The Aftermath

Do you remember where you were when 9/11 took place?
I remember waking up to start my school for the day (I was home schooled) and as I was doing my morning rituals of brushing my teeth and getting dressed, I heard the TV on downstairs. I walked down the stairs to see mom watching TV with there being a tower in flames. I thought it was odd that she would be watching TV in the morning (our family would only watch TV in the evening time) and an action film at that. Come to find out, what I was viewing with my mom was not a movie and was the news of terrorist attack.

Fast forward 12 1/2 years...do you remember where you were when 04/15/13 took place? I was in my office working on a project when someone from the security department came and informed my office that bombs had gone off at the Boston Marathon (hours later the public was informed how many people had lost their lives and were injured). Less than 24 hours before that moment, me, my mom, and some of the residents from my dorm had been in that exact place, visiting a historical church in the Boston area. Talk about surreal. Our office began to receive phone calls from concerned parents as to whether or not we knew if their children were at the Boston Marathon because they couldn't get a hold of them. Co-workers and I began to check in with our residents to make sure they were okay. A few days afterwards, Boston and many of the surrounding cities went on lock down and we know how the rest of the story unfolds.

What now?
What do we do?
What is the church called to do?
Do we shout out "hang the terrorist"? Do we wish for the worse for this 19 year old....boy? I mean, come on! He probably had a hand in killing innocent lives, harming over a hundred people, causing fear and unrest for many of the people I live life with, along with others.

The area that I live in has gone back to "normal" as normal goes. Yet there is still an unsettled-ness in my spirit. What of this boys family? How many people are turning their backs on them? How many people are now giving his mother and father "I told you so" advice? How many Christians have walked away from them? How many Christians are condemning them? "Oh that wouldn't happen", you might say. Yet I have been one of those people who has had a family member do legally wrong things and the time where my family needed people, aka, the church, the most, is when the church turned away and gave "solid advice" that did not need to be spoken.

Again I ask you, what are we to do? Prayers are priceless yet could more be done?

Blended

Fingers stroking keys
Musical lyrics filling the air
Soft candle light flickering gently
Dusk turning to night
Firefly's brightening the air
Stars filling the sky

Honeysuckle in my nostrils
Summer breeze filling the room
Voices in the distance
Prayers in my heart

Thoughts in my mind
Hope in my soul
Yet concern in my eyes

Suffering surrounding
Pain so evident
Apathy increasing
God's heart breaking

Fingers no longer stroking keys
Musical lyrics overcome with silence
Smoke replacing the candlelight
With the night resisting dawn
Firefly's in hiding
Clouds  covering the sky

Death in my nostrils
Ice enveloping the outdoors
Voices shouting
Prayers ended
God's people blended

Revival needed
Exercise of words and actions encouraged
One wanted
To be unblended
To be filled
With the Spirit of God
To create a change
To walk narrowly
Yet Humbly
To walk boldly
Yet with grace
To walk in the Power
Yet in love

One wanted to melt the ice
One wanted to live through Christ who gives life
One wanted to bring back life
One wanted to bring back light

One wanted...

Sisterly Kindness

1 Corinthians 13

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Way of Love

13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned,^[a] but have not love, I gain nothing. 

(via www.biblegateway.com) 

I was at the grocery store this afternoon and ran into a local pastor's wife. We exchanged greetings but it was clear that there was no time to engage in conversation with me. So I kept walking, swinging by package of toilet paper and pushing my cart while thinking, "why do we as women, treat each other so poorly?"

When and how was it that mother's instilled in their daughters that they are to be kind to some but not all? We, as women, seem to do a pretty good job at being judgmental. If we feel as though another woman has too much makeup on, is not a good homemaker, does not dress to our taste, uses incorrect English, works outside of the home, has different views on dating/courtship, and marriage than us, has a career that we do not approve of, does not eat everything organic and natural or eats everything organic and natural, does not hold to the belief of women in church leadership, holds to the view of women in church leadership, raises their children differently, we judge. We feel threatened. And lets face it, sometimes, we're jealous. Why????

Is it the fact that we do not value our own selves so therefore we are not going to value others? Is it the fact that we want to be the center of attention so when others are receiving that attention, we feel threatened? Is it the fact that we do not like our life, so we negatively compare it with the lives of others? Is it the fact that we do not like what we see in the mirror?

I, as a woman, can be the best at whatever I put my hands to. But if I have not love, I'm merely making racket. I can be the best at saving money, the best girlfriend, the best RD, the best cook, the best student, the best member of the church; but if I do not have love what does all this profit? NOTHING. I hope to one day live in a world, where regardless of personalities, we as women, can stand up and be a support, stand up and be kind, stand up and be loving, stand up and be Christ to the sister's around us. When Christ was on earth, he made it his business to love "the other." The "other" meaning those you would think that he would have no time for. Sisters, it is time to stand up. As my wise mother once said, at the end of the day, we all put our pants on the same way so there's no reason to be snooty. ;)

Ahhhhh September!

September is here!!!!!!!
It has always been one of my favorite months because my birthday inhabits it and it also represents the end of summer and the beginning of autumn (my favorite season). I've recently started thinking on what I was doing about 10 years ago. If we were to travel back in time I would have been living in IN, starting my first babysitting job, going into 8th grade, and spending my free time doing carefree things such as riding my bike, piano and art lessons, reading, 4-H, and enjoying the friendship's of my junior high and high school friends, Lauren, Amy and Casey.

Fast forward to now.
In the here and now I am realizing what it means to have boundaries (not the dating relationship boundaries, which Shane and I also have). My dad used to tell me all the time "Julie, you need to practice saying "no." Just look in the mirror and say "no" over and over." Of course I would always laugh when he would tell me this but as I grow older, I'm realizing more and more that he has a point, and not just a small point. I cannot be all things to all people. Life cannot be consumed with the desires of others. Yet it cannot be consumed with the desires of self either. But where's the balance? As you well know by now, I am no theologian. But I have been wondering something. What happened to having a Sabbath? What happened to having a day of rest? God's word tells us that he made the Sabbath for man not man for the Sabbath. I was in a training session with most of the Residential Life Staff that I work with and the speaker was telling us how it could be considered a sin to not care for self. Have you ever thought of the verse that says "love your neighbor as you love yourself?" Here's the questions: are you loving self? Do you run around doing so much for others that you don't do for you (and this is easy to do when working with students or people in general)? Whether it's something as simple as listening to your body in terms of stopping when you have to go to the bathroom, eating when you're hungry, getting enough sleep and water, and exercising, and refueling yourself whether through solitude, time spent with the Lord, music, art, etc.

Not only do Shane and I have a physical boundary contract but we also have a "Sabbath" contract. Wherein we both have a time frame during a specific day of the week (maybe one day we'll graduate to an entire day) where we are committing to spend time resting (and of course this could mean different things for different people). And we don't spend this time together. This past weekend was somewhat difficult in that I chose to ignore three phone calls even though I technically wasn't "busy." Here's a small list of things I enjoy doing during my alone time:

1. Walking by the beach
2. Getting a massage every couple of months
3. Reading
4. Spending time with the Lord
5. Journaling
6. Taking myself out to a nice meal
7. Movie nights

I would just like to encourage whomever is reading this to take care of yourself. If you don't, not many others will. Until next time!

JGB

Someone great
Someone grand
Someone I don't deserve
Someone I'm thankful for
Someone I'm growing to know more and more
Someone who is more than I could ever dream of
Someone I dearly care for :)

Oh Politics!

I'm never been a huge fan of politics or the election season.

You have the Republicans asking you: "How can you vote for a democrat and be a Christian since most democrats support gay rights and abortion?"

You have the Democrats say: "How can you vote for a republican and be a Christian since most republicans care nothing about the poor, forgotten, and ignored?"

My question for you readers is this: whoever is in office or may be in office, would they know that you are a follower of Christ, not by what side you vote for, but by how you conduct your speech and actions? All the sharing of demeaning and disrespectful jokes, rude cartoons, and non respect does not reflect what Christ is all about. Yes! Have your opinion and make it known. But to tear someone down with your words, no matter how much you dislike them, in no means will please the heart of God OR have that person desire to be a follower of God.

Just something to think about.

Content

I am truly thankful for all that the Lord has done and is doing. I was able to visit my two older brothers in Indiana this past weekend. My second oldest brother I hadn't seen in about 5 years and I hadn't seen my oldest in 1 year. You know, no family is perfect, no family has all the answers, no family will do everything that it should. But the fact of the matter is that so many of us have been blessed with families; families that will love us through thick and thin and family members we will love through thick and thin. There's almost a 100% certainty that when I go into the city, I'll see someone who is homeless. And I'll often think "doesn't this person have any friend's or family that can help them get back on their feet?" The fact of the matter is, not everyone have people in their lives that can be or represent family. Of course you also get the people who push folks away from them, not knowing that they're only harming themselves by shutting everyone out of their lives.

I thank God for my family and I thank him for his lovingkindness that is better than life. My lips shall always praise him.