Justifying

At church, our pastor is going through an interesting study in Sunday school he has entitled: “Gay Marriage, Women Pastors and Applying the Bible Today”. As any good writer knows, a catchy title is the starting place for selling a good book.

And a Sunday school class. In actuality, it is a class on hermeneutics, which is the study of applying the Bible in one’s day-to-day life. Of course, there are thousands of things one could study in such a class. He has chosen some “hot topics” as his launch pad, although the class will cover other things outside of women pastors and homosexuality. In our church, you could say he is speaking to the choir. However, the sad reality is that these heinous sins are slipping quietly into the church. In fact, it may be hard to come by a church in Emry’s generation that doesn’t stand against these serious problems.

This past Sunday, we started the study on homosexuality. Apparently, there is a book out that is pretty popular in evangelical circles right now entitled God and the Gay Christian. I haven’t read it, so I won’t sit here and denounce every single word it contains. But, first off, why would anyone take their theology from a guy with a degree from Harvard? We all know that college isn’t putting out Puritans today…

That aside, the title alone should be a red flag. I’m not saying there aren’t Christians who struggle with the sin of homosexuality, but can any true believer cheerfully stand up and proudly call themselves gay? I’m going to say no. No more than a true believer would proudly call themselves a liar, cheat, thief, murderer or adulterer.

Which is what I started thinking on Sunday. Homosexuality and gay marriage is an extremely hot topic in our world today. Like most people, I live in a neighborhood with at least one such “couple”. So it’s no surprise that “Christians” are putting out books trying to justify homosexual behavior. (Such as saying Sodom was destroyed because of the sin of gang rape and inhospitality. The former, certainly. As for the latter, how many straws can you grasp at here?)  But if we’re going to sit around and justify a heinous sin that is condemned both in the Old and New Testaments, why stop there?

I mean, isn’t it interesting that we don’t find a book on the Christian best seller list trying to justify lying? I think someone could make a pretty good case for that with the story of Rahab. How about murder? Surely God didn’t curse Cain because he killed Abel, right? Maybe someone should write a book justifying covetousness, or disobeying your parents, or cheating on your spouse? There are a myriad of sins we could sweep under the table, twisting the Bible so it supports our natural ways.

I think the reason you don’t find such books is because Christians (both those who truly are saved by God’s grace and those who claim the title in name only) agree that murder, adultery, and stealing are sins. Mostly. There are those who call murder by other names (abortion, euthanasia, etc.). And people will forever be trying to justify their actions. But I don’t see any books on the shelf entitled: God and the Christian Liar. So, why is homosexuality different?

Honestly, I don’t have an answer to that. Maybe it’s because it’s not just a “church topic” but a political one. Or maybe because gays are loud at demanding their “rights”, being heard over anyone else and getting on the front page of the news. In the end, I suppose, the answer is that man is by nature a sinner. And sinners want to be justified in their sin. So, they write books with ridiculous titles and incredulous ideas. And, sadly, it works.

At least for now. Because eternity is coming. A time when the only justifying that matters comes from a Holy God (instead of ourselves) and the only book that stands is His. A wonderful and blessed time for those of us who truly are Christians. But for those who twist God’s Word to justify their sin…well, they’ll soon know that Sodom wasn’t destroyed because they were “inhospitable”.

Lord, come quickly! Amen.

Five Minutes of Thanks

If you were given five minutes to thank the Lord for the things He has so richly blessed you with, what would you say? Well…I’ve set my watch…here goes!

Emry. Ed. Salvation. God’s faithfulness. My sisters Katey, Sally, Grace, Jenny and Abby. My parents. My brothers Daniel and Caleb. Andrea. Allyson. Caleb, Violet, Seth, Silas, Laurel, Marigold and Lemuel. Friends. Family. Snow. God’s grace. Jesus Christ my Savior. Prayer. Health. My nephew Jay. My coming nephews and/or nieces. A church. Hot chocolate. Oatmeal. Chapstick. Lotion. Indoor plumbing! God’s love, truth and unchangeableness. Unexpected e-mails from old friends. God’s provision. Safety. A warm place to live. Sleep! Electricity. Color. Rainbows, flowers, green grass, leaves changing colors. The ability to read, write and figure things out. Clean water. Clothes. Running, walking and biking. Wonderful books to read. A library. God’s Word that is ever true, timely and faithful. A heartbeat, blood pumping and every breath I take. God who knows my future and holds me in His hand. Technology. Pandas, and dogs, and all of God’s unique creation. Answers to prayer. Tirzah. Karen. Letters in the mail. Packages are even better!

And, oh, if I could type as fast as I can think!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!!!!

Learning Something New

They say you should never stop learning. That has certainly been true in my life. There always seems to be something new to learn. This week I learned something I never in a million years thought I’d know.

When I was a child, I wanted to be a teacher. When I was a young teenager, I wanted to be a private investigator. When I was an older teenager and hit my adult years, I wanted to be a writer. And, naturally, I wanted to be a wife and mother no matter what else I was doing. But I certainly never wanted to be an engineer, or architect, or anything along that line of work. It never even crossed my mind.

Since starting to work for a landscape architecture firm, I have learned many interesting things. For one, I have learned that a plot of land with fish ponds, flowers and bushes takes a lot more effort than I ever imagined. I’ve also learned a that specs can be the size of a dictionary, a mere inch can be as great as a mile and they spend many, many hours staring a their black screens in CAD. If the latter a landscape architect doth make, then I have joined their ranks.

We have one person that does most of the CAD work in the office. Amber spends all eight to ten hours of her four-day work week at the computer drawing on her pad, typing in labels, and layering sets. The other architects spend their own hours fiddling with their black screens as well, but when there are drawings due on three national cemeteries at one time…well, another pair of hands would be most helpful. Finding someone with the skills to spend a few hours a week working in CAD isn’t easy. So, they decided to set their sights a little lower: me.

Now I can’t draw. And those black CAD screens are a little frightening. But I can type over 100 words a minute, I can use a mouse quite proficiently, and I’m a pretty quick learner. So, this week after a 15-minute lesson I am now sitting at a computer staring at my own black screen. Now don’t get any wild ideas that I learned CAD in fifteen minutes. Not at all. I learned how to label in 15 minutes, which almost anyone who has spent hours fooling with text boxes and arrows in Word can do. But I have to say I’ve never seen my co-workers quite so pleased with my work. Finally, I can do something they understand! And since I can…well, I can see quite a bit more work in my future. So much that Pat warned me not to become too good at it – a warning that is probably very wise.

Still, I have to admit that I am a bit proud of this tiny new accomplishment. At the very least I have overcome my fear of their black screens. And I’ve learned something new.

Reminders

Take it from someone who knows: nothing will prepare you for actually being a mother. Being the oldest of eight certainly helps, but there is a world of difference between raising a little one of your own and being able to pass the kids off to Mom. And if you’re 35 when you become a mom…well, there are quite a few things you’ve forgotten about when your siblings (now all in their twenties) were tiny.

For instance: bath toys. There was a time in my life when the bathtub always had toys around it, in it or near it. I’m sure I couldn’t tell you what they were today, although Katey had one I’ll never forget. It was a huge fish with other little fishes that attached to its side. But it’s been quite a while since my bathtub had anything in it except shampoo, conditioner and various bottles from Bath & Body. Today, however, if you go into our bathroom you will find Emry’s ducks all in a row along the edge, along with her little dolphin. Bath time wouldn’t be half as much fun without them!

I have also been reminded of how much little ones drop when they eat. Thus far Emry hasn’t learned to throw her green beans, or bananas, or Cheerios. A few end up on the floor, but most of them I discover down the sides of her chair. I remember hating the duty of taking the drop cloth outside to shake it off. Tiny bits of chicken, carrots and peas were gross – even if I didn’t have to touch them. Today I pick up stray pears, animal crackers and apple pieces without much thought. Either I’ve matured or I simply don’t care anymore. Probably the latter.

No doubt many other things soon to come in our future will remind me of things I have forgotten about my siblings being babies. Some will make me smile. Others will make me laugh. But that is part of being a mother, too…and a sister!

Emry helping me fold her diapers!

Likes and Dislikes

I hate okra. But there are members of my family who eat it like popcorn. I like Oreos, not that I buy them, but if they’re around, I do enjoy them. Yet my sister Sally avoids them like a plague. Why? I’m not sure.

We all have taste buds. We can taste sweet versus salty. Spicy versus bland. Something in those taste buds on our tongue triggers something in our brain. While this is especially helpful when we put something that’s gone bad in our mouths, causing us to spit it out, it’s also a strange sense. Because why does one person like licorice and another hates it? Why does one person like sweet more than salty? Why do I like broccoli but hate lima beans?

Now some tastes are acquired over time. During my years in Texas, I found I needed my salsa spicier and spicier as I adjusted. And what we loved as kids, we may not like as adults. Meanwhile, what we like as adults we may have hated as kids. Cultures play into this, too. Mexicans love their food spicy. Scandinavians have very bland tastes. (Witnessed by me who saw the spice aisle of the grocery store shrink by more than half when I moved from Texas to Minnesota. There were moments I wondered if these Scandinavian descendants even knew what spices were.) Who truly knows what triggers the tastes we like and don’t like. But we can be grateful that God didn’t create us like animals. We can taste. It’s part of our uniqueness.

Emry has been trying many new foods over the past month. Thus far she hasn’t seemed to dislike any of them – until this week. I had given her peas a couple of weeks prior, but not very many. I thought most of them ended up in her high chair because she was still learning the mechanisms of picking small things up and getting them into her mouth. This time I gave her more and then went into the kitchen to get some things prepared for dinner. When I returned, I thought she had eaten a few. But when I picked one up and put it in her mouth for her, she immediately spit it right back out. I tried again. Same result. And then I noticed she was carefully picking up the Cheerios on her tray, avoiding the peas mixed up in them. We had met our first distaste: peas. In fact, I found the ones I thought she had eaten in her highchair.

I am sure we will meet many things over the next many years that Emry does not like. In the meantime, it was rather amusing watching her spit out the peas, pushing them out of the way so she could get to her Cheerios. And at least we haven’t started throwing things we don’t like on the floor. Meanwhile, we’ll stick the sweet potatoes, yogurt and peaches. And maybe over the next few days we’ll try green beans. Yea!

7 Months Old!

Today our Emry is seven months old! She is sitting up by herself, wiggling and squirming to get to where she wants, and eating bananas and carrots and squash and just about anything else we think she can gum. Her hair is growing as ever. Soon we will have to purchase barrettes to keep it from her eyes. She is growing. I have packed up almost all of her newborn clothes! Three month clothes fit perfectly…three to six month clothes are a little big…and six month clothes- well, it’s a good thing baggy is back in style! (Still not sure where the little petite-ness is coming from!) And while we have fussy moments as our body adjusts to all the changes of growing, new food and teeth we hope are coming soon; we truly remain a happy baby with lots of laughs and smiles.

So happy to be seven months!

Making faces with our Sock Monkey.

Getting bigger!