Sunday, July 14, 2013
Trayvon Martin was Made For God's Glory
I love the post-grad life. I now have a schedule that is mostly dictated by what I decide is important, not a syllabus, and includes things like sleeping and eating meals that are not Cheezits. Also, even though Ben and I have been married 5 years, we almost feel like newlyweds because our home-lives aren't dominated by homework. We've gone to more movies together in the last 6 months than the last 6 years (3) and are working on the Newlywed Nine lbs we never had time for before.
Students are selfish. You have to be, or you won't get anything done. I tried to keep track of what was going on in the world, but whole semesters could go by where I couldn't keep my elections,trials and national disasters straight. So I really don't know if the world is getting that much worse or if I just have my head more consistently out of the Student Sandbox. I've had theories about some of these things: there has ALWAYS been gross social injustice everywhere, we just didn't have the Internet telling us about it. And the dinosaurs can attest that climate change has always been a problem. But the thing that impresses me most about the news today is how divisive it is. Facebook and Twitter are dangerous places! Disturbed about what the DOMA overturn means for the future of marriage? You're homophobic and a hater. Think Zimmerman should have been locked up? You're blinded by your racial bias. Sometimes I barely read a news article, just skip to comments (I know other people do too because there's a button for it!) We idolize our own points of view, and we are always right. Ben shared with me something God has been teaching him, a lens to see that ridiculous person that makes you exclaim "Some people" through. It made sense when he said it but I felt it when I checked my Twitter at about 2am this morning... We were watching Les Mis with the Vapor interns (who are awesome) but I got really distracted by the Zimmerman trial and the news of the death of Cory Monteith. I watched Glee every once in awhile but got depressed because it was so trashy and aimed at such a young audience. Haven't really followed too much, but based on random tabloid sightings my line of thought was progressing to the disgusting level that thoughts will fall to with more attention to tabloid than Bible... Something along the lines of "he spent his life creating smut and going to rehab, maybe he deserved it." It so sickens me to even write that I thought that. But I know our heads are all filled with similar condemnations! And yes, we do all deserve the same death, alone and hopeless, even though our lives may seem full. But the fact that we all deserve it seriously undercuts our right to speak those words over anyone else. The fact is, as far as I'm concerned, Cory Monteith was created by God for his glory. George Zimmerman's voice could join Trayvon Martin's in a chorus of Holy ,Holy, Holy. Trayvon's girlfriend says she didn't know calling someone a "creepy-ass cracker" is a problem? Withhold your judgmental comments, you can praise Jesus in Ebonics; I hear it all the time.
I'm not saying Christians do not need to stand up for what they believe in. But I think sometimes it is really worth asking ourselves why we stand up for what we believe in. Is it to prove something? About how great we are? Do we long for the oppression of the early Church and find it by making people hate us? We are not oppressed in the US. Tolerance is the soup du jour, other than from most Christians. Was Jesus tolerant of sin? No. He died because of our sin. He takes it seriously and so should we. But how much more did he focus on love? When you love someone, you will try to help them see the light. But so much of the well-intentioned differences of opinion that I see cannot be based in love. If I am sitting around (on my creepy cracker-ass) judging you instead of belaboring over how to encourage your glorification of God, shame on me.
Monday, April 1, 2013
Will Work For Food
I haven't posted in a long time again, I guess. Since graduation, I have reacquainted myself with the world of social media. I remembered I had a Twitter, I consistently check Facebook, I started using my Instagram... (even tried Pinterest but that didn't go well at all, I don't need more ideas in my head, I need less ideas and more time!) David Platt said one time that Christians used to think slavery was fine, and he wonders what future Christians will be appalled that we tolerate in our lives. I've been trying to figure out if it's social media, and I figure the best way to do that is waste a lot of time on social media. However, I still don't know. For me, social media is also a wonderful way to keep in contact with my dear friends and family far away.
When Ben and I were engaged and not sure how God was going to use his business and my nursing educations, he wrestled with "You want to go be a missionary, should I quit business school?" We really prayed a lot about being willing to go and do whatever on Earth God wanted us to do. Had I known that was going to involve living in a county with a total population of less than the (I thought small town) I grew up in, next to a lot of cows and a nice farmer named (no joke) Joe-Tom (we moved again last month)... I may have tried to be a little more specific with God. I don't even know what the population of Alpine is, it's not on any sign or the internet. I do know we have a one-room post office and cafe of sorts where you are served whatever they are cooking. No gas station or anything fancy like that. Sometimes people say oh, it's one of those blink-and-you'll-miss-it towns? But you could miss it with your eyes wide open. Anyway, I love it here, but I think I will not give up my media. There certainly are many, many pitfalls and shortcomings. Several of my friends here don't use it and I think that's great. And I'm trying to be more intentional. But I have just been struck by how much social media feeds into our narcissistic, individualist culture. It's almost like we are each creating a brand for ourselves, that has to be conceived, developed, and maintained. So much work! And what a dumb hobby, compared with other times in civilization... "I'm a painter... I'm a philosopher... I'm a writer..." Those things still happen now but I feel like our passions and talents are really diluted. "I go to work, but really I like to tweet about things that annoy me." I know this is a think because it happens to me. I used to sit and read or paint or journal for hours on end but now I really have quite a self-induced ADHD where I habitually text and whatnot on my phone! Since I started writing this post, I've answered one call, two texts, sent two others, checked my Instagram and been reminded about how much fun my cousins are having without me, and checked my Facebook (awww, no new notifications). Our brains were designed to lose themselves in work, experiencing flow is completely necessary to a healthy mental state. No wonder we get so stressed! There's no rest for the weary. When I am seeing patients, I do find that I don't have any trouble focusing on anything else, don't worry about that, it's just my entertainment and diversions get in the way of actual relaxation! I'm working on this, pray for me ;)
Anyway since Easter is the best blessing ever, I wanted to chronicle how I was blessed on Easter Sunday. I was kind of depressed, because I had been looking forward to some fun plans that all got canceled, and now I was sick with no plans other than hanging out with Ben. Which I love to do, but because of all the work we've had to do on the house we've been doing a lot of this for awhile. Anyway Easter and Valentine's Day are my two favorite holidays, because God is love and his love is manifest in Christ's death on the cross! We should not need anymore celebration than this, but to me it was sad to be just the two of us after church that day, and I had been praying for peace in my heart and direction from the Spirit. We decided to stop at Walmart to get the Hobbit, because neither of us had seen it yet, and then get Zaxby's to warm up with the other food we were planning to make. There's usually someone on the corner of the Walmart intersection, either selling something, advertising something, or panhandling, and I always ignore them, because I get really overwhelmed by all the different issues involved in panhandling. I want to help alleviate homelessness, but I don't think that's the way to do it. But this guy had a sign asking for work. I wasn't even sure if Ben saw him, but in the drive through he asked me what I was thinking about. I wanted him so badly to ask if we could pick the guy up, because I usually have ideas like that and he usually has a more realistic approach to things, so I just asked him what he was thinking about. He said the guy, and that he wanted to do something for him. We couldn't really think of anything off-hand, even though the house still has a lot of random things to be down on it. So we asked him, and he said he'd been in construction, painted, lots of things. I HATE PAINTING. And I'm bad at it. I've had two gallons of 2146-40 Dry Sage staring me in the face for a month. Their mere presence was stressing me out. The previous owners turned the garage into a living room, and it's huge! So we piled him into the truck and he talked the whole way to the house, where he did a wonderful job, and we dropped him off that night at his daughter's house (I wondered why he didn't live with her until we found out how many people were already in a tiny space). His story seemed pretty typical, nice guy in his 60's who had worked his whole life, lost his savings through some bad marriages, injured doing his job and trying to get on disability, been homeless since his last wife and her crack-addicted daughter kicked him out a few months ago. He said he struggled a lot with loneliness and seemed to enjoy talking to us and praying with us. He was funny too; after he finished he looked at me and said "Well, you just had your living room painted by a homeless guy" in a way that implied 'bet you weren't expecting that this morning.' And I really wasn't, which is why I love being filled with the Holy Spirit! God's mercies are new every morning, and he is waiting to turn our disappointment at life's inconsequential happenings into reminders that he is much bigger than that. As if the fact that God saved my wretched soul could really leave me room to be disappointed, he sent along a fellow who needed a job and some company to do something I'm too lazy too do... I certainly don't understand that, and I'm glad God is beyond my understanding! Now I need to go get more Kleenex and some wallpaper for the last side of the living room (:
When Ben and I were engaged and not sure how God was going to use his business and my nursing educations, he wrestled with "You want to go be a missionary, should I quit business school?" We really prayed a lot about being willing to go and do whatever on Earth God wanted us to do. Had I known that was going to involve living in a county with a total population of less than the (I thought small town) I grew up in, next to a lot of cows and a nice farmer named (no joke) Joe-Tom (we moved again last month)... I may have tried to be a little more specific with God. I don't even know what the population of Alpine is, it's not on any sign or the internet. I do know we have a one-room post office and cafe of sorts where you are served whatever they are cooking. No gas station or anything fancy like that. Sometimes people say oh, it's one of those blink-and-you'll-miss-it towns? But you could miss it with your eyes wide open. Anyway, I love it here, but I think I will not give up my media. There certainly are many, many pitfalls and shortcomings. Several of my friends here don't use it and I think that's great. And I'm trying to be more intentional. But I have just been struck by how much social media feeds into our narcissistic, individualist culture. It's almost like we are each creating a brand for ourselves, that has to be conceived, developed, and maintained. So much work! And what a dumb hobby, compared with other times in civilization... "I'm a painter... I'm a philosopher... I'm a writer..." Those things still happen now but I feel like our passions and talents are really diluted. "I go to work, but really I like to tweet about things that annoy me." I know this is a think because it happens to me. I used to sit and read or paint or journal for hours on end but now I really have quite a self-induced ADHD where I habitually text and whatnot on my phone! Since I started writing this post, I've answered one call, two texts, sent two others, checked my Instagram and been reminded about how much fun my cousins are having without me, and checked my Facebook (awww, no new notifications). Our brains were designed to lose themselves in work, experiencing flow is completely necessary to a healthy mental state. No wonder we get so stressed! There's no rest for the weary. When I am seeing patients, I do find that I don't have any trouble focusing on anything else, don't worry about that, it's just my entertainment and diversions get in the way of actual relaxation! I'm working on this, pray for me ;)
Anyway since Easter is the best blessing ever, I wanted to chronicle how I was blessed on Easter Sunday. I was kind of depressed, because I had been looking forward to some fun plans that all got canceled, and now I was sick with no plans other than hanging out with Ben. Which I love to do, but because of all the work we've had to do on the house we've been doing a lot of this for awhile. Anyway Easter and Valentine's Day are my two favorite holidays, because God is love and his love is manifest in Christ's death on the cross! We should not need anymore celebration than this, but to me it was sad to be just the two of us after church that day, and I had been praying for peace in my heart and direction from the Spirit. We decided to stop at Walmart to get the Hobbit, because neither of us had seen it yet, and then get Zaxby's to warm up with the other food we were planning to make. There's usually someone on the corner of the Walmart intersection, either selling something, advertising something, or panhandling, and I always ignore them, because I get really overwhelmed by all the different issues involved in panhandling. I want to help alleviate homelessness, but I don't think that's the way to do it. But this guy had a sign asking for work. I wasn't even sure if Ben saw him, but in the drive through he asked me what I was thinking about. I wanted him so badly to ask if we could pick the guy up, because I usually have ideas like that and he usually has a more realistic approach to things, so I just asked him what he was thinking about. He said the guy, and that he wanted to do something for him. We couldn't really think of anything off-hand, even though the house still has a lot of random things to be down on it. So we asked him, and he said he'd been in construction, painted, lots of things. I HATE PAINTING. And I'm bad at it. I've had two gallons of 2146-40 Dry Sage staring me in the face for a month. Their mere presence was stressing me out. The previous owners turned the garage into a living room, and it's huge! So we piled him into the truck and he talked the whole way to the house, where he did a wonderful job, and we dropped him off that night at his daughter's house (I wondered why he didn't live with her until we found out how many people were already in a tiny space). His story seemed pretty typical, nice guy in his 60's who had worked his whole life, lost his savings through some bad marriages, injured doing his job and trying to get on disability, been homeless since his last wife and her crack-addicted daughter kicked him out a few months ago. He said he struggled a lot with loneliness and seemed to enjoy talking to us and praying with us. He was funny too; after he finished he looked at me and said "Well, you just had your living room painted by a homeless guy" in a way that implied 'bet you weren't expecting that this morning.' And I really wasn't, which is why I love being filled with the Holy Spirit! God's mercies are new every morning, and he is waiting to turn our disappointment at life's inconsequential happenings into reminders that he is much bigger than that. As if the fact that God saved my wretched soul could really leave me room to be disappointed, he sent along a fellow who needed a job and some company to do something I'm too lazy too do... I certainly don't understand that, and I'm glad God is beyond my understanding! Now I need to go get more Kleenex and some wallpaper for the last side of the living room (:
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