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This morning as I trotted up to the store wearing a coat thrown over pajamas, a crooked ponytail and bent glasses, I realized that my life would be materially damaged by fame. You know those hideous tabloid photos of celebrities caught outside a Starbucks or going into the gym? Yeah, I'm afraid I'd be that type of celebrity. :p
But what was I to do -- my mom needed something and she wouldn't be caught dead at the store in her pajamas...and we're leaving for Senegal tomorrow so I'm in a charitable mood. ;) Actually, we're leaving before the crack of dawn. We have to be at the airport at 4:45a owing to our large group, many boxes and departure on the busiest travel day of the year.
When I returned from the store I washed down my malaria medication with a generous helping of airborne while reading the paper. The two top stories? One: BSU's heartbreaking loss last night to Hawaii. Two: the melee that took place at the mall Friday morning.
The game was a tough one and none of the BSU paraphernalia we were wearing seemed to have much effect. In truth, we were outplayed, and that's a hard thing to admit of the team you love. Especially disappointing after last year's amazing season and our history of coming alive at the end to win in the last seconds. But the headline of the sports section this morning was "Paradise Lost" and that just made me laugh out loud. Talk about an overstatement.
Our mall opened at 1a Friday for a "Rocking Shoppin Eve" or something like that. Unfortunately they were overrun, a few were injured and the paper found several people to quote as they whined about false advertising, overcrowding and lack of planning. My favorite quote was from a mall spokesman who said they wouldn't do this again since their intent was to make a fun shopping experience, not pander to greed. Good for him!
Whoops! I was meaning to have a ramble, but it's taken me two hours to write this much as I'm continually interrupted by Senegal prep. I guess I'd better get a move on and get out the door on errand duty.
I woke up this morning to a light fall of snow on the ground. I don't know why, but snow just makes me happy. :) Of course it's already long gone...but it was nice while it lasted!
And snow reminds me of a great new Christmas offer I meant to post -- imagine the joy of your friend or family member as they open an autographed copy of an interesting, timely novel. :p
You too, can give the gift of reading by simply mailing me a check for $14.99. Yes, that's only $14.99 -- from now until Christmas I'll throw in free shipping and a free, super-cool bookmark.
Click here, then click on "how to order" to find out where you can mail the check. Make sure you include the name of the person you want it autographed to. :)
Oh now I really want to vote for this guy! :p <via WorldNetDaily>
Santas in Australia's largest city have been told not to use Father Christmas's traditional "ho ho ho" greeting because it may be offensive to women, it was reported Thursday.
In the words of someone quoted farther down in the article: "Gimme a break!"
A missionary friend recently quoted JRR Tolkien to me: not everyone who wanders is lost.
As someone who can barely go a year without coming down with an itch to travel, this quote speaks to me. I'm self-aware enough to know that there's an aspect of the grass is greener syndrome involved, but that's a minor ingredient.
I could blame my parents. No one can put a 6-month old on an international flight and not expect the experience to get under their skin. And they didn't stop there -- we criss-crossed the country several times before I was in high school. We once spent an entire summer trolling up and down the east coast in a motorhome while my dad promoted real estate seminars. It was the summer before eighth grade and, at the time, I was wildly interested in the Civil War. We went to every battlefield we could get to and I spent hours constructing battle scenes with toy soldiers and cannons.
Yes, I said eighth grade...and yes, I've always been a nerd. :p
Out of curiosity, I just hopped over to dictionary.com to check out the definition of wanderlust: a very strong or irresistible impulse to travel.
Why do I love to wander? I don't know, but the itch definitely borders on the irresistible at times. This year I'll add four new stamps to my passport -- a record unsurpassed but for the year I toured most of Europe. Of course I was two at the time so it wasn't real memorable. ;)
It's just such a big world! So many people, so many scenes of beauty unfamiliar to your usual surroundings. And so much that is similar also. I remember walking in a field of grain in the Ukraine as a 19-year-old and feeling a sense of unreality as I could have been walking in any of several Midwestern states.
Traveling anywhere in Europe can make an American feel like a child. You see cathedrals that passed infancy before the New World was discovered -- and yet -- last April I saw Egyptian monuments that were crumbling down before those cathedrals were even on the drawing board.
I could go on and on, but Tolkien's words ring true to me as I think of the places I've been privileged to see -- not everyone who wanders is lost. The other words that ring true are written in the book of Psalms, chapter 19, verses 1-3:
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.
I'm not married, nor have I ever been. As a matter of fact, at the ripe old age of 33, I've never even been engaged. I humbly agree that I have no idea what it must really be like to be married and not experiencing the height of wedded bliss.
Whether your spouse is unkind, doesn't share your favorite hobbies, is selfish, or drinks too much, or cheats, or abuses you in any way...all these things I readily admit to no material understanding of how it might feel.
From another angle, I also see that divorce is spoken of pretty clearly in Scripture, in most cases, as a sin. It is not the worst sin, nor the unforgivable sin. I don't think it needs to be separated out so that those who commit it can be publicly chastised and ostracized. Gossiping is just as "bad" a sin. So is dishonoring your parents. Or having pre-marital sex of the homo- or hetero- variety. Sin is sin.
With that said, I do find it disturbing to watch the ease at which our society rips apart the one flesh for any and all reasons. You can now apply online for a divorce in Broward County. Austria recently was the scene of the first ever "divorce fair" where you could speak to lawyers, hire a private detective or submit to a paternity test to make sure you haven't been conned. One attendee, a divorcee already in a new relationship said:
"I just wanted to get some information ahead of time, just to be prepared for the eventuality that such a terrible thing could happen again."
Nothing like hoping for the best!
These articles reminded me of a Time Magazine op-ed I recently read, entitled "An Evangelical Rethink on Divorce." The author puts forth the idea that a biblical stand against divorce is inconvenient and inhumane, and because evangelicals are divorcing at as great a rate as the rest of the world, they're rethinking the interpretation of such basics as Matthew 5:31-32:
"But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery."
Maybe Jesus used some quotation marks that we don't necessarily see in today's translations, which means you can change the interpretation to say He just meant you shouldn't have no-fault divorce, but if you had any good reason at all...like the guy at work is nicer to you than your husband...then it's ok.
The op-ed ends with, I think, the whole point the author was trying to make. If those pesky evangelicals would just rethink their old-fashioned ideas on divorce, then they can rethink their close-minded opinions on homosexuality -- and by gosh -- while they're at it they can cast their Presidential vote for a twice-divorced, adulterous former mayor.
Cali has recovered her land legs remarkably well after a year on the road. However, she wasn't a big fan of being stuck in the basement with no outlet for her very important staring-at-the-scenery duties. My dad, animal lover that he is, constructed a lovely outdoor salon for her ladyship and I kept the window above my bed open just enough for her to go in and out at leisure.
Unfortunately, the weather has now turned wicked cold at night and the open window is a clear and present danger to Cali's sunbathing privileges.
Lucky for Cali, this evening my dad, once again, came to her rescue. He constructed a plank/pet door/duct tape scenario that will allow her to come and go without turning me into a frozen block of ice. The only problem is...she doesn't seem to comprehend the strategy. Observe the line up of four treats at the bottom of the picture, trying to lure her back inside. Can you teach an old cat new tricks?
I've been on a Jane Austen-ish kick lately. It started with reading The Jane Austen Book Club <too much modern drama-homosexuality, affairs-not enough Jane>, then I switched to the new Pride & Prejudice sequels written by Elizabeth Aston.
I thought I'd write about these books so you don't think I'm always reading about politics and terrorism and end times and the culture wars and etc., etc. ;)
My favorite thing I got out of the above four -- the term 'rusticating.' Meaning: to retire to your country estate and dither around gardening and reading books and riding horses and taking long walks. Derogatorily spoken of by the London socialites who spent their time whirling from ball to ball and intrigue to intrigue -- but highly attractive to one such as I. :p
A friend forwarded this link. If you've got two minutes, it's a wonderful watch --- not just in the arena of Presidential politics, but for standing up for what you believe in a winsome, non-combative, but still firm way:
Saturday our Senegal team heard from a Latin American missionary who works among African Muslims. He said, among many other things, that they get along swimmingly because of similarities in cultural values. The story that struck me the most? He said you Americans have the watches, but we have the time.
Sunday I left the house at 7:30 in the morning and returned at 10:30 at night, with only an hour that wasn't accounted for by a meeting, or a luncheon, or a command appearance. This is acceptable to me because it's the final weeks before we head out to Senegal -- things have to be done and it's just too bad if, every so often, there's a confluence of all day events. When we get back I'll return to my busy though not always hectic lifestyle.
However, I know many people near and dear to me who live hectic-ly as a matter of course. I'm sorry to report that I didn't have a grand epiphany to solve the American problem of over-schedule-ization. ;) I just found it interesting to ponder this weekend in light of other cultures.
Thanks to the diligent efforts of my friend Stacy over at Active Christian Media, I've just about settled on Mike Huckabee as my candidate of choice. I like everything I've heard and read about him so far -- I think I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop, as it were, the skeleton just about to come out <one thousand times bitten, one thousand and one times shy>. That, and the fact that I'm appalled to have to choose a candidate so stinking early!
That said, I've spent a couple hours over the past few weeks reading up on Mr. Huckabee and watching different speeches he's made. Last night I watched his interview with Charlie Rose on PBS and found myself a little bit tickled that Mr. 2nd-Tier GOP Candidate <according to the MSM> was the first in Rose's candidate series.
Two things I enjoyed: his anecdote about how it's not much different going from Baptist Church politics into national politics -- because you can't find a more politically charged environment than a Baptist Church. I'm sure that's an old joke, but it was the first time I heard it and I laughed.
Second, I appreciated what he had to say about candidates who have no idea how a normal person lives. He got through college in just over two years because he couldn't afford to dilly dally, pastored for a number of years, sent his kids to public school, lost 100 pounds after being diagnosed with diabetes -- all fairly normal pursuits.
Shoot, I know I said two things, but now that I think of it there was one more that nearly caused me to stand up and cheer even though it was midnight and the folks were asleep -- he advocates the fair tax. He actually said the words "I'd abolish the IRS." Poor Charlie Rose looked apoplectic.
It's the first of the month, which means it's time for another first chapter of a new fiction book. Another first -- I was home long enough to receive the book and read it <though I didn't technically read it while at home, rather in Vegas with the new nephew>.
Anyway, Hollywood Nobody is by Lisa Samson and you can read the first chapter here. As I said, I did read the book. It wasn't really my cup of tea -- but I'm not really the target audience. It's a young adult novel, which is a stage I've long since past. ;)
What can I say about it now that I've prefaced with the reiteration that I'm not a tween so it probably didn't speak to me? :p I would recommend it if you have a tween for a couple reasons:
Other than that...yeah, it didn't speak to me. It did, however, bring to the forefront an issue I've been thinking through: just what makes something Christian fiction? I picked up a load of books at the International Christian Retail Show this summer and a couple of the chick-lit ones I've read so far have given me pause.
Both the ones that spring immediately to mind were published by NavPress <which, interestingly enough, I just checked and they also published Hollywood Nobody>. Neither had a heroine I much admired, or even liked to be honest. And God was sort of tacked in there, both in the book and in the lives of the heroines.
Have you ever seen Anne of Avonlea? Anne Shirley submits one of her ludicrous stories to a bunch of magazines and gets turned down because they're too silly. Her bff Diana Barry decides to submit the story to the Rollings Reliable Baking Powder contest without her knowledge, and lo and behold Anne wins. However, she's very confused as there was nothing about RRBP in the story. Diana says oh that was just easy as can be, I just jammed in a reference here and there.
Maybe that will only make sense to lovers of Anne... ;) But that's what those books reminded me of -- God was sorta crammed in to make them fit the "Christian fiction" category.
Does a book have to give a sermon or quote extensive Bible verses to be considered Christian fiction -- certainly not! In fact, that really bugs me in a novel. I've long thought Christian fiction needed a serious dose of reality and a great expansion from the historical romance rut we've been stuck in. Not that historical romances are bad!
Should something be categorized Christian fiction if there's no real spiritual message at all...just because there's no swearing nor sex scenes? I'm all for clean entertainment...and maybe the simple fact is you can't hardly get a clean book published in the secular market. I don't know.
Should something still be considered Christian fiction if it includes a little swearing and reference to, but not graphic description of, immoral sexual behavior? What if there's a clear redemptive message and you're uplifted by the end?
Aha! After months of pondering, while writing this I've finally come to the root of what bothers me about those books. They were blah spiritually and I felt ripped off by the Christian fiction categorization. They reminded me of our American version of Churchianity -- neither hot, nor cold, just blah. It was a chore to finish them because they didn't challenge me to be better spiritually, nor did they offend me enough to stand up against them.
I find, once again, that I'm a flaming hypocrite at heart. I whine about the unreality of standard Christian fiction and complain that I can't find enough clean books to read -- and then I'm dissatisfied with the new offerings that are a little closer to real life with all its compromise and lack of passion; books that are possibly just trying to put themselves out as alternatives to the often smutty chick-lit market.
What is Christian fiction? I don't have the answer to that, but I'm pretty glad I'm not in charge of deciding. ;)
