Free To Love

During bible class at camp my husband said this, "To be required to do something is drudgery. To be given the ability to do something is freedom.  And freedom brings great joy."  I was thought it was wise and wrote it down.  I asked him later if it would be ok if I blogged about it. "Wise? Me?" he replied and then graciously gave his permission. 

Battling Hate

Hate.  It's like the rash from the black plague.  Contagious, obvious to everyone who passes by, hard to treat, and sign of a fatal illness. 

And our country is brimming with it. 

I can't make it half a scroll down my Facebook feed and I see another angry post.  I wish I could say that it was just the lost hating each other.  That at least would be normal.  

But instead what I see is the Christians I know becoming angrier and angrier at the world around them. 

And it's not even election year. 

On this Make a Difference Monday I would like to suggest some practical things that Christians should remember about hate. 

The Magic Teenager Pill

As the mom of a teenager I've earned some unexpected privileges.  Starting with the privilege of changing the radio station.  A lot.

See at our house we have something called, "The Moral Objection".  When the radio is on in the car, any family member who objects to the song on the radio due to its moral content (not its tune, style, etc) is allowed to call moral objection and the station will be immediately changed.  

My teenager is the reason for this family policy.  When we got back to the States and her listening repertoire grew larger than the music that her family members or adult Christians friends listened to (IE old rock, Sinatra, old country, classical), she quickly became uncomfortable.  One day in the car she quietly said, "Mom can I change the station?"  At my raised eyebrows she elaborated.  "I don't like the words to this song."  

Reaching Down

Let's say that I wanted to see the president.  No, I NEED to see him.  Not just from a distance, I need to sit down and have a private conversation. What can I do? Dial up the White House and say, "Sir?  Could I come over to the Oval Office next week and have a heart to heart with you?"

No.  If I tried for a month, I probably couldn't get past the phone operator at the White House. 

Great Gain

On the way to and from Houston to see my in-laws (2 adults, 1 child, 1 teen, 1 dog-4 total days in the car) my husband and I found a new favorite song. "Homegrown" by the Zac Brown Band appealed to us immediately, but as we kept listening the words spoke to us. The chorus goes like this.

I got some good friends that live down the street
Got a good looking woman with her arms 'round me
Here in a small town where it feels like home
I got everything I need and nothing that I don't
Homegrown, Homegrown

Summer Camp

Summer camp.  Sigh.

I think nearly every kid has happy memories of summer camp.  I remember swimming every afternoon, playing in the camp-wide ping-pong tournament, and belting out "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes" loudly enough at 7:00 am that they finally relented and let us have breakfast. 

Hello, My Name is Jonah: A Book Review

I've been making weird food again lately.  My favorite was a rice, sausage and chickpea casserole from Peru.  I just can't stand eating the same food all the time.  Frankly I don't like reading and reviewing the same kind of book all the time either.  Recently at a Ladies Day, I ran into the author of a strikingly unusual book. Lynette Gray introduced her book on Jonah to me based on the things that were unusual about it and I found that those were the 5 things I like best about it.