People Are Gay, Get Over It!

Okay, so I'm throwing my two cents over this whole 'businesses not catering to homosexual couples based on their religious beliefs' thing.

Because that's just what it is, in my view, a belief based on a conservatively minded, legalistic religion.  Exactly what Jesus spoke against when he pointed his fingers at the Pharisees, remember?

What did he call his followers to do instead?

To love, To practice nonjudgment, To serve.

So, how is banning certain lifestyles from our establishment following this creed? Furthermore, how is it lining itself with the society in which we live in, which aligns itself with the government, thevery government taxes are paid to by ourselves and our businesses, as Jesus commanded, "Render to Caesar what is due", so therefore choosing to disallow individuals from our businesses based on life-style choices goes against several of Jesus' commandments and, in fact, has a foundation more on our own righteousness than that of actual service or obedience.

He desired for us to follow his example, to love, to serve; how does one's reasoning that to deny service is, in fact, "hating the sin, loving the sinner" and not a cover-up for judgmental behavior?

Where do we draw the line? When are we going to stop casting stones and examine our own behaviors, sins, shortcomings, or what have you? When can we stop trying to change, convert, save, or rather pluck the stick from the others' eyes and pull the log out of our own? 

Conservative, evangelical Christianity has gotten too much about sin-sniffing and judgmental behavior than about following the path Christ laid out for us, that of grace and service, about making a difference by the expression of our lives.  This is one of the main reasons I stepped away from that belief system, besides the fact that it didn't really connect with all of that I believed.  

Furthermore, it appears as if Fundamentals are increasingly hibernating in their own little safe world of bible studies, church services, and other related Christian events, afraid to venture out into the big, bad, scary, scary world because anything can happen out there where I might end up in trouble.

Wait, there's the problem.  The emphasis is on "Me" or "I", how can I protect or service myself? Not others, not the world that Jesus and other great Spiritual teachers came to love and serve, who taught us to serve.  

Choosing to refuse service based on lifestyle is a form of judgment and in a sense taking the position of God and saying "I know what's right", when in fact, we don't.  We never do.  Freedom of speech and religion is one thing and I believe all our guaranteed, including you the business owner refusing to give service, but at others' cost of their freedoms?  Based on Jesus' words, we  have a moral obligations not only to follow his leading but to align ourselves with the laws of the land in which we live.  If you want to go against this based on your beliefs, go live in a Muslim country where you are free to discriminate based on lifestyle, orientation, even gender? Of course, you as a Christian would probably be discriminated against as well.  'What, me?' you say.  Yeah, truly, unless you changed your religious views.

It is because of this that I choose to look passed the outward appearance, lifestyle choices of those that come into my life, regardless of religious belief or sexual orientation, and seek to see what's going on the inside.  I know and can admit that I am far from perfect and in truth find myself casting the stones of judgment from time to time, like it or not.  But, I'm accountable enough with myself to admit it and try to change it.  How do I do this? By choosing to apply love and grace in every situation good or bad, by seeking to know why a person behaves the way they do, makes the choices they do, in short, looking passed my snap judgments and striving for understanding and relationships.

 I believe Jesus, as well as other spiritual leaders, wanted that from all of us.  So, don't get hung up on lifestyle choices or orientation! Get over it and love, serve, transform!

Medical Bills for Katy!

Jackie's SRS

Give a Pizz'a your heart!

Life at 23, then again, I'm 33

So, its a dreary Saturday afternoon, and laundry needs to be done, lines to be run, songs need to be sung, kitchens need to be swept, dishes need to be washed, and put away...and my heart falls on this scripture:

"And nothing you desire can compare with her"

Now, this is a verse that has always always caught my heart dead in its tracks, I mean, its not like those that you can easily glance over.  Its just there, staring up at you, reminding me of your my unfaithfulness to it.

For context, here is the whole text:

"Blessed is the one who find wisdom,
and the one who gets understanding
for the gain from her is better than gain from silver
and her profit is better than gold.
She is more precious than jewels,
and nothing you desire can compare with her,
Long life is in her right hand
in her left hand are riches and honor
Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
and all her paths are peace.
She is a tree of life to those who lay ahold of her
those who hold her fast are called blessed."

So, what I see is that wisdom is the Lord and by gaining entrance with the Lord you gain understanding but more so, something that is more costly that it over values silver or gold.

When I was a young believer, bucking up in my twenties, I read this scripture "nothing you desire can compare with her" and I earnestly wanted my heart to believe that, but it kept taking me back to him...him...my future husband.  Looking back, I believe the Lord promised that we would marry, that he had a plan and a purpose for our union, but still the Lord's heart is always one hundred percent mine, is mine his?

So, now the promise has been fulfilled, as they all are, and I married the man of my dreams.  And we have come through our first of battles and strongholds and I stand here at this impasse with this knowledge that this was all meant to happen.  All of it, everything that has happened between us in the last few months or even 8 years, everything I have been through on my own, everything he has been through on his own, has all happened for a reason hanging on the very nature of this scripture.  And that is, do you still desire your husband more than the Lord?  And the answer, a pitiful yes.  And, now of the problems of clingliness and not wanting to be alone and such, all hangs on this truth.  I love my husband more than the Lord.

Now, I don't want you to think that there is anything wrong with loving your husband, but to honor him more than the Lord is the fault.  It puts my husband in too high of a position, in shoes that he cannot fill. 

So, now I sit here with my mug of tea, at 33, feeling just as foolish for the Lord as I did when I was 23 when I fell in love with my husband, and I first read, "nothing you desire can compare with her"

Remember how I was saying, we calvary chapel young buck christians tried to be more pious than others, well, i wasn't so.  Because if you asked me if I loved anything more than the Lord back then, I would have said "Bill Weston", that is, if I was being honest.  And, that, my friends, is why the Lord took him away from me.  'You give and take away, you give and take away, my heart shall choose to say, Lord, blessed be your name."

But, back at 33 in the green faded bathrobe and the cooling earl grey, I admit now that I do desire the Lord more than my husband, more than anything, more than costly gold.  It took me ten years to see that, but as I said everything I went through, mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, all looped me back around to right here, to the ulitmate question that God asks of all of us:  Do you love me more than these?