A Sticky Situation

I was mercilessly attacked tonight by soft drinks. It began innocently enough. My family was eating pizza for supper in my classroom. Because apparently we live there now. Abby bumped the pizza box which bumped my just poured glass of Dr. Pepper, which dumped upside down all over me, my chair, and the floor. So now I am sticky and wet. Baby wipes helped slightly with the sticky, but I was still wet and we were soon departing to go to the football game. I had the bright idea that I would run down to the restroom and blow dry my jeans - I couldn't go to the game looking like I had peed all over myself - seriously!

So imagine with me if you will, I am on my way to dry myself, when the school librarian enters the scene. She spots the full extent of the damage, and laughs hysterically and offers to go get her camera to make photos of the damage. I declined, and pursued my efforts of drying off my sticky self. It was as I was standing precariously on one foot with my other leg shoved up into the hand dryer mounted on the wall, that I realized she might be serious since she has disappeared from the hall. I immediately abandoned my quest for dryness and simply waddled back to class, determined to endure the stickiness for the remainder of the evening.

So, in case you wondered, after Dr. Pepper dries, it is no longer terribly sticky. Therefore, I was still able to attend and enjoy the football game. Until the third quarter. That was when I borrowed Katie's red gatorade. I went to take a small sip, completely missed and poured most of the bottle on and down my shirt. Now being red, wet, and sticky it was time to depart. (Did I mention that Katie also was soaked at the game by an exploding Dr. Pepper and had to purchase a new shirt?)

Oh, but no.....It's still not over. On the way home, I was very thirsty. Seeing as how most of my attempts at drinking this afternoon did not work out well for me. I grabbed a Dr. Pepper, twisted the cap, and - you guessed it - the darn (edited at shawn's request) thing exploded all over me in the car! What are the chances! Shawn at this point is about to burst from his efforts to restrain his laughter. Torn between his desire to laugh at an impossibly funny situation and to stay out of the doghouse for laughing at me being in a really sticky situation. I really thought for a moment that he might pass out from holding his breath trying not to laugh. It finally got the better of him, and we both laughed.

So now I am going to bed, still thirsty. This could be a cheesy horror flick ....revenge of the soft drinks.....

Bloody Sabbath

New issue of Paste! Yeah! This is a highlight of my month!

This one's focus is on violence in music and media. One of the first articles that I've had time to read is "Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath." This article certainly took a genre of music - gospel - that I am very familiar with and looked at it through new eyes. It is really interesting to look at religion through the eyes of others. This author proposed that gospel music is arguably one of the most violent forms of music, if the lyrics are contemplated at length and by an unchurched, literal audience. For example:

"Are you washed in the blood." "There's power in the blood." "Nothing but the blood" "Alas, and did my Savior bleed." etc.

Now as believers, we understand the symbolic implications involved. I had never honestly, deeply considered how an unchurched audience could interpret our "blood songs." How's this for an answer, "Obviously, it's symbolism, but there's something kinda creepy about hundreds of people singing about blood and suffering." Or how about, "it's a trip to see these words."

This article spends time comparing gospel music to heavy metal's violent words and tries to draw some parallels between the two as far as the symbolism involved. I'm not sure that I can agree that heavy metal bands with really violent lyrics are trying to symbolically move people to a better place in their lives in quite the same way that gospel music does.

One heavy metal band, when interviewed, said they were considering turning to the Bible for inspiration for more violent songs. I somehow don't think that God's intention of including violence in the Bible, especially in some of those Old Testament stories that are so gory, was so that violence would be glorified. I think the difference in the bloody lyrics of gospel music and the bloody lyrics of other music is in the purpose of the music. Who is being glorified?

However, it was very interesting to read this perspective on gospel music. It is certainly food for thought as we consider what songs to use to reach an unchurched population. I don't know that we should give up all the "bloody" songs, but maybe we should think about how they can be interpreted and make sure that our audience understands the symbolism.

Very interesting lyrical comparisons in this article as well.... In some instances trying to distinguish between gospel and metal was impossible for me until I saw the name of the band.

Food for thought.....

pursue life

Matthew 8:22, "First things first. Your business is life, not death. Follow me. Pursue life." This is in an account of Jesus addressing people who expressed an interest in following him half-heartedly or when it would be convenient. But here's what I noticed.



Pursue life...... Follow me....... I would say that I try to pursue life passionately. Actually, sometimes I find myself in over my head in my pursuit. But there is a qualifier to the passionate pursuit - following Christ. So my thoughts today have been thinking through what I am passionately pursuing that does not involve following Christ. I came up with some ideas, but they are mostly things that need doing and doing well. There is some sin that I tend to passionately pursue as well that I could definitely stand to give up. But, I can't figure out the solution to all the stuff that has to get done in life.



Overwhelmed - that's the number one descriptive word among women that I know. Overwhelmed by the tyranny of the urgent that crowds out the ability to passionately pursue the life God created them to live. So where's the solution? I'm pretty sure that overwhelmed is not a spiritual gift and that God did not create us to live a life characterized by being overwhelmed.

So, I don't have any answers today....just more questions.

Sin and Poop

God makes the weirdest connections in my head. Lately we have been occasionally trying to potty train Abby, the two year old. She will not poop in the potty, denies having gone in her diaper, runs and hides. Because she is our fourth child, we know that this is a normal phase of potty training and find it very amusing. So tonight I smelled the tell-tale odor of a used diaper. I asked, "Abby did you poop?" Her reply was an emphatic, loud, "NO!" as she took off running in the opposite direction.

So as I was in hot pursuit of the fastest toddler on two feet, God made an interesting connection for me. "No matter how hard you try to hide your sin, no matter where you run to, or how much you deny the action, it will reek. Sin is a stench to God that cannot be hid or denied or run away from. It can only be confessed, removed, and cleansed." Much like poop in a toddler's diaper.

Serious Obedience

Matthew 7:21-23 (The Message) ".....What is required is serious obedience...doing what my Father wills. I can see it now - at the final Judgment thousands strutting up to me and saying, "Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our God-sponsored projects had everyone talking. And do you know what I am going to say? .......You don't impress me one bit......"

Here's my thought: I understand the obedience factor - that God lays out the best plan for life in his word and we must be obedient in order to have the best life possible. My problem is that I like to be obedient in certain areas of my life, and at certain seasons of my life. Understanding God's word, studying God's word, reading God's word is not what counts - the measure of righteousness is in the doing. It is in the doing that I have the biggest struggle with my flesh. My rebellious nature is difficult to tame and bring into submission. I can immediately think of several areas where I am not walking in full obedience to God's word.

The other thought: How many "God-sponsored projects" have I been a part of in my lifetime? In retrospect, there is a lot of "stuff" in church that we did with good intentions that had very little to do with increasing our intimate walk with Christ. I am mulling over in my head how much "stuff" we do in American church - is that helping or hindering us in growing closer to Christ? There is certainly a balance to be found - ministry is important - I just have wondered some lately about how corrupted my view of Christianity and Church might be because of my culture and background. It seems that maybe we have made a really big production out of something that God designed with simplicity. Don't have all the right answers on this one, just beginning to roll it around in my head.

One last thought - I hope the term "serious obedience" is meant to reflect the desire of our heart to be sincere and humble in obedience, not lacking a sense of humor. I have no desire to return to legalism after being set free.

Unrelated - tonight the family is sitting down at the supper table, alone. My children are confused by this. Why did we not invite anyone to come over tonight? What a change of mind-set from a few years ago when people ate with us on rare and special occasions. I like the changes in our family's life - that our children have come to expect hospitality and are now confused when there are no people at our home.

No Worries! and It's not my show!

It has been really interesting to start over in the New Testament in the Message Remix. Today I was reading in Matthew chapter 6 about a God-centered lifestyle. Here's some of the stuff that I noticed.

No worries:
Vs. 30-33, God's talking about the beauty of the flowers and then here's the application, "What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. .....don't worry about missing out."

I thought - OH! that's it! I am often so afraid of missing out on the "good life" that my friends are living that I find myself chasing after some of the same dreams instead of relaxing and living in God's grace and mercy. The more my focus shifts onto God and his giving and his other attributes, the less I can focus on getting.

It's not my show!
There was a lot of good stuff in this chapter. I love this phrasing of verse 5, "And when you come before God, don't turn that into theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayer, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat!" HAAAAA! Wow!!!!! Can I repeat that in traditional church? There is so much that we did to look spiritual or to keep up with other churches or for whatever reason. We have often treated God like he is a spectator at our show. Instead for the rest of my life, I want to be an actor in HIS SHOW! I am willing to play a minor role, as long as I get to work alongside the King of Kings. Please, don't ever let me be guilty again of putting on a show for others and expecting God to watch me from the sidelines.

Thoughts from Brooke Waggoner

I just love Paste magazine. It's my favorite read. Mostly because I realize that I am not totally insane and other people have the strong emotions about music that I do. It's a great relief to know that it consumes other people as well. I loved this quote from an interview with up and coming artist Brooke Waggoner about her songs, "They're in my sleep. My dreams. My midnights. My mornings and afternoons. My weekends. My errands. Songs." She went on to talk about the responsibility of a songwriter. "They're now in the world and no longer contained in the privacy of my living room. I feel a sense of responsibility with that. Don't wanna waste people's time. What used to be written strictly for me is now meant for others..."

I thought she said it all so well. Better than me. I have to fight the music really hard to keep it from totally engulfing me. The music in my head literally becomes so loud that it is complicated for me to have rational thoughts and expressing those thoughts at times becomes impossible. I find myself stumbling and stuttering over simple sentences. I am glad that I am not the only weird chick on the planet. That's a pretty self-absorbed reason to enjoy a magazine, don't ya think?