflections on Mother's Day

Another Mother's Day here and gone. This is my 18th year as a mother so I thought that I would talk about the blessings of the day and my kids.



Meet (from left to right) Stephen, Andrew and Jonathan. Aren't they handsome?

I am a blessed mother. My kids are normal teenagers, a bit aggravating at times, but they are not in trouble with the law nor are they doing anything that makes me sad. They do their best in school and they have dreams and aspirations. I'm grateful that they are healthy and that they are active in life. Andrew, Jonathan and Stephen are the lights of my life and now I have four grandchildren to add to that glow. Michael, Tayler, Elena and Ethan are a lot of fun and I am very proud of them.



Another handsome bunch ... in the back we have Michael and Tayler; in front, Ethan and Elena.

Yesterday we all got together and ate a wonderful lunch here at the house. Dee (my stepdaughter who is an awesome mom) made a really easy potato dish and I assembled another easy dish of mixed veggies with cream cheese, butter and spices. Mike marinated a brisket and slow cooked it in the roaster all morning long. Wow. It was good. We had ice cream sundaes for dessert - no extra cooking there. The kids gave me some crafting supplies and Jon recorded three songs that he played on his bass guitar. Mike gave me the new book about Dietrich Bonhoeffer - now I just need time to read it!

We like celebrating Mother's Day in a simple manner. No restaurants, no traveling (right now anyway, eventually - in a decade or so - there will be more grandchildren and great-grandchildren to visit), just a simple get together. This year on Saturday there were so many school sporting events that Mike didn't take the kids shopping like usual. Andrew, who just got his driver's license this year, took care of that.

Last night Mike and I took a walk out in the country. It was hot yesterday and the wind was blowing, but the sky was a brilliant blue and the way the wind blew through the newly planted crops made them look like flowing water. When we reached Timpas creek there were two ducks swimming upstream. They were kind of glancing at each other and quacking quietly as if in deep conversation over whatever ducks talk about when they are together. Watching a movie with Mike and the kids at the end of the day just topped it off perfectly.

I don't know why God has blessed me so much, but I am grateful. We've had some hard years. The boys and I lived through the death of their father and now God has blessed us with more family. Mike is a wonderful husband who works hard to make sure that I am well taken care of. And, of course, my parents are still living and as active as they can be in our family all the way from Arizona. It's just a good life and I thank you, Lord.
I hope you all had a nice Mother's Day and even if it wasn't everything you wanted it to be, remember that God is with you and understands your heartache.

Meanwhile, thanks boys for making me a proud mother. I love you with all my heart. I now look forward to a new chapter in motherhood - graduation and the first departure from the nest. I'm sure there will be more on that later!

Praying with the newspaper and the Bible

Balancing prayer with the newspaper and the Bible

I've been pretty quiet lately. For those who like my blog, I apologize for the lack of posting but I've been concentrating on making some things to sell. During my short hiatus, however, the news has supplied plenty of thinking material and opportunities for prayer.

Karl Barth, the great German theologian, is attributed with saying, "read the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other." There is no solid proof that he said this but someone wise has changed this quote to say "pray with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other." This is a good quote to remember lately, don't you think?

Usama bin Laden

The first thing that comes to mind because it is the most recent is the death of America's enemy Usama Bin Laden. I, like every other American, felt a wonderful sense of pride in our armed forces and in our resolve after I learned that it happened. I'm still glad it happened, but I've come down a bit from the initial reaction.

How should we as Christians respond to the death of an enemy? Here is a great blog post on the issue: Alise Write. Alise, I don't know you, but you say it well.

Killing bin Laden was good for our country but we shouldn't go overboard in rejoicing over the fact that our enemy is dead. The things that he did were evil and he was a lost soul. As much as we want to deny the fact - because it doesn't fit in with our "favored Christian nation" rhetoric - God loves bin Laden and every other terrorist on the planet just as much as he loves we law-abiding citizens. The Bible says so, does it not? Of course we need to defend ourselves against such people and we're glad that the vein through which evil did its work through bin Laden has been cauterized, but we still should mourn the fact that another sinner will face punishment.

Praying with the newspaper in one hand alerts us to issues outside of our own sphere that need prayerful attention. We don't know if others are praying, but if we feel drawn to pray for an issue we should do it. Praying with the scripture in the other helps shape our minds and hearts so that we can pray for our enemies and even bless those who curse us, as Jesus said. This is not an easy thing to do, especially when so many bad things happen because of the evil that people do. We will be blessed if we do this because our actions will not be fueled by hatred or anger; they will be motivated by love and compassion.

The Ravaged South

The plight of the people in the South who were recently ravaged by a scourge of tornadoes calls for this type of balanced prayer. Without the newspaper - or the newscast blaring in the background - we would be unaware of their plight. Their plight has been overshadowed by bin Laden's killing, which I think is rather cheap, but they are still in need both physically and spiritually. I say "spiritually" because it is at these times of great disaster that the question comes: "God, why did you do this?"

One person on the news who went through the tragedy seemed to believe that God was simply showing his great power to we puny people. That reeks of the "we are worthless" theology that I wrote against a while ago. Do we really believe that our loving God would wreak havoc on his creation that he so dearly loves? This thought seemed comforting to the person who said it, but to me it seems a cheap fix to guard against the questions and the anger that one must feel after this type of event. Wouldn't you be hopping mad at God if your neighborhood were destroyed and possibly some of your loved ones had died, especially if you felt like he caused it? But is it a reasonable anger? Did God really do that? Pat Robertson said that the earthquake in Haiti was nothing more than God punishing the Haitians. Do you believe that is true? Following Robertson's thinking, should we believe that God was punishing the people of Alabama or anywhere else in the South?

Of course there is the issue that God, if not causing these events, then allowed these terrible tragedies to occur. Look at Job. God allowed Satan to do everything he could to make Job lose faith. Job lost his family, his possessions and his health yet he still trusted God. He even trusted God after the Almighty basically told him to mind his own business when Job questioned God. "I had my reasons," God seemed to say. Note that the Bible does not condemn Job's questioning as sin. Remember that "Doubting Thomas" remained one of the disciples even though he initially doubted Christ's resurrection.

My late husband Gordon had to make a decision to trust God after his two-year-old nephew was tragically killed in an automobile accident. Years later Gordon told me that he tried to walk away from God because he was so angry. "It was the most miserable time of my life," I remember him saying. Finally, one day God whispered to his spirit: "You can either go through this with me or without me." It was a moment of decision and Gordon chose to go through it with the Lord. He remembered what a great relief it was to finally give up his anger at God.

Tornadoes, destruction of homes and communities, the death of loved ones - none of these are easy to deal with. The only answer I can give is to trust God anyway because the Bible says that God is good and loving. I have also had to believe this in my own life, and this has been my experience, as well.

As for Job, the one thing I take heart in is that God heaped blessings on him after the tragedy -some might say "trial" - was over. We can only hope that it will be this way for our friends in the South. So we pray for that and trust the Lord for this outcome.

Prayer changes us

Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays. ~Søren Kierkegaard

Praying with the newspaper in one hand will certainly give us much to do, but we must remember too that having the Bible in the other hand is the only way to balance the nagging doubts that come when we pray this way. We must understand the Scriptures and allow God to use them to shape our thinking. By doing so we will be endowed with godly compassion - a compassion that allows us to pray for the bin Ladens of the world and the people who have been caught up in tragedy without condemning them as sinful and in need of divine retribution. These are issues that we should consider deeply, and avoid following the thinking of Christians who revel in a harshness they attribute to God's judgment.

Maundy Thursday

This blog entry was written last April by my husband Mike, who is pictured at left, for his own blog Observations, Chit Chat and Idle Gossip in the Smile Hi City. I thought this blog was appropriate today. Enjoy!

Today is Maundy Thursday.

That's one that gives the kids giggle fits. "Monday-Thursday"?

Nope. Actually, it has to do with one of the most significant of Jesus' acts, but one which today is missed by many who claim to be practitioners of the Christian faith(s).

Christians like to cite John 3:16 as the cornerstone of why we should Believe. You can even get golf balls, Christian golf balls - or perhaps they are Gospel Balls - with John 3:16 imprinted upon them. One can only presume that swatting such balls will get you on God's foursome.

But without John 13:34-35, which cites Christ's New Commandment, does John 3:16 have any real substance? Without at least a good faith attempt on the part of the faithful to comply with Christ's commandment, does a simple belief in him do the trick? Does a simple belief in John 3:16 carry an implicit acknowledgment of that New Commandment - and more importantly, an acceptance of Christ's charge to his disciples? If it is implicit, is it perhaps too subtle for many people? Christ was pretty direct when he laid the commandment on, but the focus is always on John 3:16 - those golf balls, again - rather than John 13:34-35.

BTW ... you won't find John 13:34-35 on any golf balls.

Maundy Thursday has to do with that New Commandment, which Christ symbolized by the washing of his disciples' feet. "Maundy" is derived from the Latin for "command" or "commandment". Peter initially refused to have Christ wash his feet, but was told, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me." Why?

Some churches actually do have a foot-washing service, but generally, Maundy Thursday and the ritual foot-washing as a symbolic display of acceptance of the New Commandment are not observed by most churches, at least in this country. Why? Too much focus on getting out to the golf course after the Easter service and swatting a few of those John 3:16 balls?

Food for thought

Well, I didn't return on Tuesday like I thought I would and I don't have much time to write today. However, I thought I'd leave you with some food for thought. I read this quote on Sunday from "Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals." Hope it gives you some light for your journey:


Eighth-century martyr Andrew of Crete wrote, "Let us say to Christ: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel. Let us wave before him like palm branches the words inscribed above him on the cross. Let us show him honor, not with olive branches, but with the splendor of merciful deeds to one another. Let us spread the thoughts and desires of our hearts under his feet like garments, so that he may draw the whole of our being into himself and place the whole of his in us.


Pretty good, huh? Kind of like succulent Porterhouse steak nicely seasoned and straight off the grill to your plate.

Grand Theft Donkey?

This is Holy Week. And, with its onset, our family is having some interesting discussions at the dinner table. I don't know about your family, but ours likes, or often gets into, religious discussions. So last week with Palm Sunday coming up - it was yesterday - Mike wanted to know if Jesus committed a crime by having his disciples take the donkey from the house of whomever it belonged.

My instant reply was, "Of course not."

And he returned with "Don't you think you're replying that way because of everything you've been taught? Why don't you think for yourself?"

It went downhill from there, but Mike has a tendency to ask questions that I'm sure not many people think about and I like that. As for the boys, Jonathan likes to get into it, but the other two usually remain silent. However, I hope that in their silence they are listening and absorbing what we discuss because they are good times to teach the kids how to give answers to other people outside our family and "always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks (them) to give the reason for the hope that (they) have ..." I Peter 3:15.

So using some of the discussion for Grand Theft Donkey as my basis, I will show you some of the basic principles that we are trying to teach the kids. We usually don't spell them out but here they are.

1. Read the Bible.

It sounds so simple, but how many times do we defend something we have always believed without actually knowing where, or if, it's found in the Scriptures? These days it's pretty easy to find any verse if you have Google, but for those who don't, or for those who do not want to use the computer, there is usually a concordance in the back of many Bibles.You can also skim through the passages if you have an idea where the verses can be found. The Triumphal Entry is pretty easy to find. Most Bibles have headers so you can just skim through those to find the story. For this question, I checked all four gospels because I knew the story was in all four and because each writer includes different details - amazingly so - about the alleged theft. Observe:

Luke 19: 28 - 35: "After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’” Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They replied, “The Lord needs it.” They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road."

John 12: 19: ^"Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written ..."

Matthew 21: 1-3: As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.” Some footnotes may include that the Lord will send it back right away, or something similar.

Mark 11: 1-3: "As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³ If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’”

Mark's account is the clincher. The disciples said they would return the donkey shortly. But why didn't the other gospel writers say this?

Differences of opinion
First of all, we must remember that each gospel writer was a different person with a different personality who was writing with a different audience in mind. Some details may have not been as important to Luke's audience as they were to Mark's, for instance. Also, Luke and Peter (whom many believe was telling his story to Mark) have very different backgrounds, and very different educational levels. All of that comes into play when writing. We must also remember that they were Jewish men living in the first century. We run into trouble if we discern what people did in the Bible with 21st century American eyes because there is a huge difference in our perspective. Mike, as a retired police officer, tends to examine the gospels as he would witness statements. He looks for conflicts and inconsistencies, and questions them. On the other hand, a first century Jew may see these statements as par for the course according to their customs, or it may have something to do with what all the writers have left out - whether or not Jesus made prior arrangements with the owner. We don't know any of this for sure. Some of it is clearly conjecture. All that is truly important to the writers is that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey in fulfillment of the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9:

"Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey."

I can almost hear what some of you may be thinking. Isn't scripture inspired by God? Yes, it is, but God didn't sit down with the gospel writers and dictate every word they were supposed to write down. The differences in the gospels show this plainly. As Paul describes in 2 Timothy 3: 16 - 17, Scripture is "God-breathed." In other words, it worked for them like it works for us. We sit down to do something and we feel "inspired." We may even feel God directing us either through thoughts or impressions. Ever have that feeling? That's what I think it was like for the Biblical writers because they were people just like we are whom God was using for his purpose.

2. Read commentaries

After reading the scripture, go to the commentaries. There are plenty online from a variety of perspectives or your pastor would probably be glad to let you read from his or hers if you don't have any. Some people may disagree with me saying that scripture alone is sufficient. However, reading the work of people who have studied scripture in the actual languages in which they were written brings a refreshing and sometimes a better perspective to anything we may think of ourselves. I am often amazed by how the Holy Spirit brings my thoughts together after I read the work of another person.

3. Discuss ... But do this with gentleness and respect

There are two issues that most people do not like to discuss: religion and politics. Why? They are like time bombs. People usually get really emotional over these two subjects and before you know it, the conversation explodes leaving bits and pieces of human wreckage everywhere. However, these are two issues that really need to be discussed so the latter part of I Peter 3: 15 - "but do this with gentleness and respect" - is timely and timeless advice for anyone who loves these topics. This is especially true when discussing the scriptures, because if you speak arrogantly it will turn the other person off. By speaking with gentleness and respect, we also give the other participants time to share their feelings. They will be more likely to listen to us and consider what we say. We do this out of love for Jesus and for the other person. Wouldn't you agree? By speaking with gentleness and respect, we also allow room for the Holy Spirit to work in the life of the other person.

4. Pray

This is my final suggestion. We cannot hope to understand scripture or to explain it to someone else without connecting to the one who breathed scripture to its writers. We also cannot hope to speak about such an emotional issue without gentleness and respect unless we have spent time with God so that he has time to develop these attributes in our lives.

Have a meaningful Holy Week. I will be back tomorrow.

Sometimes screaming into a pillow is the best solution ...

Ever have one of those days when you hit one button on your computer and you lose everything? Frustrating, huh? Sometimes grabbing a pillow and screaming into it is the best solution, wouldn't you say?

I've had such a morning. Since I started working from home there have been days or, at one time weeks, when productivity was barely detectable. I'm used to the newspaper world where I have written two articles within two hours and where there was always a completed product everyday by 12:30 p.m. In the newspaper world it's go, go, go. Produce, produce, produce. Family? Forget them. They'll be waiting for you when you get home. They'll just have to understand. It's not a job; it's a lifestyle.

Although I fought against adopting that attitude, it did get in there somehow. Or, perhaps, my personality is such that I feed off of that type of work environment. Yes, that's it. The personality was and is definitely there.

So, when I quit my job and decided to work at home I had a lot to get used to. It took me about a month to come down from the frantic pace and I thought I was doing pretty good, but today I backslid.

Go. Go. Go. Get 'er done, done, done.

Get what done? I'm working for myself. Things are getting done.

The trouble is that results aren't always readily visible when you work from home. It takes time to build from scratch. Sometimes visible results are available even at the office. That's difficult when your boss is looking over your shoulder, asking about the project. Sometimes, even when your boss isn't looking over your shoulder, you may still drive yourself.

"Get this done! You'll get fired if you don't hurry!" Hurry, hurry, hurry. After a while you begin to feel like a hamster on a wheel during the middle of the night. Run. Run. Run. I don't know where I'm going but I must hurry!

Yesterday I came across this prayer in my morning devotions from "Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals." The book is set up by dates and you follow the readings for that day. In doing this, you would think that prewritten devotions would not apply to your daily situation. Not true, for the Holy Spirit works in marvelous ways. Here's the prayer:

"Give us patience and humility with our feeble efforts at faithfulness. Bless the minute things we do in your name that our small acts of faith may find witness among many and thereby give you glory."

In the past I've always taken exception to words such as "feeble" or "minute" in this context. Doesn't God regard anything we do out of faithfulness as great? Well, probably, but when comparing myself to God, some of the things I do are "feeble" and "minute." It is God, however, who takes those "efforts at faithfulness" and makes them into something great in the life of someone else for his glory.

In God's economy no act is too small. He is the one who provides the dividends. Our job is to be faithful. Patience, faithfulness and prayer. These are the three huge things that God has been working on in my heart lately. I didn't ask for it. It came with the territory. Remember too that one of Richard Simmon's steps to permanent weight loss is patience. Patience not only covers weight loss, it covers a lot of other things as well. We perfectionists struggle with that mightily.

And so grabbing a pillow and screaming into it can help, but it should be followed by prayer. I've always had the suspicion that we should be completely honest in prayer.

This may shock you but in Old Testament 101 during my first year at Point Loma Nazarene University, Rueben Welch, the professor and a great Bible teacher, was talking about prayer and asked a class full of students:

"Have you ever told God to go to hell?"

You can imagine the looks of shock that were exchanged in the room that day. I was one of those shocked students, but the question never left me. It speaks of brutal honesty in prayer. This kind of honesty is how we mortals can keep from going nuts in a world gone mad.

Here's a quote from an article I've been chewing on the last two weeks. It's called "Prayer and Personality: Prayer as Primary Speech," by Ann and Barry Ulanov. The article can be found in the book The Study of Spirituality, edited by Cheslyn Jones, Geoffrey Wainwright and Edward Yarnold, SJ:

"In prayer we speak to and of ourselves, of what lies heavy on our minds, of what rumbles in fear at the pit of our stomachs, of the grudges and resentments we hold behind our eyes below the surfaces of our outward being. We speak what we have to say, whatever that is, and however we are moved to say it ... If prayer works, the human personality always increases. It never diminishes. The self that emerges this way comes forth unshackled, scoured, clean, uncovered because anchored in God ..."

And, a few paragraphs later:

"There, in prayer both private and liturgical, we find a space for aggressions, hatreds, discouragements, chaotic urges, and undirected longings to be experienced, brought into conversation with God. Slowly they take on shape to be used in our shared life. When ignored, these unharnessed energies are acted out by us against our neighbours and ourselves. The anger we do not understand whips out at our defenceless child. The love that is undirected and unreceived turns to hate."

Pretty deep, huh?

And yet, so simple.

Right.

But it's the only way to make screaming in a pillow worthwhile. After you're done screaming the pillow is still there, you're still there and worse yet, the problem hasn't gone away. You just feel more relieved, for about a minute or two. It is through prayer that we find relief, help and sometimes answers. When the answers don't come, peace is there when we give up our "right" to know the answers. Funny how God works, isn't it?

And so I advocate this method. Screaming into a pillow, yes, sometimes, but prayer always. God will be there when you call.

Woman's Secret Diaries Surface Decades after Holocaust

Ever since I first read "The Hiding Place" by Corrie Ten Boom as a young girl, I have been fascinated with literature about the Holocaust because these stories demonstrate unlimited faith and the will to survive against unspeakable odds.

The Secret Holocaust Diaries: The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister is one of those stories, but was kept secret for approximately five decades as Bannister dealt with the pain and waited for the right time to tell her family. It's a really inspiring story, which begins in Russia and tells how Nonna and her mother traveled to Germany as laborers. I'm sure you will learn a lot from it.

To find out more about it read my review at Suite 101. It's called "Woman's Secret Diaries Surface Decades after Holocaust."

Keeping our eyes on the prize

Can you believe it's April already?

The days are flying by quickly. It's already baseball season. Pretty soon summer will be here and all of those fruit and veggie stands in the Arkansas Valley will be open. Our own garden will be producing peppers and squashes by the dozens and there will be flowers in bloom.

With all that to look forward to it would be easy to want this day to hurry up and get over with so that we can advance toward warmer days. But I can't. As I look out my window, I see that today is beautiful and there is plenty for which to be thankful. The tulips are in bloom. I have five bright pink ones in the backyard that I can see from my kitchen window. The blackbirds sang joyfully outside my bedroom window this morning and the wind isn't blowing - much. On Sunday it threatened to blow us to Kansas. Thankfully, the wind brought a nice wet snow that melted by noon.

There is a lot happening in the world right now. Have you noticed? The people in the Middle East are bravely trying to gain their freedom from powerful dictators, the Japanese are still dealing with the affects of that awful earthquake, Washington has finally agreed to let the 9/11 conspirators undergo trial with a military tribunal, and the 2012 election is right around the corner. We're already hearing about it. Dog gone it.

Oh yeah, and don't forget the fact that our elected officials can't seem to form a budget so that our nation won't go bankrupt.

In Memphis earlier this week, a terrible windstorm felled trees and killed six people. One woman on the news said that she was blessed to not have been in her car, which had been crushed by a tree. I almost laughed at her understatement, but realized that it was all she could say. The newscaster said she was lucky. I disagree. The lady's guardian angel must have been working overtime.

Right now I am grateful for a peaceful existence for the moment. There have been times when my life seemed like it was in chaos. Now I can look back on those times and thank God for bringing me through. I can also see how he brought me through in a lot of ways. Hindsight is 20/20, you know.

With all the upheaval in the world, it would be easy to give into depression. When things happen we often catch ourselves wondering why God would allow such chaos. It's easy to lose focus on the fact that we live on a fallen planet and that God doesn't send bad things our way.

To survive spiritually, we must have faith. Paul likens it to a prize. Consider Philippians 3: 12 - 14:

"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

And I Corinthians 9: 24:

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."

This means we should keep the faith no matter what. Paul's athletic metaphor is quite fitting, especially in our time. Athletes are heroes in our society, but they don't become that way without a lot of hard work and discipline (and sometimes steroids, but that, like some of the attitudes and behaviors of some our athletes is for another time, eh?).

I learned this during college when I was required to take a physical education class called "Fitness and Movement." I called it "Running and More Running." At that time in my life I hated exercise and sweating. I didn't like the feeling of my heart thumping hard. I didn't like being out of breath. So when I had to take this class, I was mortified, but I knew that I had to get through it. I also knew that I wanted an "A" to help make up for an embarrassing "C" I had recently earned in tennis.

In order to earn an "A" in this class we had to show improvement in running a mile, and it had to be under six minutes. My first attempt was around 10 minutes, so I had a lot of work to do. The first thing I learned was that if I kept my breathing regular and concentrated on it, running was a lot easier. I didn't get side aches and I was able to run for longer periods. I also learned that if I focused on the above verse from Philippians that I didn't think about the agony I was suffering (well, it wasn't really agony, but that's a matter of perspective). At the end of the course I achieved the six minute run. It was a personal milestone and one that I still think about once in a while.

Concentrating on scripture, praying and disciplining ourselves to read the Bible regularly will help us when times are rough, but we must do these things when times are good so that we receive the benefit later on. Again, exercise is a good example. If we exercise and keep our body in shape when we are healthy, our times of sickness will be fewer and we'll recover more quickly. Getting my knees and legs toned up now when I am still relatively young will be a great benefit years from now. Barring anything unusual, I should still be able to climb stairs and walk well later in life. By listening to my doctor now and by doing my best to ingest 1,000 mg of calcium a day, I should have an excellent chance of having strong bones later in life.

Do you see my point? Some people call it paying it forward. The good you do, the discipline you undergo, the way you take care of yourself all add up and you reap dividends in the end. The spiritual life is similar. The time I spend studying my Bible and praying will benefit me greatly when times are rough. These practices will act as an anchor in the storms of life. They'll keep me from drifting all over the place and losing my way when it seems like God is hidden by dark, billowing clouds.

Meanwhile, if you need a little encouragement, here's a song to get your blood pumping. "Keep your eyes on the prize" is a Freedom Song from the civil rights era. Bruce Springsteen has a great rendition of it here: Keep your eyes on the prize

Keep running!

Got Coffee?

If you love coffee like I do and are concerned about social problems, you may want to buy your next cuppa from Just Coffee.

This company was developed by Presbyterian and a Roman Catholic who had the novel idea that helping Mexicans stay on their farms because they had a good source of income was a way to help solve the immigration problem. I don't know about you, but I think this is really cool - Christians uniting to help solve a social ill is a great way to show the world that Jesus cares. Give the article a read. Who knows? You might come up with a great idea as well.

Join the discussion

If you have any ideas that may help others, let us know. Put in a comment or start a discussion on Facebook. Let's show the world we care!

The importance of "standing stones"

Two weekends ago, Mike, Stephen and I traveled to Limon so that Stephen could play in the Rotary basketball tournament that took place at the high school gym. It was quite the deal. Kids grades 3 - 6, boys and girls, from all over the eastern plains of Colorado participated. Swink's 6th grade boys took second place. You can see pictures of the tournament at WritingPlaces.com in the photo galleries section under basketball/Limon Rotary Club Tournament.

Because of the many teams that were playing throughout the tournament, the scheduling was such that after two games on Saturday, Stephen's team had to wait until 7 p.m. Sunday night to play in the championship game. With gas prices the way they are, we decided to stay around Limon to see what there was to do, rather than go to a mall in Denver. Well, we found that there isn't much to do, at least on Sunday afternoons, but we had fun anyway. We had our cameras. What else did we need?

Before heading out on our "explore" - to borrow a phrase from Winnie the Pooh - Mike collected some area maps and found a wildlife preserve out at Kinney Lake. At this little lake we saw lots of birds along with a covey of quail that I frightened out of hiding quite by accident. I missed the pictures of the quail because they quickly hid in some high grass, but I did get to see them. There were also some cows out there that were really annoyed when we parked our van. However, other than staring us down, they were no threat. That was fun for about an hour. Kinney Lake isn't that large and the sky was too washed out for good photos, so we decided to move on. We did get some pictures of a windmill out on the prairie, as well as an abandoned house, and then we drove over to Genoa to see what there was in that neck of the woods.

The mostly abandoned town was a photographer's paradise. Sort of. We took some pictures of the town, including this one:





Mike and I have a twisted sense of humor so we got a good laugh over the fact that the Christian Prosperity Crusade's sign was hanging on a building that could only be described as derelict ... bedraggled ... tumble-down. The building was full of what appeared to be dust-laden junk. Had the Crusade become so prosperous that they needed to now store stuff that they really didn't need?

But we started thinking about what the Crusade had been. Was it a charity organization that had sought to bring good will and prosperity to the people of Genoa? Had it been a project of hope, turned to dust? Or was it a crusade of prosperity preachers who claimed that God would bless individuals who supported them with great riches and nice new cars?

Clueless, we did a web search and other than finding another person's pictures of the building, we found nothing. There was no history on this movement on the Internet. And, the town of Genoa's history only consisted of a rather anemic link on Wikipedia. So where are the standing stones?

The building is a standing stone, I suppose, but there is no information readily available to show what God did in that place, or what was attempted in God's name. And that's the important part.

"So, wait. What are standing stones?" you may be asking at this point. There is some good information about them at followtherabbi.com. They are essentially huge rocks - monoliths - that ancient peoples erected to mark a spiritually significant event.

In the Bible, a clear example of this is when Jacob set up a stone at Bethel after he had the dream of angels walking up and down a ladder in Genesis 28. The standing stones marked the fact that God had met him there. It's purpose was to remind Jacob but it was also built so that people would ask questions. Standing stones are like any monument that we set up here in America, except that they had spiritual significance. Ancient people usually set them up to tell others about what their god had accomplished.

A form of standing stone might also be a feast that reminds us of what God has done such as Thanksgiving, Passover, Christmas or Easter. True, they aren't huge rocks, but they are reminders. Other reminders could include something that you buy, such as a ring or some other token to signify something that was important. I once read a magazine article that talked about collecting small rocks at special places. The article suggested writing the place name on the the rock with permanent marker and collecting the stones in a jar. The gathered stones would help remind the family of their trips together.

You know, this could also be a practical way of keeping track of spiritual milestones, thus providing a visual reminder of what God has done. Visual reminders help us share our story with others as well so that they too can learn about God's goodness.

So what happened at the Christian Prosperity Crusade building that made it significant in the town of Genoa? What has happened in your life that might be an encouragement to others? What has happened in your church or anywhere else that a visual reminder could serve to share about God's goodness? Let us know.

P.S. Okay. There was something to do on a Sunday afternoon. We could have visited the Wonder Tower, but Stephen was getting hungry and well ... we decided to feed him. Maybe next time.

New article on prayer

Hi everyone, With spring break now over it is easier to write. Check out my article at Suite 101 called
Thinking, feeling, and the will make prayer vibrant

Now onto graduation! Yikes!

An example of persistence in prayer

Here is Chuck:



Chuck is our family dog. He's a daschund/beagle mix and the color of his fur matches my kitchen cabinets. I think the fact that he blends in so well with our cabinets pleases him because Chuck's favorite place is the kitchen.

Whenever I get ice for my drink, open the refrigerator, or open a Ziploc bag I can count on Chuck charging up the stairs or through his dog door to sit at my feet. He's there most of the time when I fix dinner as well, especially when I am cutting meat. Chicken is his favorite beyond anything else. Mike will feed Chuck the entire skin and fat from a Walmart roast chicken, saying, "I'm killing him with kindness...".

Another favorite of the dog's is green chili. He loves the spicy stuff and sits around licking his chops for a little while between bites, but he always goes back for more. It's a hoot.

As you can see from the photo, Chuck has huge brown eyes that are very expressive. He has many things to say: Pet Me, Feeeeeeed Me, Go Away, Please, will you let me snuggle next to you on the couch just this once?, Let's go for a walk, How dare you?, I want a treat, etc.

When I'm in the kitchen cutting meat, his eyes are demanding. I look down and there he is eyeballing my every move, no matter how small. When we eat dinner, Chuck is there under the table with his head on someone's knee. His eyes become Oliver-like. You can almost hear him say, "Please, sir, may I have some more?"

"I've already fed you, dog," I respond, but Chuck doesn't move. He sits there waiting.

The dog is no dummy in his pursuit of snacks. When our grandchild Ethan was a little squeaker, Chuck would follow him. If Ethan was holding something to eat Chuck was right there ready to pounce on whatever the little guy dropped. The dog has no shame. After all, he has learned that if he waits long enough, he'll get something. However, sometimes he has to wait a long time but he never gives up.

There was once a widow who wanted justice so she went to a judge to get it. The judge, however, was not a nice man so he told the woman to take a hike several times. Despite that the woman kept returning determined to get what she wanted. 　

Finally the judge said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’" Luke 18: 4 - 5.

Jesus told this story during his ministry to show his disciples that they should never give up in their prayers. The lesson still holds true today. Maybe Chuck proves it.

Have you seen this?

Have you seen this letter on the Internet?

Apparently, according to some biblical code that ebiblefellowship was able to crack, Jesus is coming back to get his church on May 21, 2011 and God will destroy the earth on October 21, 2011. The author states "No man knows ...".

No man knows? That's an interesting statement. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 24:36:

“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

What part of Jesus' words are not clear?

Jesus also said in the same chapter verse 4 and 5:

“Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many."

In the same chapter, Christ gives us things to watch for: "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains."

There will also be persecution among other things. Revelation talks about the Antichrist, but this person is not part of ebiblefellowship's "prophecy."

I'm really wary of stuff like this. The only way to check it is to refer to scripture and pray for wisdom. We can watch for the signs, but as we have seen within the last week in Japan and the Middle East, wars and earthquakes happen almost everyday in our world. All we can really do is just be ready for the Lord to come back at any time.

None of us has assurance of tomorrow or even the next hour anyway. We need to trust the Lord and not get too caught up in trying to find a definitive answer to Biblical prophecy.

He, she, it? Gender-neutral argument is revived

Today, Crosswalk.com announced in its "Religion Today" news briefings that the brand-spanking new 2011 translation of the New International Version has hit the shelves. But, many people are upset because of the gender-neutral content. For those who don't know, gender-neutral means that instead of using male pronouns in verses that really mean everyone translators will insert neutral or more inclusive pronouns. It is not a novel idea; the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible has been doing this for years.

Here is an example from the New International Versions:

In the 1984 NIV version, Galatians 1: 1-2 reads

Paul, an apostle--sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead and all the brothers with me ...

While the 2011 version reads:

Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2 and all the brothers and sisters[a] with me ...

Since [a] indicates a footnote here it is:

Galatians 1:1-2 The Greek word for "brothers and sisters" (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God’s family; also in verse 11; and in 3:15; 4:12, 28, 31; 5:11, 13; 6:1, 18. Note that the translators did not change the phrase "sent not from men nor by a man." The original Greek used words that specifically translate as "man" or "men."
What is wrong with this? Fundamentalists are highly agitated over this because they fear that the translators have given in to what started as feminist arguments for more inclusive language. But, if the Greek word indicates both men and women, what's wrong with putting that in? Doesn't it make the Bible more inclusive rather than just a book written by men who lived in a culture that considered women property? And is it not a more accurate translation?

One of the fears of fundamentalists is that pronouns for God will become female. But I ask ... who ever said that God was a male? Who said that God was a female? In my opinion, God is neither. God is God. In the scriptures God describes Godself with male and female attributes. Observe:

Luke 13: 34: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing."
Here is a list of such usages compiled by the Women's Ordination Conference.

And here is a male attribute: "Our Father, who art in heaven ..."

In all this, those of us who like the gender-neutral language - at least those who think like me - do not like God being turned into a goddess in order to appease radical feminist. God is holy and to be respected for whom God is. God is much larger than any label that I use to describe God.

In the Bible, God, and the writers who describe God, use male and female terms so that humanity can relate. Jesus did this all the time in parables and so did the prophets.As for Jesus, it is perfectly correct to describe Jesus as a man. Jesus, who is God, is an actual historical figure who was a man. If you think about it, Jesus had to be a man because there was no way his culture would have identified with him if he had been a woman. This is evidenced by the way the men in the Bible treated women. For example, women were not counted in Biblical times. Scholars figure that the numbers of people that Jesus fed in the gospels can be doubled because of that custom. Another more moving example is found in John 8 where we read that a woman was brought to Jesus because she was caught committing adultery. But with whom was she committing adultery? It definitely takes two to commit adultery. Why didn't the Pharisees bring her adulterous accomplice before Christ?

The attitude of Christ toward the woman - he saved her from being stoned - demonstrates the attitude that his followers were to have toward women. They were to respect them and treat them as equals. The twelve apostles lived this out in the church since scripture talks about several women were ordained as ministers. Later on in the church's history, this example was ignored and certain denominations exclude women from leadership roles.

In some denominations that do not exclude women, there is often an underlying attitude that a man is better when it comes to ministry. I'm not entirely sure why this is true but it is. Women have to rise up against that attitude and do what they believe God has called them to do.

Another example of our attitude toward women shows in this gender-neutral argument since some are fighting its appropriate usage in the scriptures. In this regard, don't pick a fight with those who know the Greek language unless you know it at least as well.

We need to trust that our translators who are interpreting the scriptures do not have an agenda, or at least less of an agenda than in the past.

We need to drop our prejudices and remember that Paul wrote: "There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

"Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals"

I just added a review to Suite 101 on this fantastic devotional called "Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals." You can either purchase the book at through the link or connect with www.commonprayer.net to read some of the prayers. I find the book challenging and refreshing.

Revelations of Divine Love

On Sunday my discussion group looked at a portion of "Revelations of Divine Love," by Julian of Norwich.

I wrote something about it at Suite 101. You can read it here.

It's Fat Tuesday and the Coptic Christians are protesting

I've been watching the news this morning while enjoying my Solar Roast coffee and checking e-mail. I've learned that Egyptians - Coptic Christians to be exact - have taken to the streets to protest the treatment they are receiving. Of course the story isn't as big as the earlier protests, but it is something about which Christians from around the world should be praying.

As an example, here is a news brief I got this morning from Crosswalk.com.

Egyptians Protest As Church Torched and Coptic Homes Attacked

A mob of 4,000 Muslims attacked a church and Christian homes on the outskirts of Cairo Saturday. Christian Solidarity Worldwide reports that the mob was a reaction to the relationship between a Christian man and a Muslim woman, which is forbidden under Shari’a law. The woman’s father was reportedly murdered by a cousin for refusing to sanction the honour killing of his daughter, and the cousin was in turn killed by the woman’s brother. The attack on Sool allegedly followed the cousin’s funeral. The mob initially prevented fire fighters from containing the damage to the church. Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, head of the ruling military council, told Reuters news agency that the army would rebuild the church before Easter holidays. More than 1,000 Christians and Muslims banded together afterward to protest the attacks.

In case you're wondering, Coptic Christianity is an ancient branch of the church, which was started in Egypt some 1,900 years ago or so by the same Mark who wrote the gospel. They have a fascinating history that you can read here and are credited with starting the monastic movement. They even developed a system for blind scholars to read manuscript long before the invention of Braille.At the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD, "the Coptic Church was unfairly accused of following the teachings of Eutyches, who believed in monophysitism. This doctrine maintains that the Lord Jesus Christ has only one nature, the divine, not two natures, the human as well as the divine." However, the Encyclopedia Coptica says that the church has never believed this. Like other Christians they believe that Jesus was human and divine:

"Copts believe that the Lord is perfect in His divinity, and He is perfect in His humanity, but His divinity and His humanity were united in one nature called "the nature of the incarnate word", which was reiterated by Saint Cyril of Alexandria. Copts, thus, believe in two natures "human" and "divine" that are united in one "without mingling, without confusion, and without alteration" (from the declaration of faith at the end of the Coptic divine liturgy)."

I don't see the difference between what we call Christianity and what the Copts call Christianity. What western Christians believe is that Jesus was fully human and fully divine. I think the Copts just explain it better. From what I've read, it looks like the Copts and the Roman Church are trying to reunite. We'll have to see what happens. In any light, the Copts need our prayers - not just because they are fellow believers but because they are people whom God loves.

Meanwhile, we are having a pleasanter time of it here in our country. Today is Fat Tuesday, more properly known as Shrove Tuesday or Shrovetide. Many Christians are preparing for Lent by, uh, pigging out. Lent is a traditional time of sacrifice. My husband Mike, who is a recovering Catholic, told me the other day that it's a way to gear up for Lent.

I remember when we lived in Michigan that these pastries were sold on Fat Tuesday:

Paczek (pronounced POONCH-eck).


"The Polish tradition is for Christian households to make paczki by using up all the sugar, lard and other treats that they will be forsaking during the 40-day penitential season of Lent, starting on Wednesday. Paczki devotees say eating the 600-calorie pastries makes it easier to give up sweets in the weeks ahead."

600 calories? One article in my Google search encouraged people to eat Paczkis but to watch the calories. How? By only eating one bite? By the way, Mike adds a bit of cultural lore here ... his mother, whose maiden name is "Urbanski", is the daughter of Polish Catholic immigrants. He recalls her referring to the kids as "pooncheck" as a term of endearment. According to mom, the term literally refers to a sweet pastry; when used as she did, it is like calling a child "sweetie."

Blessings.

A new book

My next review is of the second edition of Bruce L. Shelley's "Church History in Plain Language." Though I'm still on the first chapter, I thought I'd offer a "preview review."

So far it's good. Shelley's writing style is smooth and easy to understand. Shelley has divided the history of the church into eight sections:

The Age of Jesus and the Apostles
The Age of Catholic Christianity
The Age of the Christian Roman Empire
The Christian Middle Ages
The Age of the Reformation
The Age of Reason and Revival
The Age of Progress, and
The Age of Ideologies

So why am I reading a book on church history?

I developed an interest in the subject while studying Spiritual Formation at Northwest Nazarene University. That program is in many respects like a survey of Christian literature, so we read a lot of material from the early Christian writers. We also studied a little bit of church history and through that I found a whole new world that was previously unknown to me. I am always amazed by the rich history that forms the background of the service, or mass, of the Catholic church. This is also true for the Greek Orthodox and some of the older Protestant denominations like the Episcopal, Lutheran and United Methodist. As a Protestant who attends a relatively new denomination that was founded only a century ago - in the church a century is "new" - I was not aware of our history, except for what I had read in the gospels and the book of Acts.

There is much to learn, however. Here are some questions that I have and that you may have:

* How were the books of the Bible selected?
* How and why did the early Christian churches - Roman, Eastern, and Coptic form?
* What are the sources of our doctrines?
* Why did we fight the Crusades?
* Why were the different orders of priests and nuns formed?
* What influences have the Catholic saints and other church patriarchs and matriarchs had?


I'm sure there will be more questions as I read so I'll let you know if I make any earth-shattering discoveries.

Here is a quote from the author to consider regarding the importance of knowing church history:

"As a consequence of our ignorance concerning Christian history, we find believers vulnerable to the appeals of cultists. Some distortion of Christianity if often taken for the real thing. At the same time other Christians reveal a shocking capacity for spiritual price, hubris. Without an adequate base for comparisons they spring to the defense of their way as the best way - their party as the superior party. Finally, many Christians engage in some form of ministry without the advantage of a broader context for their labor. When they want to make the best use of their time or their efforts, they have no basis for sound judgment."

Pretty interesting, huh?

In closing, I want to thank the people who said that they "liked" my blog on "Positive and Negative Thinking" on Facebook. I always feel a little funny writing posts like that because I know that I am imperfect. More confirmation about that post came when I was reading an article about the civil rights movement in "Our State" magazine called "A Part of Us All." For those who don't know on February 1, 1960 - years before Selma and Bloody Sunday at the Edmund Pettus bridge - four black men sat at the counter of a Woolworth's store in Greensboro, asked to be served and then refused to leave when they were denied because of their skin color. These four men were part of a larger movement across the country that sparked momentous change in the way our nation treated people. In this article, the writer related some of the dastardly things that black people suffered such as being burned, hanged, their churches bombed, mutilation, murder. Pictures of these happenings are hanging in the International Civil Rights Center and Museum in downtown Greensboro. He then writes:

"These images are not here to disgust us or depress us. They are here to remind us that racism needed to be acknowledged before it could be changed."

I think this applies to problems in the church, and anywhere else as well. If we don't acknowledge problems they will never change. Thus, more people will leave, or stay and become embittered, and be discouraged from service. The resulting negative reputation in the community brings shame to Christ when it all comes down to it.

Well, enough of that for now. Blessings to you as Lent begins this week with Ash Wednesday on March 9.

A couple of things ...

There's a great interview with Bono, the lead singer of U2, an outspoken Christian and a well-known philanthropist, over on The Poached Egg. You can read it here. Thanks for bringing this to our attention over on Facebook, Lola.

Also, I finished "Condoleeza Rice: A Memoir of My Extraordinary, Ordinary Family and Me." You can read a review of this well-written biography at Suite 101.

Positive and Negative thinking

I've been doing some thinking about Richard Simmon's first step in permanent weight loss since I wrote about it earlier this week.

• Think positive

Not bad advice, especially when there is so much that is negative in our world.

However, I don't think Simmons - nor the apostle Paul for that matter - meant that we were supposed to be Pollyanna - someone who thinks that life is just peachy when death and destruction are everywhere. That's a little extreme, but it makes my point. I think we're supposed to be realistic as well as positive.

We want to always accentuate the positive. We want to encourage people when they're down. We want to bring positive solutions to negative situations. We want to have a positive mindset.

But, we don't want to ignore the negative things that are going on around us. Historically speaking, if people had glazed over the negative these things would not exist:

• Civil rights for blacks here in America.
• Women's sufferage
• The nation of Israel
• The United States of America
• Free speech
• Freedom of religion
• Freedom of the press
• Child labor laws
• OSHA

The list could go on. The things I listed plus many, many other positive changes are a result of people paying attention to the inner voice and not being content to sit back and be comfortable in the status quo. They did not ignore what was negative, but instead confronted it and did the hard work that was needed to make change.

Change is hard work. To change anything we have to overcome ourselves and people who are comfortable with the status quo. Sometimes, it seems that getting them to change is almost as hard as swimming in the ocean off Point Loma when your feet are caught in the kelp. Is that negative thinking? Yes, but it's also realistic.

Despite difficulties, things can be changed. Change is possible. Our ancestors have proved it.

Another thing that makes change difficult is that people who do not want to change can be downright mean. It happens everywhere - in the church, in the community. Sadly, I have found through my experience in the church both as a layperson and as a pastor's wife that no one is more miserable than someone who does not want to listen to God. The longer someone goes without listening to God, the more that person's misery increases, and that often translates into meanness. This drives people away from the church, which is bad enough, but it can also drive them away from God.

The unfortunate thing is that these people would never call themselves mean. They feel justified in the way they treat others because they are "mature" Christians and are doing good things for the church. Their attitudes, however, are not good for the church.

In regards to prayer, Thomas Merton wrote that we are in a dangerous place if we ever think that we know what we're doing. To echo Merton, I say that we are in a dangerous place if we ever think that we know how to treat everyone. When we think that we have cornered the market on Christian love, we should immediately ask the Lord to make us more sensitive to those around us. The reason? Not everyone is the same. We are all complex creatures, each with different pasts and experiences that make us who we are.

Are these thoughts negative? I suppose, but I've seen this go on for so long that I'm quite weary of it and want to expose the problem so that God can heal us. I'm tired of people trying to gloss over the negative so that everyone will just live in peace. That's not peace. Peace is found after dealing with inner and outer junk in our lives and, with the help of God, overcoming it.

I read recently that one should always present a possible solution when criticizing. So what's my solution? Ask God to search your heart every day. Confess your sins and ask the Holy Spirit to change your heart in the areas that he points out. Ask God to fill your heart with love for people. Didn't Jesus say that this is how people would know that we are his disciples - by the way we love each other?

I was watching the news today with one of my sons and heard that the Supreme Court ruled that Westboro Baptist Church has a right to picket funerals of soldiers. I agree that they have the right, but they are very mean. I don't understand how they can justify their behavior and attitudes when the Bible clearly says that we are supposed to love people. In this vein, I don't understand why Christians don't forgive or why they gossip or maybe we should just say talk about other people. This is not love.

I've been in the church a long time and the lack of love really grieves me. It seems like that many of us have a little bit of that Westboro Baptist Church attitude within us. We just don't show it as prominently as they do - we'd rather do it behind the backs of others and in the secrecy of our inner circles of friends. Sometimes we may even disguise it as concern or a prayer request. Most of the time it's just talk. This talk spreads like a cancer and it leaves the talked about person wondering what he or she did wrong. They leave the church because no one will accept them.

This should not be folks. As a pastor's wife I watched this happen and was not able to say anything. Now I can. If I've made you angry think about why you feel that way. If you feel proud of yourself for not being this way, pray. We all have work to do in this area. God make us willing.