You Owe Me.

en·ti·tle
–verb (used with object), -tled, -tling.
1. to give (a person or thing) a title, right, or claim to something; furnish with grounds for laying claim: His executive position entitled him to certain courtesies rarely accorded others.

de·serve
–verb
1. to merit, be qualified for, or have a claim to (reward, assistance, punishment, etc.) because of actions, qualities, or situation: to deserve exile; to deserve charity; a theory that deserves consideration.

Is anyone "entitled" to anything? Does anyone "deserve" anything?

Adam and Eve broke humanity in the garden. We do not "deserve" God's grace. He gives it anyway. What about from human to human? Are there things that I am entitled to receive from someone? Do I "deserve" to be treated/thought of/esteemed in a certain way? Am I so important that I should think that someone "owed" me a certain position or status?

Humanity is made in the image of God, and that gives us some form of created integrity. The good book tells us that we were created well, but that we also did something (sin) that stained us somehow....which means that I am inherently screwed up, and so are you, and that every single day we both continue to mess up. How then, is anyone deserving of any goodness? Are they?

Obviously, we are told to treat others with respect because God cares about them and says that they are valuable to him. But does this have anything to do with what people are "entitled to" from one another?

It seems like there is a call to goodness not "because of what we deserve" but "inspite of what we do not deserve." .....

Aide-moi, s'il vous plait....Je ne sais pas.

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I'm leaving for Philadelphia in 5 hours. I am very excited. A few of us from the journalism department are taking a little field trip...
Scotty and Chad say that I should try Phili Cheese Steak. I say it's "man-food". Then again, Jen likes cheese, so I think I'll try it in honor of her...Jen is one of my most-favorite people.
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Also, I am rather nervous about the writer's strike. I don't want my shows canceled. I will miss John Stewart terribly. He'll prolly be the first to go.... :(

RAIN

Its RAINING!!!

:)

(miss moon has been pretty lately, too, just in case you've missed seeing her...)

kinda like rain....

(I wrote this a while ago. I didn't post it because I didn't want to admit to having a hard time...its been interesting to re-read this. I'm mostly the same, I think, but I've learned a lot... I'm posting for me, mostly as a way of getting over myself...)

I've had a really rough week. There are lots of parts of my life that are up in the air right now, and I don't know how they are going to end up falling...

There are lots of parts of me that are broken right now...parts that are disappointed...parts that are sad...parts that are scared...parts that are anxious...I don't know what to do with them all and it all just becomes a big giant mess...

This is the first time that the verses from Hosea 6 have really hit me.

Come, let us return to the Lord.
He has torn us to pieces;
now he will heal us.
He has injured us;
now he will bandage our wounds.
In just a short time he will restore us,
so that we may live in his presence.
Oh, that we might know the Lord!
Let us press on to know him.
He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn
or the coming of rains in early spring.”


God has taken me on quite the journey lately. Things are messed up...there really is no way around it...


God promises to somehow fix things...he says that if I press on to know him better that he'll respond just like dawn breaks the darkness and rain restores the earth...


I think that trust might mean choosing to rest on a promise.

I'm not sure I can hear God very well, but it sounds like he might be asking me if I'll choose to trust him to clean up the mess...

Why?

Why do people care?

Why do people have cares?
Why do I care about people?
Would I really care about people if I knew I wouldn't ever get anything out of it?
Is "care" really "care" if a person is choosing it?
Do I really care about something if I am making myself care? Or is care only the act of choosing to value something?
Is it worth it to care?
If care is a choice, then what difference does it make to me if I choose to care/not care?
If its not a choice, then what is the value in choosing to care?

Maybe caring is just getting in touch with your less-broken self...either admitting to being in touch with it, or, through knowing truth, choosing to agree with what you know is true.

but is the latter "care"?

Is care an emotion or is it an idea?

if its an emotion, then how do I find it? And what if I don't feel anything? Then do I care or don't I?

If its an idea, then how do I know how to find it in me?

Aaaarrrgggggg. Chapel.

The chapel speaker at my school last Wednesday basically gave the "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" sermon (Jonathan Edwards) without the metaphor of the flimsy spider being held loosely over the pit of hell.(He read imaginary notes from people who got sent to hell instead) I was extremely uneasy throughout the sermon. The following seem to be the two schools of thought on the message:

1) He spoke things that were true. It is true that passages in the Bible condemn a person to hell who does not "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." (He said "accept Jesus", which I'd imagine is maybe the same thing.)Since they were true, it does not matter how he said it or why he said it. We are sinners who need to hear truth, even if it's hard. We can't experience mercy and love until we understand sin and our guilt. Christians don't talk about hell often enough.

2) That the message was inappropriate and condemning. He should not make judgments. He should not motivate people to Christ by trying to "scare them out of hell". Jesus is more than "fire insurance," and consequently, he should not be approached as a way out of hell.

I tend to think that while we were created to be eternal beings, and the concept of an "eternal damnation" or "separation from God" is very real, that it isn't the whole message of Christ. If Christ's message is one of God's love and a betrayal, and humanity given an opportunity to be made new and clean and holy again, then attempting to explain the person and message of Christ by scaring people over going to hell is a lie.

To say the least, I was saddened by the negative reactions of my friends and peers who have a hard time learning about the truths of Christ as a result of messages such as this.

~~Thoughts?

FRED!!!!!!

Fred is my favorite.

I kiss the ground he walks on.

"Before anything else, folks in Washington ought to be asking first and foremost, “Should government be doing this? And if so, then at what level of government?” But they don’t."
- Fred Thompson

Thank God someone knows something about Federalism.

http://fred08.com/index.aspx

OBAMA !

Just in case you all were wondering how I spent my Friday today, I will tell you.

(big HUGE breath)

IwenttoSanFranciscotoseebarackobamagivehisspeech-of-hopetorallyhisbayareapeeps










In case you were extremely bright and thought to yourself "I am not going to waste time attempting to read a statement from someone who neglected to use the space bar," I'll repeat myself.

I went to San Francisco to watch Obama speak.
It was great fun.
I went with some friends from school and two of my teachers.
We sat in the balcony at the civic center.
We all cheered for everything.
......except abortion.

It was hilarious.

He'd start talking about health care or benefits to single mothers, or day care, or dependency on foreign oil, or executive integrity, and we'd stand and clap until our hands hurt. We would be clapping and cheering while trying to listen to what he was saying, so he'd slip in something or other about how the Supreme Court doesn't have the right to make decisions for women and doctors and we'd sort of dwindle down our clapping and cheering and then awkwardly sit/stand there and mutter/shrink down in our seats. Crickets chirped among us a couple of times.
--maybe you'd have to be there....

ANYWAYS, now that I mentioned that, I'll also mention that I won't be voting for Barack.
I cheered for most things, mostly because it would be very lovely for mothers and workers to be cared for and for everyone to receive health care.
.....It just wouldn't be lovely (in my opinion) for the Federal Government to implement these sort of policies. Other notes on his speech/the rally would be:
-Obama is an incredible speaker.
-He is idealistic.
-He is kinda a socialist.
-He seems to really care about people.
-He is good at "hanging lanterns on his problems"
-He's good at making friendly little "jabs" at Hillary.
-I thoroughly enjoyed listening to him.
-I got a cute little button that says, "OBAMA"
-I put my cute little button on my back pack (its actually more of a messenger bag than a back pack).

it was a fun day...