You don't have to talk to me long about marriage to learn that I subscribe to the "old fashioned" and unpopular act of submission. It's something I try to practice and believe in. One of my favorite writings on this is from Marla Taviano in her book http://www.taviano.com/marla/books/from-blushing-bride-to-wedded-wife.html (From Blushing Bride to Wedded Wife). There's a back to back section about submission, followed by respect. I think I should be required by law to read it daily.
So instead of talking a lot about it, I thought I'd share this story.
On Sunday, I went down to pick up the Sunday papers. Chris usually reads both the local papers every weekend, so one of us has to pick them up on Sunday. I went into Rutters to grab them before I made us a very late breakfast. There was a guy there trying to get sign ups for our local Sunday paper for delivery. They always get you because they offer you a free paper. I went ahead and took one, but I knew I wasn't going to go for the offer, even if it was good. The reason was exactly what I told the guy. I don't make decisions like that without talking to my husband --
--side note: my hubby doesn't require me to discuss everything with him first. If the paper thing was something only I participated in every week, and I wanted to take my spending money to subscribe, he wouldn't have cared. But since this is something that's important to him, all final decisions route through him. Same goes for anything moderate or major. Minor things often don't require a discussion. --
--Being a sales person, he still tried to get me to buy it. What if after I talked to my husband, the offer was gone? But he even went to the point that he hid in one of his points that I should "be a big girl and just do it."
Wow.
I didn't say anything back to him. I knew it wasn't worth it, he was just trying to do his job. But it was pretty offensive to me. Be a big girl? Does he understand how hard it is sometimes to submit? That takes a bigger girl. Don't get me wrong, I was glad for an out on this one, and I often would much rather have my hubby take the big decisions for me, but sometimes it is hard to let go and trust that allowing my husband the head of our household will work. And it does. Because God honors us when we do things the right way.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
A verse
I don't have anything major to say today. Just this verse from today's reading in Proverbs....
Proverbs 19:21
Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails.
-Jacki
Proverbs 19:21
Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails.
-Jacki
Monday, January 17, 2011
Are you going to Hell?
Did that catch your attention? :)
There’s an interesting phrase that I hear tossed around every now and again, which usually occurs after someone does or says something they think is pretty inappropriate, but they decide to do or say it anyway. “I’m going to hell.” It’s an interesting moment. A lot of times, especially if I’ve heard them say they’ve attended church, I’ll find myself saying “no, you’re not” or “not just for that” or “not because of that.” It always catches me off guard and rubs me the wrong way because I hate a works-based view of Christianity.
There’s an interesting phrase that I hear tossed around every now and again, which usually occurs after someone does or says something they think is pretty inappropriate, but they decide to do or say it anyway. “I’m going to hell.” It’s an interesting moment. A lot of times, especially if I’ve heard them say they’ve attended church, I’ll find myself saying “no, you’re not” or “not just for that” or “not because of that.” It always catches me off guard and rubs me the wrong way because I hate a works-based view of Christianity.
I think it’s important that before I start going into my soap-box thoughts on this subject, I should put out there exactly what it is that I believe. That way if someone reads this besides my family or friends, it will be clear what worldview I take. I believe that Jesus, who is the Son of God, came to earth and died for our sins. He rose 3 days later and is living today. In order to gain access into heaven, we must confess our sins to Him and follow Him. Mostly, that involves repentance, recognizing sin (what is unpleasant and unacceptable in God’s sight) and turning away from it. The best part of all is that forgiveness is always available when we do mess up.
I've said it a million times, and I'll never stop saying it. Christianity is a relationship, not a religion. It's not set by hard rules or a one-time-mess-up losing it all. But that's also not to say that we can do whatever we want without consequence. Our pastor has a great saying: Forgiveness is not a time machine. If I could give you three attributes of sin, it would be these: 1. It's wrong. 2. It's forgivable. 3. It has consequences. All three of those live in tandem. You can be wrong and forgiven, but still have consequences. I'm sure there are a few people in jail who know they're wrong, are sorry, and will come out and change their ways, but they still have to stay in there. Imagine if all you had to do was say you were sorry to get out!
There's a flip side to all this. What if instead of blurting out that phrase, we said after every sin "I deserve to go to Hell." How much would that change our appreciation of Jesus' gift to us? I don't know about you, but I would love to think I'm not that bad of a person. I've never killed anyone or committed adultery. But I do have jealous thoughts, roll my eyes at my husband, get lazy, snap at my coworkers, and about a million other things that are wrong every day. So, no, I'm not such a great person. In fact, I am a sinner. But, if you look above, I'm not going to Hell, though I deserve it. I am forgiven. I am covered by Christ's blood.
Truly awesome.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Churches
Feeling a little like a copy cat…was totally planning to talk about church and the modern church and different types of churches and why ours is so cool. But Joel totally touched on some of what I wanted to say. Great minds do think alike. So here’s my 2 cents.
My mom visited "my" church today. I certainly didn’t expect her to love it enough to make it her new home church, but I thought she would enjoy the sermon. She did. But she said something I expected, what a lot of those “older” (not old) than me will say. It didn’t feel like church.
Most great churches will tell you to find a church that fits you so long as it preaches from the Bible, teaches that Jesus was the son of God who was fully God and fully man who died for our sins to allow us the ability to enter heaven despite our sins when we accept him as our Savior….those kinds of core beliefs. I would certainly agree. The arguments that have separated churches come down to everything from music to the pastor to…really anything can quickly become an area of argument. I think we’ve come a little way in our church building journey where I personally have seen less splits and just more new opportunities. Maybe I’m way off base. That’s just what I’ve seen.
But one thing I think we’ve all seen is a shift in the non-traditional. Generation X and Y are taking the things that make us happy and comfortable and fitting it into our church life. Meeting places have been a big one - Action Church meets in a movie theatre (before I became part of the team, they met in a bar), the church Joel mentioned has a very small meeting place. All of sudden, we stop focusing on have a building. (There’s nothing wrong with having a building, however. There’s good and bad to both. For instance, we didn’t have a Christmas Eve service because…well, that’s a good day for business for Frank’s Theatres.) For the church I attend, I don’t know that having our own building would work. You see, it’s attracted more people by being accessible. “Well, I have to go to church. I guess I’ll attend this service before I see a movie so I get my brownie points.” Why not? After all, God is big enough to capture us no matter where we start or where our hearts begin.
Need I say much about the music? It’s a highly debatable subject. Are hymns obsolete? (probably not) Is rock music inappropriate for church? (Nah.) Is there a right way to praise God? (David danced naked, so…I vote not really there too.) I’m not going to type paragraph upon paragraph about music because I’ve always felt strongly that if it’s something that’s really important to you, you should find a great church that preaches Christ and closely matches your needs. Some people don’t mind, they have other priorities for where they worship.
How about dress? I remember growing up that the appropriate church attire (as a girl) was a skirt at the very least, then pants were appropriate, but regardless, you had to be dressy. Now I’m not out to say that it’s a horrible thing to do. After all, it’s a great way to demonstrate to God how you approach worship, putting forward your best. But there’s also something to be said about accessibility. What if someone who works in a factory setting and has a couple children wants to go to a church, but feels uncomfortable because he doesn’t have anything really nice to wear? And as much as we’d like to say we wouldn’t look at him funny or judge him, at least most would. (Myself included in past experiences.) But if everyone’s comfy, jeans, tees, whatever, it’s easier to just drop in. One of the reasons my friend’s husband likes to come to church is because he can wear his hat during the sermon. And why not?
The way I see it, the more we move to this “non-traditional” church, the more we capture the heart of Christianity. God gives us immense freedom. It’s never something we should take advantage of, but something we can be thankful for. It also reminds us that we don’t have to save our Christianity for church. It plays a part in everything we do. (Just check out the action through the week on twitter with our congregation, if you will.) When we stop feeling like we have to be a different person or put on an act, we realize that God is present at all times, and we should include Him in every step.
The disclaimer, of course, is that if you attend a church that is “traditional” and it helps you worship God, then that’s where you should be. God can use anything to teach us. But I think if we start to think outside of the box, we can reach more people, and better yet, we’ll learn how to grow without the confines of tradition or “the norm.” The world we live in is constantly changing, but God’s word is staying the same, and it’s still relevant. How we apply it and use it remains the challenge, then passing that on to others takes it up a notch. Because whether we like to admit it or not, God’s way works. We’d be wise to follow his wisdom and Word.
-Jacki
(dismounting soap box)
References
www.actionchurch.com (the church I attend)
http://joeleo86.blogspot.com (Joel's blog)
My mom visited "my" church today. I certainly didn’t expect her to love it enough to make it her new home church, but I thought she would enjoy the sermon. She did. But she said something I expected, what a lot of those “older” (not old) than me will say. It didn’t feel like church.
Most great churches will tell you to find a church that fits you so long as it preaches from the Bible, teaches that Jesus was the son of God who was fully God and fully man who died for our sins to allow us the ability to enter heaven despite our sins when we accept him as our Savior….those kinds of core beliefs. I would certainly agree. The arguments that have separated churches come down to everything from music to the pastor to…really anything can quickly become an area of argument. I think we’ve come a little way in our church building journey where I personally have seen less splits and just more new opportunities. Maybe I’m way off base. That’s just what I’ve seen.
But one thing I think we’ve all seen is a shift in the non-traditional. Generation X and Y are taking the things that make us happy and comfortable and fitting it into our church life. Meeting places have been a big one - Action Church meets in a movie theatre (before I became part of the team, they met in a bar), the church Joel mentioned has a very small meeting place. All of sudden, we stop focusing on have a building. (There’s nothing wrong with having a building, however. There’s good and bad to both. For instance, we didn’t have a Christmas Eve service because…well, that’s a good day for business for Frank’s Theatres.) For the church I attend, I don’t know that having our own building would work. You see, it’s attracted more people by being accessible. “Well, I have to go to church. I guess I’ll attend this service before I see a movie so I get my brownie points.” Why not? After all, God is big enough to capture us no matter where we start or where our hearts begin.
Need I say much about the music? It’s a highly debatable subject. Are hymns obsolete? (probably not) Is rock music inappropriate for church? (Nah.) Is there a right way to praise God? (David danced naked, so…I vote not really there too.) I’m not going to type paragraph upon paragraph about music because I’ve always felt strongly that if it’s something that’s really important to you, you should find a great church that preaches Christ and closely matches your needs. Some people don’t mind, they have other priorities for where they worship.
How about dress? I remember growing up that the appropriate church attire (as a girl) was a skirt at the very least, then pants were appropriate, but regardless, you had to be dressy. Now I’m not out to say that it’s a horrible thing to do. After all, it’s a great way to demonstrate to God how you approach worship, putting forward your best. But there’s also something to be said about accessibility. What if someone who works in a factory setting and has a couple children wants to go to a church, but feels uncomfortable because he doesn’t have anything really nice to wear? And as much as we’d like to say we wouldn’t look at him funny or judge him, at least most would. (Myself included in past experiences.) But if everyone’s comfy, jeans, tees, whatever, it’s easier to just drop in. One of the reasons my friend’s husband likes to come to church is because he can wear his hat during the sermon. And why not?
The way I see it, the more we move to this “non-traditional” church, the more we capture the heart of Christianity. God gives us immense freedom. It’s never something we should take advantage of, but something we can be thankful for. It also reminds us that we don’t have to save our Christianity for church. It plays a part in everything we do. (Just check out the action through the week on twitter with our congregation, if you will.) When we stop feeling like we have to be a different person or put on an act, we realize that God is present at all times, and we should include Him in every step.
The disclaimer, of course, is that if you attend a church that is “traditional” and it helps you worship God, then that’s where you should be. God can use anything to teach us. But I think if we start to think outside of the box, we can reach more people, and better yet, we’ll learn how to grow without the confines of tradition or “the norm.” The world we live in is constantly changing, but God’s word is staying the same, and it’s still relevant. How we apply it and use it remains the challenge, then passing that on to others takes it up a notch. Because whether we like to admit it or not, God’s way works. We’d be wise to follow his wisdom and Word.
-Jacki
(dismounting soap box)
References
www.actionchurch.com (the church I attend)
http://joeleo86.blogspot.com (Joel's blog)
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Ready to climb...
Hi Everyone!
So lately, I've been feeling very opinonated, so I felt it only appropriate to create a blog where I can share these opinions.
I'm calling it Up on my Soap Box because my rants and thoughts are very opinonated and strong spoken, and it might come off stronger than it could be. But this is an age and generation of the privleged. We have the RIGHT to post our opinons and thoughts on a blog as though someone cares! So I'm going to, dang it!
Every time I post, I'm climbing up on my soap box. Take it or leave it.
-Jacki
So lately, I've been feeling very opinonated, so I felt it only appropriate to create a blog where I can share these opinions.
I'm calling it Up on my Soap Box because my rants and thoughts are very opinonated and strong spoken, and it might come off stronger than it could be. But this is an age and generation of the privleged. We have the RIGHT to post our opinons and thoughts on a blog as though someone cares! So I'm going to, dang it!
Every time I post, I'm climbing up on my soap box. Take it or leave it.
-Jacki
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