Is Green Godly?

Well, you might think so considering how some Christians act. They become hushed and smug looking if someone is not observing the appropriate homage to the planet -- ala this idea that man really has the ability to save the planet? :D Oh, granted Christians are called to be good stewards of what God has given us, and too often that doesn't happen as it should -- just like lots of other things we're called to do don't happen as they should.

But once again a single issue is being elevated to the gold standard for determining good character. If you are not "green" (whatever that means to whomever you're talking to at the time, and it usually means you should be trying to save the planet), then your Christian character is very questionable and the doubt eclipses almost everything else about you. Oh, you cheat on your spouse but you recycle faithfully? No problem. At least this is the sense I'm getting from a lot of college age and twenty something Christians I know.

I guess I'm old (nix that, I am old), and my old, jaded self sees that dupes are had in every age, and the green movement will produce an abundance. The harvest of green is going to be enormous, and I'm not talking about good little recyclers banking CO2; I'm talkin' cash. Yep, the green movement may be the biggest cash cow(gasp)since, uh, well, since Bernie Madoff first pitched an investment. I can see it now -- those who will be buying up fluorescent bulbs with a superior gleam in their eyes while a cadre of the really superior will be laughing on the way to the bank! LOL! (note to me: hope my kids listened when I told them to buy "green" stocks never mind that fluorescent bulbs may actually do more damage to the environment given the difficulty of their disposal.)

Are we so stupid that we don't see what's going on? Uh, yeah, I guess we are since Christians are jumping on this bandwagon so quickly the wheels are threatening to buckle. Are we so desperate that we have to embrace something extra-Biblical to prove we're good little Christians? Do we have to embrace "saving the planet" to be relevant?

Let's see. In my lifetime I've been told I needed to cater to almost every whim of my husband to be relevant. I've been told I needed to be a career woman to be relevant. I've been told I needed to be thin to be relevant. I've been told I needed to be intellectual to be relevant. I've been told I needed to be financially independent to be relevant. I've even been told I should be a non-smoker to be relevant, and now I need to be a master recycler too!?

But let me answer what's really on your mind. Yes, I recycle! Are you happy now? :D

We will sell no wine before its time

When we were younger, that's what I used to say to Doug, my husband. Not too spiritual sounding, but hey, it does have a basis in scripture. There were a host of people in scripture who had to wait, and that time spent waiting was certainly not a waste. The Lord was molding them for His purpose, and how glorious to be molded for the Lord‘s purpose! We know He makes the best wine. :D That's what’s happening in our situation, and I'm so glad Doug had the wisdom not to jump the gun before he was ready for pastoring and before I was ready -- even though it was not always very pleasant to wait. Now he's reaping the reward of that and so are many to whom he ministers.

One of the biggest advantages is that he knows how to wait, how to wait out a storm or a dry spell. We’re dying to see this in people, but honestly, most of us don’t like how it’s formed. It’s not pretty and sometimes it seems downright boring. When great wine is made, it’s not a pretty process, and most of it is about sitting around in barrels. I’m so glad my husband submitted and is submitting to the process because it has made him a very fine person who does not shuck and run at the first, second, or even fiftieth sign of trouble (oh that it would stop at 50). He has a tenacity that is not of this world, and he doesn’t just try to be patient, he is patient. The Lord does such good work! If we will just listen to Him. He has made it plain that it's all about staying focused on what He wants, about His will being done, which the scriptures make abundantly clear what that is, and if that entails waiting until you're 95 for some things or never having them, then so be it. Ultimately, it’s not about what we want and it never has been no matter how good our desires appear to be. The Lord wants the best, so we can relax.

I'm so glad Doug trusted the Lord with his life and with me. When I was reluctant to go into full-time ministry, he gave me over to the Lord and left it there. This was no easy feat, but he did it, and it was probably the most significant thing he’s done in our marriage. He recognized that he had to trust the Lord -- even with his ministry. LOL! This meant that some of my fears had to be worked out between me and the Lord and no amount of talking or strong arming was going to deal with it. It was the Lord’s to deal with directly. Doug also heard what I was saying and then had the wisdom to seek the Lord to weigh it. Some things that I said he dismissed and some he heeded. Always, it was about doing what brought glory to the Lord and not to ourselves or about gaining comfort for ourselves. You know I Timothy 3:5 is not in scripture for nothing. LOL! Frankly, it’s childish to think that if someone does not know how to minister to their family, that they will know how to minister to the church. If there is anything that Doug has learned, it‘s how to minister to his family. He has children of whom he can be so very proud, and who by their very lives are ministering to others, and certainly, his wife has benefited from his shepherding in the Lord.

Pardon the clumsy use of metaphor, but I think I made my point.

In Response to Vulpes Libris' Thursday Soapbox: The Perfect Bookstore

see Vulpes Libris

I adored Half-Price Books when it first started in an old laundromat in Dallas, Texas. Can't remember if the washers and dryers were still there, but the folding counters and clothes carts were, and they were covered and filled with books. There were also various and sundry crates used for books -- milk crates, fruit crates, etc. -- and there was no rhyme nor reason as to which containers were used where. As for chairs, there was everything from old chaise lounges with no backs to recliners (ala Frazier's dad's) to bean bag chairs, which meant that no one cared if someone was sprawled every which way reading a book.

A few years after this they opened a store about four or five miles to the south in an old strip shop across the street from one of the first Dr. Pepper plants. My husband and I thought we had died and gone to heaven since this place was enormous -- about half the size of a Wal-Mart but the ceilings were low slung and gave an intimate feel. Plus, the owners had really classed it up by having matching crates for each category. The arts section had milk crates, the records section (yeah, they added a wonderful old record section) had peach crates, and the history section was really up-town with brand new wooden shelves (no beveling mind you; just some lumber slapped together) and on and on.

We frequently spent several hours there on Saturday mornings (this was before kids' sports dominated our lives) and then topped it with lunch at a great old Italian restaurant next door so we could take our grocery bags full of books and sit and ooh and aah over our finds. I remember us envying the clerks at the bookstore and wishing we could have worked there to get first dibs on the really great stuff. The clerks definitely weren't there for the money, and everyone of them were readers and passionate about discussing books.

Then Half-Price had to go and make a chain and slick it up, which was fine for a few years, but it's never been what it was. Same thing happened with Tattered Cover in Denver, which is close to where I live now. Had to spiff it up and lose its charm and that wonderful invitation to explore without being intimidated by some kid who can run a computer but who looks at you like you have another head if you ask for an anthology of Chekhov never mind asking for Ambrose Bierce. As for the furniture, I'm a mutt, so the furniture is way too fine for me to ever relax.

Having said all of this, I admit I'm a big time Amazon user, but I still feel guilty when I buy a book there. I guess my old 70s brown crushed velvet love seat, which I'm sitting on as I type this, is my attempt to revisit the days of the tacky old bookstores, and Vulpes Libris serves as manna for book discussions so I can escape the sometimes mundane thinking in my little town (Think Dibley here, oh, and you would be really close to imagining my life. :D)

See what happens when you name something soapbox.

What was I thinking?

So a couple of months ago I put up my Facebook page to help my friends who are intimidated by tech stuff and in particular the internet. What I failed to consider is that it wasn't the internet that scared them but the computer's 'on' button.

I have received more questions since I put up that blasted page than I did before, yet when I have asked my friends, "How 'bout asking me a question on my page?" the response is, "But I don't really get on the computer much. I really want to but I don't know a whole lot, and I'm not sure that I even know how to post things on Facebook -- even though my daughter [or insert some other relative] says it's easy. Can you just come over sometime and show me?"

Well, if I had lots of spare time, I would since I do love people and love solving problems -- at least of the computer kind. But I was sort of hoping I could answer some of those questions at 4am in the morning when it's quiet around my house.

Okay, so I'm not sure the page was a good idea for promoting help, but I had fun making it and will post there anyway. Maybe I have more spare time than I thought. :D

Abortion 33 years later

Maybe one day I'll write a book about my experiences as a pastor's wife -- or maybe not. But I've had some things happen that have surprised me and are noteworthy in some fashion. I guess it's going to be this blog. Kick in the head is that I thought very little or nothing would surprise me given my upbringing and experiences, which are decidedly not what is conjured up when someone says "pastor's wife."

One of the things that sneaked up on me is coming to know a large number of women who had abortions when they were much younger (some of them have had more than one or even two). Oh, I realize I probably know more of these women than most people because I can be trusted never to share their very personal information with others, i.e., deference given to "the pastor's wife." But even if I cut the number in half, it's still a lot no matter my husband's profession.

When I was younger, I knew women who had chosen abortion, but I never had any meaningful conversation with them about what they felt about it. Now I have, and it is overwhelming how many carry enormous guilt or numbness as a result of the guilt. It's pretty much all of them, and it seems to make little difference how long ago it happened. Several of the women are around my age (50 years), and they still struggle with their decision. I guess I tended to think much more than I realized that women who choose abortion are more driven by pragmatism than sentiment. But the reality of their guilt says otherwise, and it has become to me the dirty secret of abortion.

As much as I hate that someone has to endure that kind of pain, it is a healthy response. I take heart in the reality that no matter how progressive we like to think we've become as a society, the human response to sacrificing a life close to us is still usually great remorse sometimes followed by the self-preserving response of becoming numb to it. But the lack of response or care about such things is troubling indeed. The lack of response seems indicative of quite a selfish heart.

For those who are struggling with this regret, my prayers and compassion go out to you. My heart hurts for you. For those who feel little or nothing, my prayers and compassion also go out to you, and yes, my heart hurts for you as well -- even more so.

Got Stupid Questions?

Okay, so there are things you've always wanted to know about the web, but you feel stupid asking. Or you fear an explanation that might wear you out. If you keep up that attitude, you will miss out on a lot of really cool things, and in fact, you're already missing out. So get over it and ask, and I've got the place for you to do it.

So I've set up a page on Facebook (see bZirkopedia) where you can direct your questions. I started this because I have lots of friends and neighbors who are always asking me questions, so I thought it would be helpful to have a place online. Some examples of questions people are often too intimidated (or maybe irritated) to ask:

What's a url?

What's a browser?

What the heck is an ip address and how does that affect me?

What are cookies?

What does a firewall do exactly?

How can I use my bookmarks on any computer?

What are some good websites for housing my pictures?

Are they safe?

Or housing some of my documents so that I'll still have the stuff if my computer bites the dust?

My examples may even be too sophisticated, so please don't let my examples set the tone. Or maybe they're too simple. Whatever the case, just ask me what you want to know. If I don't know it, I'll try to find out the answer, and I will try to keep the explanation simple enough but not so simple that you get your backside in a sling. We'll see how that works out. LOL!

What price dignity?

So I've been thinking about Joe Wilson's shout out at the President's speech the other night, and given the scolding Obama was unleashing, I think Joe's comment was appropriate. Okay, so it wasn't "dignified." Well, is being dignified always the best way? War is sometimes necessary, and it's a stretch to call it dignified. We're in a war if you haven't noticed. Maybe no shots are being fired, but we're in a war.

Oh yeah, there are some rules in Congress, but hey, there are some rules in the Constitution as well, and I don't see a lot of respect for those. To please our "liberal friends" I guess our conservative reps were supposed to sit there very dignified and let Obama mischaracterize the health care reform the Democrats are promoting. But don't take my word that it was mischaracterized. Read the Bill.

Frankly, my friends, we've dignified ourselves right out of a bunch of freedoms. The ugly truth is sometimes you have to fight fire with fire and hang whether or not someone thinks you're dignified or hip or intellectual. I'm sick of a few people cowing common sense because it's not always hip or nice or God forbid "intellectual."