viralJesus.org

As I told you before in this post, our family walked through ten years of barrenness before we finally had our first children. We have three now, all conceived with the help of doctors. We needed doctor help because of some specific medical conditions that made it next to impossible for us to conceive.

I say “next to impossible”, because, yes, we are now officially expecting child number 4 (next June)!

It’s fairly cliche, really. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve heard this story: “Our friends tried for years, then they all of a sudden got pregnant.” Whenever I mentioned to friends that we were all done having kids after three, they often poked me back with “Hey wouldn’t it be funny if you all of a sudden got pregnant?”

And it IS funny. Abraham and Sarah both laughed when God promised them a son “by this time next year.” I think I get the joke. It’s funny when you think about it – now, after all this time. After all our efforts and processes and procedures and waiting and hoping and praying and crying and believing and asking and even receiving, now.

It’s a funny thing for us to have what is by all measures a “normal” pregnancy – to not be at the doctor 2-3 times a week, fretting over every detail and number and level. To experience the relative ease of the “normal” process.

It’s funny to see the reaction of doctors, who have the empirical data on our condition. Most people know their eggo is preggo when they get two lines on the EPT. Our docs wanted to test for a whole host of other conditions first – because the LAST thing they were thinking was “baby on board.” Once it was confirmed, our baby docs wanted to send over some ultrasound pics to our fertility docs – sort of an interdepartmental “in your face.” Funny.

Of course, the most wonderful thing of all is seeing the hand of God in this miraculous moment. We will have another child because the One who holds the whole universe together decided we needed one more. And He decided to do it in just His way, in His time, and He is hilarious.

When I found out, I laughed too. Not with cynicism or doubt, but because it’s a moment that’s ironic, and perfect, and full of pure joy. And that’s been a long time coming.

Now a prayer for all those still waiting – waiting for children, or healing, or a thousand other things. May you gain strength by trusting in Jesus. May you know beyond your doubts that you are not alone, not forgotten, not cursed. May He give you the desire of your heart. In His way. In His time. And when He does, I hope you laugh!

Now let’s go with a boy this time. Four women in the house is nice, but five – not funny.    

Share on Facebook

Continuing a thread about what I think we oughta be thinking about (See this post for the intro to this section). This is a direct follow-up to the last post (aren’t they all?). I seem to have painted myself into a bit of a corner on this one. The first item in this list is justice, a huge concept to be sure, and one I have been actively working to understand in the last year. You should know I have written and re-written this post many times, and I’m not sure I even like this final result. That’s why we call it “Raw Thoughts ”.

I could cheat and go on to kindness – a lot easier to dissect – but justice comes first in the list, so I have to deal with it. Two months of no posting is too much time, so I am going to try to take this in small chunks. Just for fun, I’d like to propose a bunch of questions I’m not sure I know the answer to, then propose a bunch of answers I’m not sure I agree with. Sound like a good time? Here…we…go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Read the rest of this entry »

Share on Facebook

I think we have a problem with obsession. As a culture in America, we have the time and discretionary money to obsess about whatever interests us. That’s why we have a thriving entertainment gossip industry (think TMZ), why the word “fansite” exists, why there are little tiny stores in the strip mall that sell random specialty things that don’t go out of business, and why there is an entire translation of the Bible in LOLcat (this is an obsession with LOLcat, not the Bible, I think). We can collect, study, and dissect the minutia of whatever we like – we’ve got that kind of time on our hands.

In the Church world, we obsess about sin. Sin is the subject of our programs, policies, and procedures. Identifying and confronting the sin in ourselves and others is our chief industry and most common consideration. We spend a lot of time talking about who is wrong in their beliefs and practices and making sure ours are not also wrong or sinful. We can study, dissect, and disseminate the minutia of sin. We’ve got that kind of time on our hands.

It’s almost like we think Jesus died to keep us in the sin business.

Read the rest of this entry »

Share on Facebook

Okay – brief break from the assignment to myself (See the last posts). ‘Cause it’s political time – might as well get caught up in ELECTION FEVER (as Craig Ferguson puts it). And yes, I stole the title of this post from Derek Webb.

It’s that time again to look to Washington for salvation – from budget crises and overseas terrorists. I wrote before a post called The Politics of Faith about our sometimes obsession as people of faith with political heroes. I won’t rehash it all, but I do want to approach this from another angle…

The hip thing these days is to mock and ridicule the “other side” in politics. This creates an environment where it is tempting to get into wars of words and witticisms, both on TV and around the water cooler. The question, then, becomes “what should people of faith do in such an environment?” Is it our responsibility to determine which candidates are best for our country from a moral and even a spiritual perspective and attempt to thoughtfully defend those candidates around the office and the lunch table? Shouldn’t we be the people who advocate forcefully for candidates that hold to Judeo-Christian principles? Shouldn’t we try to convince people who they should vote for?

It’s a dilemma to be sure. On the one hand, we would like to see things go “our way” (whatever you have determined that to be). But many of us also live in environments that are hostile to our worldview, and choosing our political candidate based on that prism opens us up to heated attack and even ridicule. In a place like Seattle, I am even seeing a trend amongst Christian-types – a concerted effort to rationalize the dispensing of certain moral criteria in order to support candidates that will gain them a little more credit with co-workers and friends.

Who would Jesus vote for?

That’s what we’re trying to figure out. Some of us say he would vote Democrat because of social justice, and anyone who elevates other moral issues above helping the poor is not a real Christian. Some of us say he would vote Republican because of abortion and gay marriage and anyone elevates helping the poor above these issues is not a real Christian. Who would Jesus really vote for?

Read the rest of this entry »

Share on Facebook