Donald Miller and Voting, et al...

This kind of sums up how I've been feeling this year personally regarding the election. I know that doesn't make me super popular with some peeps who read this blog, but it's how I feel.

And this is how I feel about how we should behave no matter who is elected into the presidency.

I pray that God will bless this nation through whoever is elected president and I will be praying just that for the next 4 years until the next election, and will continue doing so for each consecutive president.

Let it also be said that I do respect differing political opinions. :) I'm not against anyone who feels differently from me. I've read, researched, thought and prayed and I feel at peace with my decision. If I've made a mistake, then I'll realize when the time comes, but I'm not sure at this point that I have.

We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.
-Abraham Lincoln

Happy Voting!

Donald Miller

I must admit, I didn't come up with this blog on my own. "(Har)Monica" posted about it and I thought I'd follow suit because it was awesome.

Donald Miller, one of my favorite authors, gave the closing prayer at the Democratic National Convention. It's a great prayer and I thought I'd share it here. He'll probably update the info on his home page in a day or two, so if you check this and the link doesn't lead you to something about the DNC, then check out this video, too.



And for those of you who would prefer not to point and click, here's the transcript of the prayer:

"Father God,

This week, as the world looks on, help the leaders in this room create a civil dialogue about our future.

We need you, God, as individuals and also as a nation.

We need you to protect us from our enemies, but also from ourselves, because we are easily tempted toward apathy.

Give us a passion to advance opportunities for the least of these, for widows and orphans, for single moms and children whose fathers have left.

Give us the eyes to see them, and the ears to hear them, and hands willing to serve them.

Help us serve people, not just causes. And stand up to specific injustices rather than vague notions.

Give those in this room who have power, along with those who will meet next week, the courage to work together to finally provide health care to those who don’t have any, and a living wage so families can thrive rather than struggle.

Hep us figure out how to pay teachers what they deserve and give children an equal opportunity to get a college education.

Help us figure out the balance between economic opportunity and corporate gluttony.

We have tried to solve these problems ourselves but they are still there. We need your help.

Father, will you restore our moral standing in the world.

A lot of people don’t like us but that’s because they don’t know the heart of the average American.

Will you give us favor and forgiveness, along with our allies around the world.

Help us be an example of humility and strength once again.

Lastly, father, unify us.

Even in our diversity help us see how much we have in common.

And unify us not just in our ideas and in our sentiments—but in our actions, as we look around and figure out something we can do to help create an America even greater than the one we have come to cherish.

God we know that you are good.

Thank you for blessing us in so many ways as Americans.

I make these requests in the name of your son, Jesus, who gave his own life against the forces of injustice.

Let Him be our example.

Amen."

Well played, Miller, well played!! He's a great writer AND he lives in Portland, OR, possibly one of the most beautiful places in all the land, and also home to my cousin, her boyfriend, my aunt, and several college friends. PORTLAND REPRESENT!! Three cheers to one of the places that's way ahead of the rest of us when it comes to organic food, an abundance of the color green, recycling and just generally caring about this big ole earth on which we live. HURRAH!!

Strong's

As a post-lude to my post I just wrote, I thought I'd include a little word study thang I did on Psalm 4:4.

It uses the King James Version and part of the reason I like this is because it gives more than just our current english definition of words and expands my ideas of what the verse means. Get ready:

"Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah."

It kind of breaks it down by words with various definitions, so here's what it's got:

Awe:
1) tremble, quake, rage, quiver, be agitated, be excited, be perturbed
1a) (Qal) to quake, be disquieted, be excited, be perturbed
1b) (Hiphil) to cause to quake, disquiet, enrage, disturb
1c) (Hithpael) to excite oneself

Sin:
1) to sin, miss, miss the way, go wrong, incur guilt, forfeit, purify
from uncleanness
1a) (Qal)
1a1) to miss
1a2) to sin, miss the goal or path of right and duty
1a3) to incur guilt, incur penalty by sin, forfeit
1b) (Piel)
1b1) to bear loss
1b2) to make a sin-offering
1b3) to purify from sin
1b4) to purify from uncleanness
1c) (Hiphil)
1c1) to miss the mark
1c2) to induce to sin, cause to sin
1c3) to bring into guilt or condemnation or punishment
1d) (Hithpael)
1d1) to miss oneself, lose oneself, wander from the way
1d2) to purify oneself from uncleanness

Heart:
1) inner man, mind, will, heart, soul, understanding
1a) inner part, midst
1a1) midst (of things)
1a2) heart (of man)
1a3) soul, heart (of man)
1a4) mind, knowledge, thinking, reflection, memory
1a5) inclination, resolution, determination (of will)
1a6) conscience
1a7) heart (of moral character)
1a8) as seat of appetites
1a9) as seat of emotions and passions
1a10) as seat of courage

Still:
1) to be silent, be still, wait, be dumb, grow dumb
1a) (Qal)
1a1) to be silent
1a2) to be still, die
1a3) to be struck dumb
1b) (Niphal) to be silenced, be made silent, destroyed
1c) (Poal) to make quiet
1d) (Hiphil) to make silent (cause to die)

It's interesting to see all the different things a word can mean.

WORD MEANINGS, HOOPA!

self-evaluation

Warning: Unfunny post to follow! (that's just so those of you who are 'only in it for the funny' can stop reading right here)

Something I've been struck by over the past few months is the concept of self-control, and how that requires a lot more effort than you think. Essentially what I mean is that people tend to act in response to how other people act, rather than how they might actually feel about a situation, myself included.

Now before I go on, I'm not writing this with a specific situation in mind. There are a lot of situations lately in which I've seen people respond both very well and very inappropriately to a situation because of someone else's reaction or response. I don't know, I guess what I'm saying is that in a perfect world, when someone "wrongs" us or someone does something that we "perceive" to be wrong, we should be able to STOP first. Think about it. Don't react.....yet anyway. I want to get better at that. I want to be able to thoroughly think through things before responding rather than responding emotionally and in most cases, regretting some, if not all, of what I say.

Psalm 4 is a chapter I've loved for a long time, and all the time I get new meaning out of it. In regards to the contents of this post, Psalm 4:4 is something I've kind of been meditating on and thinking about. Here it is in a few different versions, as I like to versionize (made up word) myself when I focus on specific passages.

Psalm 4:4

New King James Version:
"Be angry, and do not sin.
Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still."

King James Version:
"Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still."

New International Version:
"In your anger do not sin;
when you are on your beds,
search your hearts and be silent."

New American Standard Bible:
"Tremble, and do not sin; Meditate in your heart upon your bed, and be still."

New Living Translation:
"Don't sin by letting anger gain control over you. Think about it overnight and remain silent."

I like reading the different versions because for me, wording is important, and sometimes it helps to see things phrased differently for me to get a better and more complete understanding, what what! (that was me trying to inject some funniness into an otherwise funnyless post)

One thing I really appreciate about this verse is that it gives permission to be angry. I think sometimes that when we think of self-control, we think that that means controlling the feelings, but I think it's more about how we control our actions based on those feelings.

I think the New Living Translation is the cutest translation! Mainly the part that says to think about it overnight. That might be taking a little creative license by being so specific about the length of time you should think about something before acting, cause y'all know we can all stay mad about something for longer than a night, holla!

On a slightly related note, I've talked recently with some friends about how our (and not to use the word "generation", but) generation is more self-assessing and evaluating than our parents' generation (in general). Lots of people I know are interested in getting to the bottom of issues in ourselves, exploring past experiences that have shaped how we see things - healthy or unhealthy, and trying to deal with it and let the knowledge of those things change how we can see things in the future.

Anymountains, I just thought I'd write about what I'd been thinking about. Love you!

insight

Recently within the past year or so, I was introduced to and started to really like this Hillsongs United band. Well, I'll say I really started to like half of them.....I'm not such a huge fan of their faster paced stuff. Anyway, Kevin let me borrow his United We Stand cd and I've pretty much had it in my car for over a year. There's this one song and I'm not actually sure of the name - as you miss out on those things when you hold someone's cd captive sans insert sleeve - and there are a couple of lines that I REALLY like in the song:

"In the chaos and confusion, I know you're sovereign still...
In the moment of my weakness you give me strength to do your will..."

So anyway, I always found a lot of comfort in the truth of the first half (second half, too, but this post isn't about the second half, what what!) In the chaos and confusion of the world - not knowing what path to choose or if you've chosen one, is it the right one? And countless other confusing things in this confusing world - I can know that God is still sovereign over it all. I've really been able to find a lot of peace in that.

Well, today, when I was in yoga - which I LOVE by the way. Yoga and cardio and I could be set for life.....now about that cardio..... Anyway, yoga for me is purely a physical activity. I'm not into all of the "practice" that it can be and the "if you put positive words into a jar with water and freeze it, then put negative words into a jar with water and freeze it, the one with positive words will form all these beautiful blue white crystal patterns and the one with negative words will turn yellow and brown" stuff. And I'm not into all the "good energy bad energy" talk. I just like getting stronger and more limber. Feels good, mmmkay?

Well today, the usual teacher that teaches the class I go to wasn't there and there was a new lady. She was nice and it was definitely a great work out and stretched some muscles I don't think I'd ever stretched before today, but she was definitely into the energy talk. She actually said today that "energy is everything." Hmm....

Now I'm no scientist (Kevin, help a metaphorical sista out), but I think that physical energy is IN everything, but I do not think that energy IS everything, especially the kind of mental, positive/negative spiritual energy. I believe that God (+ Jesus + Holy Spirit) is/are everything. And I believe that when I "let go of all the stress of the day," I'm not letting that go out into the cosmos. I'm surrendering my control of it all to the aforementioned God. I guess that's part of what bothers me about the "practice" of yoga. So much of it is self-rule and self-glorifying. So I sometimes feel weird about how into that stuff some of the people are. But boy do I love to stretch! Hachaa!

The teacher said this right before she wanted us to do a color meditation, wherein we breathe in blue and breathe out gold, and I can't ever really let myself do those things. And I don't want to get into a philosophical debate about this stuff or other new age type stuff, I'm just using this experience to get to where I'm going with this whole post.

On the way home after yoga, I was listening to the song I referenced before of which I don't know the title. And it was crazy. When I got to that little verse I like, it was totally new to me. The confusion wasn't life decision confusion. The confusion it was talking about at that moment for me was spiritual/theological confusion. This world is FULL of spiritual/theological chaos. There's new age, there's scientology and a whole slew of other belief systems in this world that I don't understand how anyone could truly believe and then even within Christianity I'll come upon something that I'm not quite sure how to wrap my mind around.

But that's what hit me. God is still sovereign even though I'm sitting there confused out of my mind. When I've read something in the bible that doesn't quite match up to my understanding of His attributes as I believe them to be today at 25 years old. And that's okay. He's there and he knows and he'll reveal it to me. And I hope that I'll keep on experiencing more and more confusion that I can work through because that means I'm growing. The last thing I want in the world is to have it all figured out right now. That this would be my plateau of knowledge of God. That there is nothing more to learn.

LAME.

So that's pretty cool.

silence & solitude

A post from the point



I like it.

faith and stuff

Something I've been thinking about (and talking Kevin's ear off about) lately is faith. Not the definition of the word so much as its practical application in different situations. I guess I've been struggling with the line between believing wholeheartedly for something to happen, while still allowing God's will to be different than the outcome I'm praying for without setting myself up for disappointment.

I guess what has been frustrating me about this so much is that I haven't been able to articulate how exactly I feel about it, or even what I'm thinking about it exactly, and Kevin so patiently and lovingly let me emit quite a bit of "word vomit" last night while I was trying to talk things out and figure them out in my mind. Thanks Special K!! Love you!

When I was talking to Kevin last night and then this morning when I was talking to our very own Josh Moody on IM, they both said something that kind of resonated with me, or at least help me put some words to a way of thinking about it. (Turns out, I like being able to express what I'm feeling. Not always as good at executing it as I'd like to be) Basically that a fundamental problem in the way we use faith to believe in/for a situation is that we tend to put our faith in an action or event rather than in God himself.

Too true. Too true.

I guess a concern of mine has been that "allowing for God's will" for me personally can sometimes mean half-hearted prayer.....prayer that is sometimes burdened with fear that what I'm praying for might not happen or that God might not want it to happen. And it's true that what we're praying for might not be in line with God's best for us, but I think the problem is not with God's will being above our understanding, but the way in which we think about it. I sometimes find myself in a position of mistrusting God to come through rather than accepting that his will might be different and totally way better. Then that leads me to think sometimes that I'm praying wrong or with the wrong heart, and that totally turns into me focusing on me instead of what I should be focusing on in the first place. God. And now I'm not sure if any of this is making sense and I might just be repeating myself using different words. Or the same words. I don't know.

In any case, I'm learning and growing and it feels a'so nice.

watercolors

I was just directed to this website where Paul Soupiset is doing a different water color for every day of Lent.

I like this one:


And on his blog he gives explanations for some of them. I wish I was visually artistic. TWICE!

bless you

Last weekend I went to church with Kevin & fam in Cleburne. They were going through presbytery (1Ti 4:14 Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery) that week where leaders from that church and other churches will come and prophesy over people in the church. They record it so that you can keep the words of encouragement spoken over you.

Anyway, there was a guest teacher that weekend, a guest teacher I happened to have heard about already. His name is Kerry Kirkwood and he pastors a church in Tyler, TX. In our small group every other Monday, I remember that Candiss had talked about a "recent" service at Shady Grove where he had preached this really super awesome message about blessing. By recent I of course mean last June. Anyway, what we talked about was really good and so Erin & I asked Candiss to get us cd copies of the teaching.

Flash forward to this morning - I still hadn't listened to that dang cd! She got it to me like 2 days after I was aware of said teaching's existence and I didn't listen to it for 9 dang months! Geesh! This is a something about myself that is prevalent in other areas of my life and I need to work on that (I'll add it to the list)!

Nevertheless, this morning I was reading in my daily study bible that Annie and I are going through together. (It's supposed to work out where you'll be finished in a year, but....what are "deadlines" anyway... *nervous*) Aaaaanybuns, I was reading in Romans this morning and I got to this verse (which is also where I stopped):

"Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation." -Rom. 12:14-16

This instantly did two things in me. 1. Struck a chord. 2. Reminded me of that Kerry Kirkwood cd that was still shining brightly on top of my turn table (thanks Keevs!) - though it's luster was a bit diminished by the layer of dust that has been ceaselessly accumulating on it's sweet face.

Let me talk about each of those numbas.

1. Bless those who persecute you. We've all heard this before I'm sure. But to really put it into practice? To truly desire to bless someone who dislikes you or works against you or even loathes you? To pray for their good and for the fulfillment of God's best for them in their lives? That's a difficult thing to do with a sincere heart and without selfish intentions. Especially when you don't particularly like this person and maybe.....maybe it might feel pretty nice to see them NOT succeed and NOT be blessed.

This is sadly true of me in lots of areas. And of course by cursing, it doesn't mean saying "I curse you that you will bear no children and that you will die......SOON....AND HORRIBLY!" I mean, I guess maybe some people think things like that but that's a little creepy. It means even something as simple as calling someone an idiot - even if you don't verbalize it.

(Sidebar: There is a lot more I could write about associating with the lowly, not being haughty in mind or wise in my own estimation, but I think if I want people to actually finish reading this mini novella, I'll save it for another entry. TWICE!)

2. When I was FINALLY listening to the cd in my car this morning, Kerry Kirkwood (who, henceforth will be referred to as KK) was describing cursing as calling someone something less than what God has created them to be. Dang. When he said that my instant thought was, "Oh no." I do that more often than I would like to admit, even if it's only in my mind. The instances and capacities might be too many to mention here.

KK also said that when we curse others, in cursing God's creation, we in turn curse him. As it says: "And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'" Mat. 25: 40

I think I'm going to start trying to bless some more. If you are in anyway interested in listening to this blessing discourse, you can listen to some of his teachings at the Trinity Fellowship Church website and get your bless on!

.......

*runs away*

escuche

Monica wrote a great post that is speaking to me real direct-like. She's been reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer and here's an excerpt:


She pretty much says what I feel about myself in the rest of her post, but one thing I can see a lot in myself is that I often want to give advice in lieu of just listening. I want to be able to contribute and help and solve and make right. I imagine that sometimes this is warranted or even requested, but I'm not always so good at making the effort to distinguish. I can also see in my life how not always listening and always talking has become habitual, even in my conversations with God. I want to learn how to listen more. To my friends and to the voice of God.

Friends, help me out. If I'm talking, and you need me to be listening...please tell me.

resolve

I didn't really resolve to do/change anything this new year. Last year it was to work out 3 times a week, and that lasted for a few months and then it's been pretty sporadic since then. This year I kind of just didn't think about it. I was reading a blog that I haven't read in a while, called just thinking. I got down to one of the entries and it started talking about Godspell.

I totally LOVE Godspell. If you ever get a chance to see it, you should. I saw it for the first time when my friend Briana was in it at this theater camp-esque thing in Austin.

Anyway, he referenced this one song, "Day by Day," which instantly got me struggling to sing it only in my mind at my desk, along with "Prepare Ye (The Way of the Lord)." This is pretty much how the "Day by Day" song goes:


Talk about a New Year's resolution.

I've got ashes on my forehead but don't call me an ash forehead...

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, which per my Lutheran upbringing, began the 40 days of sacrifice before Easter, or what is commonly called "Lent." I wrote an entry here, so I'm trying not to repeat myself, but tis the season, right? I'm sure I'll say some of the same things.

I enjoy reading other people's thoughts on Lent. Especially grown up Jesus lovers that don't go to a liturgy abiding church. I always find it interesting I guess because I fall into that category, too, and since Lent isn't a biblical command, I like to hear why different people participate.

My friend Kerri (a.k.a. Beyon-K) wrote an entertaining and insightful blog about it, and here's an excerpt:



Here's an excerpt I used last year, but I still really love it and it's a great reminder, not just for this 40 days, but you get the point:



This is Kerri's husband Luke:



Then I just googled "lent blogs" and found some interesting ones. Here are a couple:

Hopeful Imagination is entirely a Lenten blog I found that will have a different author for every day of Lent:



This year I'm giving up coke (see: last years Lent blog and every year to come) and myspace. Possibly some others, but those are my two as of today. I was going to post this on myspace, but......maybe I will after Easter. Who the heck knows?!

I really do like Lent though. I like the mindset it puts me in, though that mindset shouldn't be reserved for just 40 days a year. So many thing are important and there are so many things I'd like to change about myself, so sometimes Lent can seem overwhelming.

This year it's coke and myspace. I guess sacrificial living and caring for others will have to wait until 2008.

reading & teamwork

I bought this last night.


Boy do I like this chronological stuff. Also, the verses aren't individually numbered, so it makes the reading seem more narrative. Annie and I are going to be going through this together. I'm excited. I started reading in Acts last night and I'm supér excited! So excited in fact, I wanted to put an accent over the "e" in supér, as commonly seen in el español.

Plus, I also like the linen textured paper they used for the cover. Feels good in my hands, what what!!

listening is fun!

I just got the Harbor notes from Greg that was the New Year's letter, and I didn't get through the first paragraph before I started thinking about....that's right, myself. ("Ha ha!" is fairly taboo vernacular for a blog, yes?) Anyway, I got to the part about how this year has been so hectic that they (read: Greg) didn't have time to write a family Christmas letter, hence the New Year's version.

Anyway, that hectic part kind of struck a chord in me. My life is most often times hectic. Crowded, way too full, call it what you will. Not only has it started to stress me out as far as scheduling goes, but my body just can't handle it any more. Who'd have thought sleep and even just open-eyed sleep (or as some like to call it, rest...) could be so benefitial?! *baffled*

I feel like most of what I do is beneficial, whether it's youth group or worship team or hanging out with friends and spending quality time together. Where is the line drawn between want and need? I want to hang out with my friends, and I feel like that relationship building and friendship deepening time is very valuable. Sure I don't have to do that, but part of me feels like I do. And not out of obligation, but desire. It makes me happy. On the other hand, getting adequate sleep makes me happy. Having a clean room makes me happy. Neither of those can I get accomplished regularly if I'm constantly doing scheduling things.

And then there's friend time. I have a few friends that I see pretty regularly, but I also have friends that I don't see regularly, and I don't want to be someone who has to plan months in advance to hang out. (No offense to anyone who does!) I just don't want people to feel like they're not important to me. People are important to me. I LOVE people. Relationships are important to me. I like to feel connected.

So where is it? The line? I guess I really already know that I'm not the one who has to make that decision, even though I will be the one to execute it. I just need to let God show me what's important to him. And I need to listen.

what I decided about you...

I was talking to Jerome D. (INSIGHT REPRESENT!) online today while I was at work, and this is what he said/typed to me (items in parentheses are not part of the conversation, they are narrative from me after the conversation took place and as I was reliving it whilst writing my blog):

Jerome: You know what i just decided about you...

Becki : What? Tell me!!! (I like to consider myself a...patient person)

Jerome: That when you are 40 or 50 or even 60 you will look back at your life and decide that you had a full life of adventure, movement, and memories and you will be able to remember what year went with which memory and while it might take you a little work to remember, that is more than most people can say because most people's lives are jumbled together with each day being the same.

Wow! What a cool thing to say! I sure hope so. I really do.

p.s. New York pictures coming soon!

in the spirit of Christmas....

I'm doing a series of posts about Jesus, since I love Him and it's about to be the day that we suppose is his birthday. Not necessarily about the actual event of his birth, but just things about him that are on my mind. I read this today, and thought it was interesting.


Thoughts?

heart vs. sin

Michael posted this today, and I thought I'd comment on it.



If you know me, you know I'm a worrier. I'm also a jump-to-the-worst-case-scenario-er. I tend to carry any guilt I feel for a long time. It's endearing, right? Right?

Well, in any case, it's crazy to me that God looks through our sin and sees the heart over the sinner. It's awesome, and I'm grateful, but it's a crazy concept. God is good. Thank....God. :) I've been reading a lot of the old testament lately, and boy do I wish there was more editorial commentary. I was reading all about Samson in Judges recently, and there's one part where Samson stops in to visit a prostitute on his way somewhere.

"Now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went in to her. When the Gazites were told, "Samson has come here!" they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city." Judges 16:1-2

HELLO! Are we not going to talk about this? We're just going to skip right to the Gazites' plotting to kill him? Hmm........what did God think about this? What did Samson think about this? Did he feel guilty? Did he cry? A little? And then wipe his tears with his long long hair? Man. The Old Testament is something else, isn't it? I wonder if it's too ridiculous to ask God to tell me how Samson felt about the Gaza harlot.

"God, please tell me if Samson felt bad and if he had a repentant heart. Was he just feeling lonely?"

Ha ha. I'll ask. Maybe He'll tell me.

But seriously...I still struggle with the idea that God knows all my sin and still cares more about my heart towards him. I sure can't forget my mistakes. I want to work on that.

Plus it's Marti's birthday today!! Woop woop!

peace

lead us to the place where you'll restore our souls
and all our earthly strivings come to cease

take from our souls the strain and stress
and let our ordered lives confess
the beauty of your peace

*sigh*

p.s. love you Jesus!

anarchy

I was talking on IM to Jerome today (and I intermittently still am), and we were talking about the Ted Haggard scandal of late, and I got a few comic gems out of the conversation.

But first, before the hilarity - now I've built it up too much haven't I? - I don't know how much of the allegations against Ted Haggard are true, as I honestly don't know much about him other than that he's from Colorado and a major Republican & Evangelical figurehead who definitely supports that marriage between two people is defined as a male/female union.

If they are true, that's definitely a shame. With someone so prominent in such a field and who supports the things he supports, it would be easy for anyone who didn't want him reelected, and who is negatively affected by those very ideals to come out of the woodwork and claim outrageous things. I also know, though, that someone with such a calling for the Lord is going to be subject to fierce attack and temptation, and I don't just mean from humans. I read on the Colorado Springs channel 11 news website that he admitted to some of the allegations but not to others. Who knows.

Man. What a mess. That's why it's so important to have good, wise people around you for counsel. That's why it's good to just be honest, not necessarily with everyone, but with a few people you really trust. People that can keep you in check and know how you want to live your life and to remind you of that when you fall away from the course. Even if honesty is embarassing. Be honest before temptation turns into action. As any Jesus loving person, but especially as a spiritual leader (of many or few) and activist.

Okay, on to the comedy. On one blog website that referenced the Channel 11 report I mentioned earlier, after it cited a couple of paragraphs, the writer wrote this:

"Questions remain. Is this concrete evidence that God has now foresaken the Republicans? And how does this bear on James Wolcott's theory that 'all Republican political figures are gay, especially the men'?"

WHA? Seriously? Who's asking those questions? Who is this James Wolcott? Oh wait, I just looked it up and he's a Vanity Fair et al contributing editor. Hmm. Well assessed, James Wolcott.....Well assessed indeed.*

Jerome and I were talking about this whole ordeal and he was expressing that this confirms his belief in the separation of church and state and how he feels like Jesus would agree. Here's a bit of our conversation (and by our, I mean, here's what he wrote):

"Seriously though, you know that part where some wise acre asks Jesus who gets the $ money first - Caesar or God...and Jesus is just like, man, give Caesar what's his and give God what's his...i don't think that was about money. Taxes were the main beef the people had with the goverment then and I think that was a question regarding goverment as a whole...to me, I think Jesus was saying don't mix the two."

And this is my favorite:

"I am an anarchist (see Romans 13:1)."

Ha ha! Then he said just kidding, but it's funnier without it. And to save you the looking up of, here it is:

Rom 13:1 ¶ Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.

Nice.



*he only feels that way satirically.

big words

I love this blog!





And don't worry, I had to look it up, too. (This applies to everyone except Greg, Kevin and Eric, who know what every word means, ever)

1. pres·ti·dig·i·ta·tion [pres-ti-dij-i-tey-shuhn]
n.
a. Performance of or skill in performing magic or conjuring tricks with the hands; sleight of hand.
b. A show of skill or deceitful cleverness.

2. pres‧ti‧dig‧i‧ta‧tion 
n.
a. sleight of hand; legerdemain.

AND AGAIN (I can presume a definition using context clues - Thanks Mrs. Kluter! - and it's synonymous relation to "sleight of hand," but let's check anyway):

leg‧er‧de‧main  [lej-er-duh-meyn]
n.
a. sleight of hand.
b. trickery; deception.
c. any artful trick.