A modern invention

Happy Holidays everyone! I'm not feeling very festive these days, but I plan to watch Elf and The Grinch in the next few days, so maybe that will get me in the holiday spirit. I hate how the holidays are more stressful than any other time of the year. I attribute that to commercialism. What a shame. It's a shame when I'm forced to pay more for a "holiday bow" or a "holiday bag" for my gifts than the actual cost of the gift itself. It's a shame when people feel uncomfortable saying "Merry Christmas" for a fear of offending someone. Pretty soon we won't be able to even say "Happy Holidays" because I am sure there are a few people out there who don't celebrate any holidays during this time a year.

I have to share something that I think is absolutely hilarious. Folks, today I discovered something called a Banana Guard. This might be the funniest thing I've ever seen. The headline of the website says "Do you like bruised bananas? Protect your bananas!" I about rolled on the floor laughing! "This sturdy plastic case fits the majority of bananas and comes in 9 fantastic colors!" I almost couldn't contain myself! 9 fantastic colors!! To make this even better. One of the colors is GLOW IN THE DARK!! But don't get too excited, that color is sold out. In any case, I think this is amazing. And kind of freaky. Check it out for yourself at www.bananaguard-uk.com.

Ponderings

I need to get better at blogging. I know people who blog sometimes twice a day and I have a hard time doing it once a month. Maybe it's because I find it hard to believe that anyone actually wants to read my random thoughts. But maybe I should do this just for me, and not for anyone else.

In the event that anyone is reading this, you should go see Stranger Than Fiction. I saw it last night and loved it. It's a very clever story and it was highly entertaining, but not in the typical Will Farrell fashion. There were only a few times when the Old School/Anchorman Will Farrell came out. I loved it. And Dustin Hoffman plays this crazy quirky character that is just fun to watch. 

I have a fairly large announcement to make. I'm going back to school. Yes folks, that's right. The girl who skipped classes every chance she got and only studied for tests hours beforehand is going BACK to school. I myself can't even believe it. And to top it off, the masters program I'm applying to (Marriage and Family Therapy) is at Harding University which is in ARKANSAS. Am I crazy? Someone, please tell me I'm crazy and do whatever it takes to get me out of this mess. I've confirmed a date to take the GRE and I've even paid for it, which means no backing out now. What am I getting myself into??

I have a dating issue. Why is it that guys seem to want to date someone who is assertive, but they don't want someone who goes for what she wants?? Is there a difference between being assertive and aggressive? Probably so. I've dated many guys since I've been here in Chicago, but any time there has been any movement towards any type of committment (even just committing to a 3rd date!) guys back out of the game. Is it really an issue of committment?? Or maybe it's that guys need to feel like they're in control of the situation and when they feel out of control, they back away. I'm not sure, but I'm really sick of the dating game. I think I'm in the angry single stage right now. It'll pass, but I just need some time to be cynical about men and dating.

So my last blog generated some interesting responses (over on myspace blog). I'm not one for politics really, and never have been. But I just needed to get some things off my chest. One thing I've realized is that people get real fired up about politics. It's not very often where 2 people can have a civil conversation about their political views where it doesn't at least get a little bit heated. Like I said, people are passionate about it, and I don't blame them.

Today I had the chance to hear Jim Wallace speak. He's the founder of Sojourners magazine which is a magazine about social justice and politics in the Christian world. He's also an author and pastor. He wrote a book called God's Politics which is about why the "Right gets it wrong and the Left doesn't get it". I was encouraged by his speech today and want to share a bit of what he said.....

He spoke a lot today about family values and how neither party is moving in the right direction when it comes to family. Neither side has a strong, consistent ethic of life. The right fight against abortion (which I am all for), but neglect the baby once it's born. What about health care, insurance, and child care for all children?? What about the mother of the unborn? How is the conservative right helping her to get out of this malicious cycle of poverty, poor education, and little or no health care? Then you look at the left, and they rarely speak of family values. They fight for gay marriage all the while watching our country's divorce rate rise above 50%.

Neither side is PRO-FAMILY!!! (I expect to offend some people here) 

Who will stand in the gap and challenge BOTH SIDES?? Jim Wallace is calling for young people to not JOIN politics, but to CHANGE, CHALLENGE, and MOVE politics.

It will do no good for the white house to shift from Republican to Democrat. We need something deeper, we need a MORAL CENTER. Faith can move politics! We have a choice between hope and cynicism (and I do mean a CHOICE). What will we chose?

Jim Wallace is a good friend of Bono. I'm going to close with a quote from Bono's address at the Presidential Prayer Breakfast. He's speaking of poverty and where God is at. The quote is not about family values, but it's about what Christianity should be about. And one more thought, being pro-life, against gay marriage, pro-social justice, against poverty, pro-doing my part to stop the AIDS pandemic, anti-genocide in Darfur, or anti-war does not make me a Republican or a Liberal. IT MAKES ME A CHRISTIAN!!!!

A portion of Bono's address at the prayer breakfast:

"I mean, God may well be with us in our mansions on the hill…  I hope so.  He may well be with us as in all manner of controversial stuff… maybe, maybe not…  But the one thing we can all agree, all faiths and ideologies, is that God is with the vulnerable and poor. 

God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house… God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives… God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war… God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with THEM.  "If you remove the yolk from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness, and if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness and your gloom with become like midday and the Lord will continually guide you and satisfy your desire in scorched places"

It's not a coincidence that in the Scriptures, poverty is mentioned more than 2,100 times.  It's not an accident.  That's a lot of air time, 2,100 mentions.  [You know, the only time Christ is judgmental is on the subject of the poor.]   'As you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.'  (Matthew 25:40).   As I say, good news to the poor."

Check out the rest of his speech at http://www.data.org/archives/000774.php

Currently Listening Mockingbird By Derek Webb see related

So I'm listening to Derek Webb's CD "Mockingbird". It's not my favorite of his 3, but the truth that comes through in his lyrics resonate really deep in my heart and kind of gets the fire going inside of me (which is something I really need).

I'm so sick of politics. With elections just around the corner, if I see one more mud slinging campaign commercial I'm going to throw up. I said stuff like that when I was in 3rd grade. I mean really?? Our politicians have nothing better to say about one another that they have to result in insults, low-blows, and "facts" about their opponents that are so far taken out of context that it's hard to know what's true anymore. I have no idea what these candidates are actually campaigning for because their only focus is tearing their opponents down. WHAT?!?! Yeah sure, I'll vote for you!!

Barak Obama was on Oprah today. Now he's a man I woulnd't mind having run this country. Yes, he's a Democrat, but it's obvious that he has a good head on his shoulders. (He's an Illinois Senator for those of you who don't know). I feel like he's just the person to bridge the enormous gap between Republicans and Democrats. I have absolutely no desire to associate myself with either of these 2 parties while fully recognizing that each side has positves and negatives.

Barak said today that one thing he's realized is that there are Republicans who care about social issues and there are Liberals who care about values. I fully believe this. As Christians, we automatically believe that Jesus was just like us-white, middle class, conservatives. This is crazy!! Where did we get this idea?

Maybe as Christians, we need to take a fast from politics. Why do these things need to be intertwined? The world knows what Christians are AGAINST (abortion, homosexuality, gay marriage, etc). What about showing the world what we're FOR? Justice, mercy, love, peace, kindness, understanding-of ALL people, not just the ones who look like us and talk like us and believe the same things as us. When we're preaching what we're against, it separates us from the world. If I remember right, Jesus was immersed in the culture. He meshed with the prostitutes and tax collectors.

That's were I wanna be.

"My first allegiance is not to democracy.... it's to a King and a Kingdom" -Derek Webb