When Two Worlds Collide

We were made to grieve.  We were made for joy.  Memorial Day is the epitome of these truths.

Ecclesiastes 3:4 says there is a "time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance."  What grief to know that young men and women, on their last tour before retiring safely stateside or just beginning their young lives, with babies or just "babies" themselves, have given their very lives so that I can sit on my sofa here pontificating on whatever strikes my fancy.

But what joy to know they willingly gave it all for us, that someone would find it in their hearts to do that, that someone whose name I will never know would make that sacrifice for me -- someone whose name they never knew. 

God bless those who today remember those whose names they will never forget, and God bless those who are standing in uniform waiting to make that sacrifice for us today.

We Are Not "Merely" Human

I just thought I would share this with you...

In June's issue of In Touch magazine, an article entitled "Truly Human (Again)," by Winn Collier says the following:

"...we need help believing the truth that God delights in our humanity....God created our humanity to reflect His own glory and goodness.  Being human is God's idea.

"This means that every human act, when done as a reflection of (and in submission to) God's reign in the world, is an intensely spiritual activity."

He goes on to say, that despite the failure of Adam and Eve to live in relationship with God as He designed, "the commission to exert their God-given humanity was not retracted.  They were still to work the ground and bring children into the world.  They were still to do their best to make beauty, only now such efforts would progress with immense difficulty.  In fact, all of life would be futile, were it not for the promise that God would send One who would restore their humanity and full dignity, and release them to once again be their true selves."

Jesus, God in human flesh, had communion with God in such a way that it was an expression His humanity; His godliness was never at odds with his humanity.  "Jesus taught us what it looks like to be truly human."

Collier quotes Augustine (City of God) when he says, "We know ourselves better in God than in ourselves."

"Jesus came in flesh to give His broken body and His gushing blood for our redemption...  [Even]
with all our human creativity and expression on display, God's Spirit is actively loving and restoring us -- and hopefully using us to participate in healing every person in the world as well.  God longs for us all to be home, for us all to be truly human.  Again."

In Other News...

So I'm sitting here waiting for my granddaughter to arrive -- Gramma's first big solo adventure -- and I'm like a kid at Christmas.  So, to take my mind off things, I decided to spend an unhealthy amount of time perusing the online "News."  And here it is... "News:"

Brad Pitt admits to drug use during his wilder early years.  But he's happy now.  Happy.  No, really happy.  Esquire magazine didn't note whether he'd jumped on any sofas while making his declaration.

A Utah mom who learned of her daughter's bullying of another girl in school, decided to ad-"dress" the Peter Pan Collar crime with a "suit"-able punishment.  (All puns thoroughly intentional.)  She forced her daughter to wear thrift store clothing to school, in order to shame her daughter into being a little kinder to folks who look, dress or act differently than she.  Hooray for Mom!  And big, fat (is that PC?) raspberries to all the psychologists who say parents "shaming" their children is bad.  "Children need to be able to trust their parents...blah, blah, blah."  I grew up trusting my parents -- trusting that when I did something right, they would be proud of me; when I did something wrong, I'd get the belt; and no matter what I did, I was loved.

The government is just as corrupt and blameworthy as it was yesterday.

Victoria Beckham wore sneakers, critics dislike Ryan Gosling's new movie, and we've all been mispronouncing GIF.  I'm not joking.

29 bars in New Jersey are corrupt.

Jodi Arias -- never mind, I can't stomach another minute of that debacle.

Oh, yeah, and some guy with supposed links to the terrorist bombing at the Boston Marathon was shot and killed.  But that story, and the follow-up on the Moore, OK devastation followed the DWTS winners and Sharon Stone's dress at yet another awards show.  Must have been a slow news day.

For Moore, Oklahoma

Thankfully, I have never been that mom whose child did not return home from school, or that wife who has tried for hours only to have her husband's phone go straight to voicemail, and known in her heart it means more than he forgot it on the dresser at home.  Today we are reminded that there are far too many of those wives and mothers, and brothers, and fathers, and friends, in this world.

For those in Moore, OK, our prayers for healing and strength...