Happy Camper

That's what I am. I didn't think I'd be excited about this election until this:




I have been telling my mom that I hoped Senator McCain would choose Governor Palin for his running mate. This morning, my husband and I were reading all the rumors swirling around the internet and I could hardly believe it. She is a member of Feminists for Life, a fiscal conservative and an all around crunchy mama. I may even have to get a bumper sticker. Maybe.

The Balance of the Man

Today, I read an article by James Bowman over at Armavirumque. The author compares Barak Obama to the Scarecrow and John McCain to the Lion, both characters in The Wizard of Oz. His thought goes something like this: Obama represents someone who will think his way to avoid danger, and McCain will deal with danger when confronted by it. (Bowman cites Sally Quinn's article yesterday where she comments on the Saddleback forumn.)

All this led me to think of Harry Potter, naturally. Then I began to think of Jesus. (Yes, that was the order of my thoughts. Sanctification is a process, you know.) First, my thoughts began comparing the houses of Hogwarts. There are: Ravenclaw, the house that chooses the intellectual and witty, then Gryffindor which chooses the brave and chivalrous, Hufflepuff, the loyal and hardworking. The fourth house, Slytherin, chooses the prideful and power hungry. Throughout the series, one sees Gryffindor always leading the way, but not able to accomplish what needs to be done to conquer evil without both Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw. (There also is the need for self-sacrifice, but we'll leave that for another post.) What that means politically is an interesting thought. Are those who are courageous and firm in their beliefs better suited for the office of POTUS? What of those that have greater giftings of the intellect? Are they better suited as advisors or congressmen and women? And what of the loyal and hardworking? Was this part of our founders intuition when setting up our government of checks and balances? There may be a some merit to the thought of a Gryffindor or Lion type as president, but I can't help but think the better would be to have all those characteristics prominent in one person.

Of course this is when I thought of Jesus, our Christ. One only has to take a brief look at His life to see all of these in perfect balance and in their fullness. His courage was displayed by confronting the leaders of Israel on their hypocrisy, forgiving sinners, facing the cross and taking on our sins; His wit and intellect in answering questions, many which were asked to trap Him, His teaching and teaching style, and understanding our human nature; His loyalty and hard work in healing the sick, associating and identifying with sinners, and praying to our Father for great stretches of time. These are just a few examples.

While we may not get the president we want or need, we do have a King and High Priest who knows, cares, and reigns in perfection now and forever.

'Tis the Season

A little fun between spectating.

You Are Fencing

You're competitive but not brutally so. You compete to make yourself better. You find having an opponent to be challenging and rewarding. You are fierce when you're in a competition, but you don't wish your rivals any real harm.

What Olympic Sport Are You?

The Meaning of Life

The meaning of life is so simple and yet so complex....

The meaning of life is union with God, the constant emptying of ourselves and the constant need to be filled with God. He requires our desire, our cooperation and our surrender. He does all the rest. By His hand, He will craft a willing and striving human soul, painfully and joyfully, into the perfect image of His Son, Jesus Christ. The dance between our free will and God's grace is called synergy. Synergy is the sum of our union with God, on this side of reality. When we are face to face with Him, on the other side of reality, we will be united with Him for all eternity.

God's grace is invisible but His grace is more powerful, and more tangibly real, than any calm sea or raging hurricane. Because we cannot see His grace with our human eyes, He has given us Holy Sacraments. These sacraments are deeply mysterious because God is, in His essence, deeply mysterious. He has given us tangible and material signs of His grace. As we partake of His body and blood in communion and are baptized by water and His Spirit as we enter His Kingdom, we realize, with even more certainty than we can know that we are knit into our own bodies, that He is with us.

We enter union with Him thru water and Spirit and, when we are His children, His blood flows thru our veins and his flesh feeds us. There is no union conceivable to the human mind that is closer than the union that God provides thru the blood and flesh of his Son. However, when we are face to face with Him, our union will be even closer than that. "For nearer is He than breathing and closer than hands and feet".

Faith is belief in what we cannot see with our human eyes. Once He touches your eyes with His light, you can truly see that all things exist in Him. In Him, we live and move and have our being. We are animated and sustained by our all powerful and sovereign creator. His grace is truly all that we need for our survival.

We were made for God and our hearts cannot rest until they rest in Him. This is the meaning of life and He has not left us alone.

Janine

Feeding Mind and Body

I stumbled across this Free Rice site last year. It's a lot of fun, educational and truly does someone a good turn. Give it a try.