Blog Question?

I have been wondering something my dear beloved, devoted, readers...

Inquiring Minds(That's ME) Want to Know...





Currently, I have been answering via email when I am on my phone or in the comment section at home on the computer.
But today I got wondering which do you prefer?

Personally, I like the comment section because sometimes what goes on in the comment section can be as interesting, if not more interesting, than the blog post itself.
But then another blog friend said emails because then it's private. Also the comment section is hard to get to on my phone, whereas an email is Easy, Peasy, Lemon Squeezy! But then I feel like I'm being rude because there is whole comment lingering thing in the comment section that just drives me nutts! But then I wonder if I answer you back in the comment section does Blogger send you an email saying I answered you back?

Do you see why I needed, I had to, I wasn't going to sleep until I found out the answers to these questions?

I know it's earth shattering news like this that you come here for right?

Well, if you would be so kind as to answer my little poll up there I will sleep better tonight.


OH and YOU ARE THE BEST!


ALSO HAPPY HUMP DAY!

Question

This morning the song Hotel California came on while dropping my kids off at the bus stop. They all know the song from Guitar Hero, but it got me thinking how I really love this song, and at the same time it kinda creeps me out.

Then it got me thinking, I wonder if anyone else feels this way?

Do you like the song Hotel California or not?




Sometimes it makes me want to put a flower in my mouth, and slide across the kitchen floor.

Happy Thursday everyone!

Same Sex Marriages and other Topics

My friend, Laura got my brain a-goin in an area where she as a nurse didn't think the government should be involved in when she posted about Suicide attempts and how they get put on legal holds and then cause all of us tax payers to provide guardianship by way of Johnny-Law for the next 48hours. I don't think this is right either Laura. Wish I knew how to put the link to your blogspot here but I don't so here is where you can read hers;
laura-welcometomyworld.blogspot.com

But, another area where the government is just spinning it's wheels is the whole area of same sex marriages. Why are we involved in this? As a government we should not be saying who should be able to marry who? We should not determine who gets to stand by someones bedside when they are dying or who will get all the legal rights to decide this person's lives work when we don't even know them. Give homosexuals the right to marry already!
Another area where I think the government has got it all wrong is how we treat criminals of repeat offenses. Seriously, the crime in this nation is high for a reason...cause we are pansies when it comes to punishment. We should take a note from other countries and get a backbone when it comes to the judicial area of crime and punishment.
Just some Saturday eve thoughts. What are yours?

"Your Decisions Determine Your Destiny"

I wrote this blog all the way back in January and then for some reason never posted it. I was cleaning out my drafts box and thought, huh...those were some interesting thoughts. If I were to have one of those fancy voting things on my blog I would ask how many of you write and re write your blog and then publish, have drafts waiting the in the wings, never draft or save anything just go straight to publishing? Can I take a vote on this one without the fancy doo hickie voting thing?

This used to be the slogan of the church I attended many moons ago, "Your decisions determine your destiny." I used to buy that so wholeheartedly. I used to think that this was doctrine. There were so many slogans that I lived by back then not really even giving a second thought to what they really meant. I am not the same young girl that I was back then. I no longer just take slogans like that at face value. I have become in many ways a closet cynic. I try to pretend to be the eternal optimist but I have seen more real life in the last few years that can't be explained away by a slogan, and I am no longer so quick to fall for the band-aid answer that used to come my way by every Christian known to man or to me. The friend who is diagnosed with a terminal illness, did her decisions determine her destiny? The person who married a person that she thought was "the one" and he turned out to be a bastard who left her right after giving birth to her third son, did her decisions determine her destiny? The person who's spouse just chucked it all for a night on the town did HER decisions determine HER destiny? I THINK NOT!!! There is pain there that is caused by nothing other than the fall of man. Not something that was intended, even by God Himself, but none the less their reality. I can no longer swallow the pat answer, the band-aid. I want reality. I want the unknown. I want truth. Slogans are a thing of the past to cover up the fact that really none of us know more than the rest and no catchy phrase is ever going to change that.
Do you have an old slogan/phrase from the past that really bugs you?

A memo

Today I saw something that was very funny at first , and then it kinda made me sad. Let me share. I was driving along after picking up Isaiah from preschool, and noticing all the residue left from the rain in all the cars that were passing me by. Those of you that are Reno/Sparks residents should know what I am talking about. Our cars were covered in what almost looked like someone poured a bucket of watered down white paint on them. The Moses thinks it was from the fire recently and leftover atmosphere that was in the rain. A man at the car wash thought it was some kind of acid rain. He was pretty upset that it was so difficult to get off his very new, very expensive looking, BLACK Yukon. That's a story for another day though, what caught my attention and what this blog is actually about is a note or memo if you will ,written in the residue of one of the cars that passed me by. The memo that I saw was written on the front window in plain view for this driver to see it said, " GAME TONIGHT 5:30pm". Now, my mind automatically went to thinking that this must have been a young baseball player who didn't want his very nicely dressed, business looking dad to forget a very important game. Think Rob Williams in the movie, Hook. This is the thought that made me sad. Later, I thought for all I know this guy could be on a baseball team himself and his neighbor is tired of his flaky commitment to the team and didn't want him to forget this game. Still, I think my first reaction or thought is the right one. What do you think?
Also I find it entertaining when people write messages in the dust or dirt of cars. Like, WASH ME or I AM DIRTY. Just the lil things in life that make me laugh and constantly amuse me.

Just a question?

This morning while burping my niece Savanah, I had this thought...Why do we burp babies the way that we do? Why do we pat them on the back until they burp? What does patting them on the back actually do? I have done this motion for countless years without even a thought as to why I am doing it ,until now. Why do we burps babies the way that we do?
Makes me wonder how many other things I do in my life without asking why?

Some questions unanswered is okay

How much more in this life have I misunderstood because I didn't have the correct interpretations or all the facts gathered before making up my own conclusions? How many more decisions will I make because of my own fears that will lead to lack of true freedom?

The older I am getting and the more I am learning about life in general I am coming to realize how much I have misunderstood. How many people I have taken the wrong way or thought of so differently then what lies beneath the surface. In many ways it seems to be a bit of an awakening for me to realize that I don't nor will I ever have it all figured out and that's okay. I want to be a life long learner. I want to still be asking questions about my God, my husband, my children, my family, my country until my dying day. I don't want to know everything there is to know but I do want to know everyone that I can possibly get to know with the time that I have been given.
A friend recently posted a blog in which they asked if you were to tell your life's story with only six words what would you say.
I said, "Live life fully , moments pass quickly" which is more of a saying than it is a story so I think I would change that to say, " one life, many questions, still peaceful"
What would you say?

African American or can it just be American??

The current Essay I am working on is challenging the writings of W.E. DuBois essay on Our Spiritual Survival. This was the man who had a big part in forming the NAACP and this essay is a very beautiful piece of literature with much of it that I agree with. My challenge comes in with wondering can you be truly African and American at the same time. I don't know many Italians or Irish that go around saying I am Italian American or Irish American. The only race of people who I think this kind of thinking makes sense with are the Native Americans because they were truly the Native Americans. I am all for representing and teaching others of our original heritage and therefore keeping it alive, but I like so many others who have greatgrandparents who immagrated from another country don't go around saying that I am Italian American.
SO my question to the bloggers out there( brave enough to jump in this ring) is do you think you can be African American or shouldn't you just be American and know that with that title comes the knowledge that we are all from different original soils, cultures, and histories??

For my determined purpose is.....

I read something the other day that triggered this blog. If you were to finish the sentence, "For my determined purpose is....." what would the end of it say?
I thought long and hard about this and I came up with some interesting answers. There are not many things in this life that I am determined about but there are a few.
The answer to the end of this sentence is basically your lifes goal. If you could accomplish only one thing and at the end of your life it would be what you were remembered for what would that be?
My mom has this saying that she has told me since I was little and that is, "You have to do whatever makes your heart sing." What makes your heart sing? That is what you should be doing and if you are not then you have to rework your lifes plan of action. All of us have something within us that gets really excited , really alive by certain things and that to me is what makes your heart sing. These things are not usually what pay the bills but they can be but if they are not then how can we incorporate them into our daily jobs that pay the bills. It is sad to me that I can honestly say I don't know very many people who are doing what makes thier heart sing. Why is that? Is it that we lay down those things when we become adults, parents, or the responsible ones. HOG WASH!! I think we are all capable of incorporating our lifes passions into our everyday lives we just have to think outside the box.
It reminds me of when I was working at the psych/detox center at Carson Tahoe Hospital. This was certainly not a job that I would place in the catergory of making my heart sing and yet God gave me oppurtunity to use my particular gifts in that place. In fact, when I was given that oppurtunity to use my gifts there it soon became one of my fondest memories and most amazing growth times in my life.
I think this sentence is like our lifes thesis statement. Once you know what that is you can write the rest of your essay. Once you know your lifes thesis statement you can write the rest of your life around that.

Solomon's Question????

Okay, My son Solomon has yet again stumped me with his line of questions regarding spiritual matters, not good I know to be stumped by a 4 year olds questions. It might worry some of you but how would you answer this one;
"Momma does Jesus love the Debal(devil)?"
My answer was "No." I really don't think that He does. I know He loves everyone and that His life was a an act of love. I know that He is capable of loving even the cruelest criminal but I don't think He loves the devil.
So there it is. What do all think?? The question that followed that one is almost as good "Would Jesus be mad if I killed the Debal(devil)?" To that I also replied "No, he wouldn't and I wish that we could kill the punk devil!"

Getting it Right

"Paul spent himself for one purpose only-that he might win men to Jesus Christ. Paul attracted to Jesus all the time, never to himself. " I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some." When a man says he must develop a holy life alone with God, he is no more use to his fellow men: he puts himself on a pedestal, away from the common run of men." My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers. Reading this got me thinking , how do we do that "become all things to all people" without being warped somehow by the world? Is that possible? How do you practically do that without being a people pleaser? (something I fall prey to often)
Also, the book in the bible I am hanging out in right now is probably one my favorites. Romans is written by Paul to the Romans. What a huge task this must have been to him. To write a book to a city so big and powerful at the time that it would be like one of us trying to explain Christianity to the city of New York. IF it were me who had to tell the city of Reno what Christianity is what would I say? Another friend wrote recently in a blog about our worldview and how important it is that we have a proper worldview in order to really be affective. I have been really tripping out on some of the verses this time while really studying this book. The one I have been stuck on for weeks is this one " You therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgement on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God's judgement against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you , a mere man, pass judgement on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgement? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?" Romans 2:1-4
That last verse has really been sticking with me first of all because the word tolerance stood out to me and second of all because I have really been trying to find the balance of speaking into others lives with truth but in a way that will draw them closer to Jesus and not futher away.
I guess I haven't ever really thought of God as being tolerant like how the world uses that word so much right now, but He is so tolerant of us all the time. Our humanity in comparison to His soveriegnty is something that requires alot of tolerance on His part.
Another one that is convicting me again, "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil, cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves." Romans 12:9-10 and "If it is possible , as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone" vs18
These are hard verses to live by. Sometimes really hard. I want to live by them though because I know they are at the core of what I am supposed to be doing here on this planet.
I am reminded on a daily basis how selfish I am. Having 4 children will reveal that to anyone, but I don't want to look back later on this season and wish that I wouldv'e done more for them or for others, but mostly for Jesus. I know that by loving others I show my love to Him. I want to get that right.

Why Jacob wrestled??

Okay, just thought I would put this out there to see what others take is on this passage of scripture. In Genesis 32:24-30 it tells of when Jacob is about to be reunited with his brother Esau and that night he sends his family and possesions away from himself in fear that if his brother were to come and attack they wouldn't be there and they would be safe. He seems to be in a fearful state already and so maybe that is why what happens next happens, dunno??
So he is all alone and then this is where it tells of the famous story of Jacob wrestling with God. Although , the story first states that it was a man it later says that the man says you have wrestled with God and man and have overcome.
Here is my pondering , why is he wrestling God ? Was it really God or a messenger of God? Why at this season of his life is he wrestling, he's already been blessed with so much? To me when you read this story this part just comes out of no where and it doesn't make sense to me. Why is he wrestling God?
I have heard some tell of how we wrestle with God sometimes in prayer for things that we really want His hand to move in but I just want to know more about this paticular scripture. If anyone has more clarity about this(Georgia) I would really love to hear about it.

Topic at Youth Grp tonight

The topic at youth group tonight was our view of God. Very good topic that peeked alot of great questions from young inquiring minds who want to know. One good question in my small group was "If God doesn't cause death and disease then why did He send the flood that killed the whole earth except for Noah and his family?"
My answer took me a minute. I stalled by saying very good question. Thought about it and only came up with two things . He wouldn't have flooded the earth if there wasn't sin, and also at least He did send warning and provide a way out(the ark).
Well, this got me thinking. The God we serve is so amazing and hard for me to understand sometimes. For me it is so easy to view Him as the Loving Savior which is why I like hanging out in the New Testament but when reading in the Old Testament I have more questions. I love the stories of the OldTestament but many of them are hard for me to get a handle on. I know that God hates sin and that is why it is dealt with so severely. I know that He doesn't change (Hebrews 13:8, 4square scripture) but truly there are some stories in the Old testament that just tweak me. I also know that in OT times people were living under the law and not covered by the blood. SO , those are a few things I know but still alot I don't know.
I am wondering if my answer was a good one and also if there was more I couldv'e said to help bring a good understanding of the God we serve. I want always that my interpretation/view of Him would be an accurate one.
So, this is a young/old inquiring mind who wants to know your view of the God we serve.