DISCOURAGEMENT

I am really discouraged lately and don't feel like blogging. So if you read this, you will know why I am not writing, and also you can pray for me! Thanks.

A GOOD DIALOGUE

I encourage everyone to read the posts and comments for the post two back called "Does everyone fit??" because there is a good discussion going on there. Please join in the discussion.

WHO IS "NORMAL"?

Don't we all walk around wishing we were as happy as our neighbor? I mean our Christian neighbor with whom we sit in the pew. We think they have it far more together than we do. I am just not hunky dorey happy all day. I'm just not. Actually true joy comes as rarely as belly hurting laughter. And I think maybe that's the way its supposed to be while we are on this earth. We are made for joy in relationship with our Father, but we are not walking in Paradise right now. And its just hard - a lot. And I think its like that for everyone, but somewhere we got messed up in believing that appearances are so important that we need to fool everyone else instead of walk with them together in the hard. I want to make strides in acting real and honest - I want to look how I am feeling. Real.

DOES EVERYONE FIT??

Does everyone feel comfortable at church? In God's economy then they would. According to his Word, then that's how the church would be. but what about the woman who is a single mom to a 4 year old girl who was sexually abused by her father and now is a chronic masturbator, and the single mom has a sister who is involved in an abusive homosexual relationship - all of the dysfunction stemming from their dysfunctional childhood. What does this single mom say when prayer request time comes? Can she say all this and not have people stare? or back away? or blow it off because its overwhelming? Can she expect others to enter in as Jesus would??

RACE AND THE WOMEN'S RETERAT

I know immediately that this kind of blog that I am fixin to write may really push some buttons. That is not my desire - to make others angry or defensive. But this is a topic that I long for the church to discuss more and more. The topic of race relations.

The women of my church went on a retreat this weekend. I noticed how the black women and the white women never sat together unless there were no more seats left and so they had to sit beside each other. They never seemed to choose to sit together. I wondered why? I think we are so comfortable in our comfort zones that we often don't even think about stepping out of them and doing stuff to consciously cross over the line. The black and white cultures are different on the surface, but underneath then they are the same kind of people. It takes a little bit of work to get past the initial cultural differences to where you can see the similarities, and if we don't try then it won't happen on its own. I long for people to make a more conscious choice to improve race relations and to understand the other race.

I am taking a foster parenting class. This past Tuesday night then one of the teachers said this,"I remember the day that I realized: I am black - that means I am different - and that difference is not good." And she went around and asked all the other class members who were black if they had had a day like that too; each one said yes. And her point was that it is a hard thing to be black in this country even still, and we who are not black need to see and understand that (if we are going to foster black kids). I share that because I think that was a great way to express that.