Homeless (cont.)

Last Friday night the ladies at my book club discussed our recent book Paris Wife,(good book btw). A book about Ernest Hemmingway's first wife and then somehow in some strange way this became the topic of conversation;

Should I give money to homeless folks or beggars?

I found it so interesting because I didn't bring this up, yet it was a thought that had consumed quite a bit of my time last week after my somewhat encounter with the beautiful stranger(see blog below).
In scrolling around on my usual reads this morning I found this lil note written to the above question by one of my favorite authors, Shane Claiborne.

"Jesus said give to everyone who asks. That’s a tough command. Sometimes we wonder what Jesus would do in the Calcutta slums or in these heroine-haunted streets where folks ask for change on every corner. What we can say with confidence is that we are to give something to everyone who asks – dignity, attention, time, a listening ear. Sometimes we may give money, sometimes not. But we can always give love. And there are times when giving money can even be a way to insulate ourselves from friendship or the messiness a real relationship might demand. So you can toss a few coins to a beggar or write a check to charity precisely as a way of insulating ourselves from relationships (and still appease our consciences)… but at the end of the day Christ’s call is to relationship and compassion. When Jesus speaks in Matthew 25 about caring for “the least of these”, the action he speaks of is not about distant acts of charity but personal actions of compassion – visiting the prisoners, caring for the sick, welcoming the strangers, sharing food with the hungry. Better than sharing money is sharing life, a meal, a home. Having said that, most Christians need to get taken advantage of more. And we can usually spare some change. Sometimes folks say this question about giving to beggars and panhandlers with suspicion, speculating that homeless folks will just use their money for drugs or alcohol… which happens sometimes. But we don’t always ask what CEOs are doing with our money when we give it to their companies (and the recent events on Wall Street raise some flags about how responsible they are!). In the end, if we cannot take someone to dinner or give them a ride when they ask for money, we might as well give some money. It’s better to err on the side of grace than on the side of suspicion. And we doubt that Jesus is going to reprimand us for giving too much money to addicts… more likely, we will discover we could have been a bit more generous than we were."

Shane Claiborne

Even if you are NOT a follower of Christ I think this blurb has some very good points to consider. Like we might not need to give money but we can always give LOVE. I like how Shane comes at the age old argument of not giving because they might use the money for drugs or alcohol, combated with do we scrutinize America's public servants, aka politicians with the same rule of thumb?
I believe the topic of people in need is one that will continue to resurface as the programs that were once in place to help those in need are now being shut down. I don't necessarily think this is entirely bad because it now gives us "the human race" the opportunity to step up to the plate of real true need, and help meet those needs.

I want to do my part. Not exactly sure what that looks like, but I think it begins with "giving to anyone who asks".

I am proud of my little book club because these thoughts and more were all part of our conversation last Friday night. And now I leave you with the same question;

Should I give money to homeless folks or beggars?

Dieting, Puppies, and Other MoNoSco Updates

A funny thing happens when you go on a diet.
Food just becomes a tool, rather than something you enjoy.
To some extent life changes entirely and I find myself getting kind of depressed.
This of course makes me realize how much food and drink(can't forget the drink) has become somewhat of an idol in my life.
The diet I am on is extreme, and I would tell you the name but... the only reason I am not sharing it with you is because I don't want that to become the topic of our conversation, but needless to say, it is limited what I can and cannot eat... BUT it's working!


Having a puppy in the house after several years of not having a baby of some sort has made me realize how selfish we all are.
Barley( our new Yellow Lab pup) has pushed us all to the brink of exhaustion.
He is so high energy that even our Jack Russell, Bella (supposedly the most hyper dog around) is wiped out and tired of him by the end of the day!
Still, in the end he brings me so much joy, as does Bella and well Joy is a rare commodity these days!
Those 4 legged friends sure are something, can't quite put my finger on what, but they are SOMETHING all right!

We had a communion moment at church last Sunday.
It started out bad and painful, but I hope ended up good and memorable.
We came home and let all 4 of our kids watch Passion of the Christ.
We of course edited quite a bit and actually only showed them bits and pieces.
This movie still makes me bawl like a baby.
Jesus without a doubt is SO AMAZING!
I know it made a lasting impression because they are still asking me questions.

We, Monosco are still having moments,
sometimes whole days ...
where we are wondering what the H E ..double hockey sticks we are doing in Washington??
But today when the sun is shining and we recently got to visit with a good old friend that feels like family I feel happy to be here.

I miss my mom.
Can you at 36 years old still miss your mom?
Is that legal?

Well, even though the sun is out this cabin has turned into an icebox.
I must go start a fire now to cozy things up in here.
Sure wish I was having this conversation face to face with those of you that might read and comment on this.
If we were, I would have already put the coffee pot on and the smell would be divine because...
Raven's Brew is what I am brewing these days. If you haven't had this brand of coffee go out... RIGHT NOW and get some.
It is Divine!



One more final thought and then I really am going to go , okay maybe two
I am reading;
Fiction-Salamander by Thomas Wharton
and
Non- Fiction-Follow Me to Freedom by Shane Claiborne and John Perkins
both great books so that alone makes me happy to have good books waiting for me late at night.

and really here it is my final thought...
New All Time Favorite Tea
Stash brand Licorice Spice, it's like dessert in a cup

Economy of Love- Latest Greatest in the book Department for Me

"Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed." Mahatma Gandhi

The King will reply, " Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." Matt 25:40

I am sitting here thinking about who might be "the least of these" in my neighborhood this morning?
I am thinking how do I go about helping "the least of these"?
Am I one of the "least of these"?
I don't feel like I am although, I know I live well below what America would deem the poverty level for a family of 6, I don't feel poor.
I know when I drive my kids over to friends houses that are significantly bigger than my own that there is a difference between the way I live and the way they live, but still I don't feel like they have more than me(well... maybe a second bathroom would be nice (JK) because honestly, my life is rich in so many, many other ways.
I feel rich in love and protection, health and hope from my Creator, love from my husband, love from 4 children, these are things I measure as far as what I have and what I don't have. My "have nots" list is pretty slim and really I feel as though I want for nothing!
I feel I have a lot to give in the love department, but only because of the love that has been given to me. I would venture to say that most peoples love banks are more bankrupt that this Country right now and that is where I feel rich.
SO, what can I do for "the least of these"?



These quotes and the one to follow are all still coming from the book, Economy of Love. They have got me thinking again about what it looks like to live communally and what it is that God might be asking of me now.

"I'm not anybody's savior; I'm just another vulnerable human being. To remember this fact was to be rescued from my own self-sufficiency and from an inflated sense of my own importance. This experience of seeing myself as one of the least was both painful and beautiful at once, which is often what it feels like to be ushered a step further into the kingdom of God."

Well, those are my big thoughts for today.
I pray I can turn them into more than words.

A Quote

"Among us English-speaking peoples especially do the praises of poverty need once more to be boldly sung.

We have grown literally AFRAID to be poor.

We despise anyone who elects to be poor in order to simplify and save inner life.

If he does not join the general scramble, we deem him spiritless and lacking ambition.
We have lost the power even of imagining what the ancient realization of poverty could have meant; the liberation from material attachments, the unbribed soul, the manlier indifference, the paying our way by what we are, NOT by what we have, the right to fling away our life at any moment irresponsibly- the more athletic the trim, in short, the fighting shape."
William James

I have been reading everything that I can get my hands on written by Shane Claiborne for quite some time now.
The most recent book that this quote came from is out of a workbook that goes along side a video titled, Economy of Love. I got the workbook first and read it quick. Then I went back and realized that almost every page was tagged for me to return to some day. You know you have your hands on a good read when the top corner of your book starts to fan out from all the folded corner tips. And that is what I have here. There were just so many good tid-bits I felt compelled to share. Thank you for obliging me in this.

So this above quote was just the first quote of many that got my attention. It reminded me of some things that God had stirred in my husbands heart quite some time ago and I was too afraid to admit that those stirrings might be prophetic.

He told me that he had a dream or vision that black birds were flying out of his eyes so quickly that he could no longer see. When interrupted the dream was said to be about our finances and us loosing everything of financial value. This scarred the crap out of me. It still does scare me. This was a dream given 1 year before we were to lose our home through a foreclosure.

Sitting here now, I am no longer afraid of losing everything because the funny thing is once you go through something like what we experienced last year you realize two things;

1 God is still on the Throne
2 We survived

I am not saying that I would wish what happened to us on even my worst enemy(of which I have none) but still we not only survived, I feel by the grace of God we thrived.
Why this was our story I am not really sure. I can only attest to God's grace that covered us like a big bubble in the midst of some of the hardest months that MoNoSco has ever faced.

More thoughts on this topic later

The Book- Jesus For President ,The Movie- Avatar, The Church Bethany UCC,and my thoughts lately

I have been reading another one of Shane Claiborne's books Jesus for President by Chris Haw and Shane. The first book of Shane's that I recently blogged about here a few months back, Irresistible Revolution still seems so fresh in my mind, and has left me haunted in many ways that I am not doing enough to make this world a better place.
This new book I chose to read to stay on that same train of thought( the train that wants to make the world a better place is not an easy train to be on), has done the same thing, but magnified that thought x 1000!

Seriously, I have to say, that this book is even more challenging than the first because it deals so much with politics and how they correlate with being a Christian. Politics have changed and are still changing for me on a daily basis. Honestly, though they are not my full-time job, not even my part-time job for that matter and by that I mean I would consider myself to be the average American voter who only pays attention to things when election years roll around. That is some real, REAL honesty there(so don't be a judger). SO, reading this book which is primarily written by two extreme activists in this regard has made me realize how my ignorance was really bliss! Now that I know what I know after reading this book I can't turn back.

It talks about the violence of wars and their aftermath. What it looks like to be a Christ follower, who if we are truly following in Christs foot-steps we are to love our enemies, do good to those that hurt us, and I am pretty sure He said something about turning the other cheek. He never said, take what you want, when you want it and by all means use force to get it if necessary. Which btw, is pretty much in a nutt-shell the U.S. of A's entire history.
PLEASE,Please, don't take me wrong I am EXTREMELY grateful for this country and although I believe many of our ways are twisted and could use a serious wake-up call, there is also another side of the US that I see, in the faces and stories everyday that are good, but for the sake of what I am internalizing right now I have to say personally I see so many more changes that need to be made, rather than things that would be good if they stayed the same. Hope that makes sense?

I think this book combined with being totally blown away by the new movie Avatar has made me angry with our country and it's history. I hope it's a righteous anger, but all I know is it makes me want to do something, anything to make things better in this country. If you have seen the movie than I hope you get the correlation about taking things by force and how much the US has played a part from it's very origin in doing this very shameful act of injustice.

On top of this book, and that movie there is the new church I have been attending, Bethany United in Seattle or Bethany UCC.
This church if full and I do mean full of WORLD CHANGERS! Like this past Sunday, they had an amazing speaker, Pramila Jayapal, who talked about immigration reform. It was powerful. It was challenging to listen to the stories of immigrants whose rights as human beings are being violated every day in the name of the law. I cried silent tears pretty much the whole time she was talking for many reasons.
And now here tonight my heart is torn.
My eyes of full of tears again for so many reasons.
I am wondering what is my part in all of this?
She said something that I believe sums up what is happening to me, "If you allow yourself to feel fully everyday it is a courageous act. You can't help but become an activist."
I don't allow myself to feel fully everyday. It hurts way too much. I think I am beginning to awaken more feelings about all of this stuff and it scares the hell out of me because I know where this train of thought leads.
Why am I on this train again? Oh yeah, because I have 4 children.
This train of thought is not easy.
It's not for cowards. In fact it's not coward friendly at all, which is what I am to the core.
Like the Lion in the Wizard of Oz, I talk a big game, but I am scared and allow fear to dominate so many of the choices that I make in life. My phlegmatic nature is opposed to being an activist, but it's never too late to change.
I am beginning to find my ROAR though.
I hope that this new voice I have found always speaks
Life instead of Death,
Love instead of Hate,
Mercy instead of Judgement.
Honestly, Oh God I pray, I hope it sounds more and more like a Lamb than A Lion.

Irresistible Revolution

I can honestly say that there is no other book that has challenged me to the core of my being(other than the Bible o.c.) than Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne.


I mean, I thought I was a decent Christ follower before reading this book but after reading this book it made me wonder if I was following christ with a little 'c'. A christ that just fit into my lifestyle and what I thought a "christian" looks like. A little christ that you put in your back pocket and only pull out when it's convient or you are in need of something, like a genie in a bottle. I feel like I have been following a little 'c' christ all these 20+ years after reading this book.

He paints a different picture of Jesus and what it means to be a Christian. A good, beautiful, exciting, but oh so challenging picture of Jesus. This book made me hear Jesus teaching in a different way and he made me fall in love with Jesus even more than I already was. I don't know if it was just that I had the ears to hear this message but I heard it loud and clear.

I warn you now though, don't read this book unless you want to be compelled to help someone, anyone, in need of help.

It's not the kind of book you can read and shelf without doing something about what it says.


Don't read it if you want to still wear Nike shoes and not feel guilty about it or if you want to keep shopping at Wal-Mart.

If you were ever at any point in your life somewhat okay with war, you won't be after reading this.

If you thought the death penalty was a good way to deal with hardened criminals you wont after reading this book.

There are so many nuggets in this book and it has left me wanting more as crazy as that sounds because I do still feel quite beat up by it. But it was the kind of butt-kicking I was looking for. It is the kind of hit in the jaw that makes you wake up and get a second wind. It is what I needed for this time in my life. Just when I thought I had nothing left to lose, turns out there is more I could and should lose. Matthew 16:25