Itchy

I think I've written this post before...

or at least I've thought it.

A million times.

I'm itchy (again).

About everything.

Life is weird that way -- at least for me.

I hit a stride;

we hit a stride,

and I get restless.

I told my expensive friend this week that I can't sleep there are so many things running around this brain of mine.  *sigh*

I suppose none of them are original thoughts -- more just my two cents on the issues of the day, so to speak.

It can be hard for me to reconcile my life as a believer with living here in the U.S.

Often.

Now.

We are so obsessed in this country with things that, at the end of the day, just.don't.matter.

For example, I don't believe that God is sitting up in heaven, looking down on us and thinking, "Uh!  A woman taught at that church this week!  *gasp*  That's it!  They are OUT!"  (Said in His best umpire voice)

That's not the God I know.

And I am not convinced that's what the Bible teaches, either.

Instead, scripture says, "man looks on the outward appearance but God looks on the heart."

Further, no one in Uganda (and many churches around the world) is worried about "who" is preaching the sermon; only about Christ and Truth and love and forgiveness and justice and mercy.  Are we ready to say that none of them are saved because they got the "doctrine" (or is it "theology"?) of women in the church wrong?  Not me.  Way too much energy is spent on issues like this, and I'm done with them.  It's time to practice the freedom in Christ that we are promised.  As for me and my family, we will be free.

Similarly, I am over this country's obsession with politics.  Over it.

I've read a few blogs lately that capture it for me, almost completely.

Pastor Brian Zahnd wrote:

"There are committed Christians who conscientiously vote Republican. And there are committed Christians who conscientiously vote Democratic. This is true. You simply have to accept it."

So simple; so obvious.

And yet so overlooked as we slay one another for not thinking the same way about everything.

He also wrote, "If your political passion makes it hard for you to love your neighbor as yourself, you need to turn it down a notch."

 Amen?

You can read his entire article here.

Then there is Jen Hatmaker.  If I could move to Austin, Texas and attend the church her hubby pastors, I'd do it in a heart beat.  She recently wrote:

"The lines we draw in the sand do absolutely nothing except assure everyone else: YOU’RE OUT. When we turn to politics and power to legislate our brand of morality, we take the opposite approach of Jesus whose power was activated in the margins with the outcasts...humbly...peripherally."

And, I have to share the back end of the article:

 "If you are weary of the storm, come on downstairs. We’re going to get on with the business of loving people and battling real injustices and caring for the poor and loving Jesus. We’re going to go ahead and offer mercy to one another, even if it is viewed as “soft” or “cowardly” or “dangerous.” (But once I conquer all my own demons definitively, I’ll be happy to turn a critical eye on everyone else’s. Good?) We’re going to trust that Jesus is actually at work in this world like He said, and when he promised that “His kindness leads us to repentance,” we’re just going to believe Him.

Sure, the storm will rage on up there. But you can find refuge just down the stairs. We have a whole thing going on underground. Gay friends and family, you are welcome down here. Marginalized women, come on down. Isolated and confused by organized religion, afraid your questions aren’t welcomed? Join us. Activists and bleeding hearts, you are our heartbeat. Plain, old, ordinary sinners saved by grace, you belong here. Misfits, ragamuffins, and rebels, bring the party. Reformed legalists, you are my people. Pastors contending for God’s glory and people, help lead us. Dissenters, dreamers, visionaries, we need you."

How many churches do you know that look like THAT?  I told my parents this week, that if there is ONE thing I can teach my children....one.... ONE, it's this.  Jesus is the God of the outcast, the underdog, the powerless and the powerful.  And He loves them all.  But if we are the powerful, that does not give us license to marginalize others.  And like Jen Hatmaker, I'm over it

Remember Zacchaeus?

I think I (we) like to forget him.

That most despised, hated, overlooked sinner who Jesus loved and led to saving faith in Him.

Even when Jesus could have condemned him, like everyone else.

No, Jesus practiced the message of His great Sermon on the Mount.

And thank God for me (and you) He did.

Then there are the needs of this world.

The endless needs.

Financial needs; parenting needs; emotional needs....

the need for JESUS flesh on.

It often pains me as I sit at my computer, read blogs, look at the news (I find it hard to read it), or follow my Facebook feed, and realize how much need there is.

And as that reality sinks in -- once again -- I find myself asking how my family can do more.

We can cut back here or there to give more.

We could volunteer more.

I can pray more.  Or harder (what does that mean?).

We can refocus and readjust our priorities back to the only thing that matters.

Because there really is only "one thing."

(Name that movie???)

And His name is Jesus.

So as I'm itchy and restless and looking for more ways to lean into my Savior, I'm also trimming the fat and looking for ways that I can help my babies do the same.  Because at the end of the day, the real end of the day, NONE of the rest matters.

To be continued....