rememberabilia

so very tired. this is from one of my new fave authors:

“Speaking of sleep, I keep having to remind myself not to listen to anything I think when I’m tired. Don’t engage the tired thoughts, don’t refute them: ignore, ignore, ignore. This is important to remember when a friend tells some innocent joke and instead of laughing like I normally would, I think “That’s it, the friendship’s over. I could never be friends with such a stupid, stupid idiot. Just look at his stupid teeth when he laughs in that stupid way,” etc., etc.

That’s why, when I get sufficiently tired, the wisest thing is just to go hide (and sleep) somewhere until it blows over; otherwise I’d have no friends left.”

the beginning and the end of the story. #thatisall

and this explains the top half of my tattoo.

Because growing up in the church can give a kid a pretty messed-up identity crisis.

“This means that kids growing up in Christian homes, kids growing up in the blessings of the covenant need to learn to see their sin and to see their Savior. This is what baptism means, this is what communion means, this is what the confession of sin in the liturgy means, this is what forgiveness always means.

We must avoid creating a culture that demands a cataclysmic conversion for every covenant child, but we must also simultaneously avoid creating a culture that acts like grace is normal or natural. No, actually sin and rebellion is normal and natural, and every covenant kid needs to see that black dragon in his heart. And then in the next breath see Jesus the Warrior crushing the serpent’s head, and washing his sins clean and breathing His Spirit into him.

And there is no true follower of Christ who does not know that freedom, who does not know that joy down deep in his bones, who does not want to stand up on his chair and shout ‘freedom!’ at the top of his lungs.”

I hate death. We can say glibly that “so and so is in a better place”, and that may be true, but death is still an enemy; still unnatural; still to be hated.

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell;
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell’st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
- John Donne, well acquainted with death

New Testament scholar Robert Gagnon pulls no punches when dealing with the issue of homosexuality. Here he responds (at great length and in several parts) to Johnson’s popular tome “A Time To Embrace” which details why homosexual relationships ARE appropriate in our current cultural situation.

What struck me, though, was the grace and love in Gagnon’s tone here, not typically evident (though usually somewhat present) in his writing. As a scholar, he concerns himself with factual and textual accuracy, not the feelings of his readers. :S

He understands the unique difficulty his position presents. “There is no denying that a two-sexes prerequisite for sexual relationships makes a demand that is keenly felt by a subset of the total population. At the same time all rules create special burdens for a particular part of a population. For example, a rule against multiple-partner sexual bonds or against adultery creates a special burden on persons with an intense polysexual orientation; a rule against adult-child sex creates a special burden on people with a pedosexual orientation; and a rule against covetousness and theft creates a special burden on the poor.”

But then he reminds us of the power of the Gospel. “Just as the greatest demonstration of God’s power came in Jesus’ greatest moment of weakness (1 Cor 1:18-25), so too for believers it is the endurance of difficult times, not immediate deliverance from them or avoidance of them, that constitutes the supreme moment of God’s power. “So I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I think well of weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and  calamities; for when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 12:9-10). Similarly Paul could tell the Philippians: “I have learned in the circumstances I find myself to be self-sufficient,” whether in need or in abundance, “initiated” into the mystery that “I can do all things in/through (en) the one who empowers me” (4:11-13). Even near-death experiences serve the purpose of teaching us to “rely not on ourselves but on the God who raises the dead” (2 Cor 1:9). But for Johnson, apparently, such moments of deprivation are bereft of good news and grace.”

Read pages 6-8 for a clear, loving picture of gospel hope for all who find themselves in extremely difficult life situations.

Probably the best defense of the value and dignity of human life, especially the weak and vulnerable, I have ever read.

“And let’s take the above pro-choice argument further. If personhood is defined by physical viability, then is a child with terminal cancer no longer a person? How about the elderly? A woman with AIDS? And you? Are you a person? Because I hate to break it to you, but you cannot survive outside the womb either. Does the fact that it takes you eight decades to die make you a superior being to the baby for whom it takes eight minutes?”

Do yourself a favour and read the whole thing.

I promise I’m really not doing a lot of reading on parenting haha but this post resonated with me…especially considering I have a total of three days off this month. Sundays have become a prime workday thanks to being a musician (oh church jobs) and I’m terrible at resting. however, exhaustion inevitably leads to depression - physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. How hard, but how important, to rest!