Why ask why?

Posted January 22, 2009 By Andrea and has 4 comments.

As Christians is it healthy for us to question? There are so many different interpretations and messages out there. Should that mean we should question then decide (or remain on the fence), or should we simply ignore all risky or edgy interpretations to find and seek truth only for ourselves.

It interested me yesterday that Anne Jackson asked a WHY question about being gay. What interested me more were the amount of people listing reasons why it was a sin, and in those reasons listing ways that we probably each sin daily, if not minutely or secondly. I know that shouldn’t take away from the original why question, but to me it did. It made me ask why are we asking why? Isn’t this God’s choice. Isn’t this a personal relationship in which we can have our own beliefs and follow a journey without asking why of other’s sins. It is a fine line. I fully believe in and respect the idea of accountability inside the Christian fellowship. And it trememndously helped me when I was in my own personal struggles. But if someone sees no issue and you have confronted them in love and a spirit of simple accountability, not judgment or condemnation, then isn’t that for them to handle on their own. I do believe that God has different plans for each of us, and maybe in that slower or faster journeys of self discovery. So…if we already know Jesus, I am just wondering, why do we ask why? Maybe it’s not as important as why he loves us, and why we in turn seek to love him.

Maybe it’s how, how do we do that?

How do I do that Jesus? How do I love you to my fullest? How do I go where you want me to go without wanting to run? How do I become others focused in a way that does not point out their flaws but grows me spiritually so that I can be more like you. Thank you for loving me. And thank you for giving me a heart with your desires and passions. Help me to not let my own gritty desires or selfishness get in the way of those. Keep my heart soft to those who need you, and hard to the sins I have most struggled with that are in my past. Continually take the me out and put You in, for without You I am lost and imperfect. Teach me how Father.

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This inauguration makes me hungry!

Posted January 20, 2009 By Andrea and has 3 comments.

It is great to see people in high spirits. Whether or not you voted for Obama, this is a blessed day when you see that there is opportunity for a person who 40 years ago would have had very little. People are elated and I just heard some women singing about crawfish on the bayou. Yum. With some corn and potatoes (and cajun spices of course!), I could totally go for that right now!

And yes, I stood outside last night with my husband and good friend and talked about the significance in history in general, that the U.S. is able to have such a smooth transition of power. But you cannot deny that there is a little something extra special this time, you cannot deny that whether or not you agree with the politics of Obama or not, there are some people hanging out today that would never hang out. So maybe it is time to sit and listen to each other’s stories. Maybe this should not even be a day of politics, but a day to sit and remember how far we have come as individuals, and realize all that others are doing and feeling.

Yes, I guess we can.

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On MLK Day, a question…

Posted January 19, 2009 By Andrea and has 4 comments.

To you, what is the difference between justice and charity? Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. worked for a specific call to justice that he had. I believe that we as a body of believers are called to justice as well. How and why is this different than charity? I know what I think but I want to know what you think. If you really want to know what I think, just ask. Or peruse around….lol.

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Normal flow

Posted January 8, 2009 By Andrea and has no comments yet.

The day in and day out, the pressure, the bills, the laundry…. I think all of us have something that can get in the way of spending time with God. It is EXTREMELY easy for me to get busy and then lazy. It is a cycle I create. I either want to do everything at once, or nothing at all.

To be honest, I have not been working on it. But admitting it is the first step right? I don’t know how. Where is balance? Where is time with others and not trying to make the next task disappear….to soon be replaced by another one. Can it exist as long as we are doing the “normal” way of life?

How do you find time for God? Can you read the Bible without feeling uneasy about something? This happens to me a lot. I think that I am not as intelligent as I would like to think I am. It’s like “I love this part!” and then- “What the heck does that mean?!?!”

Today I am going out for a cup of coffee with a friend after work. Starbucks coffee with a pump of Cinnamon Dulce. MMmmm, I can taste it. I know they are corporate giants but something just makes me keep going back (well that and the best locally owned coffee shop is like 20 minutes away from where I work…Starbucks is 2). After that I will go home and I might think about folding the laundry. But maybe first I will spend a little time with God. Maybe I will baffle myself with some scripture and then ask God to help me out. There’s a first step after admittance, correct? :)

What’s your flow? How do you spend time with God??

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Our God is Amazing

Posted January 7, 2009 By Andrea and has no comments yet.

The clouds are moving quickly across the gray blue sky, allowing a tiny glimmer of sunlight at the horizon, sweeping past Atlanta onto some other destination, and it just reminds me- our God is so big.

I am so unworthy.

He has given me so much.

Today.

And when I look outside and see something so awe-inspiring, it reminds me of how much I am loved, how much I am loving (or not sometimes), and I feel a certain peace. Even when life is wrecked or feels to be constantly spinning, God is there. God is here.

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Religion not the culprit, We are

Posted January 6, 2009 By Andrea and has 2 comments.

Religion isn’t a dirty word. Or at least it shouldn’t be. The origin of religion means bound together, or rather of the same thread. Are we as Christians living this out? Or is this why there are many of us (including myself a time or two) that are walking around grumbling about how much we hate religion. I remember the phrase that became popular during the seeker friendly service drive in the 90′s. “It’s all about a relationship, not religion.” I think it may have even been a bumper sticker. And we ate it up! We loved it! Why….. because church had become, in many cases, a place of despair. A place where you could not be yourself, and where showing up on Sunday morning was enough to give the religion thing its due. Of course people wanted a relationship! For years it had been all about the gathering and not at all about knowing Jesus Christ.

I mean, I know that my life has improved since I’ve come to know Him more. That is not to say that all my days are filled with joy and butterflies, but I have been blessed with his goodness and received freedom from many things. So for a few years it was a sigh. A sigh of relief, Jesus loves me, I can know him, he really really loves me.

But then we lost that relationship with each other and we lost what religion really means. We bicker over church funds, scriptural meaning, and who is hearing from God. Seriously? If I really feel that I hear from God and you say the same, but they are conflicting ideals or even exegesis, do I still have any right to judge? And if I choose to judge to whom am I doing harm? Do I care if it is someone of the same thread as me, someone I am “bound” to…. maybe, maybe not. Would Jesus care? Would Jesus weep? Would HE see our lives having a focus of being a vessel for him…

Look at Jesus’s own words in Matthew: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

If we believe this, if we believe the words of Jesus, and regard him as such, then where are we going? Are we to remain bound together in criticism, or in love? The critical or cynical part is so easy to say that those beliefs, those interpretations, those LABELS divide us, but if we keep deciphering together the way of Jesus, His miraculous truth, and the life he gives to us, I wonder if those divisions would matter as much, or would the words of Jesus resonate, causing up to roll up our sleeves and do whatever we can to remain a religion that is bound by our faith and love, not by our Americanism or splintered ideology.

Granted, without leading perfect lives, we will never appear or even act perfectly bound together. Even in the early church Paul is met with “affliction and anguish” in himself from the decisions of church. Let us not approach others with a fear that tears them down but a spirit and love that lifts them up.

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Here's hoping you don't have one of these holidays…

Posted December 24, 2008 By Andrea and has no comments yet.

But seriously, I hope you all have a very wonderful Christmas! Don’t forget to say thanks (for the awesomely huge gift of Christ as well as the abundant gifts from others), remember the good qualities about your family, and try to take a time out to give to those in need, whether it be small or big ways. Thanks to so many of you for making this a wonderful year.

Truly Shalom.

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Wham! It's Christmas

Posted December 17, 2008 By Andrea and has 7 comments.

Does anyone know who sings “Last Christmas I Gave You my Heart”?

Yeah… I didn’t either. Wham. I know, who knew? Who knew there was even a group called Wham? When I looked it up I saw that someone actually thought it was Queen. It’s a sad, sad world. Consequently, they also sing one of my other favorite eighties songs (I think)- Wake me before ya go go, I’m not planning on goin’ solo. Yeah, all their songs have awesome lyrics.

When I was little I LOVED THIS SONG. This song officially meant it was Christmas. I would go in my grandad’s office (where he always had the radio playing) and wait for it to come on after Thanksgiving dinner. Oddly, without being a Christmas carol, they still play it just as much. And call me crazy, I still LOVE it.

What song means it is Christmas time to you- serious, silly, funny, classic? What do you crave to hear? Any more fans of “Last Christmas” lurking out there??!

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Salutes, And I pledge allegiance to??

Posted November 12, 2008 By Andrea and has 2 comments.

This is something I wrote a while ago, but similar thoughts have been surfacing in my mind. Oh the woes and struggles of so many offerings in front of me…

Is there anything for us to do about the state of the nation? With church change almost becoming chic, I wonder if we will lose touch with what everything is about in the first place. I hate that the images I see around me are almost high school-esque. Cool kids and cool churches, the not cool ones being the ones that aren’t listening to Jesus.

What the???

I don’t know when the heart of it all got left behind but it feels like it sometimes. I know it is difficult, so difficult sometimes, to not get caught up in ourselves, but if we start listening to Jesus I think we can make it. If we just read his word and follow his laws, not the laws of man, listening to our hearts conviction from the movings of the Holy Spirit, we will get by. I have been up and down, learning and growing. I have been cultivated, drenched, and starved. The drought never lasts long enough for death, and the rain and sun visit me often. There are blessings all around, there is God among us.

So our responsibility to our nation lies not in the duties of that nation, but rather to the one in which we were called most resemble.

Movements or allies, enemies and politics, why do we cling to you? Or…why do I? What am I looking for that Jesus does not already offer me? Nothing. That is why offering myself to others is the greatest way I can love Jesus. Simply one of the only ways we can love him here on earth. Yes, we honor him with our lives, and we honor him with our specified acts of worship. Yet how many times do we mess up, sin, live for ourselves, have our minds completely wander off to that new CD or where we will visit for lunch in our supposed “worship moment.” If we are serving others in the midst of our flaws and messups and hang-ups, is this not far better than having the same flaws and messups with a totally self-serving attitude. Belief that loving Christ is separate from how we treat others? He made us all. He MADE us ALL. The cross was for us all. Yes, it was for us all.

All: lovers and haters and fighters and Germans and and artists and Fascists and Socialists and Chinese and Buddhists and Catholics and Reformed whoevers and Eckists and saints and sinners and Jews and actors and the poor and the rich and the Gentiles and the Colombians and the Canadians and the hunters and the writers and the teachers and the Swiss and the chocolate lovers and the immigrants and the Americans and the George Bushes and the Tom Cruises and the minimalists and the anti-Semitics and the anti-Gays and the unionists and the Belgian and the Soviets and the lesbians and the Asians and the whites and the atheists and the Satanists and the crazies and the killers and the rapists and the child molesters and the young and old.

And in His way, let us not only love but reach out to and care for the poor, oppressed, the homeless and the widows. Lest we will stray too far from our calling.

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HOLLA!!

Posted October 8, 2008 By Andrea and has 1 comment.

First unserious post in a while. Ah, it’s time. It is raining here, pouring off and on to be exact. And just a mere 10 miles awhile scads of *sorry* mostly white people are attending Catalyst 08. Am I wee tiny bit jealous? Maybe. But assuredly God worked it out for me to not be able to go. #1: Funds are low. #2: I have been praying for a few days of work and it just so happens I have already been called in tomorrow and Friday. Alas, no attendance for me. I think it is enough that I know that people will go and be inspired, and I can certainly find inspiration in many places, people, and things!

Today, the first rainy days in MANY MANY days is of course the date of my (hopefully final) wedding dress fitting. YAY! I get to see what my beautiful dress looks like with crazy huge humidified hair!! Either that, or I will look stunning as a drowned rat in white. :) Next week Andy moves into our place and then begins the 2 week countdown to THE day. I still have a lot to do- many were on a to do list for today in fact. But I would really like the rain to pass. Also, I left my phone at my dad’s house when I went over there this morning to let the cable/internet guy in. So… I am just a mess today. My designated “get things done” day. Isn’t that just the way life goes? Pray for me, I’ll pray for you!

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