Tradition

(I'm never good at intros, so I'm just gonna do 'how I do' in normal conversation: that is, plunge right in)

Something in me longs for ceremony and tradition. Human nature, personality, something in me- I really don't know what. Whatever it is kinda makes me wish I was Anglican. Or Jewish. Ha, or as my 5 year old cousin calls it, "Messy Jew". She means Messianic, and she cracks me up.

It's something that I've been thinking about for quite some time, but was re.... activated(?) after reading this article a few weeks ago. I sent the link to Dr. Mooney (our pastor, and a past professor of mine) to ask him what he thought of it.
In a quick conversation at school one day, he gave me a quick overview of his thoughts. He wasn't so much a fan of the mystic, emergent-y elements, mainly because repentance isn't a nice, or uplifting feeling. It's tough. It's a nitty-gritty, no fun, prostration before the Living God please-don't-kill-me-i-suck-so-much kinda thing. I completely agree. Besides, the idea that we only somberly think of our mortality and badness for a month and a half out of the whole year is pretty lame.

There's also the problem with traditions and ceremonial rites that it gets us complacent and tuned-out to the whole thing. That is certainly a concern for all (western, mostly, i think) peoples, because we love our comfort, and we'll settle right in to just about anything if you give us a few minutes.

So I see the shortcomings of ceremonial things, but I still long for them. Am I wrong?

I really don't know. I think that ceremony is a way for humans to connect with something bigger than themselves, be it God or community or whatever else. For me, at least, it's an emotional connection fer sherrr. My intellect doesn't really give a crap for cathedral acoustics, stained glass, speaking beloved texts in unison with my brothers and sisters, etc., but my emotional side really does.

So the important thing for me to figure out, I think, is what place does this really have in my relationship to the Most High? Is it important to help me connect with the awe of His Power and Majesty that sometimes seems hard to find? Or is it just another stupid idea for me to get tangled up in? (I tend to get pretty tangled, sometimes)

I long to feel His glory and power and majesty and beauty and just be in total awe and wonder at it. (It'd be pretty cool if I didn't crap myself at that point, too.)

So I dunno. Thoughts? Suggestions? Anyone wanna read the Book of Common Prayer with me? (I don't have a copy, but my birthday's coming up! [hint hint])

I'm so excited!

Hello!!

So, i haven't been able to log into this account for some reason, which is why there have been no new posts for quite a while. Sorry about the bipolar tone of the other posts!


Anyway, i'm on my way to work, but i thought that since i managed to log in i sould leave a little note.

Update: We are blessed, and God is good. haha- not so much of a surprise there, huh?
times are hard, but we're making it. we still have a roof, a bed, and food, so i'm very grateful. other things could be better, but every hard thing is a chance for us to grow.

Pray that we use the opportunities to grow stronger and closer to our Lord.


Okay, i'm like super cheerleader here, but whatever. Gotsta go to work now.

lovelovelove

Guh....

... I hate when Jake is out of town.

There are good things that come of it, though. I hung out with Heather a lot today and got to meet some cool friends of hers. That girl Sarah is a "kindred spirit", fo sho.

I love heather and having girl time, but when it comes down to it, my husband is my best friend. He is my favorite person to spend time with, and without him I get either bummed or crazy.... although the craziness tonight might have been from the massive amounts of caffiene I had today. Coffee is just so good!

School is looking pretty good this semester. I have one more test, which shouldn't be too bad, probably a take-home final or two, and then just need to finish my survey and put the rest of a paper together, which should take all of an hour, maybe.

God has blessed me so much: from the huge things, like letting me find and spend my life with such a wonderful man and giving me the strength to finish school, to little things like meeting cool people and getting a good parking spot tonight.

Which reminds me, there are cops all over the apartment complex tonight... good thing I sleep with mace on my bedside table. :)

Eek. If no one hears from me for a few days, it might be best to come look around the apartment for signs of forced entry. Don't look at the mess, though. I pick up after myself, but I am NOT cleaning up Mike and Amy's mess, no matter how much I want a clean house.

On that note, I'm off to find socks for my poor leetle feetsies, because I have no warm hubby in bed tonight to stick them on.

Ha, poor kid.

h'okay, so.

I should be doing homework right now....

And in my procrastination, here comes a blog!

I've noticed that this blog is rather bipolar... i tend to only write in it when i'm either very happy or very bummed. I'm usually pretty even keeled, so reading this thing is a bit odd for me.

But anyway, update on life:

I have three huge assignments due tomorrow: a lab report for Marine Science that's a huge part of my grade, a methods paper for Methods of Research thats an even bigger part of my grade, and a crazy long test in Tests and Measurements that is something like a quarter of my grade in that class.
Now let me say, while I appreciate these teacher's motives in trying to get things out of the way so that we can have a relaxing Thanksgiving weekend, I do not appreciate that all of my teachers did this at once. So tomorrow (Monday) after 1:30pm I'll be thrilled... but until then, not so much.

I think i'm behind in my Methods class, but i'm not sure, because the teacher is crazy and no one in the class knows whats going on. I think that I maybe should have turned in my lit review already, but no one else has, the teacher hasn't said anything, and the syllabus is all off, anyway.

That's the only class that i'm worried about my grade in.... the others should be pretty good, i think.

The play is over (for which I truly praise God from the bottom of my heart), but auditions for Fiddler happen the week we come back from Thanksgiving. I still don't know what I want to do. Should I audition and be responsible for that much time away from my studies and Jake, or should I just do tech work, which I love, and spend as much time, but not away from Jake?
This is my last semester in school, the last play i'll likely be involved with. I love theatre, but it isn't the thing I'm most passionate about. My family is much more important to me.... Plays will come and go, but my relationship with Jake will last our whole lives. Is it wrong that i'd rather work on that?
It would be nice to sing and dance and learn more, though.

I'm so confused! and I'm terrified of auditioning. I know i'm good, but if i think that they think I suck, it bothers me a lot, and i immediately dont do as well. I'm dumb.

H'okay, so. I need to get back to homework. I'm a time waster, though... and i don't like working on stupid stuff.

I wish I were more interested in my major.... eek.

While I'm at it,

Brief Update:

-Theatre will be over in 1 week and 3 days.
Unfortunately, I'm thrilled.

-Jake is out of town, and it's our year-a-versary. :(

-I came home from theatre tonight to find a giant bouquet outside my door.

-My husband is absolutely the best ever, and I miss him terribly.

-This week semester has been very hard all around, but I am very definitely learning my strengths and weaknesses.

-I'm physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted. Two more weekends, though, and more will be right with the world.

-Jake comes home on Friday!!

-I'm going to try to do the right thing right now, and go to sleep. Wish me luck. Bed is very different without a husband to snuggle with/smother/accidentally kick all night.

The Sanitization of Terror...

I read this in the paper a few days ago. Interesting stuff... for more of her semi-refreshing, semi-uncomfortable ideas, go to:
http://michellemalkin.com/

Stop Sanitizing Terror
Michelle Malkin

Three years ago, I wrote about a mock terrorism drill at a public school district in Muskegon County, Mich. Instead of Islamic terrorists, educators substituted Christian homeschoolers. Here was the description of the school drill plan:

"The exercise will simulate an attack by a fictitious radical group called Wackos Against Schools and Education who believe everyone should be homeschooled. Under the scenario, a bomb is placed on the bus and is detonated while the bus is traveling to Durham, causing the bus to land on its side and fill with smoke."

Flabbergasting, but true. In the wake of Sept. 11 and the jihadists' carnage against schoolchildren in Belsan, Russia, the school chose to prepare its students for an attack by Christian homeschooling "wackos," not Muslim suicide bombers.

Unfortunately, little has changed. Last month, New Jersey's Burlington Township High School held its own mock terrorism drill. "You perform as you practice," Superintendant Chris Manno told the Burlington County Times. "We need to practice under conditions as real as possible in order to evaluate our procedures and plans so that they're as effective as possible."

But the "real as possible" conditions included no bomb-vest-donning jihadists shouting "Allahu Akbar". There were no America-hating plotters enraged by the exsistance of Israel or driven to establish a world-wide caliphate. Nope. According to the paper, two local police detectives took on the role of hostage-taking Christian gunmen.

"Investigators described them as members of a right-wing fundamentalist group called the "New Crusaders," who don't believe in separation of church and state. The mock gunmen went to the school seeking justice because the daughter of one had been expelled for praying before class."

How many other jihad-white-washing mock terrorism drills have been conducted using tax dollars? How long before we mimic the British schools, where the Holocaust is being dropped from history lessons to avoid offending Muslim pupils?

American educators have been bending to the will of the grievance-mongers ever since the Sept. 11 attacks. Remember the jihad-sympathizing admonition included in the NEA's touchy-feely, post-Sept. 11 curriculum? "Do not suggest that any group is responsible" for the terrorist attacks, parents and teachers were advised.

But feel free to conjure up homeschooling "wackos" and Christian "New Crusaders" to avoid offending the Muslim lobby.

Here is a "real as possible" scenario. Last month, you'll recall, counterterrorism officials sent cautionary bulletins to police departments nationwide warning that suspected members of extremist groups have signed up as school bus drivers in the United States.

Who are these "extremists"? Hint: They are not Presbyterian, Lutheran or Catholic homeschooling wackos.

In Indonesia last month, a theological school was reportedly attacked by religious terrorists in Jakarta. The school was evangelical Christian. The terrorists were Muslim. In southern Thailand, attackers hurled explosives and opened fire on an Islamic school, killing three students. According to reports, police believe that Muslim insurgents staged the attack in an attempt to convince villagers that authorities were responsible -- a ploy to win villagers over to the insurgents' cause.

In our government institutions of perpetual ignorance maintenance, "D" is for dhimmitude. They are teaching our children all too well.
CREATORS SYNDICATE.






Discuss.

Healed

Life is never as bad as one thinks it is at it's darkest.


I have been blessed.



And now I need to study... for like 10 hours. :/