It Takes a Village? Yes, Yes, It Does!

I know I don't write much on this blog site anymore, but I saw this post and it just screamed KAJIJIS! Anyway, when I read this, it literally brought tears to my eyes because of the stark truth in it along with the realization that this is what Kajiji Girls was all about. Life goes on and some things can't go on forever, BUT the needs go on as well and if we don't meet them, we starve and everyone around us suffers. I miss all of you so much and hope we can connect again soon! Enjoy!!

Every day I go about my life: drive my children to and fro, make breakfast, lunch and dinner, and change my baby's diapers in my four-walled house while the world buzzes around me busy and fast. My little plays on the floor and I watch him pluck toy after toy out of the large box in the corner of the room and although my life is rich with many things, I think about you because I miss the village.

I miss the village I never had. The one with mothers doing the washing side by side, clucking and laughing hysterically, tired in body but quick in spirit. We'd know each other so well: annoying one other from time to time, but never staying mad long because the truth is, we need each other.

The children would wake up early, as they tend to, and run outside, finding each other amongst the tall trees. They'd disappear into the field and forest for a day of play as we'd start our sacred work. We'd knead bread side by side, the littles at our feet, breasts, on our backs and in our arms. It would be impossible to tell whose children belonged to whom -- we'd all attend to the group of toddling wee ones, check on the deeply breathing babies, wave little hands off of our floured table, pinch cheeks and kiss boo-boos.

The days would be full of conversation as we expertly flexed a muscle that has since gone weak: the art of listening. Quiet empathy in lieu of passive judgement, and when called for, gentle, sincere advice. In our village, our members are our estate and we build them up.

Continue to original site to read more...

Opposite World courtesy of WLW Ministries

I follow a blog called Women Living Well Ministries and the blog author had a series entitled {Opposite World} where she shares how our lives as Christians are (and should be) quite opposite from how the world lives. I haven't caught all the posts, but the most recent one caught my eye.  It's about friendship between women, and I wanted to share it with you here.

"I got a phone call a few years back from a friend at church.  The girl called me to talk about our friendship that seemed strained. She called to see if anything was wrong (I LOVE that she took the time to call me).  I really had no issue with her –only that I could sense that she didn’t really like me. And I accepted the fact that not everyone in the world is going to like this fast talking, loud laughing, Bible girl…so I had made peace with it. We were polite in the halls at church but there was no real friendship.

So when she called to ask what was wrong? I didn’t know what to say…only that I felt like she didn’t like me but I didn’t know why.  Then she said it. She said her reason why."

Continued here...

You Are Here

It's been a long while.  A long time since I've written on this blog.  A long while that I've had time to even think about writing or reading a blog.  My life is so busy right now, and I'm just now getting an inkling as to what everyone-else-I've-ever-looked-at-cross-eyed-because-they-were-too-busy-to-live-life feels like. I know this is a temporary season, but it's the season I'm smack-dab in the middle of right now.  The frenetic schedule and energy needed for it is actually quite addicting as life is constantly changing around me in a swirling frenzy.

Knee-deep in homeschooling while simultaneously getting one of my children off to school and picked up every day is an interesting dichotomy for us.  Living in this tiny house with too many bodies wears thin and seems to become more suffocating with each year that passes. But I'm finding joy and contentment in the little things, if you can call them 'little'.  Sending my kindergartner to school has had surprising results like making me again feel connected to this unbelievable community I was so recently ready to pack up and move away from without a second thought. (We really do live in one of the best towns in the whole of NH, in my humble opinion.)  Meeting new people in our neighborhood due to various circumstances has made me actually cherish our previously-loathed location on our "fixer-upper" street surrounded by lovely (i.e. well-to-do) houses in the historic district of town.  Yes, we literally live on the wrong side of the tracks.  In a neighborhood where the most common vernacular consists of four-letter words and where heavy metal/rap is the preferred music carried on the wind, we have recently heard worship music belted out of our next door neighbor's window.  I believe that is a definite first.

God's way can be a tough way, a narrow way, a hard-to-swallow way, but it is always a way full of Hope.  I know God is with us, and He will not abandon or forsake us in this little house on this little street.  Because no matter the issues we have with this house, He is here.  Living among us.  And from the beginning of our house hunting, I've always said that I would rather stay here with Him forever than move forward without Him.

But.  It is still sometimes so hard.

I feel stretched at times in trying to keep house, never mind fitting everyone into this house.  I'm seriously starting to feel like the old woman who lived in a shoe with her ten children.  My creativity has reached its limits with storage solutions, and my children sleep on mats on the floor because there is no room for beds.  And yet, He is here.  Our back yard is perfect for our toddler but not so much for three bigger boys who want to roam and run and play ball.  We have two tiny closets in the entire house to hold seven people's clothes.  Yet He is here and whispers that we have too many clothes.  Our fridge is a fairly small one in order to fit in the space allotted for it and so come winter, we sigh with relief that we can use our grill outside to hold food.  Yet He reminds us we are lucky to have so much food.  When it's laundry day and my kitchen and living room is full of clothes because our washing machine and dryer openly reside in our kitchen, my God reminds me that my neighbors still have to run to the laundromat a mile or two away in order to wash their clothes.  When I look at our house and see all the S-T-U-F-F we have (even after our many purges), I ask myself whom I'm serving - God or Mammon?  And He gently reminds me He's better than all this stuff. He's better than any house anywhere.  He is here.

So if I were to look at one of those maps that indicates "You Are Here" and be tempted to think "But I don't want to be here!", I would be remiss to not take notice of the fine print that says "God Is Here".  And why would I ever want to move away from that very spot?  When God moves, we'll move.

God's way is a hopeful way.  God help me to remember that every time I trip over my laundry or my children!

Cheerful Giving Requires Humble Taking

A common theme in our conversations lately has been about seasons of giving and taking. We all go through these seasons - sometimes we need to be able to humbly accept what is being offered to us and other times we need to be able to give from our abundance to others in need. I would venture to say we are much better about giving than taking. Giving makes us feel good, fulfilling a God-given and innate need for us to offer our things and ourselves for the good of others. God loves a cheerful giver, right? Taking makes us feel vulnerable, weak and useless. The Bible never mentions God loving a cheerful taker. Yet with all the mention of widows, blind men, lepers, the hungry, the sick and the ever-present poor, they all had to be takers at some point in their life.

Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!" When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well." Luke 17:11-19

The thankful leper didn't compare himself to the other nine lepers and think he wasn't as worthy to receive Christ's healing as they were. Who knows how afflicted he was compared to his fellow lepers? Maybe he had more skin lesions than they did, maybe much less - it doesn't matter though. He obeyed Christ's command, realized he had been healed and came back to thank Jesus. He not only received complete physical healing, but in coming back, he received spiritual healing as well. In our seasons of need, let us not refuse to take the offerings of others. Instead use these times for reflection on our ultimate dependence on God and recognizing and thanking those He uses as instruments of His charity and grace. 

As Christians, we are commanded to take care of each other and "to love our neighbor as ourselves."1 If the world judges our faith by how we treat each other, we must take great care in watching out for each other and providing for each other. By loving each other and acting like the early church, we will be greater witnesses of Christ's love to those inside and outside our Christian community. So let us love each other. Let us need one another. Let us meet each others' needs "and so fulfill the law of Christ."2

1. From Mark 12:31a

2. From Galatians 6:2

Apples and Oranges

Churches can be wonderful conduits for the charity of its people. Churches and charitable organizations can do amazing works blessed by God to help the orphans, fatherless and widows. Yet too often the church can be ignorant of the needs of its own sheep. And what good is a church that helps a tribe halfway across the world when its own members are suffering? Meeting each others' needs within one's body is a vital part of a church's community. To turn a blind eye, a deaf ear or an ignorant attitude towards the brother or sister-in-Christ sitting right next to you is to do the same with Christ. (Matthew 25:31-40)

Similarly, it seems a common attitude these days is for Christians to compare our own needs and sufferings to those who have it much harder than us, thereby trivializing our own trials. After all, how can we compare our own trials to those who live in third-world countries and those who witness true suffering and death every day? The simple answer is, we can't. We can't compare the endless nights of insomnia with a new baby to a mother in Darfur who night after night watches her baby die slowly of malnutrition. We can't possibly compare the stress and daily busyness of parenting to the 9-year-old boy who just became the leader and sole provider for his 6-year-old sister and 2-year-old brother because both his parents died of AIDS. We can't compare the annoyances we sometimes face within our churches on any given Sunday with the man who, with heart pounding out of fear and joy, secretly enters a dark building in China to worship with his family in Christ as part of something we call the underground church. There is NO comparison! We can't even try, and we shouldn't.

But being human, we only know what we know. Our own trials and persecutions, relatively insignificant or not, affect us. They move us out of our comfort zones, increase our stress level, overwhelm us and sometimes render us incapable. Sometimes the smallest things in life build up and cripple us, preventing us from meeting not only our own needs but those outside our home. When facing another day of parenting little ones puts you in a sour mood, you're not going to want to willingly volunteer to babysit for a mother in need. When cooking and putting yet another meal on the table becomes a onerous task, you are not going to feel like cooking for someone in need. This is not an attempt to rationalize any excuses for laziness or social apathy, but a simple statement that we cannot give what we do not have. Pope Benedict XVI said, "In the end, it is the Lord who helps us but we must be available as instruments," he continued. "I would say simply: No one can give what he does not personally possess; in other words we cannot pass on the Holy Spirit effectively or make him perceptible to others unless we ourselves are close to him."1 Certain trivialities and the stresses of daily life sometimes cloud our vision, weigh on our heart and help us to forget to stay close to Him. It is when our eyes are open to the abundance of blessings given us that the Holy Spirit and our own gratitude help us to give.

As Christians, we are commanded to take care of each other and "to love our neighbor as ourselves." If the world judges our faith by how we treat each other, we must take great care in watching out for each other and providing for each other. By loving each other and acting like the early church, we will be greater witnesses of Christ's love to those inside and outside our Christian community. So let us love each other. Let us need one another. Let us meet each others' needs "and so fulfill the law of Christ."2

1. From an article found on Zenit: The World Seen from Rome website.

2. Galations 6:2

A Church I Can Call Home

I've never been without a home church - a place to visit every week with the hope of some relief from the world's burdens, some spiritual refreshment and some fellowship. Growing up in my grandfather's church, it literally was my second home. Since I also attended the private school held in this same church, I spent most of my waking hours in that building. Since my grandfather was the senior pastor, churchgoing was mandatory for my family. We attended not only Sunday morning worship, but Sunday School, Sunday night services, Wednesday night prayer meetings and a Friday night children's program. This was outside of my actual school attendance Monday through Friday. So you can see why I felt it was my "home."

When I met my husband, he was attending a church that became "our" home church. But seeing as we were newly married with a child and living and working about an hour away from our church, we didn't see too much of the inside of the church building except on Sunday mornings. So we did what a lot of people do - we moved closer to be near our church. We were able to participate more in the church activities, involve ourselves in the programs there and build a small but wonderful network of believers around us. But the church grew. It grew and it grew and it grew until it was soooo big, we didn't know anyone there anymore. Even the pastors we grew to love and respect both stepped down from leadership, and we felt the loss deeply.

We have been members of this same church now for about 15 years. As God blessed us with more children, we remained loyal and committed to the church and enjoyed many of the activities and resources they had available. Since it is now one of the largest, if not the largest church in our state, it offers many things for many people. But deep connections and intimate fellowship are not among them, at least, not for my introverted husband and me. I understand there is a need to sometimes stretch your neck out and plug yourself into a church of such a large size - there is no place for social wallflowers here! But there gets to be a point where I just don't feel churches were ever meant to go beyond a certain size. I don't know what that point is, but I do believe if there are more people that you don't recognize than those you do, it's too big (but that's just my humble opinion).

On the other end of extremes, we attended a home church for awhile where there were only three to four families. The small size was great for encouraging openness, intimacy and spiritual growth, but we found it a bit too small for practical reasons. It only took one family not making it due to illness or vacation to put quite the crimp in our meeting schedule. It was sometimes difficult being that small, but we made some good friends with other brothers and sisters-in-Christ. Most importantly, it allowed us to see how church can be done in a completely different way and what it can be like - a body of believers attending to each other's needs and growing in unity with one another.

So here I find myself searching for a home church. After visiting multiple churches in my area, I've seen some things I like and some things I don't like in a church. I'd like to share with you my own list of qualities in my ideal church.* (Please see footnote below.) My hope is this would be thought-provoking, a good conversation starter and to help challenge us in our thinking of what church is as well as its function. Please feel free to share your own thoughts by leaving a comment - I would love to hear what you love about your own church or what you would look for in your ideal church whether you are attending your ideal church in reality or not.

My ideal home church would be...

A church that is doctrinally sound, considers itself missional and is within my own local community. The church must believe all scripture is inspired by God who is Triune in the persons of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is the head of the Church and the Church is His body. Salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and He is coming again.1 A fairly good and detailed description of what missional looks like can be found on the Friend of Missional website (though I would caution "missional" can erroneously be described as "emergent" which I do not fully agree with the soundness of some of the doctrines held by the emergent movement). To me, missional means actively taking care of each other's needs within the local body of believers and showing Christ's love to each other as well as actively serving those in the local community and showing Christ's love to others outside of the body. An early Christian writer named Tertullian quoted a pagan official say about the Christians: "Look at how much they love each other!" Love is the wisdom and power of God. Love was the power of early Christian witness to the Resurrected Christ. Love was the fire of the martyrs. 2

By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:35

Having my church be within my local community has been a relatively recent desire. After spending years traveling a half hour or more to get to church, I've come to the conclusion my home church should be in my neighborhood - not for convenience sake but for community's sake. My desire is to worship, learn and serve side by side with those I see on a daily basis through living and working in my community.

A church where statistics and big numbers are not a goal. Growing up in a church of 200-300, it seemed we knew everyone. If there was a new face, you knew to go over and introduce yourself and welcome them - there was no need for an official welcoming committee. The adults knew most of the children, and it seemed the children had about 100 pairs of parents (talk about "it takes a village"!). I feel a small church naturally encourages more intimate fellowship between believers. There's not as much of a struggle as the megachurches have in trying to work things out so people get connected and unified. I happen to like the idea of a church actually limiting its size. If a church reaches its set maximum, a new church can be planted in a different community and the evangelization continues. This helps keep a church not only growing deep roots but also gives the ability to spread its roots wide.

A church that is run like a church and not a corporation. This kind of refers back to the statistics and numbers point above. Megachurches seem to like to take surveys, organize things using pie graphs and risk seeing people as numbers and their money as stock. When money becomes a focal point or a necessity in continuing to build the body of believers, we've strayed into dangerous territory where we may find Jesus standing there with a whip.

Money can obviously be a very valuable thing within a community of believers. It can be used to support those within the body and outside of the body. However a church should never become so dependent on money that in order to survive it needs to raise funds or continually request people to increase their giving. Tithing aside, a church should be able to thrive and grow without any money at all! Strange concept, I know. Christ's love is freely given, and it should be passed around freely. The good news is there are no costs involved in being Jesus to others.

A church where family is honored and included as much as possible, meaning children are accepted and are seen as integral to the worship service, not just there for Sunday school. This doesn't necessarily mean they stay for the entire service, just that they are extended a welcome and are included. I've heard of churches that have entire families stay to worship and sing praises together, and then there's a short children's message time where the pastor actually speaks directly to the youth. Following that, the children are dismissed to their own Sunday schools. How cool is that? When the entire family from infant to senior are welcomed and included, the body of believers will feel whole.

A church that fits my style. I know, this one sounds so...well, shallow. But I think it's important to choose a church that's not going to make you uncomfortable as you watch people dance and writhe in the aisles or make you feel numb because everyone sings in a monotone voice and no one smiles. Do you consider yourself charismatic? Do you prefer quiet, reverent worship? Do you enjoy hearing the preacher yell, shout and thump his Bible? Do hearing others speak in tongues freak you out? Personally, I fall closer to the quiet reverence, but I like to be stretched by those more demonstrative, charismatic worshipers! If you can believe it (for those who know me), I actually like some of my worship songs sung loud and exuberantly with arms outstretched and hands lifted. Whatever "church personality" you seem to have, it'd probably be nice to find a church that fits it.

A church where sacred is valued over slick. When we see slick, we like to call this type of church "Church Hollywood". So many churches these days have put too much focus on the presentation of their services. The worship part of the service turns into entertainment for the masses, and the pastor's multimedia message is designed to keep all those suffering from attention deficit disorder a chance to focus. I am not against multimedia or entertainment, not in the least. However if there is no sense of the sacred during the service, have we not missed the point? A very small and seemingly insignificant example (yet one of my big pet peeves) is when the praise and worship team "sneak" back into their individual places during prayer. I know many are thinking I'm making a mountain out of a molehill. Yet we forget in that moment when we bow our heads and close our eyes, we have once again approached the throne of the Almighty God and are making our requests known to Him. Yet the praise band must apparently use that time to get back into place lest we open our eyes and, heaven forbid, they're not there to start playing immediately! Our Sunday services seem to have lost an awareness of the holy. I love a service where, though it may not come across as very polished, the reverent awe and love for our God permeates the sanctuary and is felt and noticed by all.

A church lead by a pastor who has more humility than education. Absolutely I want a pastor who knows the Old Testament and New Testament, knows how to decipher the Greek or Aramaic root word from the text, knows how to glean the message from the context, and knows how to counsel those in need. Yet even more than that, I want a pastor who hides the Word in his heart, who speaks and listens to God unceasingly, who loves people as Jesus loves and seeks to have a humble spirit. I want a pastor who is not just taught but teachable. I want a pastor who is a true shepherd and is only responding to the call God has placed on his heart to lead His sheep, whether he has a seminary degree or not {gasp!}. Higher education is a respectable goal, but I have seen too many churches turn away a potentially great leader because he was lacking a degree.

A church that encourages its body to serve to the fullest extent. There are so many strengths and talents among a church's body, it seems a waste and a shame to let anyone just sit in their seats to be fed. If a layperson can not feel useful, they will feel homeless. I know of churches who have actually refused to allow their laypeople to serve in certain areas or join the choir or start up an outreach simply because they didn't feel their members were qualified or good enough. It's a good thing Moses3 never asked to speak to today's church or Jonah4 never applied as a missionary for today's missions program. Helping each believer find their spiritual gifts and encouraging them to use them to serve the body is the whole point of having the spiritual gifts in the first place. If a church fails to do this, it will fail itself.

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines. I Corinthians 12:7-11

I love coming across a church where different faces are seen at the front of the church, not just the pastor, and where all gifts are valued equally.

There are many good churches around here, but unfortunately we have yet to find an ideal one for us. I understand no church is perfect, and I may find a church I call home that does not fit all of the criteria I've listed. My prayer is God will let us know where He wants my family to call home when it comes to church.


*By no means is this a criticism or attack on any particular church, denomination or faith. This is my own personal wish list of what I'd like to see in a church of which I have not yet found (at least, locally for myself and my family). If you are at the church God has called you to be at, then have confidence you are meant to be there for a reason whether you feel your church fits any of the above criteria or not! Just as each person/family will have their own ideas of what feels like home to them, each person/family will have their own ideas of what feels like church.

1. Taken from www.hometooling.org I could get really detailed and go by other's affirmations of faith like Mars Hill Church's Statement of Belief , but that'll have to do for now.
2. From an article titled "Look At How Much They Love Each Other": The Development of Church Social Life found here.
3. "Then Moses said to the Lord, 'Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since you have spoken to your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.'" Exodus 4:10
4. "But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord." Jonah 1:3

The Worldwide Impact of Kajijis?

Ok, so maybe 'worldwide impact' is a bit extreme, but one of my favorite widgets added to our Kajiji Girl blog is the sitemeter - that little number down in the right-hand corner of the blogsite that lets us know how many visitors we've had to our site. Since November of last year, sitemeter has tracked over 500 visitors who have viewed various pages on the KG blog almost 900 times. My absolute favorite part of sitemeter though is seeing from where these visitors hail. The sitemeter site will show me a world map with dots indicating where our last few visitors viewed our site. So far the map has shown me visitors from:

US
Canada
Italy
Germany
France
Taiwan
Austria
China

And that's just the last 100 visitors! Now I'm not going to kid myself into thinking that all of our visitors arrive at our site on purpose and remain interested enough to return, however it's always nice to see those visitors that return again and again. Besides the US from which 50% of our visitors come, our largest amount of visitors come from Canada - a whopping 42%! Visitors from almost every province of Canada has visited us. So to our neighbors from the North, we welcome you!

Some new widgets that have been added to our site are the "Subscribe" button just above the sitemeter counter as well as the "Followers" button on the top right-hand side. Subscribing to our blog will make it easier to keep up with any new blog postings and if you're a fan of our site, please consider becoming a follower.

I'm not sure how often I'll be able to post this season as I'm facing a whole new (and much busier) world this year with a baby, two boys starting homeschool and a teenage daughter who's schooling at home as well. I'm laughing at myself these days because my brain is so scattered, I'm reading about 5 books at the same time. This might make for some interesting reading, but organizing it all for the sake of writing on a weekly blog is near impossible. However I do have some ideas for this season and hope to be able to blog on a fairly consistent basis. So check back every so often (or better yet, subscribe!) to see if there's a new entry. And please always feel free to leave comments or post your own blog entries if you're a contributing author (if you're not, and you'd like to be, please email me). I'm actually very excited about this new season of Kajiji Girls as it looks like we have some really neat things on the calendar already! I'll fill you in in the days to come...

Move that Boulder!

I’ve been reading some of the news articles online about the President and Congress and how nobody is able to accomplish anything of real value because of the constant bickering and unwillingness or inability to work together. Therefore, the people of our nation are impatient about the status of our economy, about the rising taxes and national debt, about our involvement in Iraq, etc., etc. Our Congress which is now being labeled the “Do Nothing Congress” because of their Tuesday through Thursday workweek (!) and inability to actually accomplish anything when together, is being blamed for all sorts of evil in our nation and the world. Why can’t the Democrats and Republicans do any good together? Why is the battle between “Red vs. Blue” more important than the battle for righteousness, justice and fairness these days? Why can’t those in Washington “do their job” and help others, decrease the unemployment rate, take better care of the environment, put more money in our pockets, get our soldiers out of Iraq and get rid of injustice in the world? Who do we think we are anyway??* I don’t know the answers to these questions, but I do know there’s an awful lot of finger-pointing going around. And when fingers are pointing, hands are idle. I was forwarded this email and liked this little story contained therein:

The Obstacle in Our Path

In ancient times, a King had a boulder placed on a
roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if
anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the
king's wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by
and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the
King for not keeping the roads clear, but none did
anything about getting the stone out of the way.

Then a peasant came along carrying a load of
vegetables. Upon approaching the boulder, the
peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the
stone to the side of the road. After much pushing
and straining, he finally succeeded. After the
peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed
a purse lying in the road where the boulder had
been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note
from the King indicating that the gold was for the
person who removed the boulder from the roadway. The
peasant learned what many of us never understand -

Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve
our condition.

I would like to add to the last sentence “it also presents an opportunity to improve other’s conditions.” There seems to be no longer any personal responsibility for anything these days, and this irks me to no end. People no longer know how to take blame but are very good at dishing it out. It’s a very rare thing to hear anyone apologize for anything these days. There is this sense of entitlement adopted by us, and it seems to be getting worse as the generations continue. I am as guilty of this as the next person, however I’m convicted to be less so, not only for my own sake, but also for my children’s sake. Do I really want my children to adopt a victim mentality and think they are powerless to change their life or others’ lives? Do I want them to stand idly by waiting for a politician to feed their next door neighbor when there is plenty of food in their own cabinets? Do I want my children to be the type of bystanders that do nothing while an elderly person is mugged and beaten near them? I hope my children will not heed the advice of others when told they can’t do the improbable or even impossible when it comes to changing the world for the better. I hope my children will be the type to want to run into danger if necessary and fight for justice for Truth’s sake. I hope I am able to teach my children to be leaders, but if not leaders, then followers of good and true leadership. I hope my children will come to understand that sometimes looking to a leader to accomplish something is pointless and should instead look into a mirror. I hope we can all be the type to put our burdens down every once in awhile and with much difficulty, move the boulder and make Life easier and worthier, not only for ourselves, but for others as well.

Crystal

P.S. Thanks for listening and allowing me to vent my frustration and stand on my soapbox for a second. Comments welcome…

*These questions are not necessarily “my” questions but more a representative sampling of questions heard throughout the nation. Unfortunately, not being politically or socially as active as I feel I should be, I don’t feel equipped to necessarily ask many questions but rather observe the questions being asked and topics being discussed. How’s that for a disclaimer? :-)

And, by the way, as far as the “who do we think we are” question, I personally feel we are an amazingly blessed and powerful nation that can help right many wrongs in the world while having the ability to take care of “our own”, but unfortunately, don’t always actually do this which is where we, as the church, should come in. Maybe if there was less government, there would be more opportunities for the church to serve, but that’s another whole argument for another soapbox moment. :-)