I'm Still A Man ...

... even though I put a ton of flavored creamer and sugar in my black Colombian coffee.

Friends, do you get abused and made to feel like less of a man when you put additives to your coffee? Do you like Rutter's cappuccinos and frappicinos and mochacinos and do you hate Starbuck's coffee? Do you feel like you have to apologize for enjoying the sweetness? I think it's time take up arms and defend our sweet tooth ~ for we are still manly coffee drinkers!

The Emergent Church

I don't have a whole lot of time to write on this today or even at this moment (Little Miss wants to play webkinz), and in fact I am still doing research on the emergent/emerging church. It is a somewhat controversial movement within the christain church. But I will say that I believe there is a lot of good involved in this movement & I have personally grown much closer to the Lord through it's encouragement of different spiritual practices. However, a big part of it's criticism is the thought that the emergent church questions biblical beliefs. So, when something questions biblical truth, I question that something. It's going to take me some time because I am not a theologian, I'm definitely held back by my limited intelligence. But once I know more, I'll write more. There are many really good thoughts that this emergent church is teaching. And even within this movement there are different branches - it's a fairly broad term I'm learning. And my church has embraced some of the emergent church's viewpoints, unbeknownst to us because the leaders don't use this term. I don't believe you can throw out the whole loaf of bread if only one piece has mold on it - you know? Oh, now I'm rambling and scaring my parents. I better let Little Miss play her webkinz!

Maybe I shouldn't write on something so controversial. Maybe I shouldn't have said our church embraces some of the emergent church's viewpoints - perhaps my church's viewpoints are independent of this influence. I don't know. I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings or make anybody mad! But if this movement is growing and impacting our spiritual and church lives, then we probably should know something about it. What do you guys know about this?

A Little Of My Story - It's My Blog I'll & Write What I Want To

It's been about five months now since I've published my 1st post. And not once have I written a little ESS history, except for bits and pieces here and there when in rambling mode. And because I have such a large fan base (again, drip this with sarcasm), not all of you know my history and what I'm all about. (Okay, for my 5 readers, I give you permission to sign off my blog now - I don't want to bore you with details you already know and perhaps even gone through with me). Since my readership is low anyway, I figure I can gamble readership and entertain myself with some reminiscing - and I also want to claim that I AM NOT aligned with the emergent church. (yeah, I'm aware that last part came out of nowhere and you are now confused - but did I stir a little interest?) Onward -

It was a cold windy day in October when my Nana gave birth to my father ...

... okay, I won't go back that far. I will say that I have always counted myself as being very fortunate to not only being born in the U.S., but also to have the parents I have. What are the chances of me being born in such a wonderful country, to bible-believing, loving parents who not only taught me the things of the bible but also that I can have a relationship with the God who created everything? God could have formed me in the womb of some African woman living in a tribe somewhere lonely. God could not have made me at all - have you ever wondered that? I mean, not of me, but of you. Anyway, my childhood was good. I grew up with three awesome brothers. I learned to fight, to be adventurous, to hide, to laugh at and with, to make new friends (I was the new kid in elementary school 4 times), and I learned that family reaches beyond the immediate. I grew up in a church that believed that everything in the bible is true and to stray from that truth would be a scary thing. And I loved learning bible things - I didn't care so much about academic things but let me learn about the stories and people in the bible and I was one happy kid. I was also very observant of everyone around me - I learned a lot from the examples of others, from their triumphs to their mistakes - I took it all in. I can't say I'm that observant about the physical - if someone would suddenly gain or loose 15 pounds I wouldn't know it. If someone changed their eye color I wouldn't notice. If someone was turning blue I wouldn't think anything was wrong until he fell over dead (kinda makes you glad I never made it through nursing school doesn't it? Thank God for that one friends.) I drank in this kind of information - the bible and how people did life.

After awhile the verbage I was hearing became rhetoric. I became desensitized. Jesus loved me yeah yeah. I'm saved by grace - that's nice. It's not just a religion it's a relationship. I came to believe that I knew pretty much all a person can know about God. Yeah, I was very arrogant and prideful! And soon my relationship with God became one that was out of duty and love had little to do with it.

This might sound odd, but I always identified with the pharisees. Here they were, living the way they thought God wanted them to, dedicating their lives to Him, foregoing the easy life, and Jesus comes along and yells at them, wages war against them. He and I still have some issues to work through - He's said some hard things. I really have identified with the good son, the brother to the prodigal son. And I have identified with the 99 sheep that stayed where they were supposed to only to have their protector leave & put them in harm's way to find some selfish bad lamb who got lost because he just wanted to have a little fun.

I identified with those, but I desperately wanted to identify with the prodigal son, the bad lamb, and those who received Jesus' love and compassion. But during the time I followed Him out of duty, I was blind to the fact that I had stopped walking with Him. I was ignorant of how prideful and arrogant I was, and I certainly did not realize how very little I knew of Him.

Then I got married. And shortly thereafter I got pregnant. And my health did some funny things over the next few years. I had a miscarriage which made me question God for the 1st time in a long time. It made me revisit the very basic truths of the bible, only going deeper. And I had to decide if I would walk with Him or hate Him. I chose Him and have never felt before that sad time such deep strong consuming love being poured out over me. I have ended up seeing doctors that oddly enough, only the old people go see! I really mean it - I have waited in several different offices and most of the other patients were old! And it was because God allowed me to have some interesting health issues! Even at physical therapy - I'm in with the old people! (which I love by the way - the old people, not PT you goof!)

During this time God introduced me to Sista Wild Child. And she asked me if I wanted to be part of a bible study with her. This bible study morphed into what is now 4 sistas doing life together and pursuing God, wrestling God, and worshipping God with each other's encouragement and accountability. They have made me read some intense books. They are sooo smart and knowledgeable about bible stuff - I was put to shame! I started to realize how very little I knew. And I also realized how debilitating information can be when it's not made it's way to the heart.

In short, God has pursued me and intentionally set my world upside down. He has left the 99 to find me. He has wrapped his protective wings around me. He has cried over me. And rejoiced over me. And because of this, because He has gone to such great lengths to bring me to Himself, I am falling in love with Him.

Free Red Box Movie Rental

Every Monday Redbox has promo codes for a free rental. Here is today's code if you're not planning on watching House & 24, like hubby & I are planning on doing: s39xkt. Just thought you'd might be interested. And If you're not sure where the nearest Redbox is to you, or what movies they have, just click HERE and it will take you to the website.

The Tom & Jerry Debates

Little Miss & I have for the past couple of weeks engaged ourselves in what I call The Tom & Jerry Debates. She is unswervingly pro-Jerry. And although I really can't say I like the cartoon, I would have to admit to a soft spot for Tom. And oddly enough, I would have to characterize my offspring's relationship to each other as like Tom & Jerry's. Which drives hubby & me up the wall. I wish I had an off - switch to the little sweethearts (drip this last word with sarcasm please).

So, my questions are: Who Started it? Which character is smarter? Which character is ruled by emotion? Who's to blame? And - why can't we all get along?

Can you blame a cat for chasing a mouse? Let me not get started on Romans again folks! But, and here's where the pro-Jerry's disagree with me, can you really say that Jerry is all that innocent? Heavens NO! The mouse is slightly narcissistic with his cute little face & innocent little eyes & a squeezable teddy-bear type body. He is the instigator and takes advantage of Tom's issues of Borderline Personality Disorder (now you know the reason for my soft spot - I can relate to him!) The only fault that Tom has is that he is ruled by his emotions. Put that together with his inner sinful self and you have dynamite. Hurricane EE and I have this problem. Guess what problem Little Miss has?

So what is the solution to Tom & Jerry's battles? They need Jesus. And I'm not just talking about the cartoon folks. As of late, this cartoon has come to characterize the atmosphere in our house and I am at the end of my rope (does that saying mean I am literally at the end of my rope - as in having my head in the noose? Just a thought. I like to wonder about how we get our sayings. And it kind of fits the emotion. Okay, enough of the rambling.). How can I get my Tom & Jerry to cease fire? How can I help them to get along? Maybe it's not so much in my hands as it is in Christ's. He's the one who does the heart work. I just wish it didn't take so long!

A Good Book

I just got finished (well, I guess it's been a couple weeks, in fact, it's probably overdue surprise surprise!) this book by Kathleen Kent. The Heretic's Daughter is a novel that takes place during the Salem witch trials and follows a daughter and her mother who have been accused of witchcraft. This book is historically accurate and very sobering as to how devastating gossip can be and how much Satan must really enjoy using it to destroy lives. It's not a "christain" book. But it got me thinking about gossip and why Christ was so emphatic about not falling into this temptation. It was also very interesting to follow the relationships (particularly that of the mother/daughter) and how depth of character is not so obvious at times. Check out the book.

Little Boxes

I've decided that if this blog had a theme song, Little Boxes would be it. I wish I could say I like to challenge the ordinary. To rethink the well worn path & take the other, just as fair (thank you Frost). You can check it out here if I did this correctly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFgntqYks5U. The video is a little silly but it's the song I really like - my little brother introduced me to it. Thanks Thom!

I wish I could add music to this blog but I just don't know how to do it - this was the only way I could add music & unfortunately you have to watch the silly video - but out of all of the videos for the song - I like this one best.

"Two Roads diverged in a wood, and I -
I took the one less travelled by,
and that has made all the difference."
~ Robert Frost