Getting the Message Out

Putting Wanted Posters Above Urinals Catches Criminals

When my husband was in seminary, that's where they posted the 95 Theses.

And those of you who like puns, just DON'T.

(I had typed "don't go there" but then I thought better of it)

HT: Dave Barry's Blog

One of Those Things I Never Expected to Say as a Parent

(dedicated to Pr. Esget who apparently doesn't think I use my cell phone camera enough)

"Chris, pick that nun up off the floor. The dog was carrying it around."

My Favorite Saints

My favorite saints tend to be those that are always getting a bad wrap. I love Martha and Thomas. I think they are cool.

Everyone always criticizes poor Martha for fretting over having at least 13 guests in their home that they will have to feed and begging Jesus to tell her sister to help her (which frankly would freak me out). But we almost never hear how Martha was the first to proclaim in faith that Jesus was the Messiah and that she believes in the ressurrection of the dead. She freely runs up to Jesus and meets him on the road and says "If you were here, my brother would not be dead." Now really, that is quite a bit of faith. Mary does not come until the Lord summons her.

But then Martha proclaims: "Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give You .c(John 11:22)" What faith! And then in v. 27 "She said to Him, "Yes Lord, I believed that you are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world."

Obviously, somewhere along the line she heard something.

Thomas also. He didn't believe what he heard from the other disciples, he had to touch Him and see Him. But his loyalty is not to be questioned. When Jesus headed up to Bethany to raise Lazarus, everyone knew that Jesus's life would be in danger. The Jews had just tried to stone Him and now He was heading toward Jerusalem, not away. Thomas loyally stated "Le us also go, so that we may die with Him." (v. 16).

Also, Thomas may not have been right to ignore the testimony of the other disciples along with the teachings that Christ had given before He died, but we owe a debt of thanks to Thomas. Because he touched Christ's wounds and His side-- and we have his confession "My Lord and my God," we have an answer to the Gnostics and others who say that Christ did not rise bodily from the dead. Thomas also went farther than any other apostle that we know of...all the way to India, where tradition holds that his body lies in a tomb in a church in Madras. My husband has been there and seen it (though the history of relics is a little more dubious than the teachings straight from Christ or the witness of 14+ disciples).

We have something to learn from Martha and Thomas, and it isn't necessarily to stop worrying about housework or to trust in reliable testimony. Contrary to the example they show, they are still examples of faith and service.

Rethinking Domesticity

Those that know me know that I am domestically impaired. I've never made a secret of it. In fact, my husband thought it was cute and "no big deal" when we were dating. I even have magnets that HE bought me saying "just say 'no' to cooking," "just say no to ironing (which I definitely do)," "just say no to laundry," and "just say no to cleaning." I was always in trouble for having a messy room, messy desk, messy car (though I prefer the term "lived in").

In the real world, these things are occasionally necessities, like you definitelly MUST do laundry at 1 in the morning before your son's baseball game when his uniform has spent a week being covered in mud and grass stains. And cleaning up IS necessary when, say, one's mother is coming to visit. And I do like to cook...but more in the hobby way. NEEDING to do it takes out all the joy.

I've been trying to be more domestic though. We've been wanting to improve how we eat, and I am all too inclined to not have a plan at 4:30 in the afternoon with nothing thawed (If you know me, you might start realizing that ADHD might be a running theme here)...but I've made some observations over the course of this experiment

1. If you cook 3 meals a day, you have 3 meals worth of dishes to wash, 3 meals worth of pans to clean, the table needs cleaned 3 times a day, and if you are like me or have my kids, it might even effect the status of the floor.

2. I've noticed when I clean, I notice a whole plethora of other things that need done. Now, if I hadn't been cleaning, I wouldn't have noticed these other things...but now I can't seem to rest until they are done, and when I deal with those things, I now notice other things.

3. I'm grumpier. It's amazing how working to pick up a living room, and say, having a six year old leave every belonging she has ever owned strewn across the room can cause levels of ire and frustration that I have almost never known.

4. So I'm having a hard time believing that having my act together actually lowers my stress. Thus just doesnt' seem to do it. (There was an episode of WKRP in Cincinnati where Johnny Fever and Venus Flytrap get drunk to show on air how alcohol effects reflexes, only Johnny's actually GOT BETTER the more he drank. Maybe I am an anomoly and just function better in chaos)

5. Not only that, but most of the moms that I know of who actually "have their act together" in this area seem to suffer from the same thing. Now, because things are dusted or vacuumed, they MUST can every tomato in a five mile radius, or they are a complete failure if the tile in their bathroom is not regrouted in a manner that reflects the skill of a man who has been doing nothing but grout for the last 20 years. Not only that, but if you compliment their house, they will wince and point out all the things they "forgot" to do. Very few women ever seem able to vacuum for a few minutes, run a feather duster over some things, throw the dishes in the dishwasher, then say "Okay, I'm happy now, I'm going to go read a book, get a tan, and enjoy life."

So, in conclusion, my main question to myself, I guess is "if eating healthier and trying to be more organized is supposed to make me live longer, do I really want to live longer if it means I spend that time washing dishes and mopping?"

(I know, I'm just whining...but what is a blog for if I can't whine?)

addendum: Now see, I know why I read the beloved Sisters....Rebekah is there to show me what I am doing wrong!!

Honestly, I Am at a Loss for a Title

Today, I was driving down main street in my little town, and there was a man on a motorcycle ahead of me wearing a bright red shirt with a big ugly swastika on it.....willingly, and willfully.

For a minute, I was in disbelief. My brain almost went into denial, like something was wrong, but I couldn't quite comprehend what was wrong with what I was looking at, but I knew it was wrong. Then all of a sudden I realized that the guy was blatantly wearing a big, huge swastika on his back...out in public. I wanted to post a swastika with the post, but I really couldn't stand to have it on my blog. I stared at it on the screen and was just repulsed, and Brixie (the cat) was staring at me with an unusually accusing look in his cat eyes. I couldn't leave him with that.

Why does it shock me when people just blatantly advertise they are evil?

Looking at this guy with his greasy hair, shape of his jaw that showed that he had a few teeth missing, and as he pulled up next to the bar where more than a few bikers hang out...he was no symbol of Aryan masculinity. Hitler would've made sure he was exterminated from the gene pool. But I doubt this guy knew that.

We have Klan here. I've known that. I hate that. In my lowly human understanding, I rationalize that even the Klan didn't seek to bring the whole world under their subjection, and didn't murder millions of Jews, Rom, Slavs, Blacks, and Christians in the process. But just seeking the "purity" of their own locales isn't more righteous than anything else. They certainly have committed enough atrocities. But I still can't imagine embracing the symbol of the Nazi party and of probably the most destructive, evil man that has ever lived.

The people who usually are sporting these symbols of white supremacy are usually the saddest excuses of white people, of any people that exist, period. They usually have nothing going for them or nothing to cling to of worth inside themselves or outside of themselves other than the lack of melanin in their skin.

Jesus loves these people, too and He died on the cross for them just like He died on the cross for me. And that is what humbles me when I feel the anger well up in me when I see this symbol of evil on the motorcycle in front of me. I only hope and pray that he guides this man and others to be able to love those whom Jesus loves and died for. All of mankind.

Voting No Brainer

Pastor Christopher Hall from This Side of the Pulpit says it loudly and clearly.

Can there be any doubt? He's right. It's simply evil.