How does this make m̶e̶- Him- look?

If you're a girl or have lived with or spent any time around girls, I'm sure you've asked or been queried some variation of, "Does this look good on me?"

There's nothing intrinsically wrong with getting an opinion on your new headband or making sure your shirt isn't too wrinkly (insert shameless plug for Downey De-Wrinkler - it doesn't really work but it always makes me feel better and it smells fantastic). However, there's a fault in who we're looking at when we frequently ask that question.

The question we should ask ourselves and those around us is "Does this make God look good? Is my attitude, my decision to attend ______, the hour I spent with this person, etc. magnifying Him?"

Isaiah 48:10-11:

"Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.
For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,
for how should my name be profaned?
My glory I will not give to another."

He has redeemed us for His own sake, that we may proclaim His excellencies- that's such good news, because He is worthy of all the glory and He will receive it all in the end regardless.

The summation is this: lifting our eyes to gaze upon His beauty instead of looking into our mirror at our own will never leave us wanting, but will only make us more grateful for the glorious gift of Jesus and more zealous to walk in the good works He has prepared, for our good and for His Own sake.

Not a Valentine's Day Carol

“Heartbug…Valentine’s Day is a poor excuse to pick a man’s pocket every 14^th of February,” mumbled Ivan as he walked through the extremely Valentine-ized big box supermarket with an armful of Kraft mac ‘n cheese boxes and a case of off-brand Spirit. Not Sprite. Ivan preferred saving 69 cents by buying the Superb Value (inferior quality) brand from the supermarket. He also tried to avoid using a cart because carrying his purchases made him buy less. It didn’t help his mood when he dropped the Spirit case and a can exploded all over the old lady in line behind him, and he decided he’d consider using a cart next time.

 Let me be clear: Ivan is not Scrooge, and this isn’t the story of how miserly Ivan was visited by three Valentine ghosts and became a sap who subsequently showered the masses with heart-shaped confetti and “kept Valentine’s Day in his heart” every day. It is, however, a story about the power and beauty of selflessness.

Community college is a place many of us have walked through on our way to a university or an Associate’s degree. Ivan, however, had recently completed his Bachelor’s through an online program and was now working at one. He didn’t love it, but it paid rent and gave him something to do on weekdays. Ivan had friends—the sort who enjoyed discussing Bradbury and Vonnegut and painting household items with chalkboard paint. While he enjoyed dystopian literature and being able to sketch things on his coasters, Ivan was considering trying to expand his circle of friends. Perhaps that was what compelled him to Google search ‘volunteering opportunities in Lovettsville.’

                After parking outside the school and only seeing a few cars in the parking lot, Ivan considered just getting an omelet at IHOP and going back home and drawing something on his empty chalkboard wall when a minivan pulled in next to him. Before the parents had even unbuckled, a little girl tumbled out of the door, and out of the corner of his eye Ivan noticed a silver star sticker fall off of her shoe. Only after that did Ivan notice the girl was different. Down syndrome different.

                Reading picture books and cutting out tissue paper hearts wasn’t hard for Ivan. It was coming to terms with his prejudices against people who weren’t like him, people he had to exert himself to understand. The way these families interacted with each other and their handicapped and disabled children was something he’d never seen up close. He was afraid and challenged by it, because they didn’t pretend like everything was normal—they confronted the differences and loved right through them. At the end of the morning, the silver star sticker girl hugged Ivan and handed him a glitter-soaked Valentine and asked if he’d be back the next week.

By the end of the year, Ivan’s fridge was covered with glitter-soaked cards.

Food for thought: How can you get outside of yourself? Is God calling you to volunteer somewhere? Make this Valentine’s Day about other people, especially those less loved by this world.

Much love in Him,

Emma

After All

[You are after all, a person.]

You are not a paper-writing machine.

You are not a land mass.

You do not always belong indoors.

You do not always belong outdoors.

You can think of original ideas.

You are probably not perfectly normal.

You are not a lone ranger.

You are a reflector of God's image.

If you are in Christ, you are a new creation.

[He is, after all, God.]

Every Knee

Philippians 2:9-11:

For this reason God highly exalted Him
and gave Him the name that is above every name,¹⁰  so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow—of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth—¹¹ 
and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.


That reality of this future event struck me this evening. I just finished the book An American Childhood by Annie Dillard. It was a tidal pool book- full of fascinating things, but quite shallow in comparison to the ocean that is His truth.


In the account of her childhood, Annie recounted her thoughts while in church and said of the rich, not-living-like-Christians congregation: "I knew enough Bible to damn the whole lot of them to hell". 

But she didn't know Jesus as He truly is.

Then I realized: she will see Him. She will bow before Him.

So will Mohamed.

So will Shakespeare.

So will Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens (that may be awkward).

So will Mother Theresa.

So will the Jersey Shore cast.

So will the small and the great.

So will I and the rest of His church.

It will be glorious. He is glorious.

"The Hunger Games": Being brave enough to state the obvious

I'm going to preface this monologue by admitting a few things about myself:

• All the way through high school and up to now, I read a few dumpsters full of books, and some of them legitimately belonged in the garbage. I'm a sinner, and I know how easy it is to keep reading when my conscience tells me a book should be discarded.
• I don't want to be a hater, I'm just concerned and want to deal with this influential book series biblically and examine if it's an edifying read.
• I understand Christian liberty as explained in Romans, but Romans also contains this exhortation, "Be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil."
• I've skimmed all three of the Hunger Games books, and found them to be gripping, well-written novels, but also frightening and concerning. I understand why they're popular, and that frightens me. This is my attempt to explain why I'm not a fan of them, but it is also an exhortation to use the conversations you have about them to proclaim the gospel of Jesus.

The first time I heard about the Hunger Games was last summer, when I was a camp counselor. Two of my fifth grade campers were arguing about Peeta vs. Gale. I only vaguely knew what they were talking about, and was about to tune out when they started talking about graphic deaths in the novel. Their conversation was broken up by an activity, but I was disturbed. I forgot about it until recently, then remembered because I've been hearing so much about the Hunger Games book trilogy, especially with the release of the first movie.


In discussions about the book, someone always defends the contents of the books, and someone else  usually states the obvious: "Little kids kill each other. That's really grotesque." 


Response: "Well, yeah...but it's a political novel. I enjoy the political aspect. And it's fiction, just a story." 


That's true. I looked for politics in the  novel- I looked really hard. As an adult, I found some politics. Even two years ago, I probably would have been more caught up with the shocking violent parts, the love triangle, and the overall out-there flavor of the books, with the political tones as an afterthought.


In the first book I found nakedness discussed pretty often (but it was non-sexual, so that's ok- or is it?), a decent amount of kissing, and what most readers interpreted as  premarital sex in Mockingjay, the last book. Is that good for elementary and middle schoolers? Is it good for high school students? College? Adults? When is sexual immorality (or even a hint of it) ok? I'm not on a high horse standing on a soapbox- I read "Atlas Shrugged" which contains even more sexual immorality- it had a negative effect on me. Sexual immorality is rebellion against God, and it's not good to put inside of our minds. It will have an effect on us, there's no getting around that. Let's be careful what we read, and what we recommend, to younger readers especially.


As for the violence, I found spears sticking out of children, poison, dogs whose eyes were those of the dead tributes (nauseating), and death as a casual affair that doesn't break you, but somehow makes you stronger. Is that what death does to us, or does it hurt us deeply, beyond repair save for redemption in Christ?


Excellent? Or Evil?


Politics: there are some. The depravity of humanity is shown in the Capitol. The lavish lifestyle, the enjoyment of gore is reflective of the real-life gladiatorial games. 


We don't have to ask the question on this one: that's evil.
All this being said, I don't feel as if I can endorse the series: it's not excellent.
But I'm not an isolationist, physically or culturally, and Paul quoted current plays in his sermons to help people understand the gospel. Like almost any book or film, "The Hunger Games" can be used as a conversation starter that can lead to sharing/discussing the gospel of Jesus Christ.


Here's some talking points for your "Hunger Games" conversations. Be bold in sharing the truth. People are hungry, and He is not lacking in good things:

• The hunger the characters experience is actually experienced by real, live people in modern-day North Korea. Check out the book "Escape from Camp 14" to read about the horrors of North Korean concentration camps and the hunger people face there. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/12/books/escape-from-camp-14-by-blaine-harden.html?pagewanted=all

Bring that up, and pray with your friends. If they're people who don't know Jesus, talk about how He isn't ok with that kind of oppression, and is coming back to end it. Talk about the North Korean church and how they cling to Jesus in their distress:http://www.persecutionblog.com/2011/02/powerful-testimony-of-a-north-korean-christian.html 

• Talk about the death in the books- not the violence, the aching pain of death. Talk about the emotional effects death has on us as people. Talk about how death isn't a 'natural process' but a result of our sin. Talk about

Ecclesiastes 7:2
"It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living [should] take it to heart."


Then share the gospel of Jesus and how He has defeated death and robbed it of its sting. 


Make the most of every opportunity- even conversations about "The Hunger Games". 

Stumbling over Words: Poetry Efforts

An Anthem About Being Alive

Everyone else seems to be taking a stab at poetry they hope will be unique enough to not remind someone of better- classic poetry like Keats or the Beatles. Here's my effort: 
This is not a love poem; it's a life verse:
 An anthem about being alive
[life isn't an irredeemable curse]
 I've heard that some people have a right not to ever see the sun.
 Well, I read poetry by a boy whose life had been shattered, and he said he was thrilled to be alive.
 I'm positive that that the "right to die" is a revolting lie.
Those choices I've made in the garden of my heart- glancing around, sneaking fruit out in my pockets- those never brought life.
All I got from them was strife, screams in a locked bathroom.
 So the "right to choose" [the one we sinned to attain] well, I'm rethinking whether or not that was a gain or a dreadful loss.
 Somebody Who always made the right decisions
 Took a myriad of incisions
 On sinless skin
 That was His choice- crying out in a loud voice for us to be forgiven
of our free will abuse.
So I guess I'm pro-choice when it comes to my Creator's voice.
 What He's spoken I'll do
 That means thinking about you and your soul, whose choices you're gonna follow: will they be His or are you sticking with you?
That's the anthem- I was probably off key
So I'll leave it to the Saviour to compose the rest of the symphony.

It's not me, it's You.

[Unoriginal. Blase.]

Dover paperback of T.S. on the floor and glad that he can voice his frustration with the ordinary in a poem that everyone reads for ENGL 102 in all the universities.

For all that, he wasn't content until he found Jesus. . .rather, until Jesus picked him up from the realm of darkness and melancholy stanzas and brought him to the kingdom of light and epigraphs of praise with endless, flawless poetry following them.

There You are, LORD. I was in my angsty bunker inhaling mustard gas all too willingly.

The air's clearing when You come.

You always do when I intend to copy pre-Jesus T.S. - whether I want You to or not.

Help me want Your presence, O my Saviour.

[New. Vibrant.]