A real Christmas

So, here's the deal. Watch this, then do it. Give. Be Jesus.

peace.

Saddened

Things have been happening that leave me no option but to completely rely on God...and it is scary, but so, so amazing. And regardless if His will are my prayers, God is so, so good.


But sometimes, I run into something that breaks me heart. The picture at the bottom of this post is one of those things. Her sign is a response to a decision that was made for California in the last election...as well as a reaction to priests protecting their parishes by denying child abuse and molestation charges.

It breaks my heart that this woman is separated from the love of Christ because of the hands of those who follow Him. It breaks my heart that this woman has seen so much hatred from the church (maybe even experienced it herself) that she is jaded against those who truly seek to live like Jesus. Who seek out the lonely...who follow the commandment to love both God and neighbor.

There is no stipulation on love. There is nothing in Jesus' words that tells us that we are to ostracize a whole group of people based on part of their life that they may or may not have a choice in...

And personally, I am so tired of trying to show everyone that-while I am a "Jesus-freak"-I am not the same as most. If I got to spend half the time I do defending my faith as I did loving others as much like Jesus as I am currently capable of doing, I think my neighborhood would be a different place.

I understand that I too have destroyed the name of Christ to others, but knowingly and ignorantly. I am not innocent of this crime either.

But I plead to those who come across people that they have deemed beyond "saving," before you write someone off think about all those who society deemed as "outcasts" and "unlovable" yet Jesus loved.

peace.

addendum to last post

Last night I was thinking about something happening in our life...I was thinking about how, while God has empowered us to make great decisions and given us the opportunity to use all He has taught us, the outcome of the situation is still ultimately in His hands. I realize that this may be common knowledge to most (as it is to me), but I suddenly felt empowered to pray with a new understanding of our Lord. And I felt free.

peace.

What God is teaching me...

One of the things that has been hard about being married is how much my relationship with God has changed since Micah entered my life. I remember talking about it with our mentor couple before we got married, and Erin very directly said that the way she spent her time with the Lord changed when she got married.

I haven't felt void of God, but He has more been my umbrella than anything else. I know He's there, I still experience Him, and still have been learning more about Him. But He seemed to just be above me, seeing everything but not really "involved."

Last week started to turn around a bit...we had passionate discussion in house church that was empowering to us, a convicting sermon that left us with hope, and new direction for how we feel God is asking us to live.

It's been exciting to see Micah fired up about what God has to say...for a while I felt like Micah was really supportive of my crazy ideas about how to live but in more of a "I really love Carter way" than a completely sold out for living minimally kind of way. And I think that is starting to change. We've been talking about sacrifice in more than a financial sense, but in a "what would it look like if we both worked part time so we could be more dedicated to our family and available to serve the community" kind of way. We've been talking about how to make the home more energy efficient. And what it will look like when we are down to one car.

It's exciting. And I feel close, empowered, and excited about living into this life God has provided in a very alive and real way.

But it isn't without some sacrificial realization from a very one sided and personal level.

I am learning what it means to be married and have friends. Sometimes my biggest desire is to have one of my close friends move next door so that we can be in each other's lives more regularly. I am realizing that one flesh means a lot more than sex. I am becoming more comfortable with the notion that friendships change and that I can't always see people when they desire to see me. I am understanding my married friends more...

peace.

empowerment

Sometimes I think the very people who wish the government had less control are the very people who are relying on the government to do the "right thing."

I have had several conversations with people this week regarding the recent election and their frustration with Obama's stance on abortion.  To be honest, while I believe that EVERY life is completely sacred, abortion isn't something I think about on a regular basis.  Yes, it breaks my heart that we don't recognize the sanctity of ALL lives, but I don't line up the government with abortion.

As mentioned above, the most shocking thing to me has been the amount of people who, when asked how they choose to vote, vote solely on the president's stance on abortion yet do nothing.

Have we forgotten how to use our voices?  Have we forgotten how to fight against injustice?  Where is our imagination?

What if the people who were adamantly opposed to abortion sought out women who were susceptible and offered to adopt their child?  What if, instead of picketing, you went inside the abortion clinic as a volunteer?  Obviously, not to support abortion, but to be closer to women who felt they had no other option?  What if you loved not only their unborn child, but the mothers carrying the child?  What is we loved the mothers like Jesus loved the woman at the well?

I don't know who reads our blog and if it will make people angry.  Feel free to leave any kind of comment you'd like (if you choose to), but I do ask you this...please be thoughtful and intelligent before writing.  It's fine if you disagree, but if it is degrading, I'm deleting it.

peace, Carter

PS Something Micah and I talk about is the sanctity of all life...be it the unborn, the endangered mother, the person on death row, or the soldiers in the midst of battle...how can we choose to love only one kind of life and not all people?

smiles

I've written about I before...she's the little girl with leukemia in kindergarten. She was out for about a month, but she has been back at school for a couple weeks now. It is nice to have her in class again.

And I actually do have her in class, when given a choice she comes to music class! She doesn't always participate, but she wants to be there. Which I am exceedingly excited about! She does great in music class-can keep a steady beat, likes to sing, likes to play instruments. It's really great having her there.

Yesterday we were singing "Allison's Camel." A standard in kindergarten music literature. And it was great...we were flashing sign language numbers like peace signs. And then at the end of the song, E shouts "OH MY GOSH!" and as I look over to see what caused such an outburst, she says, "I is smiling!"

Then, as all the children turned their heads to look at I, they start to clap for her, which makes an even bigger smile come to her face.

The smiling lasted maybe 45 seconds, but the impact of it has carried me through today. It reminds me, that while I don't always like the politics of the education system or having to report to someone who was never a music teacher, there is so much more to my job than lesson plans and meetings.

By the way, she smiled again today-only she was on my lap, so I didn't get to see it.

Speaking of politics, just a little soapbox.

One of the great things about our nation is that we don't have to agree all the time...and we've been given avenues to share our disagreement when we have them.

But, if you believe in honoring God, you best be praying that your heart changes if you hold any kind of contempt for our current president or president-elect. Trust me, I have had to humble myself and do it before too.

peace.