February 2008 - Posts
As most of you know, we're having a baby in May. It's been almost five years since we've had a little one around the house. Ashlee and Alex are six and five and have long since grown out of their baby clothes. We gave most of what we had away, along with all the furniture and toys. We kept a few things here and there, mostly sentimental type stuff. We have been totally unprepared for little Katie's presence in the house.
That's where our friends and church have come in. Last weekend, I think a Children's Place opened up a franchise in our living room. Katie now has enough clothes that she could almost wear one outfit each day for the first year of her life. Since we're probably going to add another little girl to the family in the future, we'll get a lot of use out of these clothes. What we can't use will be passed on to someone else.
Here are a few pictures to give an idea of what we received. Not just clothes, but furniture too. The three gray bins in the last picture are all filled with clothes. We've still got a crib and a changing table coming as well. A very heartfelt thank you to everyone who offered and contributed. God bless you all.
Yesterday we looked at a young princess meeting her contemporaries for the first time. Today, we watch a young boy transform from a Padawan into a Jedi. (If you don't get the end of that sentence, I'm sorry. The rest won't make sense either. Read about it here, catch up, and come back. )
He found it hard to contain his excitement as we traversed mighty distances to accomplish our goal.
He thought long and hard about how he was going to get there.
Oh, and he had ice cream too.
Finally, with his intrepid assistant in tow, he came to the foot of the...er...well, it's an AT-AT. Jeez, watch a movie people!
There were droids there to assist him on his journey as well.
And some fish-headed things. (Yes, I know they are called Mon Calamari. I'm fully geeked out here.)
(Fake) guns blazing, he couldn't wait to get in to see his objective.
First in line, he used the Force to open the doors for everyone.
--INSERT PAUSE--
OK, here is where I stop and tell you that I couldn't take pictures of the inside of the ride. Why? Because they say no flash photography on the ride. They even had a video of someone flashing a camera in a Wookiee's face, and he seemed none too pleased by it. Seeing as how I'm partial to retaining my arms, I figured I would toe the company line.
--END PAUSE--
We finished our trip to Endor and went out into the gift shop giant sucking sound of my wallet exit area, where both he and his assistant were transformed into fearsome bounty hunters.
It was a good day.
This will be what we look like August 15th when the new Star Wars movie hits the theater. It's fun having a boy who loves Star Wars, at least for me.
We went to Walt Disney World back in December last year. Ashlee had been looking forward to meeting the various princesses while we were there and she got her chance. Don't worry, I'll cover Alex later.
These photos were taken at the Akershus Royal Banquet Hall at breakfast one morning. Click to enlarge.
Ashlee with Snow White (She actually had the voice too. It must have killed her throat talking like that all morning.)
Ashlee and Jasmine (None of us really responded when she walked up to the table, so she was in and out pretty quick.)
Ashlee and Aurora (Her favorite princess, Ashlee bought a little $3 ring the day before that she had to show Aurora.)
Ashlee and Mulan (This interaction almost made her change her mind the next day. More on that later.)
Ashlee and Belle (The first one was just too cute. She got other pictures taken with Belle, but I have to scan those.)
She also saw Belle and Aurora while we walking through Epcot. Not to break the magic, but Belle is the same on both days. Aurora was two different people.
Oh, and Alex didn't really want to be there. He kept moving away from everyone.
Next, I'll post some pictures of Ashlee acting like a princess one night at Downtown Disney.
What is freedom? One definition of freedom given by the American Heritage Dictionary is "Liberty of the person from slavery, detention, or oppression." This provides good insight into how we typically view freedom, but are we all really free? I'm not owned by anyone, so I don't fit the description of slave. I'm not in jail, so I'm free of detention. I'm of the firm belief that nobody can oppress you unless you allow them to, so that doesn't fit me either. What is true freedom?
In the book "Finding Serenity
", there is an article titled "Serenity and Bobby McGee: Freedom and the Illusion of Freedom in Joss Whedon's Firefly". The author, Mercedes Lackey, talks about how while we can assume we are free, many times we are simply choosing not to view the bars that contain us. What she says is quite true in today's modern age. While we in the United States say that we have freedom of speech, we aren't truly free to say whatever we want. Many times we cage ourselves from saying something because it could hurt another's feelings, or it would be inappropriate in some manner. Our personal freedom is held in check by the various unwritten societal rules that are commonly accepted. Some of those rules are good, some are not so good.
As Christians, are we free? God allows us free will to choose Him or reject him, none of us are forced into belief. The redemption that we receive through Christ's death on the cross is a free gift, but how many of us feel that we have to work for it? So often, the various Christian denominations say that we have a free gift, but then hold to the legalism that reduces their congregations to self-loathing piles of mush. We can't have it both ways. Are we actually free to be who God wants us to be or are the rules imposed on us by our Christian societal norms the like the bars of that cage?
A few years ago (12, to be exact) I was attending a Bible college in north central Texas. I was taking a class about the letters Paul wrote while in prison and one day, a discussion of grace began. One student asked the professor a hypothetical question. What if there was a man who had never sinned in his life, but at the time of the second coming of Christ, this man was engaged in extramarital sex? What would happen to the man? The professor and a couple of the students chimed in and said that since he was sinning, he would not be raptured. (FYI - this discussion is about freedom and not about pre-, post-, or mid-tribulation, so keep that in mind) I asked why wouldn't he be, and was told that he was currently in sin. Thinking this was crazy, I replied back by asking what good was grace if it didn't cover us at our worst possible moments?
We have freedom from the depth of our depravity through the divine love of God and the sacrifice of Jesus. No longer are we bound to the material things of our society and our world, but we are given over to the spiritual freedom only Christ can give. 2 Corinthians 3:16-17 says "But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." God removes the bars of our cage and sets us free. Our only job is to refrain from taking advantage of that freedom and doing things that God has specifically spoken against.
Which takes us to the other extreme of freedom, those who feel like they can do absolutely anything because God has covered us with grace. Galatians 5:13 says "You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love." God specifically commands us to live by the Spirit, but not to give ourselves to our flesh. Since we are born of the Spirit we are no longer under the old law, but instead are covered by the forgiving grace of God.
So, what is freedom? Freedom is knowing that whatever happens in this life, we move on to the next one because of the sacrifice Christ made on that hill nearly 2,000 years ago. Freedom is understanding that we are no longer slaves to our past, but have been given a glorious hope for our future. Freedom is becoming like Paul who said in I Corinthians 9:19, "Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible." Freedom is allowing God to bend back the bars of our cage and letting us out into the open fields.
I've been tagged to produce this as part of a 123 meme. Here are the rules for this fun little bit of Internet foolishness:
- Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more (no cheating!)
- Find page 123
- Find the first five sentences
- Post the next three sentences
- Tag five people
So, the book that is nearest to me is "Christ and Culture" by H. Richard Neibuhr. It's really a great book, and it's taking me forever to get through it, mainly because it's written by a former Yale theology professor. Big words, long sentences, great thoughts. Here's the quote from the book, which is actually taken from Matthew 22:21 and Romans 13:1.
"Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. ... The authorities are ministers of God."
Yes, it's four sentences. Call the Meme Police on me if you want.
This is part of Niebuhr's larger thought of Christ being above culture, of people trying to create a synthetic view between Christ and the culture around them. This synthetic view tries to take into account that while we are under Christ, we are part of our culture, and we must have complete "awareness of the dual nature of our law, our end, and our situation."
Actually, this page contains my favorite sentence in the book so far.
The New Testament contains no document that clearly express the synthetic view; but there are many statements in gospels and epistles which sound the motif or which can be interpreted, without violence to the text, as containing this solution of the Christ-and-culture problem. (emphasis mine)
That's great stuff. "Without violence to the text". How many authors do commit violence against the text of Scripture in order to make a point?
Wow. I got sidetracked. Here are my tags. Angie, Amy, Chris, LaShawn, and Patti.
(Updated: I left a sentence completely out. Need to work on my proofreading skills.)
(This was written a few months ago, but still relevant)
Are you ever sitting somewhere and you get an overwhelming sense of your own uselessness and futility? It comes like a wave crashing on the shore, pulling you out to the sea of depression in it's crippling undertow. We attempt to live in the light, to be that shining city on a hill. But there are parts of our souls that still hold on to the darkness, clutching to it like a child does to their mother. We hide our secrets, our shame, our impurities where we think nobody will ever see them. We're irrational this way, we think that we are being strong and that we can do it all alone. We don't want to burden others with our problems or be seen as weak. We think that it's such a minor thing that nobody will care anyway, that it is only a problem that we deal with but nobody else does. We convince ourselves that nobody else feels this way, so we keep it all bottled up inside. We wonder how anyone could love us in spite of ourselves.
Yet, somehow it happens. Somehow we find that someone cares, be it family, friends, pets, God, anyone. God is good to us that way. He sends us reminders of His grace in the smallest ways if we only pay attention. This week I was blessed twice in ways that I didn't anticipate or expect. In our home group we are studying Ephesians. One of the questions in the book this week was how do we see God's mercy and grace in our daily lives? I wrote down that God always seems to give us just enough to get by, no matter what the circumstances. Not 15 minutes after that, I was surprised by a gift from someone that will help immensely in the coming months. My first reaction was to say, "OK, God, are you telling me that I finally figured out what you've been trying to teach me?". It was a phenomenal moment for me in my life, and totally unexpected.
The fact is, through Jesus we have hope. Hope for a better tomorrow here on Earth and hope for eternity. We shouldn't expect our "best life now", we should our best life later, in eternity with God.
You know what started all this? I was thinking how I couldn't wait to get home to my kids and wrap them up in my arms. I wondered if they will be disappointed some day when they find out their dad isn't as magical as he seems, and doesn't have it all together all the time. That was merely the ripple in the water that started the onrush of waves. Strange how our minds work, isn't it?
4For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men? 5What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.
I Corinthians 3:4-7
Who are your favorite authors? Mine right now are John Stott, H. Richard Neibuhr, Steve Farrar, and JK Rowling. Two of those you might be familiar with, two of those you probably aren't.
It seems that every time you walk into a Christian bookstore or the Christian section of one of the big chain stores, you find the same few authors. Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, Beth Moore, Max Lucado, John Piper, and a few others. Are they the only people who have insight that should be shared? Or are they the people who happened to get very popular, and so book sellers are only interested in putting their books on the shelves since they most likely have a sure-fire winner?
How many current books and music are only presented to us because the authors are popular? The business reason behind it is that their books and music sell, so the business makes money. But what about the Christian store that profits from the heretical? What have they really profited? Matthew 16:26 says "What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?" Are we as a Christian body gaining the world through a better life or more prosperity, but at the same time losing our souls due to our shortsighted view of eternity?
Don't take this as though I'm flaming the people who are popular. Some have great insights into Scripture and really seem to be communicating a message that God is the center of. However, others are laying out plans for a selfish, me-centered Gospel, which is not what Jesus laid out for us. We don't want our best life now (yes, that's a shot at one of the authors), we pine for our best life in eternity, when we are no longer separated from God. Why should we embrace the fleeting moment of our fallen human life at the expense of the eternal life with God?
Who should we put our faith in? The person who plants and waters the seed, or the God who gives it the ability to grow? If Paul, being an apostle of Jesus Christ himself didn't consider himself to be anything, then why should we. Why should we put our faith in people, when we can put our faith in Him who created all of us?
Seems a pretty easy answer to me.
I would like to give the world a first glimpse at...
(click image to enlarge)
Kaitlyn Nicole Ginn
Coming May 2008
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