Dear Westboro Baptist Church...

Okay, I haven't blogged in a super long time, I know. Partly because I'm busy and partly because I haven't had any idea on what to say. But as of 10 minutes ago, I have something.

I was trolling around on Twitter a minute ago and randomly came across the Twitter account for Westboro Baptist Church. And I only call it church to make sure you know who I'm talking about, from now on I will not be giving it such an undeserved honor.

Now usually I'm not a fan of using social media as a soapbox. I have nothing against it but it's not something I like to do myself. But when something this sickening comes along, rules are bent.

Here are a few examples of the many pictures, signs, and sayings that appear over and over again on WBC's twitter account:
"God hates f-gs"
"God is your enemy"
"Pray for more dead soldiers"
"God hates sluts"
"You're going to hell"
and, my personal favorite
"God hates the world" <-- Whoever wrote this has never held a Bible, obviously...

This is not okay. The one that put the cherry on top of my disgust was a post about the Kenya mall tragedy, referring to it as "God's judgement of the world". This was accompanied with a bloodied sign that said "God sent the killer".

The more I read about these people, the more I begin to understand the way Jesus felt when he drove the moneymakers from God's temple. These people are not only giving Christians a horrible reputation, they are misrepresenting the God they pretend to follow! Showing up at military funerals with signs that say "All military men are in hell", picketing against homosexuals and calling them names?? Yes, people are sinners and yes, God will judge the world one day. But they leave out a HUGE part of the story. Namely, that God's love for His people was so great that He heaped our sins on His perfect Son in order that we could be free of death and be His children. And that's as Biblical as it gets. John 1:12, John 3:16, Colossians 2:13-14 are great examples. If you want more, read the entire New Testament. Actually, the entire Bible. It's all over. Jesus took the brunt of God's wrath for us.

According to Westboro Baptist Cult, they are the "true" Christians and thereby better than everyone else. By their belief, I'm hell-bound as well because I strongly disagree with them, to put it mildly, and therefore I'm a fake believer. One thing I find amusing is that these people strongly assert that God hates sinners...however, I'm inclined to bring up the story of "he who is without sin casting the first stone". I'm a sinner. So are you. So is everyone on this planet, and that includes the pharisees at WBC.

I don't mean to rant but this nearly makes my blood boil. It's one thing to spew heresies and hatred everywhere, but to then claim that it comes from the Bible and the will of the Almighty God?? That's what makes me so angry.

All this to say - if you are not a follower of Christ, please do NOT think that these people represent anything to do with Christianity. God is nothing like WBC says He is. He hates sin. He does not hate you.

As I step down from my soapbox, I'd like to say something to the people at Westboro Baptist Cult (I'll be tweeting this link to them). If you're really so dead-set on inciting arguments everywhere, let's have one. Don't forget to bring your Bible.

Sorry this was so sobering! Next time it'll be lighter. Until then!
-Christiana

Jesus is awesome, I'm freaking out, and...etc.

Well hey there! Yeah yeah, it's been a while. I can feel you judging me. Stop it.

So let's cut right to the chase. I'm in a really good mood. Would you like to know why? Of course you would! If you've made it to this point, you're actually serious about reading my random thoughts. Congratulations. You make me feel good about myself.

Reason #1: I have a freaking amazing God. I mean...I'm just sayin. I've been kind of beaten down of late and I've been trying to trust in God, but really just having a hard time. However, He is answering prayers! Because...He does that. It's pretty cool. I'm reminded of how great He is and how privileged I am to be in the service of such an incredible God! And how amazing it is that He's chosen me to take His Gospel to others! Which brings me to the next reason....

Reason #2: I'm leaving in the morning for Chicago to be a part of a huge witnessing-conference-thing called SEMP! And the adrenaline is kicking in. It's nerve-racking to think about asking random strangers if you can tell them about Jesus. But when I put that in perspective of how truly indescribable my Jesus is, I'm like "GET ME OUT ON THOSE STREETS!" Seriously. I'm ready right now. Like...get me out there. Jumping out of one's comfort zone is not usually appealing, but it kind of is to me when it comes to stuff like this. I'm sure there will be some good stories when I get back.

Reason #3: Did I mention how great Jesus is?

Now that you've made it this far, do me a favor. Watch this video. It's 11 minutes long, yes....but you'll live. I promise. This gives me goosebumps every time I see it and again, makes me want to be on those Chicago streets right NOW telling people how great my God is. If you can watch this and not be affected in any way....check your pulse and make sure it's still there. Or something.

That's all I have. Except that I love every single one of you. Yeah, you! Until next time!

http://www.ellerslie.com/short-films/the-gospel

My name is Pippin, and I'm very selfish

I know this is quite long overdue...my 'Fellowship of the Blogs' companions are all way ahead of me. But I got dubbed as Pippin and he's kind of a slacker, right? So...I'm just fitting the character...speaking of the other people in this fellowship, they won't stop the facebook conversation we're having and it's taken me like 10 minutes to write this much. Anyway, moving on.

Most of the time I have no idea what these posts are going to be about until I sit down and start writing them. With the feminism one, I knew because I'd had it in mind for a long time. But usually I just sit down and start spewing random thoughts until something serious or not so serious is created. Like now. I've kept you going for this long and I still have no clue what this is going to end up being about. But you're interested to find out and you're enjoying my witty banter, so you're going to keep reading! I have enticed you! And those of you who are sarcastic and bitter are thinking about pressing the 'X' button right now just to prove me wrong. That's right. I know who you are...

Alright I think I stalled long enough to decide on something. My apologies.

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to be self-serving? For the past few months I've been in a sort of....dry period I suppose you could say, spiritually. I do this thing where I subconciously start to think I can handle my life by myself and I don't need God. Then slowly it becomes a concious thing, where I have the clear choice to either humble myself and beg for God's guidance or just close off my mind and heart to Him and live based on what I think is best...and I'm pretty much as useless as a three-legged dog. Don't tell me I'm the only one who does this. Well...maybe I am. But it's pretty messed up.

This attitude is really messed up, because it makes me into someone I really don't want to be. And I don't even realize it. When I start thinking I can handle life on my own, I become selfish and I only want to do what will make me happy. I stop caring about God's wish that I reach out to other people. I stop asking how I can pray for them, asking how they're doing in general, and just generally caring about their wellbeing. It's because I build up a wall in between myself and the agenda of the Gospel. The longer I let the wall stand, the harder it is to tear down.

Personal confession aside, whenever this happens I go read the story in Ezekiel 16. It's God talking to Israel, giving them an allegory to show how rebellious and sinful they've been towards Him. He tells the story of a woman who was cast off and forgotten at birth, and how He saved her, bathed and clothed her, gave her fine jewels to wear, etc. And then she becomes prideful. God says "But you trusted in your beauty..."

So here's my ultimate question. How many times to we "trust in our beauty"? God saves us and makes us clean and new, gives us His Spirit and we begin to radiate with eternal beauty. But for some reason we get prideful and start to think this beauty comes from us. Then we walk away from God because obviously, we can get by on our own merit....even though it all comes from Jesus. And then we end up on our knees asking Him to forgive us for our pride and rejection.

Well this didn't feel good to write, but it was probably good that I did. Moral of the story being: don't ever take yourself too seriously.

Well, I'm off for second breakfast. Next time we'll write about something a little more happy. Until then!

Summer, I'm not a feminist, and....that's it.

First of all, I'm about dying of happiness from the beauty spewing through my window this fine evening. Seriously it has been the most amazing weather ever today and I don't even care about the sweating and general heatedness, this is what I've been waiting for! I love it. My windows are open, the breeze is coming in, I watched a stunning sunset, and I'm smelling something like a farm. Mmmm. And yes, I like the smell of a farm. Thank you.

Pardon me while I inhale deeply, smile, and enjoy this moment.

Okay. So a while back I decided what my next blog post would be about, but I've been so busy with end of the year school that I haven't had a chance to write it. But I'm finding a lull in the storm on this lovely Tuesday night, so here goes.

Feminism. Yay!! At this point I could go one of two ways, and considering my gender I'd wager you're expecting me to go the "Yeah, power to the women! Show them men who's boss!" route. But nah, too mainstream.

So I've had a couple different conversations in the past few months (both with women) about how modern-day feminism is messing up a lot of stuff. In fact it's basically ruining modern-day masculinity. Now don't get me wrong, feminism in the 1960s and 70s is one thing, and feminism now is another. I'm all for women being able to vote and such, in fact it's a privilege I look forward to exercising next election. And I'm all for the movement about women getting paid the same salary as men when they're doing the same job. That stuff is awesome and I love that women are treated so much better in America than in many other cultures! So yay for the 1900s feminist movement.

However now, it's much different. The general attitude from many girls to any gentlemanly act is "What, you think I can't do it myself??" Guy opens door. Guy carries heavy item. Guy pays for coffee. Then girl calls him a male chauvinist and, just to prove herself, holds the door open for him. This makes me really sad! Ladies, we all know that we're capable of opening doors. No duh. That's not the issue here. When a guy does these things, chances are he's doing them to show you respect and not to make you look helpless. The other thing I see all the time is the "Girls can do everything guys can do, just better." That also makes me sad...when did this become a contest? Society has become a place where everyone has to be equal to the point where women try to prove that they are able to do every single thing a man can do. Why does this even need to be proven? Men and women are different, that's the basic fact of life. God created them different and to play different roles, especially when it comes to the home. Why bend over backward trying to balance things out when it's meant to be beautifully unbalanced?

There's a lyric in one of Darius Rucker's songs that says "And those girls out in California they don't understand/They don't like it when I hold the door or when I say yes ma'am/They act like I done something wrong and they give me the evil eye/I say honey I'm sorry I'm in a southern state of mind". Sums it up pretty well I guess. This is a problem especially even in the Christian world! The girls trample all over the guys trying to prove how great they can be and then they turn around and whine "Why aren't there any godly men stepping up??" *facepalm*

I could go way longer, but I won't bore you. My point is this: feminism has twisted into a messed up system to degrade (yes, degrade) manhood. Women are the bosses, women are the smart ones, women can do anything men can do...in heels. Don't you see what this does? It makes the guys think they aren't needed. And every guy has to feel needed, in my experience. So of course they're not going to step up to the plate and lead like God designed them too, we as ladies are too busy telling them we can do it better.

Anyway, that's all I have. Moral of the story: guys, treat her with respect. Girls....let him respect you.
My rant is over and I'm going to go dive into some more homework and watch some old 1970s sitcoms. Make of that what you will. Until next time!

Christiana

Rainy days, Reality, and Adam Young

Well first off, it's raining right now. That alone puts me in a blog-writing mood, along with the Adam Young kick I'm currently on. Seriously, take a thunderstorm, throw in Adam Young, and you're bound to get some deep thoughts out of me. It's the way things work. The other reason I'm writing this now is because I was guilt-tripped just a little last night by some dear friends. But let's just pretend it's for the afore mentioned reasons...they sound nicer.

With that said, I would love for my day to consist of curling up with my iPod and a Karen Kingsbury book and alternating between writing, reading, and listening to the patter of the rain. Unfortunately there's this little thing called high school that never fails to get in my way. But it's alright. Before we move on, let me unashamedly make a plug for my play next week! The Imaginary Invalid, April 25th, 26th, and 27th at Mount Olive Lutheran church. Let me know if you want tickets, it's gonna be great!

Now that I've done that, we can move on to seriousness. At the moment, I'm listening to good ol' Adam sing "reality is a lovely place, but I wouldn't want to live there". I'll admit it's pointless sentiment, but on days like this, I don't really care. Sometimes reality is overwhelming, and you can only hide behind things for so long. I've even caught myself, on the really bad days, counting down the hours until I can go to sleep. Not because I'm tired, but because it's the only place I don't have to deal with the problems of life. It's like an escape...assuming that reality doesn't invade my dreams. Sure, that sounds kind of romantic...but it's pretty messed up actually. My life should be a joy to experience, because I'm experiencing it with Jesus! Too often I take His presence for granted. Maybe if I talked/listened to Him more I'd want to get up in the morning because it means another day with my Father.

Perspective can really affect the outcome of the day. Every morning when I wake up, there is a blissful few moments between sleep and reality where I don't remember the problems of the previous day, or the problems that today is bound to hold. Some mornings I wake up and when that moment of truth hits, I think about how much I want to just go back to sleep and not deal with the world. Days like that usually aren't lived to the fullest. But every so often, I start things off right. For instance, yesterday morning. I woke up to Kristian Stanfill singing "Your love never fails, never gives up, and never runs out on me". My window shade was open a few inches and the sun was rising so that when I flipped over to turn off the alarm, it hit me full on the face. The most wonderful wake-up call was laying there listening to those words and feeling the warmth on my face and the light behind my eyes. My first thought was "Good morning, Daddy". You'd be amazed how much that changes a mood. After being reminded of God's presence, nothing else really seems to make an impact. I was able to jump out of bed pretty easily.

I can't believe all that stemmed from one song lyric. See what this weather and Adam's voice do to me? It boils down to this: don't take God's presence for granted. He can shift your day from drudgery to joy. It doesn't matter what the circumstances are, it matters where your focus is. That's all I've got for now. Enjoy your rainy, romantic Wednesday! And don't stay on the internet too much longer. Go read a book or get something done...or better yet, spend time with Jesus! (Then go watch the Avengers. Sorry. Had to.)

Until next time!
~Christiana

Apologies, Country music, and of course....Superheroes

So yeah...it's been a while...actually the last time I graced all 3 people that read this blog with some wisdom was *cough*July*cough*. I figured it would turn out this way. But hey, never too late the pick up the slack right? In that case...for all those who care, enjoy this random spewing of thought.

Life is good lately! Spring is finally converging upon us. I love snow, but after Christmas it starts getting old, and by the end of January I'm pretty much ready to skip right to April. But unfortunately I haven't invented time travel yet. Although it is highly possible that ya'll are reading this because I brought us here....it's highly possible that, although you think yesterday was April 4th, it was actually January 31st. Let that bounce around in your mind a while, and add some spooky music. You're welcome.

Oh and guess what? I love country music!! I just discovered this recently. See, when I was in junior high and peer pressure was rampant, everyone was like "AAHHH H COUNTRY MUSIC THE BANE OF OUR EXISTENCE IT'S SO STOOOOOPID." So I, being 13 years old and impressionable, adopted the idea that country music was stupid. But then I started listening to it this past year. And I found a piece of my heart. No seriously. I'm pretty sure I was meant to be born in the South, and something just...went wrong.

By way of perusing my previous blog posts, I remembered that I always have something spiritual-y to say. So enjoy these verses: "In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help. From His temple He heard my voice, and my cry to Him reached His ears. Then the earth reeled and rocked; the foundations also of the mountains trembled and quaked, because He was angry." I like thinking about this when I start to underestimate God. I've even caught myself saying "What can He do about it?" But that question is pretty ridiculous, honestly.

In closing, since I've always had something to say about the Avengers in the past....um...it's been almost a year since the Avengers came out and I spent 16 hours in a movie theater with 4 guys watching Marvel movie after Marvel movie until midnight came and we got to see the most epic superhero mash-up in history. And my friends....Samuel L. Jackson is still amazing. I would quote you my favorite line from the movie. But unfortunately it has a not nice word in it. But my second favorite is "I watched you while you were sleeping...ahh, I mean...I was present. While you were unconcious." I love Marvel. Now get off my blog, off the internet or your phone or whatevs and go live life!!

~ Christiana