Tuesday, May 24

In Five Days...

...I will be making last preparations to move to Turkey.

Maybe, I will have a fitful nights sleep (no matter how tired I will be from the past several days of seeing people, dining with friends and family, hanging out, and making sure things are in order to move).  Maybe, I will wake up really early Sunday morning, it will probably be humid outside (because that's just my luck), so my hair will be a mess for our last Sunday at church.  Maybe, the dress I have picked out to wear on Sunday which is currently in the "don't-touch-because-these-clothes-are-not-ready-to-be-packed-just-yet" pile will likely be moved, or I will have misplaced it in a fit of frazzled-ness.  Maybe, it will be raining on the way to church, and I'll freak out a little because I hate flying, and it'll be stormy when we fly out later on in the day - and then be an anxious wreck.  Maybe, church will be droopy and sad since it's our last Sunday and we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE our church and everyone there.  Maybe, during church, I will be so distracted about thinking of all the things we MAY have forgotten, that I'll miss Mitch's wonderful series and the wonderful hymns we'll sing.  Maybe, at lunch, we'll have a really terrible server and it takes forever to get our drinks, and food, and then we don't leave in time for us to do the last-minute things we need before we have to load up our things and go to the airport.  Maybe, everything that could go wrong will go wrong.  Or...

Maybe, everything will be fine.  We'll have a great 5 days spent with friends and family.  Maybe, nothing else will really be a big deal, because so far we've been fine, and we'll have to trust that it continues to be fine.  Chapter "next" is about to begin and we will be excited, nervous, anxious, nostalgic, and humbled.

Bring it, Turkey.  We're as ready as we'll ever be!

Sunday, May 1

I'm sick to my stomach...

Bin Laden is dead.  The news broke a couple hours ago and I have been watching the news reports as they have been streaming into the stations, videos on repeat, reporters rejoicing...

Every time I refreshed my facebook page, there were five more people who had something to add to the rhetoric that has been circulating the internet since the news broke.  People are rejoicing, people are happy, praising God that this man is dead, relishing in the knowledge that justice has prevailed...

And I'm sick.  I'm absolutely disgusted.

Bin Laden did terrible things.  There is no fiber of my being that thinks he made good choices with his life. I do not condone the things that were done or the things that will be done.

But I'm sick.  And I am absolutely disgusted by the rhetoric that people are using.

As a Christian, as one who has faith and hope in the sovereignty of God - HOW can I rejoice in the death of any individual?  He was loved by God, just like I am.  How is his death any different?  Because he killed a lot of people?  Because people took it upon themselves to join a cause fighting the antithesis of the ideology of Bin Laden and they happened to be "our people"?

How is rejoicing in the death of someone a good thing?  How is this different from those of Westboro Baptist, who go and protest soldiers' funerals?  Because Bin Laden was bad?  We're all bad - just go read facebook from the past two hours.  People are celebrating because someone was killed.  People are celebrating because someone was killed.  People are celebrating because someone was killed.

And it's the most disgusting thing I have ever witnessed.  Someone posed the idea:

Would you wash the feet of Bin Laden as Christ did for you?  

Because this is what we're called, as Christians, to be.  We are to be Jesus to everyone.  Everyone always says this, it's a nice little thing to say...pretty, nice, dainty even... If I had to wager a guess as to whether or not people actually buy in to this by the gross display that was facebook's newsfeed tonight, I'd have to say that we're full of...well, a word I typically try not to say.

Grace is for all.  For all.  Christ died for all.  Not: everyone, except those that I don't think deserve it, or could ever deserve it because I said so...

For all.

God be with our nation.