I read. A lot. Right now I’m reading three books, blogs, twitter, facebook, emails, texts. I have a hunger to learn all that I can. I believe there is wisdom in books. I’m married to a reader and my four kids are readers. We read.
So why did it bother so much when a person in our church said, “You know us Hispanics, we don’t read.” It bothered me on levels I guess. One, is that there is still prejudice in our country. While we may have a half African American president, there are still times like last week when I went into a store whose sales clerks didn’t greet me but greeted the other woman who came in and asked her if she needed help finding anything. Funny how the same clerk looked shocked when I was checking out came and asked, “Was anyone helping you?”, and I replied, “No, everyone was too busy to even greet me, knowing that I was the only person in the store at the time.” It’s not lost on me that these things still happen. So when ignorant blanket statements about Hispanics are made by Hispanics themselves it makes me angry on a certain level.
Two, if in fact we are called to be followers of Christ but profess not to read, then our knowledge of him is limited and based on what we’ve heard rather than what we know. This is a dangerous place to be because you can be fooled into thinking anything. If you don’t know your rights in the kingdom then you can’t exercise them. It becomes a never-ending circle of ignorance.
Three, it excuses you to remain ignorant and on a level lower than you were intended to live. This is not kingdom living. This is merely existence on the planet. Reading is a gift that many were not given. There are people who would love to know how to read. You are throwing the gift of reading away as a casual thing. Reading can change your life.
So let’s stop bragging about how we hate to read and begin to access the gift of reading and get out of the self-imposed pit of ignorance.
I wrote this blog two and a half years ago. So what do you say? Have things changed? Looking forward to your answers.
art.com
Fat, dumb and happy, this seems to describe the average American right now. We are the most obese nation in the world as well as, fat with information, education, money, resources, have the most consumerism and yet we can’t be filled. There is simply never enough for us as we consume everything set before us and are left empty and desiring more.
Our children are considered the least educated, compared to the countries that are our counterparts. Our teachers scream they aren’t paid enough and more money would fix the problem yet, we spend per capita the most per student of any of these other countries. We have a powerful political teachers union and what is actually eating the money is, the administration of how it is spent, we spend at the top, recruit the best teachers into administrative positions. Then there is the fact that we have some inept teachers, whom we can’t fire because they have tenure, and we can’t hire new teachers, who are on the ball, because we don’t have the funds.
We no longer teach spelling anymore because as the teachers at my children’s school told us, we don’t need to, we have spell check. But if you didn’t come close to spelling the word in the first place, then it’s of little help. Those of us who read blogs see the spelling errors, and know what I am talking about. And forget sentence structure, I didn’t learn it either. Even the newspapers today have misspelled words.
We watch television for all of our information and we rarely read anything. Try to get someone to read a book and they act like Superman with Kryptonite. Some people actually brag, “I haven’t read a book since high school, bless God!” With the No Child Left Behind Act, at least here in California, kids are being passed and yet they can’t read beyond a third grade level. This limits their potential and I don’t understand what we think they are going to be able to accomplish with their life.
We play video games for hours and hours and we allow our children to play them for hours as well. We ignore the violence in them and call them harmless entertainment. When I was in school we had one overweight kid in our class, his name was Carl. The rest of us were just average sized kids. Drive by any school today and average sized kids aren’t the norm anymore. We are a sedentary group who prefers online chat to riding a bike. When we were kids we played outside after school. The increase in childhood illness increases daily and diabetes and heart disease is being detected earlier and earlier. We’re endangering our children and we don’t seem to mind so much. Fast food is what we eat and Super Size It!
Kids have cell phones, portable DVD players, credit cards, every video game known to man, portable video game players and yet, they are always bored.
We have been lulled into thinking this is life! We’ve been told that to be fat and dumb is to be happy. This is a total lie. The fact is people have never been more miserable. Anti-depressant medication is being prescribed like candy. We have more stuff but it doesn’t fulfill us.
We live in the best country in the world, at least I believe so. People are literally dying to come here. Yet we, who should be thanking God that we live here, complain and act apathetic. We can live a different life. We can live a truly content life but it’s going to take us standing up, deciding not to drink the punch of passivity and getting active. Active in determining that we don’t have to live like the neighbors. Determining to be active as we take control of our health and well being. We need to get active in believing that we can live life more peacefully debt free and giving ourselves to service, rather than to consume all that we have and mortgage our lives away. We can get active by more family activities and less stuff. We can learn to read what is really happening in our world and then actively making positive changes to fix it. We can learn to be properly informed about what is going on in the world and that requires not just reading what our media is telling us, but getting some international news and reading a different perspective. There is a whole world out there that we are missing out on.
There was a time when we interacted with one another, now we text, call on cell phone and email and somehow that makes up for fellowship. Yet studies show that people live longer and more satisfied lives when their life is simple and they meet with friends on a regular basis. So the choice is, fat, dumb and happy or healthy, informed and fulfilled. Seems simple but it requires we get off our collective butts and get moving in the right direction!
Luke 6:12 One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.
Today was my first day off in over a month. Even when my husband called a day for a date a couple of weeks ago, we had to spend half the day in meetings and work, and then a couple of errands for church, so it really boiled down to a meal and we ended up skipping the movie because we were too tired.
I knew I was running on empty and we as followers of Christ know that Jesus went off to pray on a regular basis. I knew I was way overdue for some time to get away. I tend to begin to feel very caged in by circumstances and the things that happen in the course of ministry tend to get amplified when I am not rested. So I called a Sand Seminar (thanks Linda for the idea). I told my husband I was going and asked him to go with me if he could.
I went to bed that night with anticipation of going away for a day without work. I thanked God for making a way today. I also repented for the part that I play in all of this. I woke up singing and happy, which is totally unusual for me because I am a grumpy person in the morning. I believe my song was specific:
You are unfailing God, Your love’s unending
And Your word is eternal, Firm in the heavens it stands
My husband cancelled an appointment and we went to Monterey Bay for the day. On the way we stopped at Costco to get some fruit and a new book to take with us to our usual spot on the beach. I couldn’t get this song out of my head. I just was in a mode of worship!
There is this chocolate that I love. It’s called Amber Lyn and it’s not sold anywhere, I normally get mine online. It’s a great quality chocolate that is sugar free and gluten free. I have one square of chocolate each night before I go to bed. I do this because Amber Lyn chocolates cause me have sweet dreams! I have been out of chocolate for a month now and each night before I went to bed, I’d say, “I’ve got to order some chocolates in”. I was normally just too exhausted to do so and when I woke up each morning I wouldn’t even think about it. So guess who was at Costco with a special display? YES! YES they were! Amber Lyn’s display was right there! Not only did I get a my usual chocolate bars, I tried some new flavors and they gave me a few for free for being a loyal customer! They were $7.00 off the case price and I saved shipping as well! What are the chances? I mean really, I believe this was a divine ordered God day!
Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.
He really does love you! He really does want you to have a great day. He really does want to have this relationship with you where he just flat out comes first in your life, because you flat out come first in HIS! I hope you really do believe it! Trust God, pray to him, believe that he has your best interest at heart and then watch as you have an Amber Lyn day like I did!
Unfailing God
by Desperation Band
Unfailing God
Though my eyes may fail me, I will follow after You
Though Your promise seems forsaken
I’ll remember the world’s in Your hands
And You’ll find me singing
You are unfailing God, Your love’s unending
And Your word is eternal, Firm in the heavens it stands (repeat)
Though sorrow’s my condition
And pain holds back no blow
Though this be my darkest hour
Your lamp is leading me home
And You’ll find me singing
Eyes can’t see but I feel You near
I know you’re working through my tears
I trust You Lord, I trust You for You never walk away
Unfailing God, Unfailing God, Your love is unending,Lord
Psalm 40:1-I waited and waited and waited for God. At last he looked; finally he listened. 2 He lifted me out of the ditch, pulled me from deep mud. He stood me up on a solid rock to make sure I wouldn’t slip. 3 He taught me how to sing the latest God-song, a praise-song to our God. More and more people are seeing this: they enter the mystery, abandoning themselves to God. 4 Blessed are you who give yourselves over to God, turn your backs on the world’s “sure thing,” ignore what the world worships; 5 The world’s a huge stockpile of God-wonders and God-thoughts. Nothing and no one comes close to you! I start talking about you, telling what I know, and quickly run out of words. Neither numbers nor words account for you.
6 Doing something for you, bringing something to you – that’s not what you’re after. Being religious, acting pious – that’s not what you’re asking for. You’ve opened my ears so I can listen. 7 So I answered, “I’m coming. I read in your letter what you wrote about me, 8 And I’m coming to the party you’re throwing for me.” That’s when God’s Word entered my life, became part of my very being. 9 I’ve preached you to the whole congregation, I’ve kept back nothing, God – you know that. 10 I didn’t keep the news of your ways a secret, didn’t keep it to myself. I told it all, how dependable you are, how thorough. I didn’t hold back pieces of love and truth For myself alone. I told it all, let the congregation know the whole story.
11 Now God, don’t hold out on me, don’t hold back your passion. Your love and truth are all that keeps me together. 12 When troubles ganged up on me, a mob of sins past counting, I was so swamped by guilt I couldn’t see my way clear. More guilt in my heart than hair on my head, so heavy the guilt that my heart gave out. 13 Soften up, God, and intervene; hurry and get me some help, 14 So those who are trying to kidnap my soul will be embarrassed and lose face, So anyone who gets a kick out of making me miserable will be heckled and disgraced, 15 So those who pray for my ruin will be booed and jeered without mercy. 16 But all who are hunting for you – oh, let them sing and be happy. Let those who know what you’re all about tell the world you’re great and not quitting. 17 And me? I’m a mess. I’m nothing and have nothing: make something of me. You can do it; you’ve got what it takes – but God, don’t put it off. “The Message”
Written By Regina Brett, 53 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio (written in 2006)
“To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I’ve ever written. My odometer rolled over to 50 in August, so here is the column once more:”
1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good..
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.
8. It’s OK to get angry with God.. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.
12. It’s OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about..
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.
24. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
25. Frame every so-called disaster with these words ”In five years, will this matter?”.
26. Always choose life.
27. Forgive everyone everything.
28. What other people think of you is none of your business.
29.. Time heals almost everything.. Give time, time.
30. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
31. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
32. Believe in miracles.
33. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.
34. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
35. Growing old beats the alternative — dying young.
36. Your children get only one childhood.
37. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
38. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
39. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back..
40. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
41. The best is yet to come.
42. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
43. Yield.
44. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.
(don’t know what #45 is!!!)
I was running errands for the church yesterday and I got a chance to listen to an hour of uninterrupted Dr. Laura on the radio. A mother called in to ask for advice with her children. She said that her teens hadn’t learned a life of responsibility. Dr. Laura asked what she thought the problem was and the mom said she gave them everything without asking for anything in return. Now, they didn’t want to hold their end of the bargain. Oh, I thought, the old you never value what you don’t earn philosophy is true.
The frustrated mom said she’d asked her 19 year-old to move out. Dr. Laura seemed to think this was fine as she asked the mother if she was still giving financial support. The mom sighed and said, she knew she had to stop. Dr. Laura sounded discouraged and said the mother was in essence feeding her child poison. Oh, I thought, so you move your child out but continue to pay the bills so, what does that do?
I listened intently and really got a visual for this. While we as parents have a responsibility to raise independent, respectful, productive citizens of the planet many of us, through overindulgence in many areas, we feed our children poison. It was sad.
I watch a young mom in our church as she struggles with her grade school child. I see her really trying to do the right things and get her child on track. I also see that she is met with opposition by well-meaning people. I try to encourage her and help her in her parenting as much as I can. I see her effort and her exasperation as she takes a deep breath, gets up and goes for it on a daily basis. She is working hard to feed her child the right stuff. Lord, I pray, let it work Lord. Let it work!
Sometimes doing the right thing is hard. It’s not popular in our society. I heard a mom say, “Kids aren’t afraid of their father’s disappointed looks anymore.” I remember wanting more than anything to please my father. Only, the problem is that as the bible says, there are many teachers but not many fathers.
After Dr. Laura’s comment about feeding your children poison, I sat back and realized that we do this in so many ways. When we don’t hold them to a basic standard of living. My husband flips out when he hears fathers who allow their daughters boyfriends to spend the night. He says to me, “Who does that? Come use my daughter. She’s free, hey we’ll even feed you!” It drives him crazy.
My child was caught doing something they had been forbidden to do last week. Of course their first response was to lie/deny. Their second response was to say they didn’t do it and blame “a friend” for the issue. Finally it was to confess and blame us for our “stupid rules”. Only we opted not to feed poison. We offered the rich meal of consequence. Was there hell to pay with the kid? Sure! Absolutely! Honestly, though as followers of Christ it is our job literally to get the HELL out of our kids life by whatever method that takes. And no I don’t mean leave the kid alone. I mean literally get HELL out of their life.
Feeding them poison can be in not giving them a bedtime so that they get enough sleep and can do well in school. Feeding them poison can be by allowing them to be couch potatoes who battle obesity. Feeding them poison can be not giving nutritious meals. Feeding them poison can be through our hateful behavior or being too busy to hang out with them. Feeding them poison can be by overcompensating for our guilt.
So while Dr. Laura was talking to this woman about how to stop financially supporting their child, I saw a bigger picture. One that explains how we get to where this mom is. Don’t let this be us Lord! Please, don’t let this be us!
During the rebuilding of our church’s building after the fire, we are leasing a store front. Each day there are three boys who play in the parking lot, in the dumpsters, running down the sidewalks, annoying the other offices in our shopping center. They run into our office each time they pass by, “We came for candy and Coke”, they say. Each day that they come by, we give them candy but we don’t drink Coke often so all we have is water which is disappointing to them and they decline.
They generally wreak havoc in the office and then go on to the next office. Today though was different. I was working in what is now the sanctuary. They had found a shopping cart and they were taking turns getting in the cart and running as fast as they could go, before letting the cart go as it ran into cars, windows etc… They got in trouble so they had to let that activity go and they were running around looking for something to get into.
I leave the sanctuary to get a stapler from the office and as I was walking out of the office, I hear the drums and they boys screaming in the sanctuary. I lock up the office and run next door. The scene went like this:
“RUN SHE’S COMING!”
“HANG ON! DON’T RUN! SIT DOWN RIGHT NOW!” This is my best mom voice!
All three of the boys stop dead in their tracks and sit down.
“Now, I’m calling the police because you guys are trespassing.”
“NO! PLEASE DON’T!”
Three boys begin to look really scared.
“Too bad! You guys need to learn a lesson. You can’t just run into places and do whatever you want! There are a lot of expensive things in here and you can’t just go banging on stuff without permission. You have to learn to respect stuff and you have to learn manners.”
“NO! PLEASE DON’T! LET US WORK IT OFF! WE’RE SORRY! WE WON’T DO IT AGAIN.”
A couple of the boys begin to get teary.
“So, here’s the deal I’m willing to make. You have to promise never to do this again. You all can come and play drums and stuff but you have to ask first and you have to be supervised. If you do this again, I really will call the police. Got it?”
“Yes! Thanks! So we can play the drums if we ask permission first?”
“Yes. You can play with permission and with supervision.”
“Okay, and we’ll walk Lulu if you want.”
“No, that’s fine. I want you guys to have stuff to do but we have to have some ground rules. So let me show you how to play the instruments and what you can mess with and what you can’t touch.”
“Do you think we can be in the band?”
“When you’re in 7th grade you can.”
“They’ll let us? Are you really sure?”
“Yes, they’ll let you be in the youth band. I’m really sure. Just use your manners in the house of God.”
“Okay.”
In about 15 minutes they were trying to coordinate a song and trying to drum to a beat. The song? We Will Rock You by Queen.
I know the story of two of these boys. Their moms are stay at home moms and on drugs. The third boy lives with his grandparents but I’m unsure about where his parents are. They basically fend for themselves and no one ever comes to check on them. Ever. They eat whatever we have around the offices. They are generally unclean and unkempt and they have gutter mouths, but you know what? They are little boys. These aren’t big kids. The oldest one is a third grader. Hopefully today we struck a deal. I needed to get their attention and I needed to give them a place to go. You know something? After we made rules, they were sweet. Boys nevertheless, meaning they ran around, they yelled and they played. I wish their parents could see that with some boundaries, care, love and concern they’d have some really great future men to lead our country.
Psalm 17:4 I’m not trying to get my way in the world’s way. I’m trying to get your way, your Word’s way. 5 I’m staying on your trail; I’m putting one foot In front of the other. I’m not giving up. 6 I call to you, God, because I’m sure of an answer. So – answer! bend your ear! listen sharp! 7 Paint grace-graffiti on the fences; take in your frightened children who Are running from the neighborhood bullies straight to you. “The Message”
Each month a small group from Oasis goes out to combat the graffiti in the city. Each month we are given pages of addresses of buildings that have been tagged. Most are gang symbols and names and they make our city look terrible. This month our task was a wall that ran two blocks. As you can see, this isn’t artwork, but merely gang symbols that are crossed out and replaced with more gang symbols. There was a lot to paint and this was only one place on a list of many.
Adrian Jurado one of our church elders owns AJ Painting, a local company, so he came out to help us.
We have a lot of fun out there and this time was no exception. A lot of heavy topics of conversation are on our minds as we paint. This month it was the San Francisco 49ers line up (a godly team, I might add) vs the Oakland Raiders line up (there’s a little sin in each of our lives).
Pretty soon a good deal of one of the walls is painted. We paint God’s grace-graffiti on the wall as we clean up our city and make it a place we can be proud of again.
Thanks to our volunteers and thanks to our city who allows the privilege of service!
Shhhhh! Don’t tell anyone but I have a secret thing I do each Sunday night that no one can know about. It would ruin my pristine image. I don’t know what the fascination is, well, actually I do know. Do you want to know what it is? I don’t think it does anything for my “cool factor” but I am going to confess, since it’s good for the soul. Every Sunday night at 9:00 when no one is looking I watch Gene Simmons Family Jewels. My daughter Casey, gasps and says she can’t believe I watch it and says that makes me a nerd but I like it!
I wasn’t raised as a follower of Christ so my very first concert in sixth grade was a KISS concert, Cheap Trick was the warm-up band and it was at the LA Coliseum. My dad took me and I was thrilled to go I wanted to join the KISS army and rock and roll all night and party everyday, even though at that age I wasn’t quite sure what that meant and I knew my parents probably wouldn’t let me anyway. They were my favorite band I just knew that underneath all that makeup Paul Stanley was the cutest one (uh, not so sure now). So to say that I don’t know the KISS songs or to pretend that I am so transformed would be untrue. It’s nostalgia. And to counter the nerd factor of my confession, I haven’t yet to this day heard a KISS song transformed to elevator music. So there!
The show is funny because Gene Simmons lives anything but the rocker lifestyle I imagined at all. He is a workaholic who lives in a beautiful house (the parquet floors are to die for) with a normal family (okay, in today’s society normal not Christian normal) and he talks to his dog and loves his mother. He is savvy business man who is always making deals and yet he has a soft spot in his heart for his family. I cried when he visited the Vet Hospital and talked to the soldiers who were there being treated, and laughed out loud when he tried to do Marine training. I watched through my hands at his plastic surgery and smirked at his recovery. Last Sunday was the season finale. In that episode his 16 year-old daughter had a sleepover, got an emergency call from a friend and stole the family car to go get her. Gene finds out and sets out to find her. It struck me funny as just the night before I had asked my husband, “Where are the fathers? We need dads to stand up for their daughters.” I found one. They may call him demon but he shows a lot more godly principles than a lot of us Christians out there. He doesn’t drink or smoke nor does he promote it. Plus, he loves his dog Skippy who looks a lot like Lu!
In a world full of scandalous behavior and bad examples, I have to say this family is doing well. We see a Hollywood family who looks very normal. So today, I am confessing that I am a Gene Simmons Family Jewel fan. I am not, however, like his number one fan AT ALL. I saw that episode. Now that guy was a total nerd.
On the eve of Pastor Doug’s 40th birthday he sat quietly bummed. I thought it was about age but instead he said, “I had a pastor tell me once that if you didn’t have a big church by the time you were 40, you failed and weren’t gonna have one.” I was wondering where this came from because this had never been his line of thinking. He had never felt it was about numbers. I sat beside him and in a brilliant moment of clarity and wisdom, I answered, “Who told you that, because I know that we, you and I, only receive the word of the Lord and God did not say that. What you have received was not God speaking.”
Be careful to receive only the word of the Lord. God tells you that you can. God tells you that you will. God tells you that all things are possible. So whose words do you receive? Who told you that you’d never buy a house? Who told you that your marriage would never be restored? Who told you that you couldn’t get that promotion? Because I am blogging here today to tell you that God never said that.
Remember the cartoon of the angel and the devil sitting on your shoulder and one would tell you to do good things and the other would tell you not to worry about it? Well, it may have been a cartoon but it’s real. There is a God who wants you to succeed in life and there is an enemy of your soul who tries to keep you from trying. The battle is held in your mind as to which one you are going to believe.
Then there are words spoken by people are often ingested and believed both positive and negative. Those words shape our lives when we decide that they are true about us. Those thoughts then become actions and actions shape our lives as they lead us down paths that are either right or wrong for us. What needs to happen is you have to have a sense of who you are and what your purpose is and a plan on how you will fulfill that purpose.
So the task before you is to determine which words are just idle words, in other words, words that don’t define you at all and are just merely a belief of the person speaking and which ones are words to live by. Notice that I didn’t write only accept the positive statements about you, there are some negative things that have been said that are true as well. You have to know the truth about yourself for in that truth will lie freedom. Many of the things that you are doing today and the way that you feel about yourself is not even close to being true about you! So ask yourself, who told you that? Why did you believe it? Now that you know it might not be true how you can you overcome it? What can you change today to undo the damage it caused?
Pastor Susan 