One thing about blogging is that it gives one an opportunity to be completely opinionated--actually I think that is expected in a blog. I find it easy to be opinionated, but have tried to temper my comments as it is not my intent to offend or alieante, but time has come to make an exception.'Why now you say?", because today is October 31 and I am finding it increasingly difficult to remain silent on a subject about which I do have such strong feelings.
Most who know me already know--we don't celebrate Halloween, we try to be very consistent and to our knowledge do not celebrate any occultic holidays--but it is very hard to ignore this one. From mid August through the end of October, one cannot go into any retail store without being bombarded with jack-o lanterns, tombstones, black bats, spiders with webs, and of course, witches. Most of my family and friends do celebrate this holiday, "innocently" with thier children--how it is possible for any of this to be innocent is beyond my understanding, but I think I know what is meant. I "innocently" celebrated it for years. When Rachel was very young, a Godly Christian teacher began to lovingly challenge me to learn more about Halloween--not just its origins but how it is celebrated today. Her real challenge was to me as a new mother and what I would do to protect my child. So I began to read more and what I found is that Halloween is a celebration of death that is sacred to modern day witches.
Now let me slow down as I know that some of you reading this now are becoming defensive. The fact that we do not celebrate this is not to say that I condemn anyone else who does. What I do believe is that this is a personal, spiritual conviction and I know many strong Christians who do not share this conviction. The fact is that in our culture witchcraft is becoming more and more popular and Wicca is recognized religion that is spreading like wildfire. As a religion, it is having a stong, be it subtle impact on our culture. As a mother, I am concerned that my children are taught that Halloween is simply a harmless and fun holiday. I certainly do not have a problem with costumes or pretending, my issue lies in the problem of association. A friend of mine many years ago stated it this way--"there is nothing wrong with draping oneself in bedsheets and marching down the middle of the street, unless of course the Klu Klux Klan is active in your community."
Last week I asked Ryan's school if the children wore costumes to school or if they had Halloween parties, because if they did he could have stayed home. I was told they did not; however, when he came home today, he had language and math papers with Halloween themes, a spider from the cupcakes a classmate brought to share, and an orange and black necklace he made in art class. (Of course Ryan was so proud that he made a tiger necklace--orange and black :)!!). I am not so niave as to believe he has been scared for life, but I do believe we Christians have accepted a double standard--Halloween is a religous holiday and all the symbols of this holiday are widely accepted. Why is is a nativity or a cross is banned when witches and bats are welcomed?
If you celebrated Halloween tonight, we prayed for your safety, we think no less of you, and we hope you think no less of us. Should you desire to read a little more about my conviction, I will share two good websites. (Someone please show me how to reference these in my blog so you can just click on them): www.theselittleones.com/evenachild/editorials/htm and www.lasttrumpetministries.org/tracts/tract10.html
Great news--tomorrow is All Saints Day--Let's Celebrate!
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Friday, October 26, 2007
Young love
If you are not a regular viewer of Animal Planet, and I can't imagine why you wouldn't be, you may have not noticed the new show from Steve Irwin's daughter, Bindi--the Jungle Girl. Let me assure you Ryan has seen this show and is completely smitten with its star, Bindi. As he has become older, Ryan is more intentional about his time, and I have observed that he plans his activities around the times this show airs.
About a week ago he told me we needed to send Bindi his address and invite her to come visit so that they could play. I half heartedly replied, "Ok honey, we will." He then proceeded to remind me each day that we needed to write to Bindi. I really thought that will all the excitement of meeting the family in the mountains and having 3 days to play with his cousins, he would forget about Bindi--not so.
When we returned Monday, I began to look for an address to write to her, amid the comments from his older sister telling him,"She is not coming--get over it". I cannot find a physical address but we did find an email address, sort of. At any rate we wrote the letter and asked her to have her mom contact his mom so I could give her directions to our house. When he goes to bed he prays for Jesus to let Bindi answer his email. When he wakes up he asks it I think she has read his email, when he gets off the bus, he asks if Bindi has responded to his mail. While I admire his persistance, there is a part of me that so wants to protect his little heart from breaking. I hate the thought that he is going to be so disappointed, and yet there is a little part that thinks maybe, just maybe, this will be the letter to which she reponds and decides to come visit this little guy who is so 'taken' with her. I have tried to explain that she gets thousands of letters and simply cannot grant all requests, to which he innocently responds, "But mom, I know she would like to come visit us--I think she will come."
God knows the desires of our heart, and unlike we earthly parents who are so flawed in our ability to always guide correctly, He has a perfect plan for us. It must break His heart when he sees us spending so much time and emotional energy begging for something He knows is not in our best interest. He wants to protect us and has told us, "Above all else, guard your heart . . " (Prov 4:23). That is great advice, but not so easy to follow.
I am waiting to see what will happen with the Bindi letter; I am even more excited to see what God will do in Ryan's heart as he continues to learn to 'trust God no matter what'.
About a week ago he told me we needed to send Bindi his address and invite her to come visit so that they could play. I half heartedly replied, "Ok honey, we will." He then proceeded to remind me each day that we needed to write to Bindi. I really thought that will all the excitement of meeting the family in the mountains and having 3 days to play with his cousins, he would forget about Bindi--not so.
When we returned Monday, I began to look for an address to write to her, amid the comments from his older sister telling him,"She is not coming--get over it". I cannot find a physical address but we did find an email address, sort of. At any rate we wrote the letter and asked her to have her mom contact his mom so I could give her directions to our house. When he goes to bed he prays for Jesus to let Bindi answer his email. When he wakes up he asks it I think she has read his email, when he gets off the bus, he asks if Bindi has responded to his mail. While I admire his persistance, there is a part of me that so wants to protect his little heart from breaking. I hate the thought that he is going to be so disappointed, and yet there is a little part that thinks maybe, just maybe, this will be the letter to which she reponds and decides to come visit this little guy who is so 'taken' with her. I have tried to explain that she gets thousands of letters and simply cannot grant all requests, to which he innocently responds, "But mom, I know she would like to come visit us--I think she will come."
God knows the desires of our heart, and unlike we earthly parents who are so flawed in our ability to always guide correctly, He has a perfect plan for us. It must break His heart when he sees us spending so much time and emotional energy begging for something He knows is not in our best interest. He wants to protect us and has told us, "Above all else, guard your heart . . " (Prov 4:23). That is great advice, but not so easy to follow.
I am waiting to see what will happen with the Bindi letter; I am even more excited to see what God will do in Ryan's heart as he continues to learn to 'trust God no matter what'.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Off in search of fall
I am surprised to discover something about myself I really did not know--my mood is affected by the weather. I always thought it was silly when people said they got depressed when it rained for days (got depressed because my hair frizzed, but not because the sky was gray)! I am finding I am becoming one of those people. When it rains for days I seem to have less enerygy; when it it really hot I am more grumpy, and when it is supposed to be fall and all the leaves are green I am a little frustrated.
When I look at the calendar I can confirm it is fall, but the temperature and the green leaves on the trees don't seem to know this. I spent so much of my life in Florida where the only way to tell it is fall is by looking at the calendar, and I am so very happy to be living in a place where we can feel crisp cool air and view gorgeous leaves of red, yellow, and orange. But this year the drought and heat wave is making that impossible. I am especially disappointed because my sister is here for a few days and I bragged last year so much about the fall colors that she came to she them this year. We will head up the road tomorrow for a few days of girl time in Helen, please pray for Edgar and the kids while I am away, but I am less than hopeful to see fall colors. Next weekend we join the Bishop clan in Cashiers, NC where it will be cooler, but most likely still green. None the less, it will be fun to see everyone and spend a few days away. Most of the family will spend the week, but we will come home on Monday as the kids have school.
When I contemplate the fact that the changes in weather can affect my mood, I am more grateful that we serve an unchanging God. The fact that He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow does not make me feel bored or frustrated, but rather secure and comforted that He is not affected by weather, my moods, or circumstances. When i remember that His love and care for me does not fluxuate based on my behavior I am amazed. He knows my heart, my inner most thoughts, my failures, frustrations, and yet He chooses to lavish me with His love and affection.
Today, although I miss the changes in leaf color I delight in the consistancy of our God.
When I look at the calendar I can confirm it is fall, but the temperature and the green leaves on the trees don't seem to know this. I spent so much of my life in Florida where the only way to tell it is fall is by looking at the calendar, and I am so very happy to be living in a place where we can feel crisp cool air and view gorgeous leaves of red, yellow, and orange. But this year the drought and heat wave is making that impossible. I am especially disappointed because my sister is here for a few days and I bragged last year so much about the fall colors that she came to she them this year. We will head up the road tomorrow for a few days of girl time in Helen, please pray for Edgar and the kids while I am away, but I am less than hopeful to see fall colors. Next weekend we join the Bishop clan in Cashiers, NC where it will be cooler, but most likely still green. None the less, it will be fun to see everyone and spend a few days away. Most of the family will spend the week, but we will come home on Monday as the kids have school.
When I contemplate the fact that the changes in weather can affect my mood, I am more grateful that we serve an unchanging God. The fact that He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow does not make me feel bored or frustrated, but rather secure and comforted that He is not affected by weather, my moods, or circumstances. When i remember that His love and care for me does not fluxuate based on my behavior I am amazed. He knows my heart, my inner most thoughts, my failures, frustrations, and yet He chooses to lavish me with His love and affection.
Today, although I miss the changes in leaf color I delight in the consistancy of our God.
Monday, October 1, 2007
"Where do I begin?. . ."
Some of you are actually old enough to remember the old movie "Love Story" and the title of this blog will have you singing an old tune in your head. For the rest of you, take it at face value--when you wait this long to blog it is difficult to know where to start. Let me just say, I love reading everone's blogs, so sorry I haven't kept up, will try to do better. Let me just hit the highlights and will go from there.
August
The kids started school--Ryan is repeating first grade at the local elementary school where he started last year. He now has a GREAT teacher and he is loving it! Most of it is review at this point so his confidence is way up. Rachel is having a much easier beginning as she knows many people. She is taking some really tough classes though. For her AP US HIstory she has a teacher who insists on getting these kids, mostly JR.s, ready for college. Pray for her as she is struggling in this one. Also Advanced Trig is giving her fits, but AP Psych, Amer Lit, Spanish III, and chorus are great. Also she is dancing 2 nights a week, co-leading a 6th grade small group at church, playing her guitar and leading worship at her high school FCA meetings a couple of times a month. We also kept Anita and Phillip's girls for 10 days, ages 1 and 3, while they went to Kenya. Actually it was not too bad, they are precious, exhausting, but precious, and grandmommie Billie stayed with us and helped alot.
September
Ryan started soccer again, thanks uncle Phillip for coaching again, and he is a Wolf cub. He also turned 8 this month, and the big event was having his tonsils and adenoids removed and his tongue clipped. He was a real trooper for the surgery and his recovery is going remarkably well--thanks to so many of you who are faithfully praying for him. Rachel's social calendar keeps us hopping and she is getting very good on her guitar. Edgar, Rachel, and I attended the live recording of Northpoint's newest worship album--it was an incredible night. We are loving our church and the awesome worship and teaching we experience each week. I am still an coach on Upstreet, our children's program, and have moved with my 4th graders and our team up to 5th grade. God is doing amazing things at our church that is less than a year old. We have incredible environments designed for 350 kids. Last school year we averaged over 600 and this year we are averaging over 780, with our high attendance being 805! What an amazing thing to see our volunteers ministereing to these kids and them engaging so well.
October is here and Edgar and I will celebrate our 21st wedding anniversary on the 4th. We are also looking forward to getting to enjoy a few days with the Bishop's at the family reunion later on this month. Also, my sister is coming up for a few days and she and I are planning a girls only overnight to the mountians.--that's it so far, you are pretty caught up and I WILL try to do better.
If any of you are still reading, let me end this by sharing a little story from surgery day. Ryan loves his little plastic animals--he has hundreds and he catagorizes them, lines them up by two's to board his ark, and carries one or two of them everywhere. The night before his surgery we talked about the fact that he keeps them in the palm of his hand because they are so precious to him. I told him that the Bible tells us that God holds us in the palm of his hand, which is the most tender and sensitive part of our hand. As he was going into the operating room, holding a little jaguar, I told him that he would fall asleep and his hand would open and I would keep the jaguar for him, but God never sleeps and he would keep Ryan in the palm of his hand all through the surgery. When he woke up it took a little while for him to become coherent. When he spoke, he saw his jaguar on the bed rail where I had placed it and he looked up and said, "Mommie, Jesus kept me in the palm of his hand". May we all remember that as we go through our days--we are precious to God and He keeps us in the palm of His hand.
Blessings,
Christine
August
The kids started school--Ryan is repeating first grade at the local elementary school where he started last year. He now has a GREAT teacher and he is loving it! Most of it is review at this point so his confidence is way up. Rachel is having a much easier beginning as she knows many people. She is taking some really tough classes though. For her AP US HIstory she has a teacher who insists on getting these kids, mostly JR.s, ready for college. Pray for her as she is struggling in this one. Also Advanced Trig is giving her fits, but AP Psych, Amer Lit, Spanish III, and chorus are great. Also she is dancing 2 nights a week, co-leading a 6th grade small group at church, playing her guitar and leading worship at her high school FCA meetings a couple of times a month. We also kept Anita and Phillip's girls for 10 days, ages 1 and 3, while they went to Kenya. Actually it was not too bad, they are precious, exhausting, but precious, and grandmommie Billie stayed with us and helped alot.
September
Ryan started soccer again, thanks uncle Phillip for coaching again, and he is a Wolf cub. He also turned 8 this month, and the big event was having his tonsils and adenoids removed and his tongue clipped. He was a real trooper for the surgery and his recovery is going remarkably well--thanks to so many of you who are faithfully praying for him. Rachel's social calendar keeps us hopping and she is getting very good on her guitar. Edgar, Rachel, and I attended the live recording of Northpoint's newest worship album--it was an incredible night. We are loving our church and the awesome worship and teaching we experience each week. I am still an coach on Upstreet, our children's program, and have moved with my 4th graders and our team up to 5th grade. God is doing amazing things at our church that is less than a year old. We have incredible environments designed for 350 kids. Last school year we averaged over 600 and this year we are averaging over 780, with our high attendance being 805! What an amazing thing to see our volunteers ministereing to these kids and them engaging so well.
October is here and Edgar and I will celebrate our 21st wedding anniversary on the 4th. We are also looking forward to getting to enjoy a few days with the Bishop's at the family reunion later on this month. Also, my sister is coming up for a few days and she and I are planning a girls only overnight to the mountians.--that's it so far, you are pretty caught up and I WILL try to do better.
If any of you are still reading, let me end this by sharing a little story from surgery day. Ryan loves his little plastic animals--he has hundreds and he catagorizes them, lines them up by two's to board his ark, and carries one or two of them everywhere. The night before his surgery we talked about the fact that he keeps them in the palm of his hand because they are so precious to him. I told him that the Bible tells us that God holds us in the palm of his hand, which is the most tender and sensitive part of our hand. As he was going into the operating room, holding a little jaguar, I told him that he would fall asleep and his hand would open and I would keep the jaguar for him, but God never sleeps and he would keep Ryan in the palm of his hand all through the surgery. When he woke up it took a little while for him to become coherent. When he spoke, he saw his jaguar on the bed rail where I had placed it and he looked up and said, "Mommie, Jesus kept me in the palm of his hand". May we all remember that as we go through our days--we are precious to God and He keeps us in the palm of His hand.
Blessings,
Christine
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