A friend fancies himself as a pretty good photographer.  (I know he has a pretty good camera.  His skill does bring out the best in the camera.)  Recently, he posted some pictures on Facebook of a couple he photographed.  He captioned the group of images with this phrase, “Thank you for letting me photograph your beautiful family.”  And, they were a beautiful family made up of two moms, a child, and one on the way.

I am not sure if they are married or what the laws in Ohio are now regarding the marriage of same sex couples.  Upon seeing the images, I could not help thinking how appropriate the caption was for these particular pictures.  A family is something which can have a different definition from the culture, the church or any individual can come up with a unique definition of what family feels like to them.  Family is a word I am in full support of being customized to meet the needs of each individual.  If you want an inanimate object in your family or want to have a family of SO MANY people, this definition does not or should not offend anyone.

If the caption would have been, ” What a beautiful couple” or “What a happy marriage” or something along those lines, then I would have been more bothered by what he posted.  Marriage is joining that occurs legally.  It was for many years “recognized by God”.  Now, the government is redefining through less than legal channels (it is all being done in the courts and not by legislatures) what ALL CITIZENS must recognize as a marriage.  If you don’t like it and won’t treat them like a traditional marriage couple you can be sued and whatever else.

As citizens of the US, we do have the right to pursue happiness.  When your pursuit of happiness interferes with someones else pursuit of life/career/happiness, the present climate has the “non-traditional” largely winning.  People much smarter (this is such a basic question–I don’t think they need to be much smarter than me!) than me should be able to resolve this in a way so it is not so political.  If you have to put an adjective in front of “marriage”, than what has become of the institution of marriage?

Back to the pictures…I applaud the couples commitment to each other and their family.  (I wouldn’t want my spouse to have tatoos, but that is my issue.)  A family should have children and love.  If you venture to much farther from these issues, at its best, the word “family” means stable.  When their marriage is one not capable of procreating as God designed procreation, then I know which marriage more closely aligns with a biblical definition of marriage.  I don’t want to judge them.  When judged, I know I will fall short on many counts as well.  Marriage was established by God.  He set it up for a man and woman to be bound together with Him.  On judgement day, God will have to sort out those who willingly ignored His commandments with an unrepentant heart.

My son who is still at home works at Chik-Fil-A.  Since he has refused (he says he is too busy and is saving me a car insurance payment, but I really think he likes being taxied.)  While taking him to and from work, I will sometimes throw out questions of a spiritual nature.  The other day, I asked, “What do you think about freewill? If I was God, I would have pulled it after they messed up.”  (The atheist book I was reading recently had been my inspiration for these type of thoughts.  Atheist [many anyways] seem to think that religion restricts their life and their ability to really live.  Many look down on Christians and their commitment to a God who, in their minds, has provided no evidence of His presence.)

His response was a little more serious than I hoped for, “We have to have freewill so we can choose for ourselves.”

Because he has been working lots and is preparing to graduate from high school in a few weeks, I will forgive him not realizing the irony in my question.  If we did NOT have freewill, we could not even entertain the idea of truly having it.  And, this highlights the difference between how God responds to these type of issues and how we as humans react.  As humans, we often lose a privilege if we do something wrong.  God has chosen to allow us to keep our freewill.  And, as an added bonus we get to die and live our lives trying to reestablish the relationship that was so easily available before sin came into the world.

It is for this reason I know God is not human and exist on a completely different plane than we react.  God is patience and kind and loving.  As a parent, my patience will wear out and I will grow to resent my kids.  God continues to give us mulligans and do-overs.  And, we still maintain our freewills throughout the process.  Earthly parents want (i.e. demand) honor.  God is willing to work with us to bring us to Him despite the battle waged by our freewill to do so.

If I were God, the world would have been recreated and destroyed many times over.  (That is, if I could forgive myself for creating it and messing it up the first time) God knew what He was doing, and He continues to navigate our world to its eventual end.  I may not love every day of the ride, but I am glad I am able to get their without blind obedience.  I can be angry at God while still being obedient.  When the anger disperses, God is still there.  He knows when we look to Him we do it because we want to give our freewill back to Him.  And, if we are just considering giving our freewills to the cheapest bidder, eternal life is a pretty good exchange.

Do to a family member having some spiritual questions, I wanted to try and read a book about atheism to try and get an understanding of what this extreme view looked like.

The book i am reading is Generation Athiest.  This book is a grouping of stories of how a variety of people “came out” as atheist.  Many of the people seem to have problems with the biblical take out homosexuality. Some grew up in a charismatic church.  And, many grew up where one or both parents put no real priority on a Christian world view.  Many of the participants in the book made it seem like the Christian world view was so oppressive.  Those who came out may not all have grown up in Christian homes, but it seems like giving up the faith of their youth was a way to remove guilt.  It gave them a freedom they did not feel they had while practicing a faith.  When you don’t have to think about hell, praying or becoming closer to God, they did not have to deal with ALL of the responsibilities of having a faith.  They can still be great people, but it is not because of a God they don’t believe in.

Many felt the need to be “activist atheist”.  They created groups on their college campuses or organized protests of prayers at their high school graduations.  Almost all of the participants used the word “religiousity”.  I think the word means anything religious.  But, as I read the word, I can almost picture each of the participants in the book sneering as they used it.  Richard Dawkins was also mentioned by most of those who participated in the book.  They may not have a God, but Richard seemed to certainly be a prophet of their practice. Many mentioned they hadn’t told their grandparents and/or very reluctantly told their parents.  Also, how they were so happy they were atheist even if they were rejected by their family members and ostracized from their friends who “really” weren’t their friends.  And, if this is the case it is sad.  However, maybe it is just convenient to always blame the Christians even if the atheist-proselytizing just annoyed the Christians.

The book opened my eyes a bit.  It did not change my beliefs.  One of the participants asked the question, “What if the Christian faith is not real?”  He felt comfortable answering this questions by being an atheist.  I think the bigger question is, “What if it IS real?”  What if at the end of your life you find out their is an afterlife?    What if you are an atheist and you find out your selfish, close-minded, pro-evolutionary view were your undoing?  What if eternity (whatever it looks like in the place where nonbelievers go) is a constant reminder of the self-focused life that made you so happy while on earth?

Atheist are still in need of a Savior.  They convince themselves science can solve it all.  But, at least they are not hiding behind a “fake” faith.  They are letting you know they are not “saved”.  Pray for wisdom and patience!  God can break down any barrier, but He has to be the one to break it down using His people on earth.

I have gone on mission trips in the past.  Pulling away from the distractions of the world is truly a way to grow closer to God!

I was planning on going on a mission trip with our church.  After attending an informational session.  I found out most of the trips are done as a twosome (i.e. husband/wife, parent/child or a whole family).  This organization was looking to send a mission group to China.  Having been to China last fall, I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to go back to China not as a tourist but as a believer wanting to serve.  The only issue was sorting out the dates and seeing what group I might be partnered with.  I tried to convince my son to go with me, but due to his need to earn money for college in the fall, he shutdown the negotiating pretty quickly.

After a few emails and an additional meeting with a couple I was to be paired with, I was having doubt that spending two weeks in  a foreign country with near strangers would be a fulfilling experience.  The wife of the potential team seemed to embrace the idea of me being part of their team; unfortunately, her husband did not give a similar vibe.  I realize it may just be his personality, but I was not excited to embark on an experiment where I was separated from my family for two weeks in a foreign country to prove my theory was correct.

This past week I sent an email to the coordinator and the husband/wife team.  I was making them aware I would not be participating.  I was not expecting a “dripping” email response, but I thought they would reply with something.  BUT, they didn’t.  So, I chose not to go on the mission trip and made it look like it was my inability to commit to the trip.  I didn’t say, “I am not going because I really don’t think he wants me there.”

On a parallel project, we were working with a company that coordinates student exchange programs.  When asked what country we were interested in, I said, “China.”  After she told me many Chinese kids are somewhat spoiled due to the one-child policy, I replied, “Whatever country you think would be a good fit.”  This past week, the exchange coordinator informed us they had a nearly perfect student for us—-from China.  She has a sibling, and based on her letter, she seems to be a very well-balanced young lady.  Things should be finalized within a couple of weeks.

So, sometimes you need to go to the mission trip, and maybe sometimes it comes to you!

************Disclaimer**************

I am not a Catholic OR a member of a denomination that actively participates in a Lenten tradition.  The Church of Christ does not do an Ash Wednesday service.  Nor do they preach giving up “anything” for Lent

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I have seen the pictures in the paper and stories on the internet.  I respect those who devoutly participate in Lent and seek to grow closer to God through the entire process.

That being said, the “getting ashes in the car” seems to be wrong.  Locally, I saw where this was done by an Episcopal priest. (I am sure somewhere a Catholic priest probably did the same.)  Should the priest come out to your car and put ashes on your forehead without you even coming into the church? Some people seem to believe getting to heaven involves marking a few things off of a list before you die.  If you have marked these things off the list and if your good outweighs your bad, you are in.  This is where my concern comes about.  If anything spiritual is done out of a sense of responsibility and it does not have a “heart” component, then it is worthless in the eyes of God.  If things are done to grow closer to God, they are good.  (I am a little particular as to what God I grow closer too.  So, I guess I am VERY particular on this point.)

We are all accountable to God for our decisions.  All things spiritual to you, may not be spiritual to me.  But, if I was Catholic and desired to have ashes on my forehead, I believe attending the mass would be a part of the whole experience.  If you were part of Ash Wednesday, I hope you find yourself growing closer to Him throughout the year….but with a special emphasis on this Easter season!