adam

There is a certain commercial that comes on at every interlude, on literally every station I find myself watching. And every time I watch this particular ad, a part of my insides cringe. Literally. For all of you reading, if you watch even just 30 minutes of TV a day, I’m sure you’ve seen it too.

Yes, it’s that pesky AT&T commercial.  The one that goes a little something like,”Did you hear Chapman rolled his ankle.” “That was so 12 seconds ago.”

Makes.me.ill.

There have been a few occasions I’ve asked myself if these are actually men…

Because they’re acting like women!

There is a serious epidemic that has broken out in the last decade or so in this country, and I’m not gonna lie, it’s freaking me out a little bit.

The feminization of men.

Now, I know, as a woman, we are equally flawed. This is, of course, the same decade that consists of Snooki, apple bottom jeans and the boots with the fur, and fake everything.

Issues exist in both sexes. Not even a debate.

But, as a woman, I just want to know one thing:

Where are the manly men?

Not the “men” that think they’re men because they pump iron and drive fast cars and can hook up with the hottest chicks.

No, the men that fight from their guts and have calloused hands from being a dedicated worker and know to practice chivalry is to practice honor.

It makes me wonder:

In a society where men like Charlie Sheen are glorified for their lewd and distasteful acts, can we really blame them for not stepping up and acting… like men?!

My Jewish grandmother (think The Nanny) has been asking me since the age of 16 if I’m getting married anytime soon. Her guess is as good as mine. See, she grew up in a period when it was normal to open the car door for a woman, and let her order first, and walk her to the door at the end of the night… without expecting an exchange for the dinner he just bought her.

And are these little things so much to ask for?

[The problem is 30 really is the new 20.]

Men of this generation,

Ditch the idea that women actually want to be pursued via text message, Facebook, or any sort of technology for that matter.

Ditch the idea that we will like you more if you act cocky.

And for the love of god, please oh please, ditch the idea that if you actually express an ounce of transparency it means your less of a man. It will actually make you a better one.

And so, I’m going to patiently wait for my chivalrous, filled with the Spirit, blood and guts warrior of a man!

And I refuse to settle for anything less.

wholeness

Since the beginning of my journey with God, I knew my life was going to take a turn away from normalcy. Well, what America views as normal at least. I traded lives just 8 months into this new journey. I have now been doing the missionary thing for the last 4 years, finding myself in at least 15 countries within 4 different continents.

Meeting the love of my life, making babies, landing a 40 hour work week, and paying a mortgage just has not been on the radar. Not saying these things won’t ever happen, but at the cusp of 29, I’m still not there yet.

This time has been some of the most amazing [and liberating] years of my life. It’s been filled with joy in finding abundant life, transformation in traveling the globe with some radical people, and awareness in living amongst the outcast and the poorest of the poor.

It has also definitely been filled with some life lessons and crazy *bleep* experiences.

And as I find myself living back at home, learning to embrace being fully here, I still wonder what is around the corner. And while nothing is set in stone yet, deep down I have a feeling that it is going to look much different this time around.

Being back in this place has been a reminder of the earlier years in my faith, right before I took the plunge of turning into a crazy. In these early days there was a song by Hillsong that I would hear continuously for months on end. ”Jesus I believe in you and I would go to the ends of the earth for you.” This definitely marked the things that were stirring in my heart and the desires I couldn’t shake.

While this is a moving song, a song about dropping everything for God, the truth is it was easy to go to the ends of the earth. Africa, Asia, Europe, South America… sign. me. up.

Even though it’s quite messy being taken out of your comfort zone, there is something exhilarating about sleeping on filthy sheets, bathing with a bucket, having to squat to the floor to go to the bathroom, and being submerged in the life of a different culture.

Not so exhilarating: working at a soap store or standing in the checkout aisle at Target or living back at home with your parents. You know, the daily grind of life.

But, this is where I am.

And what I’m learning is that I choose how this time goes down, because the truth is, He’s the same God here that He is anywhere else.

I’m learning a life fully lived isn’t merely defined by doing unusual things. A life fully lived is embracing the day for all it has in store. Feasting on the daily bread. And being thankful for it.

Israel wasn’t great because of all the stuff it had to offer. It was great because it represented righteousness, peace, joy! The wilderness, on the other hand, represented stinkin’ thinkin’- the Israelites had all of these miracles and blessings right in front of their faces, but couldn’t see it because they were blinded by circumstance.

Another thing I’m learning, there’s no glory without a fight involved.

So, as 2012 approaches, I desire to step away from the mentality that my life can only be great if I’m doing not-so-ordinary things. I hate resolutions, so this is more of my declaration. As the number 12 represents wholeness, I declare this year to be about living a wholly, full life. in the every day.

testimony of grace.

The life of David (that one king in the bible) is probably one of my favorite testimonies of who God really is and how much He actually loves us. No matter what.

David, first and foremost, was a man of honor. He knew about integrity and understood the importance of initiation. He was also a man who looked in the face of the giant in his life (Goliath) and showed us nothing is impossible. And, he was insanely in love with God… and he wasn’t afraid to show it.

The thing I love most about David’s life though is that he tapped into grace before anyone had a concept of what it was. He knew, like really knew, that God was all about promoting life. He understood the new covenant Jesus preached before he even came on the scene. And this was at a time when nobody else got it. He was WAY before his time.

He was radical.

But he was also a man who screwed up.

What did this king do? Oh you know, just slept with a married woman, got her pregnant, and then killed the woman’s husband when he found out she was carrying his child.

It’s fair to say this man of faith made some very poor decisions.

His psalms testify of the anguish, ridicule, and torment he faced from the people based on his actions.

These very candid journal entries, that we in modern times have access to, represent a hope and a future for people facing their own trials in life.

BUT…

What if he was your leader?

Right here, right now.

Would you still hold validity to these things he testified to? Or maybe just see his circumstances as something he deserved, considering he was a no good-lying-home wrecker.

Thank god I wasn’t alive under David’s rule because I know I would have never seen him for who he was. I would have defined him based on the mistakes he made. I probably would have nodded my head in disgust and proclaimed impeachment, lockdown, death. Because that’s what’s deserved, right?

GRACE: undeserved gift. aka- getting what you don’t deserve.

You see, the thing that made David so profound was that when the world defined him as a murderer, a cheat, and a liar amongst other things, He clung to the truth of how God viewed him. He knew what he was rooted in. And he declared God’s truth over his life.

He lived under the Law but he wasn’t bound to it because he understood grace. He understood the ‘shame off of you’.

David’s life is proof that God doesn’t define us by the bad choices we make.

So I have to ask myself… why do we?

empowerment

I lived in Africa for three months and I have seen what handouts do to a nation when the people aren’t empowered. It leaves them with their head hung low with their hand in the sky, waiting for someone to put a little something in the cup that they clutch to so tightly.

It leaves them victimized and it leaves them begging for the rest of their lives.

What is happening right now in America needs to change. I recognize that. But nothing is going to change if we keep pointing fingers at each other in hate. It’s just masking the root of the issue.

The rate of unemployment is unacceptable. The growth of poverty needs to be stopped. And minimum wage is a sick joke.

And while I think all of these things are a result of the greed of corporate America, I can’t help but think of those faces in Africa.

Because the truth is, we can pass bills and hand out wellfare checks and boycot the big bad politicians all day long, but without empowering people, nothing will change. Maybe it will for a moment, but it will not have lasting effects.

If we continue to make excuses, it will only leave us victimized. If we continue to hang our head down low in hopelessness, it will only leave us in greater poverty.

I don’t know what needs to happen for things to change. What I do know is if we continue to accept what is happening, and believe the lies that no change is possible, we will create our own fate. It will keep our eyes off the promised land, just like it did the Israelites thousands of years ago.

And please hear my heart on this one. It’s got nothing to do with not having compassion on others or believing we shouldn’t help people in need. Its just that I believe there has to be more. Because, you see, it’s just that I read about how Jesus was moved with compassion for people, and how He got down in the dirt and loved the snot out of them, and how just one touch healed them in an instant.

But then, in the next instant, He would tell them to get up.

Pick up your mat. Drop your nets. Do what you gotta do to keep yourself away from the things that are keeping you in bondage, whether mentally, spiritually, or physically.

I am finally starting to understand that one of the greatest ways to love people is to empower them. People need to hear -and know- they are stronger than they think, that they have more potential than they realize, and that the greatest people to make history have also had moments of failing miserably… and had they given up the minute they got knocked down, they probably wouldn’t be in our history books today.

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” -Chinese Proverb

turn or burn.

I recently read an article about a server at a restaurant that thought he had a customer that was a cheerful giver. There was what appeared to be a $10 bill folded underneath the plate, but as this server got closer and picked up the money, he soon realized the bill was a fake.

Stiffed. A sick joke. His customer left him nothing.

Well, he did find one surprise. Underneath the plate was a freshly printed track. Oh and the message was actually printed on the other side of that fake money.

“Some things are better than money, like your eternal salvation…”

Upon reading this I was so angry. Are there actually people out there that think something like this is effective? I mean if it angers me, I can only imagine how much it would anger someone who is not even a Christian.

All I kept thinking was, ‘THIS IS NOT JESUS!’

And I hate that this is who we have made Him to be. Sometimes I wonder if these people are reading the same Book that I’m reading. Because these acts are nothin’ like the stuff Jesus did when He walked this earth.

But as fast as I felt this anger, my heart suddenly stopped by the following line.

The waiter responded, “I have never been more atheist.”

And by the end of the article I felt conflicted.

On one hand, our actions are pushing people away.

On the other, I can’t understand why people assume if this is the way a few Christians act, it means it’s how all Christians are, including Jesus. It’s like saying all Muslims are terrorists.

It’s just not true.

The truth is I’ve seen a lot of people act more like Jesus than those who actually claim His name. And I often wonder why.

Being a Christian doesn’t erase your humanness. But He stops at nothing to get our crap out, and wants nothing more than for us to be transformed into the beautiful things within us that we can’t see for ourselves. And, He loves us in all of our nasty crap regardless.

Because we’re all broken people. We all say and do things we wish we could take back. We all make mistakes. And we all fail at times.

I’m thankful that these things don’t offend God. I’m thankful that He sees past our flaws, and looks at the pure and good things that come from within. I’m thankful that right before His blood poured out on our behalf, He said, “forgive them Dad, they have no clue what they’re doing.”

He gets it. He’s been where we have been. The difference is He never made the stupid mistakes we do. But because He’s been in our shoes, even walked in them for 33 years, He can sympathize.

This is the Jesus Christ I know. And not because I read it in a book, but because I have experienced it for myself. I was once an atheist. I wanted nothing to do with God. He wanted everything to do with me. Not because of Hell. But because He is crazy in love me.

And He is crazy in love with you. And He just wants you to know it and believe it and be radically transformed by it.

He loves you because He loves you because He loves you.

Without bounds. Without stipulation.