The other day I left Bean and Little Man on their own downstairs while I went up to change Bruiser’s diaper. When I came back downstairs the house was still standing, no one was screaming, and there were no broken bones. And – miracle of miracles – both kids were happily enjoying the other’s company. The following conversation ensued:
Me: “Oh, wow! You guys are playing so nicely together! That makes me so happy!” (You know, that whole recognize good behavior and make a big deal of it thing…)
Bean: “Wow, Mama! You’ve never been happy before!”
Me: “Huh? Sure I have…” (incredulous)
Bean: “When was that? What time was it?”
Because apparently it’s only happened once and it was so short-lived that my first born can’t even recall… What does that say about me?
Just to let you all know, Lowe’s is having an incredible sale. Clearance. The kind of which to write home about. For instance, I saw a yellow clearance tag on a rotating tree stand. Apparently it keeps the chords on the lights from getting tangled while it rotates. On sale for only $79.99! Considering that the regular price is $80.00, that means you save one red cent! That’s 0.0125% off!
Let’s think of all the things you can do with that penny.
Make a wish in a fountain.
Purchase 2 grains of rice.
Buy enough gas to get your car’s bumper out of your garage.
Make a spinner (hold penny between your thumb and forefinger, set on flat surface, spin…)
Get together 99 other people who saved a penny and purchase one item at the dollar store. Then split it 100 ways.
Make a decision (heads or tails?)
Put it in an empty oatmeal canister to make a shaker.
Do a lame party trick – flip one penny from your elbow to your hand. It’s more impressive if you can save a stack of quarters to do it with though.
Glue it to the pavement in a parking lot and watch people try unsuccessfully to pick it up.
Oh, rats! (Deanna?) Now that I told you about the incredible sale, they may be sold out before I have a chance to take advantage of it!
So, seeing as how the economy is tanking, does anyone have ideas for a cheap low-cost Christmas? I guess it’s not just about the economy being awful, but we’re also hoping to teach our kids that Christmas isn’t about getting presents. As such, here are the presents I was thinking about: (why does it always come down to presents???)
Bean loves to draw and she has a huge stack of drawings in her closet. I thought I’d take them to Kinkos and have them bound into a book. Accompany that with a new sketchbook and colored pencils. Maybe even draw her a picture from me… As a bonus she’ll learn that it’s okay not to excel at something (as I am not gifted in the visual arts)
Little Man loves his puppies (and occasionally really loves certain toy trains and cars). I thought about knitting him a cute backpack to carry his stuff in – but I’m afraid I’ll end up knitting like mad Christmas eve trying desperately to hit a deadline that’s impossible…
Bruiser just likes to teethe on things. And besides, babies like empty boxes better than anything else, so I think I can handle this one.
I won’t talk about hubbs, since he’s bound to read this. I’ll just put some coal in his stocking. Or maybe snowman poop (**marshmallows**). hee, hee…. Te iubesc, dragule!
I asked a few questions in my last post about God. And I got back a couple of answers, but I’m afraid a lot of people won’t like some of the answers I have to offer. Let’s look at it:
Does God love everyone? Well, that’s a trick question really. Every creature on this planet is His creation, and as such God does love every single one of us, no matter how wretched and sinful. At the same time, there is plenty of scripture to attest that God has a special love for those whom He calls to himself. Romans 3:19 (quoting Malachi 1:3) is a perfect example: “As it is written, ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.’” Psalm 11:5 says “The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.” Telling the unrepentant they’re loved unconditionally by God is on one hand accurate, but on the other hand wholly misleading. We see love in human terms – when you love someone you’ll serve them, you won’t treat them in certain ways, your actions with them are limited by your love for them. God, however, is unlimited by His love. In other words, His righteous and unconditional love for us does not hinder Him from sending rain on the just and the unjust. His ever-pursuing love is reserved for the ones He has called to Himself though.
Is salvation available to all people? Hmmm… another trick question. There are Biblical scholars on both sides of this, meaning there is scripture to support both a yes and a no answer. I’d suggest, however, that the strongest Scripture lies on the side of No. I think my understanding of it is correct, but I welcome you to search God’s Word on your own and come to your own conclusion. Here’s how I see it. First off, man is completely sinful. Man is so sinful that he is incapable of choosing God on His own. God has to first draw us to Himself, otherwise we cannot choose Him. (1 John 4:19, John 6:44, 65, Rom. 8:29-30) He chooses who to call based purely on His righteous and just will, not based on anything we can do. The flip side is that there are others who He does not call to Himself and without that call, they cannot be brought into a redemptive relationship with Him. (1 Pet. 2:7-9) Therefore, salvation is not available to all.
Does God get angry? And if so, at whom? God has a wholly righteous anger that we usually prefer not to think about. It’s just more pleasant to think of God as a warm fuzzy teddy bear sort of god who’s full of all things pleasant. And warm and fuzzy. His anger is directed not just at child molesters and mass murderers. Look at Isaiah 1. God gets angry when His people turn away from His will, when they reject His statutes. I’m afraid I’m guilty of that – I ignore the things that break His heart while I focus on whether or not I caught the last episode of Grey’s Anatomy. Does that mean I’m an object of His wrath? I’m afraid so, and woe to him who doesn’t fear God! At the same time, I find solace that I’m also an object of mercy before an ever-loving God. These are things I can’t take lightly, though it’s hard to keep them in mind when I’m surrounded by Tivo, Nordstrom’s semi-annual shoe sale, and other mundane things that attract my attention.
Does God hear all prayers? According to Isaiah 59:2 our iniquities have separated us from God so much so that He doesn’t hear our prayers. (That is why we need His grace to redeem us and forgive our sins, so that He will listen to our prayers)
Is God jealous? Yes, He expects our first and our best. Nothing else will do. If we love our spouse more than we love God, He is offended by that. If we love our children more, He is offended by that. Again, it’s easy to think of God as a friendly Santa Claus type with a jolly grin and arms open to all, but I’m afraid our culture – and even our Christian culture and our seeker-friendly churches – reduces God to a mere fraction of who He really is. He is Holy and righteous. He is jealous and angered by complacency.
You can agree with me on these things or not – it won’t hurt my feelings. My only hope is that if you haven’t considered them, look it up and see what you think after reading the Scriptures. If you’re looking for more verses, I’d point you here. It’s well laid-out and relatively easy to follow, I think.
Once upon a time, when I was going through real Life Issues this blog had thoughtful posts full of all the things that are truly important in life. Lately though, I’ve been immersed in work and the ho-hum day to day ongoings. I’ve been too busy to post most days, and when I do post it’s an innocuous (but hopefully at least mildly entertaining) something or other about my kids. Don’t get me wrong. They are entertaining and they fill my days with all sorts of meaning and joy). But I wonder… would you indulge me a minute to talk about things that matter?
My fear is that more people believe in pop Christianity than in what the Biblical truth. We have an image of God as a Santa Clause in the sky, the nicest guy we could ever imagine, or some hip sandal-footed saint who speaks softly and is filled with all types of warm fuzzies.
Does God love all people?
Is salvation available to all people?
Does God get angry? And if so, does He get angry at his flock, or just the mass murdering types?
One day… there were two thunders… and they were riding in a … FIRE TRUCK!!! Woo – ooo Woo – ooo Woo – ooo (Pause to run in circles making ‘thunder’ gestures with arms) And then… They wanted to play! … With… ME! The two thunders wanted to play TRAINS with me! The end.
And one day… there were two lightnings! (Pause to run around in circles while ‘blinking’ fists and yelling “Blinky! Blinky! Blinky!”) And the two lightnings… Oh! Look at that leaf! (Wanders off to look at a leaf. And then a blade of grass. At which point he finds an ant… )
I learned yesterday that Barak Obama goes so far as to support live birth abortion, and before yesterday I didn’t know there was such a thing. I found this blog post very insightful, and I hope you will too. What enlightened me to the issue was this YouTube video. Please know that this is a rather disturbing video and not for little eyes or ears.
If you’d planned on voting for Obama, did you know his position here? Did you know that he’s the most pro-choice candidate to ever run for president? Even if you are pro-choice, you probably aren’t as favorable toward abortion as Obama is. Know where he stands before you make your decision.
