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Monday, March 24, 2008

Get ready for fireworks!

Here's something you can discuss at your next small group meeting. Especially if you are of childbearing years. But, I warn you, get ready for some hefty dissent. The audio file is 24 minutes long.

Jump in!

Yesterday was quite pleasant. It was Easter, but as my family knows, I prefer to refer to it as Resurrection Sunday. Go ahead and call me weird. (You're weird)

The picture reminds me that we found it difficult to explain to Ashley what the day was about. If you go to the Flickr account you'll see pictures of jelly beans, Easter bunny cake, grass nests with candy, etc. Those are all fun, and I've succumbed to all of them (see picture below of the Easter Bunny!!!).

Ashley wanted to know whose birthday it was because of the cake. Was it the Easter Bunny's birthday? This made me quasi-sad, because we really have supplanted the most important day we can remember - the day that Jesus gave us eternal life - with the pagan remnants of days gone by. So, what are we to do?

I think if we lived in a time of tribulation (and there are certainly parts of the world who are living through it right now), we might be more prone to take the real impact of the day seriously, and throw the bunny out on his ear (pun intended).

Please don't confuse this with legalism. Legalism states that one has to adhere to a certain form or set of rules for salvation. That is not it at all. We HAVE been saved by the death and resurrection of Jesus. So why did we allow the Easter bunny and eggs take over? Sure, you can say like the generations before you, that they symbolize new life. After all, that is why the Christians allowed the pagan holiday to creep in in the first place. I mean, did you ever wonder why we eat ham on a day that is supposed to remember the kosher Messiah? Sure, go ahead and say that it is due to our freedom in Christ, which we have. But again, the origins of that practice are from the very pagan holiday of fertility.

I don't want to have to head into a time of testing for us to strip away the stuff that doesn't matter. I love fun! But I want it to be fun based on truth.

Jump in, Ashley!

Monday, March 17, 2008

Of all the things I have lost...

I miss my mind the most. Well, it's just that while I was in Nashville, I thought of some wonderful blog posts I was going to write, and then just totally lost my train of thought and never did them. And when I got back, volunteer work at WMBI's "Share" was waiting for me, followed by live-in grandchildren for three days. So, you see, I really can't remember what was so important that I just had to blog about it.
Was it the president's visit? No, I had to sit in the booth while all the attendees waited in line for 40 minutes, then sat for three hours. But I hear it was worth it.
Was it my ever-present fatigue? No, that's not it, because I really did have a good time. And just because I didn't have my coworker to help me, it still got done - and in fine fashion.
Perhaps it was my disenchantment with folks attending a Christian convention, and stealing the product off the displays! Yes, I think that might have been it!

Sunday, March 02, 2008

The bunny, the bunny, oh, I love the Bunny!

What a difference a year makes, folks! She not only wanted to see the Bunny at the mall, but she actually engaged in conversation, danced with "him", sat on his lap, gave him a high five, a fist pound, and smiled all the way through the photo shoot. Yes, this savvy three year old is really coming up in the world.
Cute, huh? I wish the grandsons were close - we'd get some comparisons for coming years.

The Easter Bunny 08!