Are Target's Bathrooms Safe?

Pop quiz: 

Pretend you're a bathroom traffic cop in a busy mall. It's your job to direct each person who approaches you to the bathroom most appropriate for them to use. Let's test your skills right now.

To which bathroom would you direct this person?

How about this sweet kid?

And this guy?

How'd you do? Did you direct the first two people to the ladies' room and the third person to the mens' room? If so, your score is 0%. 

Wait, what? 

The first person is Laverne Cox, American actor and Emmy nominee. Born male.

The second person is 15 year old Jazz Jennings, reality TV star on TLC. Born male.

The third person is Ben Melzer, German spokesmodel. Born female.

The dividing line between the genders isn't as clear if you judge only by outward appearances, is it? But I've been hearing something a lot lately from conservatives, even public figures I usually agree with, like Matt Walsh who blogs over at The Blaze. They're proposing that the public bathroom gender issue is a simple one. There's the normally gendered and accordingly dressed people, and then there's the mentally ill and confused people who are forcing us all to accept them in OUR bathrooms. Either/or. If you were born with male genitalia, use the men's room. If you were born with female genitalia, use the women's room. Simple, right? This will prevent dangerous predators from exposing women and children to danger.

This logic has several problems, however. 

1.  The most basic problem is the fact that transgender people have been using public bathrooms all along. Gasp! They are already among us!! This issue is centuries old; it's just getting attention now. Just because you've had the illusion that you've only been sharing public bathrooms with people of your own gender (give or take a few babies and toddlers) doesn't mean it's the case. This means that the need to educate ourselves and our kids about personal safety and common courtesy has always been there. You don't need to suddenly boycott Target, as if that will fix it. Chances are, you and your kids have already used a bathroom with a transgender person and haven't been the wiser. 

2.  Another problem is the fact that it's not actually transgender people who pose a threat. It's sexual predators. It's the rape culture that we live in, where people's bodies are seen as objects to be sized up for their possible usefulness rather than vessels carrying tender human souls. Being transgendered doesn't equate to being a predator. Some would argue that all males, regardless of how they "identify," pose a threat to females, even if it's only in the form of voyeurism, and therefore shouldn't be in their bathrooms. But there's no possible way to substantiate that. Being born male and having a male brain doesn't always mean sexual attraction to females. And being female doesn't necessarily mean attraction to males. If the discomfort comes from using the restroom in close proximity to someone who finds you sexually attractive, then by that logic, lesbians shouldn't be in women's bathrooms either! Again, this issue is far beyond simple. How should we respond?

Relax your scrolling finger for a sec, OK?

Let's not start formulating rebuttal comments in our heads quite yet. I'm going to lovingly encourage you, especially if you're a conservative Christian, to pause for a moment and try to see this issue from an opposing viewpoint. You can show compassion and try to understand someone without having to agree with them. 

To be clear, I am NOT saying that I agree with what gay and transgender people stand for. I'm not even saying that transgenderism is a good thing. I don't believe it solves anything. I do believe that each person is fearfully and wonderfully made, and that each person's gender is part of who God made them from birth. I don't believe males and females are interchangeable. I believe they are different for important and beautiful reasons. I'm not here to debate that. My concern is for how we treat people who identify themselves as gay and transgendered, how we speak about them around others, and how we encourage others to treat them. Do we treat them with compassion and humility, or do we label them as inferior and speak about them with mockery and disdain?

We live in a twisted, messed up world where gender wires get crossed for a myriad of reasons. 

Just one example: a couple generations ago, a rash of horribly toxic drugs came into popularity, and many were prescribed to pregnant moms. One was called DES. Doctors prescribed it widely, and not just to high risk mothers, to prevent miscarriage. That one drug is still passing hormonal and sexual dysfunction into the third generation. If my mom had taken it, it would affect my grandkids!

I'm not saying it's always the cause, but there are literally millions of people out there who were exposed to drugs like this. A good number of them might be feeling that they were born the wrong gender, simply because of a drug induced birth defect that is disrupting their hormones. Having such a physical issue is emotionally no different from being forcibly castrated, as people in many cultures throughout the world have been for centuries, and still are. This isn't a new issue. Jesus himself had great conversations with a eunuch (probably more than one). He didn't shun him; he treated him like any other person. Yet today, transgender people are being raised in a society that tells them, "Hey, if that's how you honestly feel, then you belong in this lifestyle over here." That's confusing!

And that's only one possibility among many, as to why some people spend their lives feeling like their body is a costume that doesn't fit. 

Without the grace of a loving God to help them sort through that, they must either live what they see as a lie, or change something. A relatively small number of brave ones attempt to live honestly by transitioning to the other gender. It's long, painful, expensive, complicated, and confusing. On top of that, it draws a ton of ridicule and labels like "deviant" and "pervert." 

With that in your mind, now imagine being a 15 year old transgendered child who looks like Jazz Jenner, and being forced to go into a restroom among grown men. Imagine the stares and whispers that might draw. Is Jazz a predator trying to leer at young girls? It sure doesn't seem that way. Imagine being Ben Melzer and being told that you are compelled by law to use the ladies' room. I guarantee it wouldn't go well 99% of the time, and there might even be vocal protests. Would you enjoy being glared at and told to leave? Neither would Ben, I imagine. Yet I've seen conservatives who vow to stand outside the women's bathrooms that their wives and kids are using, and chase away anyone who looks like Ben. Because only women should be in that bathroom. Wait, Ben IS a woman. Or... WAS. So you got what you wanted, but did you really want it? Is chasing Ben off the right and heroic thing to do, or did you just traumatize a woman? Gah. See what I mean?

Maybe you're even wondering at this point, why would God let someone be born gay or gender confused, even though he made us male and female, and forbids homosexual activity? I don't know. He lets people be born with rebellious hearts, too, even though he forbids sin. We're all desperately in need of his grace, no matter what our personal brand of temptation happens to be. And he says the world will know us by our love. I do know that!

"But these laws allow predators into our bathrooms," you might say. 

I hate to burst your bubble, but if you think that the stricter rules we used to have about gender assigned bathrooms were keeping out predators before, you're dreaming. If your only method of predator avoidance is reliance on posted signs, might I suggest you reconsider how you handle your personal safety anyway? A determined rapist or peeping tom will find an opportunity. Allowing transgendered people in doesn't make that any more or less likely. Yes, it is true that you're less likely to have a manager on your side nowadays if you take the time to complain that there's someone in the wrong bathroom. That is a sad side effect. But as I said above, a person wanting to use a different bathroom than the one assigned to them at birth doesn't automatically mean that their sole aim in life is to do things that make you uncomfortable. My goal isn't to write a commentary on the rightness or wrongness of the policy, but rather to challenge you to consider what your response will be.

"Well, some people choose this lifestyle...

...and they shouldn't be allowed the same rights as me," you say. How are you going to know who qualifies? Who chose to be transgendered and who didn't? Interview each one? Just be mean to all of them? 

Let's let our response to all this mayhem be gentleness and respect. 

If this dreaded scenario should happen while I'm out, and a perverted, predatory person exposes himself to me, it changes nothing. I would still have the same opinion as I do now. You know why? He's only one person, not every person; and he certainly doesn't represent transgender people. Not only that, but by choosing to make me his victim, he has set himself up as my enemy. As such, that automatically qualifies him for a special brand of prayers and blessing. Jesus said this, not me. 

To wrap up... Are transgender people confused? Are they mentally ill? Did they choose their lifestyle? Were they born that way? I don't know; and honestly, as always, it's none of my business what they believe or why they make the choices they do. I am free to agree or disagree. What I am NOT free to do is spread fearful, hateful rhetoric that makes transgender people feel ganged up on, or blankets them in an inferior light. They aren't inferior, and we don't need to be afraid of them.

So I'm going to go on educating my kids about common sense bathroom safety, and using family restrooms where possible. I'll keep teaching them how to lovingly give the right of way to others, even if that means waiting until a male-looking person exits the restroom before we go in. I'm going to go on assuming that people are much more complicated than they appear, and that I can't pretend to understand what it's like to be them. I'm going to remember that they are human beings, made in God's image. He treasures them SO much, and I'm supposed to treat them as I would want to be treated. As I. would want. to be treated. So if I meet one, I'm going to smile and say hello. 

For my part, I don't think this bathroom thing is healthy or right for our society. But beyond that, I think transgendered people are PEOPLE. My message to them would be that they are SO cherished by God. I'd put my arm around them and say I don't know how or why their minds and bodies decided their gender didn't fit them, but the truth is they are fearfully and wonderfully made. The blood of Christ gives grace for all of this, and being in his family is a strong enough identity to help them work through all that. No it's not physically possible to change your DNA, but it is physically possible to have your hormones out of whack and then have society tell you to celebrate it and create an identity from it, and then have conservatives yell at you for it. I'm not going to be a yeller. I'm going to be a truth teller, but in a way that leads to HOPE.

I'm off to Target. I'll probably have to pee while I'm there. I'm good with that.

4 Reasons I Still Say "Happy Holidays"

I'm about to show you something super controversial... Ready? Here it is:

Red Starbucks cups? Yes. If you find them both attractive and useful for hot beverages, and you're mystified as to why everyone's got their panties in a bunch about them, then you don't need to read this post. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you. If you find these cups offensive, or questionable, or sad, because they are void of Christmas imagery, kindly read on.

It's that time of year again. I don't mean football. I mean that time of year when people start grouching about the stores putting out their Christmas displays too soon, fighting over which is the right day to start playing Christmas music, and my personal favorite... firing up their "Merry Christmas" campaigns. As in, "Merry Christmas" is the only correct way to greet someone at Christmastime. You might have guessed that I could do without everything I just listed. But for this post, I'm going to focus on just the last one. For some reason, it seems like a number of Christians are willing to be quite bristly about the phrase, "Happy Holidays." But I still love to hear it and say it. Here's why:

1. Not all holidays are Christmas. 

And Happy Holidays to you, sir. :)

It's certainly appropriate to wish someone a "Merry Christmas" around Christmas time. But you have a very narrow view indeed if you believe that everyone else is putting the same level of emphasis on December 25th as you are. You have neighbors celebrating Winter Solstice, Festivus, Channukah, and Kwanzaa. And guess what? They care about those days… a LOT. I'm not insisting you celebrate everyone else's traditions, or even agree with them. However, I am suggesting that you extend an olive branch. Do what you can to let others know you care, acknowledge that they are different, and don't reject them as people because of those differences. Treat others the way you want to be treated… haven't I heard that somewhere before? Oh yes, from the Christ of Christmas.

I personally plan to celebrate many holidays (and say "Happy Holidays!" to many people) in the upcoming months. Here's the short list:

Nov. 8th—Aid and Abet Punsters Day (Yesss! "Abet" you'll celebrate it now, too. Nyuk nyuk.)

Nov. 13th—World Kindness Day

Nov. 14th—Lighten Up Day

Nov. 21st—World Hello Day

Nov. 28th—National Flossing Day

Nov. 30—Stay Home Because You're Well Day

Dec. 1—Eat A Red Apple Day

Dec. 5—Bathtub Party Day

Dec. 7—Pearl Harbor Day

Dec. 9—National Pastry Day

Dec. 13—International Children's Day

Dec. 16—National Chocolate Covered Anything Day

Dec. 18—Bake Cookies Day

Dec. 19—Look For An Evergreen Day

Dec. 21—Look on the Bright Side Day

Coincidentally, Humbug Day is on Dec. 21st as well, but I won't be celebrating it. If you plan to, we can still be friends. 

2. Taking the time to wish ANYbody a happy ANYthing is an act of kindness that should not go unheeded. 

People can't tell by looking at you what your beliefs are (unless you're cutting them off in traffic with a Jesus fish on the back of your car). They don't know which of the various holidays you plan to celebrate. So insisting they pick the word "Christmas" when they greet you is a bit passive-aggressive in this culture, don'tcha think? Imagine getting a dramatic eye roll after saying "Merry Christmas" to an atheist. Awkward, right? Don't make other people feel like that. The phrase "Happy Holidays" is right up there with, "Have a nice day" and "Enjoy your weekend." Wouldn't you normally smile and say "thank you"? You wouldn't raise an eyebrow and pass some kind of mental judgment on someone who wished you a nice day. So… don't do it to people who wish you a nice November/December/January time of gladness, in whatever form it takes! This is Basic Kindness 101. Besides, holidays (all of them) are supposed to be about remembering something. Christmas is about Love Incarnate. Be a reflection of that by at least showing some friggin' flexibility about greetings.

3. People in general need to get some historical perspective.

If you really want to insist that people follow "ye olde" Christmas traditions to the letter, then you should probably be aware of several things…  

First, the original sense of the word "merry" used to mean "drunken frivolity." So you're actually wishing them a day of frat-style boozing and gluttony. But hey, let's be traditional.

Second, the word "holiday" comes from the Old English for "holy days" so it's not exactly less Christian to use it. Similarly, the word "Xmas" hasn't really taken any liberties, because it comes from the Greek letter "X" (or chi), which was the first letter used to spell Christ. 

But what about the word "Christmas"? That's in the Bible, right? Actually, no. It comes from the Old English words Cristes moesse or "Christ Mass." Like "celebration for Christ." But people didn't even start using it, or institute the official celebration we recognize today, until 300+ years after Christ was born. I can imagine He is quite annoyed about all those birthday parties the early Christians forgot to throw for Him. (Not really.) The story of His birth is in Scripture as a matter of historical record, as proof that He fulfilled multiple prophecies made centuries beforehand. This is a gift to us, to build our faith, not a celebration requirement to get into heaven, or even a word we're required to say. So relax!  

Third, historically speaking, it's more likely that Jesus was born sometime in late summer or early autumn. The early Church actually hijacked December 25th to celebrate Christ's birth because it was already the date of a pagan festival celebrating the birth of the sun. There's nothing like having to choose which party to attend to make a social statement for Christ! In modern times, this implies that you should be throwing Jesus a birthday barbecue in September. You haven't been? How careless of you. I'm sure He's annoyed. (Not really.) 

"Set up the holiday tree right over there, guys!"

4. To people who don't have Christ to begin with, saying, "Keep Christ in Christmas" makes you sound like a paranoid jackass. 

The exact verbiage with which you greet a total stranger in a grocery store has no bearing on whether Christ will be part of their Christmas. That's because they have not submitted themselves in faith to His authority. Their world view has nothing to do with His kingdom. He doesn't slide off his throne one millimeter for every person who says "Happy Holidays," but you're making it sound like He does. His kingdom would be a flimsy thing indeed if a "Merry Christmas" button campaign was all it took to make the world right again. His miraculous birth, sinless life, innocent death, and conquering resurrection are what make the world right again. And someday, everyone will acknowledge that. The Holy Spirit will make that happen. Not Christmas greeting nitpickers.

M e R r Y  C h R i S t M a S

and

H a P p Y  H o L i D a Y s ! ;)

References for further reading:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/geneveith/2013/12/merry-christmas-vs-happy-christmas/

http://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/december.htm

http://dictionary.reference.com/help/faq/language/e05.html

http://www.ucg.org/the-good-news/biblical-evidence-shows-jesus-christ-wasnt-born-on-dec-25

This Is the Day

We hear this verse by itself a lot. 

We hear people sing it in a song, or say it to someone else who's looking a little mopey. We mutter it under our breath when the baby's crying, a pot's boiling over, and we've just dropped an entire plate of spaghetti on the floor. It's almost a way of saying, "I hate this day, I can't handle it, but I'm supposed to have a good attitude. So I'm going to put on a smile and remind myself that I should be happy right now, because God put me in this situation!" We also see this verse plastered over breathtaking photos of God's creation and made into cute little fridge magnets. The mistaken and dangerous notion that crops up is, "cheer up, because God's creation is pretty to look at. Check out this sunrise or those daisies. Now, don't you feel better?  Every day is a great day, simply because God made it." 

 Yeah, that'll cheer you right up. Or not.

It's true that every day is a day that God has made. And it's also true that we are told to be glad when trials come our way… not necessarily "glad" to be going through them, but glad that God is using them to make us more like Jesus. But some days we just don't feel like rejoicing and being glad. Nobody feels glad when they lose their job, their marriage, or their child. Nobody felt like rejoicing when our country was attacked and thousands of innocent people died fiery deaths in the World Trade Center towers. Especially since Scripture is clear that there is "a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance," is this verse really saying that we're required daily to rejoice and be glad?

I don't think so. 

If you get out your Hebrew dictionary (because everybody's got one), and look up this little word for "made," you'll see the meaning it was trying to get across: "accomplished."  This is the day the Lord has accomplished? That sounds a bit bigger than just making a day happen. It sounds like he was busy… but doing what? Let's back up and read it again, only with the four verses that come before it: 

This is the gate of the LORD;

the righteous shall enter through it.

I thank you that you have answered me

and have become my salvation.

The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone.

This is the LORD’s doing;

it is marvelous in our eyes.

This is the day that the LORD has made;

let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Did you catch it? Did you figure out what day we're actually celebrating?

If you're still waking up, I'll help you out. Think about this part… "This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it." The gate? THE Gate? As in the gate mentioned in John 10:9? 

"I [Jesus] am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved."

Now consider the next part… "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone." THE Cornerstone? As in, the cornerstone mentioned all over the Bible, such as in Acts 4:11? 

"This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone." 

This Psalm is all about Jesus saving us!

Jesus is the gate, the only way to God. He is our cornerstone. He answers our prayers. The day he made us righteous by giving us his righteousness, the day he became our salvation… that really WAS marvelous! What a staggering accomplishment on his part! That's something worth rejoicing over!

So even though those days will come when you're stuck in situations that make you feel hopeless, you don't have to try to fake happiness in the midst of those times. Because you have something better instead, something truly worth celebrating… the day the Lord accomplished your rescue. Let us rejoice and be glad in THAT!

How Jesus Is Our Stick in the Mud

This Complete Breakfast - Day 5 

Thanks for joining the Short People and me for our morning discussion! Look for more discussions under the "This Complete Breakfast" tab if you'd like to follow along with organized links rather than scrolling through posts. ;)

"I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, 

he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." —John 15:5

We have several grapevines in our yard... 

This verse makes so much sense when we think about the way the grapevines grow. Before there were ever any grapes, or even any branches or leaves, there had to grow that thick vine at the center. It's the oldest and strongest part of the plant, and it never moves from that spot. It brings the life-giving water and nutrients up from the soil. The sap flows from it into the crazy, young branches that go shooting out all over the place. During spring and early summer, the grape plant quadruples in size as the branches seem to take on a life of their own, changing almost by the hour. It's hard to believe, when you push back all that thick foliage, that it's actually that humble little stick in the mud, covered in crusty bark, that's feeding life to all those fancy leaves and loads of heavy, plump grapes. One of those branches might even grow so long that it winds its way several yards through the tangle of branches until it's clear across the grape arbor from where it started!  But if you were to take a pair of shears and cut that branch off from the vine, you would soon know which one it was, because every leaf and every grape along that branch would die. Without that humble little stick, there would be no fruit. There would be no grape arbor at all. 

It's just like that with us and Jesus.

He is that humble beginning to God's family. He is the Firstborn of God, and all the rest of us grow out of him because of his life-giving presence. God's family has grown fast, just like the grape arbor does every year, but every single one of us can trace our lives back to Jesus. He's the one who created us and continues to sustain us, hold us up, and make it so we can bear fruit. We are his branches. 

What does it mean to abide in him?

Simply put, to abide means to stay. It means to not allow anything to get in the way of our connection to him. We can stay connected to him by talking to him all throughout the day, and by looking into his Word like we're doing right now. It can also mean that if something gets between us and Jesus, to make it right. That might mean confessing sin and apologizing to him, forsaking that choice and deciding to obey him from now on. It might mean giving up something that makes it harder for us to worship Jesus. If we don't have time for him because we're playing too many games or have too many distractions, it's time to give up those distractions. We need that time with Jesus to keep allowing his life to flow through us and help us bear fruit. 

He abides in us too? What does that mean?

It means he stays with us! He keeps pure, unbroken fellowship with us. He promised that he would never leave us, but that the Holy Spirit would make his home in us and continue to be a constant influence on us. He continues to lift us up, speak to us, and help us get rid of sin in our lives. This is like the water and nutrients that flow from the vine into the branches and produce all those fat, juicy grapes. His life flows into us and produces in us love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.  

None of that happens without Jesus. Just like there are no branches or grapes without the vine. 

The Evil Queen Attitude

This Complete Breakfast - Day 3

Here's another morning Bible discussion designed for kiddos. Praying you have a blessed day. :)

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility 

consider others better than yourselves.” --Philippians 2:3

What is selfish ambition?

Having ambition means wanting something and being ready to work hard to get it. Having ambition isn’t always a bad thing. It can help you reach a goal. It’s when it becomes selfish that it becomes a sin. Being selfish means you care about yourself more than anyone else. If you have selfish ambition, that means you want to get your own way, even if it hurts other people. You might say things like, “Move out of my way!”

What is vain conceit?

If we act vain, it means that we worry too much about what other people think of us. It means we want others to think we are talented and good-looking, and we might feel pretty upset if they don’t. Being conceited means thinking we are amazing in every way. Everyone has their faults, but if we’re conceited, we have a hard time seeing our faults.

Remember the evil queen in the story of Snow White?

Now there’s somebody full of selfish ambition and vain conceit! She wanted to be the most beautiful in all the land, and worried so much about others thinking she was beautiful that she was willing to kill! She only cared about herself and getting what she wanted, and she did some pretty terrible things in order to be seen as the best. Her attitude was so dangerous that it made her downright evil!

This verse warns us that having the same attitude is also dangerous for us. We might not be polishing a poisoned apple for anyone, but we still might be hurting others by:

• Insisting that our way is better
• Not letting others go first
• Being unwilling to share with others
• Spending so much time thinking about ourselves that we don’t notice that others need help

...and worst of all,

• Focusing on ourselves so much that people don’t want to hear about Jesus because they don’t want to be anything like us!

What’s the answer? How can we avoid having this awful attitude?

The last part of the verse gives us a clue: “...but in humility consider others better than yourselves.” IS everyone else better than you are? Is that what God thinks? Hmmm. That’s not the right question. The truth is, it doesn’t really matter. God simply asks us to consider others better than ourselves. That means treat them better and love them more than we do ourselves. That’s a sure way to keep us from becoming evil villains full of selfish ambition and vain conceit!

How To Be A Geyser

This Complete Breakfast - Day 2

Here's today's breakfast discussion with my Short People. You'll find the links to other discussions in the "This Complete Breakfast" tab at the top. :) 

"Keep your heart with all vigilance, for 

from it flow the springs of life." —Proverbs 4:23

What is a spring?

In this case, it's not a Slinky or a season of the year. It's water, shooting up from the ground! It keeps on flowing, toward the plants, animals, and people around it. If it's good, clean water, then that's a really great thing for living things. They get to drink it and grow big and healthy. 

But what happens if pollution gets into the spring? 

Then pollution goes into the water, and it gets all over everything! Everyone who drinks or even touches that water will get sick! Even a little bit of pollution in the water isn't good, because it can cause sickness that nobody notices for a long time. 

How could someone keep the spring from being polluted?

They would have to protect that spring! They'd have to tell people, "Hey, you can't dump that garbage here, there's fresh water coming out!" They might need to build a fence around the spring to keep animals from pooping in it. They might build a sign to let people know not to swim there. How else could they protect the spring? Are they being mean by making rules to protect the spring? No. They're being kind, because they're trying to keep everyone healthy with clean water. 

This verse tells us that our hearts are like that spring, and need just as much protection!

When Jesus comes to live in our hearts, he gives us new hearts—He starts the spring of fresh, clean water flowing out—and makes us more like him. Our hearts are where he tells us to hide his word, so we can remember it. Our hearts are where we make choices about our behavior… whether they are good choices or bad. The words that we say, and the attitudes we show others are like the water flowing out of our spring. Our words land on others and can bring them life and help them grow. If we let our hearts get polluted by bad ideas, bad thoughts, mean attitudes, or even movies or songs that aren't good for us, those ideas and thoughts are going to come out onto others through our words.

What are some bad attitudes, thoughts, or TV shows that might cause pollution in your heart?

The Bible tells us to protect our hearts from those things.  Part of a parent's job is to help protect your heart... we might do that by making rules for you that act like fences to keep the pollution out.  That way, what comes out of us is good for us and for others!

Photo credit: Wikipedia.org, Castle Geyser

This Complete Breakfast

My two girlies are going back to school today! Waaaahhhhh!!!

It'll just be Mr. Boy and me together all day long, shuttling dinosaurs around in dump trucks, wondering how Winkerbean and Sweet Pea are faring. I'm probably more nervous and excited than they are. What freaks me out the most is that my little sprouts are coming out of the greenhouse and going out into the unpredictable weather of public school. I don't know what they'll see or hear. I don't know if the other kids will like them or pick on them. They could come home with weird ideas! Or… they might just have a great time and learn some stuff. Who can really say?

Time to claim Philippians 4:6-7 one more time. 

"…do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Because guess what… and I'm speaking mostly to myself right now (The Captain has learned never to interrupt me when myself and I are talking)—my little sprouts have got to leave the protection of the greenhouse sometime and start to put down roots; and they're going to come into contact with dirt! Healthy dirt, yucky dirt. All kinds of experiences, even negative ones, are part of shaping them into mature and fruitful people. 

I can't control everything that happens to them.

But I can do my part to prepare them. I can do more than make them the most delectable peanut butter-and-honey sandwiches and write their names in a rainbow of Sharpie colors on every pencil box, folder, eraser, and crayon (yes I did). I can pray for them. I can pray with them. I can pray over them. And I can feed them a good breakfast of carbs, protein, and Scripture.  

I'm going to let you in on our breakfast discussions, as I ask the Holy Spirit to provide me with just a little takeaway that I can give them during breakfast each day. I pray that God will impress the truth of that Scripture upon their hearts as they go about their school day. Even the public schools have realized that kids function much better when they start the day with balanced nourishment. As a result, the schools in our district—maybe yours too—are now serving a breakfast to each child every day, even the ones who've already eaten at home! (I'm going to refrain from venturing my opinion on whether they've actually achieved "balanced nourishment" because that isn't the point.) Even more than physical food, I feel strongly that spiritual food is so important for my Short People. 

Look for our discussions under the "This Complete Breakfast" tab if you'd like to follow the organized links rather than scrolling through posts. ;) And if mornings aren't your thing, they make good bedtime conversations too. I love breakfast at night! My kidlets are elementary school age, so the discussions are based on that maturity level. Of course, feel free to adapt them to your kids! I hope you find them useful. Don't be shy… pass them on if they're a blessing to you. And I love to read your comments!

Here's Day 1, about one of our favorite verses... Joshua 1:9. I thought it fitting to discuss fear on the first day of school!

"This is my command--be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." —Joshua 1:9

What does it mean to be courageous?

It doesn't mean not having fear. It means being willing to face your fear, because you know there's something bigger than what you're afraid of.

Did you know that even Jesus was afraid sometimes? The night before he died on the cross, he prayed and asked God his Father if there was some other way to save people from their sin. He asked if God would change his mind and not make him go through the pain of dying. But God didn't change his mind. He wanted Jesus to go through with it, because his love for us was bigger than his fear of being in pain. So he faced the cross, and he beat death! He won!

What are you afraid of today?

God can help you be courageous and face that fear. He may not take away your fear, but he will give you the strength to go through it. Is it because you are suddenly going to become strong? No. It's because HE is with you, wherever you go. At the end, you'll be able to say, "I was able to be brave because God was with me and helped me."

MEMO: The Sabbath has been moved

Something occurred to me the other day...

I was feeling guilty about not reading my Bible more often. I know I should. I even have one in the bathroom! I began to consider WHY I don't read my Bible more often. I got introspective for awhile, asking the Holy Spirit to reveal to me some sort of epiphany. Was I believing in lies about the Bible, that made me shy away from reading it? Was God mad at me for not reading it?

Then I got a pang of guilt (not the healthy kind) and a little voice whispered, "How can you expect God to just show you stuff out of thin air, just at random, when you haven't been reading your Bible? You MUST read your Bible, because THAT is how he will talk to you, not with you sitting there on the pot, trying to have some lazy conversation with him. You do your part, and only THEN will he do his. If you expect God's favor, you have to work for it, lady!" 

Okay.  Just typing that out makes me angry!  There are tiny fragments of truth in there, but they were twisted into a lie, right there while I was asking God to reveal lies!  Yes, God DOES speak through Scripture, quite awesomely. I ran across Hebrews 4:12, which says, "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." So of course, reading the Bible is quite an ideal way to hear from God, keep his truth straight in my mind, and let him reveal to me what's in my heart. 

But God has NO limits to how he speaks, or when. He revealed to me that I have avoided Him, tragically, out of guilt because I hadn't read his "love letter" lately.  I would find myself completely unsurprised that I couldn't seem to hear his voice. Of course he wouldn't talk to ME. Why should he, when I forget to talk to him?  Y'know what? That is such a lie.

He speaks to whom he will, in any way he chooses. 

It's not based on some pious act of seeking him with just the right formula of prayer and Scripture reading. He talks to me often, and I don't need to worry about him going silent when I forget to read my Bible.

I thought a little longer about it, and it dawned on me that I believed the Bible is boring. That's right, boring. Even those translations that change the "thou shalt nots" into "don'ts." Just being really honest here, but maybe you can relate: I could read a few verses to pass the time while sitting on the pot, but beyond that… meh.  When I do pick it up, it's usually to find something, or out of a sense of guilt or duty. 

The Holy Spirit interrupted this train of thought by bringing to mind the phrase, "the word of God is living and active..." but I had to Google it because I had already forgotten where I'd heard that lately… Yeah, guess where it was? Hebrews 4:12 again. Chills, anyone? 

Living. Active. That doesn't sound boring...

I ended up reading the entire 4th chapter of Hebrews (it's short enough to read while my 2-year-old bangs on the bathroom door, so you have time to go read it too!) and it just blew my mind.  It talks about the Israelites who, in their pride, refused to obey God and therefore didn't enter his rest. It directly correlates to the Sabbath rest that God declared for himself on the 7th day, and then there's a memo to believers: 

The Sabbath has been moved. It will now be celebrated on a different day... it's called Today.  

So if it's "today," then God has declared that I rest from my works. Not the laundry and dishes kind of works, unfortunately, but the spiritual kind of works. Like reading my Bible to make God love me enough to talk to me. Like praying more to earn his favor. If his new Sabbath rest is always TODAY, that means that if I work for my salvation, like, EVER again, I am in disobedience like the Israelites. God is not angered by my failures, he's angered by my prideful efforts to earn his favor and righteousness. Think of that! 

Then he goes on in Hebrews 4 to describe his word as being living and active... that is, Jesus the Word! (Check out John 1:1- "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.") Jesus is the one who brings the words of Scripture to life and gives them meaning and context. It's not just the Bible, it's Jesus! He is the one who divides even my soul and spirit, and shows my heart and thoughts for what they are. He is the great High Priest who empathizes with my every weakness. It is he who got me that great framework of grace to come before God and enter his rest. That is not boring, that is mind-blowing! Satan wants me to see THAT as a dusty, antiquated book that I "ought" to read out of guilt, when really it's the fabric of the freaking' universe!

I could go on, but I really need to absorb this right now. God showed up and really showed me,

"Not only am I not boring, but I am your living, active ANSWER! You already have my love and approval, so enter my rest!"