With the 2012 election fast approaching, battle lines have been clearly drawn and the mud slinging has begun in full force from all directions. I grow weary of this, as I suspect many others do, but something else strikes as peculiar in this battle of politics. In order to secure our votes, politicians not only point out the opposition's failures and disqualifiers, but they make promises, often grand and overreaching promises. Many of these promises are never kept. They say things like "I will do this" and "I will fix that," but every time their term comes to an end many of those statements turn out to be false. This is not new; everyone has seen this. So, from what I can tell, in order to be a successful politician, you must be prepared to lie, and lie often. And we keep voting, for liars. It's all B.S., if you ask me. But, then again, I grew up in a county that uses cow manure to fertilize for growth, so maybe there is something to it after all.
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Saturday, August 4, 2012
I love chicken, but this does not feel like love
It's possible that I will take some flak for what I am about to say here, but that's ok.
I've been doing a lot of thinking about this Chick-Fil-A scandal that has gotten the country so hot and bothered. I have, until now, not really felt that I needed to offer any comment on the situation. However, when thousands upon thousands of Christians showed up for the so-called Chick-Fil-A appreciation day, something started irking in my spirit, and I've felt disquieted about it ever since.
Let me preface this by saying that, first of all, I do believe homosexuality to be a sin. The Bible is quite clear on that. I also don't have a problem with Dan Kathy exercising his right to free speech. He's allowed to do that. However, it's also quite clear that what he said made many people feel angry and hurt, and it is the Church's response to that anger and hurt that is bothering me.
Jesus says in Matthew 5:39, "But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." Showing up in droves to show support about an issue that likely would have been all but forgotten in a few short weeks does not feel like turning the other cheek to me. Now I realize (or rather, hope) that probably the majority of the people who showed up for this event did not have hate in their hearts towards gays, but what I think people are failing to consider is what this reaction looks like to the ones who have been offended. It looks like hate. It looks like Christians are taking a stand against gays, and not loving them as we are supposed to. I'm not saying that homosexuality is ok and we should just ignore it, but I think we should be absolutely going out of our way to avoid doing things that could come across as being hateful.
I realize that there are times when it doesn't matter what we say or do, people will find a way to be offended and will find fault in our Christian beliefs. The truth sometimes hurts, and that simply can't be avoided. The issue of homosexuality however, is one issue that many Christians consistently approach with insensitivity, and I feel that there must be a better way.
Homosexuality is, after all, just one out of many sins that all of us struggle with on a daily basis. We, or rather, I have a tendency to forget that detail from time to time. I, or we are very good and pointing out the sins that others are struggling with but often ignore our own. We forget that we were once not any different than gays; we have all at one point or another needed to be saved out of our slavery to sin. Christ came offering salvation to the whole world so that we all might have the opportunity to be restored to a right relationship with the Father and Creator. We have not received that salvation in order to stand on a pedestal and "defend our Biblical values." God doesn't need our defense, He wants us to love the world as He did - unconditionally. Chick-Fil-A does not need our defense. Chick-Fil-A will be just fine. Their chicken, is, after scrumptiously delicious.
I've been doing a lot of thinking about this Chick-Fil-A scandal that has gotten the country so hot and bothered. I have, until now, not really felt that I needed to offer any comment on the situation. However, when thousands upon thousands of Christians showed up for the so-called Chick-Fil-A appreciation day, something started irking in my spirit, and I've felt disquieted about it ever since.
Let me preface this by saying that, first of all, I do believe homosexuality to be a sin. The Bible is quite clear on that. I also don't have a problem with Dan Kathy exercising his right to free speech. He's allowed to do that. However, it's also quite clear that what he said made many people feel angry and hurt, and it is the Church's response to that anger and hurt that is bothering me.
Jesus says in Matthew 5:39, "But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." Showing up in droves to show support about an issue that likely would have been all but forgotten in a few short weeks does not feel like turning the other cheek to me. Now I realize (or rather, hope) that probably the majority of the people who showed up for this event did not have hate in their hearts towards gays, but what I think people are failing to consider is what this reaction looks like to the ones who have been offended. It looks like hate. It looks like Christians are taking a stand against gays, and not loving them as we are supposed to. I'm not saying that homosexuality is ok and we should just ignore it, but I think we should be absolutely going out of our way to avoid doing things that could come across as being hateful.
I realize that there are times when it doesn't matter what we say or do, people will find a way to be offended and will find fault in our Christian beliefs. The truth sometimes hurts, and that simply can't be avoided. The issue of homosexuality however, is one issue that many Christians consistently approach with insensitivity, and I feel that there must be a better way.
Homosexuality is, after all, just one out of many sins that all of us struggle with on a daily basis. We, or rather, I have a tendency to forget that detail from time to time. I, or we are very good and pointing out the sins that others are struggling with but often ignore our own. We forget that we were once not any different than gays; we have all at one point or another needed to be saved out of our slavery to sin. Christ came offering salvation to the whole world so that we all might have the opportunity to be restored to a right relationship with the Father and Creator. We have not received that salvation in order to stand on a pedestal and "defend our Biblical values." God doesn't need our defense, He wants us to love the world as He did - unconditionally. Chick-Fil-A does not need our defense. Chick-Fil-A will be just fine. Their chicken, is, after scrumptiously delicious.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
False Walls
I have been characterized on numerous occasions as a quiet, thoughtful person who doesn't speak much. I've been told I'm a deep thinker, and a problem solver. These things are true. I like that they are true. They help me to visualize myself as wise, caring, confident, and insightful. I feel pretty good about that. Most of the time.
I wish that was the whole picture.
The truth is that often that quiet, thoughtful part of my personality is often a mask for fear. The truth is that often when I'm feeling particularly insecure about my faith and my worth in Christ I simply smile, shrug, and explain that "I really just don't have much to say on the subject." The truth is that I struggle deeply with sin that I simply don't want other people to know about. It's embarrassing, shameful actually, to try to explain that honestly, the reason I'm not talking much is because I'm afraid of what I might say and who might find out. I might open myself up so wide that people might find out that I'm not quite as admirable and stoic of a figure as they thought.
It's silly really. Or, rather, it's pride.
I'm discovering that God is a God of great mercy. I'm discovering that he loves us all, including myself, unconditionally. I'm finding that even when I've put up every kind of defensive wall I can think of to hide what I can't bear to be seen, He can obliterate those walls in a unrelenting yet completely gentle way. As painful as that really is, the freedom it brings is incomparably and brilliantly life giving. It's new life, and it is so very good.
I wish that was the whole picture.
The truth is that often that quiet, thoughtful part of my personality is often a mask for fear. The truth is that often when I'm feeling particularly insecure about my faith and my worth in Christ I simply smile, shrug, and explain that "I really just don't have much to say on the subject." The truth is that I struggle deeply with sin that I simply don't want other people to know about. It's embarrassing, shameful actually, to try to explain that honestly, the reason I'm not talking much is because I'm afraid of what I might say and who might find out. I might open myself up so wide that people might find out that I'm not quite as admirable and stoic of a figure as they thought.
It's silly really. Or, rather, it's pride.
I'm discovering that God is a God of great mercy. I'm discovering that he loves us all, including myself, unconditionally. I'm finding that even when I've put up every kind of defensive wall I can think of to hide what I can't bear to be seen, He can obliterate those walls in a unrelenting yet completely gentle way. As painful as that really is, the freedom it brings is incomparably and brilliantly life giving. It's new life, and it is so very good.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Groaning
Over the last couple of weeks, the moniker "thehappyhandyman" has not been entirely accurate. I've found myself allowing my job to stress me out in ever increasing doses, and not always dealing with it in entirely healthy ways. I've found myself angry to the point of yelling with coworkers and friends, losing sleep because of anxiety, and even being impatient and insensitive to my wife, my best friend and love of my life. It's not the first time this kind of thing has happened; I understand it really is quite common among the working class. Knowing that, and after spending some time in scripture, prayer, and repentance, I find myself mulling over the difficulties and traps of stress, perhaps better described as anxiety.
After jokingly telling my wife one night that she needed an off switch for her brain so that she would stop losing sleep from over-thinking and processing that day and the next, I saw her face fall and realized that, yet again, I had jumped to a conclusion and tried to solve the problem quickly without really hearing her out. This happens, quite often actually. I'm working on it, so cut me some slack. For me, sometimes all I need to relieve stress is to sit down, relax, read a book, watch a movie, or play a video game. I shut my brain off to the worries and stress from the day, and after an hour or so, feel refreshed enough to face the next task. Now, that type of stress handling can quickly turn into a form of escapism, and that is a slippery slope once started down, a fact for which I am intimately aware. For major stress and anxiety, there simply is no substitute for taking time to talk with the one who once said, "Which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?" All that being said, it turns out that the way I handle stress just doesn't quite cut it for my wife. We're actually quite different on multiple levels; go figure.
So everyone handles stress in different ways, apparently. Ok, I understand that. I think what's bugging me is why? Why to we all consistently allow the pressures and trouble of this world get to us? As Paul said, "For in this tent we groan..."(2 Cor. 5:2). After recently discussing that passage with a friend, it has occurred to me that Paul was illustrating two different contrasting points in a seemingly simple statement. We groan, because life is difficult and filled with pain and confusion. The slightly more subtle, but more important point is this though: we groan in a tent. A tent is a temporary house. It's not meant to last, it's not meant to be the end of the line. We're moving, camping out in this wilderness in hopes of someday making it to our real home. It's hard to grasp because we were born in this tent, and we have no concept of what home will really be like.
Ok, so this life is temporary. So when I find myself stressed out and anxious, I just need to remember that life is temporary, and that someday I'll get to go home, really home. Good. Now if that freaking idiot in front of me won't learn how to drive he's going to end up sending me home a lot sooner that I expected. Wait, now I'm stressed out and angry again. See, for me, the biggest things that stress me out and get me riled up are people, people who are rude or unfair or just plain jerks. Now it has occurred to me that I can't just go through life floating on a cloud because everything's temporary and I don't really need to care about you or your crappy attitude. Wait, I have a crappy attitude? Who are you to judge me? None of this really matters and gosh I can't wait to get to heaven so I don't have to deal with this anymore.
"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God," (2 Cor. 5:21). In the ultimate act of selfless love, Christ gave himself up and took on the weight of sin of the entire world. Totally without sin, yet totally selfless in his love for his soiled and stained bride-to-be, he took what he did not deserve, but did what absolutely no one else could have done in order to reconcile his bride. So often I get so angry and stressed out because someone is not being "fair" and "just." I take offense time and time again because I have this pompous idea that somehow I deserve better. I have failed to love, because I forgot how deeply and unrelentingly I am loved. And I wonder where stress comes from.
After jokingly telling my wife one night that she needed an off switch for her brain so that she would stop losing sleep from over-thinking and processing that day and the next, I saw her face fall and realized that, yet again, I had jumped to a conclusion and tried to solve the problem quickly without really hearing her out. This happens, quite often actually. I'm working on it, so cut me some slack. For me, sometimes all I need to relieve stress is to sit down, relax, read a book, watch a movie, or play a video game. I shut my brain off to the worries and stress from the day, and after an hour or so, feel refreshed enough to face the next task. Now, that type of stress handling can quickly turn into a form of escapism, and that is a slippery slope once started down, a fact for which I am intimately aware. For major stress and anxiety, there simply is no substitute for taking time to talk with the one who once said, "Which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?" All that being said, it turns out that the way I handle stress just doesn't quite cut it for my wife. We're actually quite different on multiple levels; go figure.
So everyone handles stress in different ways, apparently. Ok, I understand that. I think what's bugging me is why? Why to we all consistently allow the pressures and trouble of this world get to us? As Paul said, "For in this tent we groan..."(2 Cor. 5:2). After recently discussing that passage with a friend, it has occurred to me that Paul was illustrating two different contrasting points in a seemingly simple statement. We groan, because life is difficult and filled with pain and confusion. The slightly more subtle, but more important point is this though: we groan in a tent. A tent is a temporary house. It's not meant to last, it's not meant to be the end of the line. We're moving, camping out in this wilderness in hopes of someday making it to our real home. It's hard to grasp because we were born in this tent, and we have no concept of what home will really be like.
Ok, so this life is temporary. So when I find myself stressed out and anxious, I just need to remember that life is temporary, and that someday I'll get to go home, really home. Good. Now if that freaking idiot in front of me won't learn how to drive he's going to end up sending me home a lot sooner that I expected. Wait, now I'm stressed out and angry again. See, for me, the biggest things that stress me out and get me riled up are people, people who are rude or unfair or just plain jerks. Now it has occurred to me that I can't just go through life floating on a cloud because everything's temporary and I don't really need to care about you or your crappy attitude. Wait, I have a crappy attitude? Who are you to judge me? None of this really matters and gosh I can't wait to get to heaven so I don't have to deal with this anymore.
"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God," (2 Cor. 5:21). In the ultimate act of selfless love, Christ gave himself up and took on the weight of sin of the entire world. Totally without sin, yet totally selfless in his love for his soiled and stained bride-to-be, he took what he did not deserve, but did what absolutely no one else could have done in order to reconcile his bride. So often I get so angry and stressed out because someone is not being "fair" and "just." I take offense time and time again because I have this pompous idea that somehow I deserve better. I have failed to love, because I forgot how deeply and unrelentingly I am loved. And I wonder where stress comes from.
Monday, January 11, 2010
A love letter
I may be accused of being a sappy romantic after this.
When I first met you, my head couldn't stop spinning. I'm still spinning, but now we're spinning together.
When I first told you I loved you, and you whispered back "I love you too," my heart nearly leapt out of my chest. I wanted to jump up and down and dance with you until morning came.
When I asked "Will you?" and you crashed into my arms and whispered "Yes" without a pause, I could barely speak. Neither could you, because you had laryngitis.
When you cry, I'm in agony with you. When you laugh, my heart soars.
Our story has not always been pretty. Our story has only just begun. What has been, has been, and I wouldn't change a thing.
You're my best friend, and I love you.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
learning to abide
I've spent too much time lately being critical and standing on a soapbox. After sitting for an hour trying to decide what to write in this blog, starting one topic and deleting it all within minutes and starting on something new, I've gotten to the point where all I can do is give glory to the one who is holding my life and the world in the palm of His hand. As I sit meditating on the incredibly awesome greatness of His love and all that He has done for me, all of my petty criticisms and cynical ideas about how I think things should work crumble beneath the weight that is the goodness of God. Words fall pathetically short, and I feel all I can do is to fall to my knees and worship. His love is so big, so perfect, and exactly what I need, but not what I deserve.
"I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them." (Jesus, speaking to the Father. John 17:26)
"I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them." (Jesus, speaking to the Father. John 17:26)
Sunday, October 11, 2009
hurt
I love people. I need people. I hate being alone.
Sometimes I wonder why God made us this way. I wonder why we need each other so badly. And why, if we need each other so badly, did he give us the ability to hurt each other so much?
I've seen families ripped apart for stupid, selfish reasons. I've lived that; I've played that part, said terrible things, despised those who needed my love. I've seen the church, the Bride of Christ, turn on itself and become critical, hurtful, and cruel to no end. No, I didn't just see it, I've lived that as well. I've sneered, I've back-stabbed, I've lashed out with self righteous fury at anything and everything that didn't fit into my narrow view.
Why, when we all clearly need each other so badly, when the most powerful tool we have is our love for each other, why can't we break out of this selfish and destructive cycle?
God loves us. He loves us so much that He sent his Son, Jesus to die for us. All of us.
"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." Matthew 6: 9-13.
Sometimes I wonder why God made us this way. I wonder why we need each other so badly. And why, if we need each other so badly, did he give us the ability to hurt each other so much?
I've seen families ripped apart for stupid, selfish reasons. I've lived that; I've played that part, said terrible things, despised those who needed my love. I've seen the church, the Bride of Christ, turn on itself and become critical, hurtful, and cruel to no end. No, I didn't just see it, I've lived that as well. I've sneered, I've back-stabbed, I've lashed out with self righteous fury at anything and everything that didn't fit into my narrow view.
Why, when we all clearly need each other so badly, when the most powerful tool we have is our love for each other, why can't we break out of this selfish and destructive cycle?
God loves us. He loves us so much that He sent his Son, Jesus to die for us. All of us.
"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." Matthew 6: 9-13.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)