Nonessentials

Ephesians 4:4-6
There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

As we go forward with all of the election stuff I am constantly disgusted at the agruing that goes on. It is so obnoxious to me that I don't even care to watch it all. (And I love the "art" of politics and our government) I can't help but to wonder what happen if we had ONE purpose, ONE plan, and left all of the NONessentials out. I know that is easier said than done in the world of politics. But we have to take into account: will the president be black or white, with or without boobs, old or young, Mormon or Christian, funny or sophisticated. To me those seem like nonessentials. It should be about leadership for an enitre country. Maybe I am just a little old fashioned to dream that the presidential race should be about lead find a leader that will bring justice and equality for all and not about everything that the media likes to make it about.

But I have to wonder how much different are we in our churches. This being the place that we are given ONE purpose, One plan.

Matthew 28:18-20
Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Jesus didn't talk about if we should use the red hymnals or the blue ones, he didn't talk about if our building should have steeples or stain glass, he even failed to mention what type of chairs or pews we should sit on. Jesus did, however, talk about loving our nieghbor. I think that our churches and denominations are way to caught up in the NONessentials of "religion" instead of being caught up in the ESSENTIALS of salvation.

On Sunday morning we "do church" in a banquet/wedding hall. We set up everything that is needed for our worship service and then take it all down when we are finished. We share this building with another church on Sunday mornings. Recently, their "noise" has been very loud and quite distracting to our service. A couple of weeks ago I got tickled over the irony of the situation. Here we all sit, 2 churches, the same building, fighting (not really) to worship the same God. Our NONessential differences keep us seperated. What would happen if churches came together over the ESSENTIALS (Salvation, Loving each other, taking care of the widows and orphans) and left the NONessentials between individuals and God? What if your opinion about NONessentials were the exact thing that kept someone from ever coming to church? What if you decided to only care about salvation and love, instead of having an opinion about divorce, drinking, clothing, music, marriage, lifestyle, etc. ?

I am not naive. I believe that God takes us through our lives, allowing us to have experiences, so that we can have convictions about certain things. But we have our convictions because we are in Christ and He is dealing with our heart.

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

I guess the point in all of this is simple... What is an essential and what is a nonessential? What is a heaven/hell issue? Do our opinions keep others from Christ?

I must be gettin' old!

Last night Hubby and I sat down to watch the Grammy's. Now I must admit upfront..... I am not a huge fan of the Grammy's. Mainly because I don't know who anyone is. It is just a bunch of faces singing songs that "Hmmm, maybe I have heard that before". Now of course I have my favorites and I love to hear the legends but all in all I feel very clueless about the music industry.
Hubby, being a much bigger music fan than me, seems to enjoy this show a little more. He is like a kid in a candy shop when TRUE musicians show off their stuff. BUT, last night seemed more like a comedy routine to me. I was shocked at the lack of quality that showed itself on that "grand stage".
The best example of CRAP that was shown last night (IMHO) was Kanye West. This guy gets up on stage and "preforms" what I think was a rap. But it was filled with language (that had to be bleeped), really bad rhyming (a line about Let's get lost tonightYou could be my black Kate Moss tonightPlay secretary, I'm the boss tonight.) and then was followed by a song tribute to his Mama (that sounded something like an American Idol blooper). It topped it all off for me when West accepted one of his 4 awards for the night, his speech was rude, disrespectful, and he was a complete punk about it (and the crowd applauded him).
If I were to paint a picture of what the Grammy's should look like... I would imagine it to be a night of awwww. A point in a musicians career that they dream of. The opportunity to become "a Legend" by winning and the rest of the night is a specatacular concert event showing off what those "legends" look and sound like.
I guess I would have to say that the highlight of the evening was seeing Tina Turner. But even that was sad. She was paired with Beyonce. She sang a couple of her "greats" but then Beyonce came out. And then it just looked like an old lady trying to "shimmyand keep up" with this "booty, shaking, boob floppin', my butt is too big to fit in my outfit that would only fit a 6 year old, hair flyin', crazy dancin', preformer".

I don't know.....maybe I am being way tooooo opinionate about all of this. Or maybe I'm just gettin' old!

True Religion

I know I have shared this video before. The line that stands out so much to me is : "Show true religion, because words they don't relieve."

We all talk a good talk, don't we? But words do nothing, "Your actions they heal me and show that you believe.

Our Guatemala Team will speak this mornign in church. They will talk about their actions. A challenging blog I read this morning spoke about DOING SOMETHING, it spoke about actions. CLICK HERE.

What will you do to show true religion?

James 1:27, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

6 Quirky things!

Ok! Thanks Steph. for tagging me. I am so jacked on Prednisone that I can't focus to right a blog that actually requires much of me. So righting about being quirky is PERFECT!

SO here goes!

1. I shave my legs EVERY DAY! If I don't, I can't sleep when the sheets hit the stubble. It drives me nuts. I have even been known to shave my legs in the middle of the night (if I forgot that day).

2. The smell of tires makes me nausated. You know what I am talking about.... when you walk into SAMS or the back of Walmart where they sell tires. I can't handle it. It is difficult for me to even go near the department.

3. I hate cooking breakfast. I like eating it. But there is something about the chaos of so many things needed to be cooked all at once and then you have to clean it up! I Hate it. Thank goodness I have a hubby who seems to like it. I do good to just do pancakes and sausage, much more stresses me out.

4. My 2nd toe is longer then my big toe. SO much so that I buy 1/2 size bigger shoe than I probably wear, just to accomidate my long toe. Hubby calls it my "freak toe". Oh and I am 5ft 2in. and wear a size 9. Hmmm... kind of quirky.

5. I can't breathe through my nose when I swim. You know how you are "suppose" to blow out when you are under water. Nope, I can't. I can't jump in a pool without holding my nose (unless I am diving) And yes.... I have tried since I was 6 years old.

6. I love marshmellows. Roasted, plain, just melted in a bowl in the microwave, Peeps, Chocolate covered, Roasted Marshmellow Jellybelly, little ones, big ones, on a salt cracker in the toaster oven just until the tops turn brown. :-)


Hope you ahve enjoyed my nutty, can't focus on too much, out of the box blog. It was fun! ANd it only took me a couple of hours. Prednisone keeps me from focusing on 1 thing but keeps me doing 1,000,000.

A little Angel

As you know we have 4 children. Each perfect and special in their own little ways. From fire and passion to gentleness and compassion. They all have qualities that I pray will grow into maturity and God will use to impact this hurt and broken world. My recent blogs have been all about what "junk" is going on here. So today my blog will be about one of my angels. (Not that one is more special than any others, but today it is about 1).

My PeyPey
From the day she was born we have said (specifically her father) that she was born to make people smile. She has the most contagious smile I have ever seen.
She often tells me, "Mommy, you are my best friend forever." You can just imagine what that does to me. Dr. Phil said one time on his show,"It is not our children's job to love US, but it is OUR job to love our children." That statement has stuck with me through the tough times with pre-teens. I feel like my job is to make sure that not matter what, my kids know I love them. And one day.... if taught well....I will know that they love me. But then God sent me PeyPey. I have never been around a child that makes me feel loved like she does.
Yesterday was an interesting day with her. She decided that she would "test" me on EVERYTHING! This usually compliant princess who will do anything I ask, with a smile and a giggle, wanted no part of obeying me. Everything I asked her, either got a NO in response or she ignored me. At least it was obvious that she was "just testing me". So we struggled all day and finally daddy had to rescue her from me and put her to be, because I had "HAD IT". She refused to go up the stairs and I refused to carry her.
But this was our conversation this morning:
Me: "PeyPey, we had a bad day yesterday. Let's not have one of those again."
Her: "I was very mad mommy."
Me: "Yes I know, but you have to obey me when I ask you to do things."
Her: (with a big smile) "I will and I happy today.... Mommy, you not mad at me?"
Me: "No baby, I was never mad at you, I just like you to use nice words when you talk to me."
Her: "I use nice words today, I love you mommy."
Her: "Mommy, you not go away next week?" (Because of me being in the hospital last week)
Me: "No I will not leave again."
Her: "I miss you mommy when you go away."
Me: "I won't leave to overnight, but I do have to go to the store today."
Her: "Uh! You have to leave me AGAIN?" (With a big ole grin)
Me: "Yes"
Her: "Ok, but you drive car real fast." Than I got a big hug and another "I love you Mommy".

Nothing can compare to the feeling of being loved. By a spouse, a child, a friend, or our God.
1 Corinthians 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Thank you God for loving me through my family. For showing your face to me in the smiling eyes of a child. Please help PeyPey to always love as you love. I pray that she impacts the world in the beautiful way that she impacts my life every single moment of the day. Thank you for her sweet, understanding, compassionate spirit. And thank you for the privilege of making me her mother and trusting me with her for this short passing moment we call life.