The Square Peg

My friend Chris’s Facebook account was hacked today. I signed on this morning to see his status update listed as ”NEEDS HELP URGENTLY”. I thought that was odd and wondered what it meant. And then ”Chris” IM’d me. Here’s how it went down (baseball umpire style):

“Chris”: hello

(Swing & a miss, strike 1! I know Chris and he would’ve said “hey” or something cool and hip, not “hello”.)

me: hey, stranger. how’s life?

“Chris”: why do you say stranger?

(Steeee-rike 2! Chris would’ve known since we haven’t seen each other in a month of Sundays)

me: because I haven’t seen you in forever

“Chris”: I’m in London

(He. Is. Outta here!)

me: Bullshit; this isn’t Chris.

(Yes, I actually wrote that. I figure since God read my response and knows I cussed, I might as well be real with you.)

“Chris”: what?

me: Lemme guess; you need $, right?

“Chris”: why do you say it’s not me?

me: Your village just called; they want their idiot back. Now go away.

Following our chat, the poser IM’d several other Facebook friends and told them he was robbed at gunpoint in London and needed money to get back home.

After I updated my status warning people about it, I got to thinking…what if I hadn’t known Chris as well as I do? I might’ve believed the poser’s lie and fallen for a scam.

And then I wondered how many times I’ve fallen for lies from the enemy (poser) because I didn’t know God’s character. And I thought about how important it is that we know Him.

Know Him so we don’t believe the lies that tell us we are:

• worthless
• unloved
• unwanted

Know Him so we know:

• what love really is
• where He’s working
• how to help (don’t spectate; participate!)

Know Him so we won’t be fooled by persuasive deceivers. Because knowing about Him isn’t enough.

Last night I got home from TN to find an updated list for my trip to the store this week.

The Aqua Reefer is actually Old Spice's Red Zone deodorant. The "flavor" is called Aqua Reef, but as Drewby does, he put his own spin on it. He also informed me he's all caught up on the House episodes for the season, which explains tuberculosis and the sarcoidosis since it's never lupus. But between Aqua Reefer and the item he wrote on the list a while back, I'm starting to wonder if I should be a little concerned about him. Can you recommend the name of the good counselor? :)

Have you ever stopped to think about why you believe what you believe? I’ve been examining some of the beliefs that formed in my heart and mind while growing up, and realized not all were intentionally instructed. Many were passed on with specific intent. Some were accepted and I took ownership of them while others were rejected and I formed different beliefs. But more was caught than taught. Perhaps that’s true of you, too.

I was told that God created everything, and that He loved it all. And I believed it. But I didn’t like church much as a kid; it was full of rules (mostly “don't’s”; very few “do’s”) and righteousness seemed to be measured by what I subtracted from my life, rather than by what I added to the world. This disturbed me.

Nobody ever instructed me to “be prejudice”, yet racism and bigotry were never classified as unChrist-like by the church we occasionally visited. In fact, I don’t recall it ever being mentioned. But even as a little girl, I knew hating a group of people for something they couldn’t control (skin color, eye shape, etc) was not only ridiculous, it was wrong. I didn’t want somebody to dislike me because I had brown eyes or was left-handed. I was fascinated by our different skin colors, though.

I loved milk when I was little. White milk and chocolate milk have similar chemical structure, and I thought they were both delicious. And in my five-year-old mind, I likened ethnicity with milk. For real. I deduced that God liked white and chocolate milk. And since I knew chocolate came in milk and dark varieties, I concluded my Panamanian next-door neighbor was milk chocolate flavored, and my upstairs African neighbor was dark (fudge) flavored. I couldn’t figure out what kind of milk Asians were (I didn’t know about buttermilk then), but milk was milk, and it was all good; the strawberry kind, the chocolate kind, and the white kind I poured on my Fruit Loops every morning.

I’ve been attending church most of my adult life. And the math I’m most concerned with is the REALationships being multiplied as a result of truth + love.

Diversity doesn’t = division; unity doesn’t require conformity.
I’m just sayin’.

What an incredible day! Good coffee, great weather, and lots of fun!

Communion with coffee & donuts was pretty cool. And the sugar was a good fuel boost for the climb.

I wondered on the way to Stone Mountain how long it would take us to get to the top, but after getting out of the car and feeling so small against its sheer size, I figured we'd be doing well just to make it all the way up. We weren't far on the trail when Moose, Drew & Tasha each stumbled within a few minutes of each other.

The view from the top was hazy, but spectacular.

We wondered if the H marked a helicopter landing pad, or the portal entrance to Hell.

Going down was as challenging as going up. I commented as we started our descent that whereas they'd only stumbled and didn't fall, I'd actually fall and walk out of the park with a skinned knee. And about halfway down my left foot slipped on a wet rock, my right knee buckled, and I landed on it.

Beautiful, isn't it? :-)

Stone Mountain info - The top of the mountain is 1,683 feet above sea level. Carving depicts three Southern heroes of the Civil War: Confederate President Jefferson Davis, Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. Carved area covers three acres, is recessed 42 feet into the mountain and situated 400 feet above the surrounding ground.

For your reading pleasure, I am enclosing bits and pieces of some of our conversations today. Enjoy~

We reached a level area on the way up and paused to enjoy the view.
Brian: "Oh, good Kodak moment."
Drew: "There are no bears here, Dad."
A little while later we reached another nice viewing area and Drew hollered "Kojak moment!" How does he even know who Kojak is?

Tasha (3/4 of the way up the mountain & breathing heavily): "Gosh, this is kind of taxing on my respiratory system."
Drew: "Yeah, it's hard on my reservoir system, too."

Tasha (to Brian regarding his hiking boots): "Are those steel-toed boots?"
Drew: "No, his toes move sometimes."

Drew (dodging a very large mosquito): "Holy crap! That wasn't a mosquito; it was an Apache helicopter!"

Hope you had a good Easter, too!
Peace.

I’m so excited about Sunday! Forty-five days ago I told you about my decision to take part in Lent because I wanted Easter to be at the forefront of my mind this year. I have seen that desire reached. I’ve been keenly aware of this Easter season and have spent a lot of time thinking about different aspects of its meaning. I have also participated in a 28 day challenge to read the book of Matthew, one chapter each day beginning the 28 days before Easter. This challenge was extended by Pastor Pete in Nashville whose blog I read. You can read Without Wax here. This 28 day challenge has been instrumental in narrowing my focus during this time.
Today’s reading was chapter 26 and something struck me as I read.

Verses 40-41When he came back to his disciples, he found them sound asleep. He said to Peter, “Can’t you stick it out with me a single hour? Stay alert; be in prayer so you don’t wander into temptation without even knowing you’re in danger. There is a part of you that is eager, ready for anything in God. But there’s another part that’s as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire.”

Oh, that describes me so well sometimes! I can’t count the number of times I’ve wandered into temptation inadvertently. And like so many others, I’m both eager for God and too lazy to leave the coziness of the fire. But I love that Jesus gave the solution before He even pointed out the problem; stay alert and pray. Since I strive to be a person who is proactive rather than reactive, that’s right up my alley. By staying alert and praying, I can curtail the problem.

I told you I wanted to find a unique way to culminate the Lenten season and celebrate Easter. We decided to go hiking at Stone Mountain in Atlanta on Sunday. We’re gonna find a trail, hike up a hill, sit together and enjoy God’s creation. Don’t tell the kids, but we’re going to take communion in a different way. Since Jesus is the bread of life, and bread comes in many forms, we’re going to pick up donuts (preferably Krispy Kreme) to symbolize the body that was broken for us. I want us to associate the sweetness of the donut with God’s sacrifice for us. I often say that coffee is God’s nectar, and since I joke that it’s what gives me life in the morning, we’re going to use coffee to symbolize the shed blood. Like I said; unique.

Moose & I planted a weeping willow tree in the back yard last Friday. We had to put our dog Willow down that morning and wanted to remember her in a special way. We planted it in an open area near the house that’s easily seen from the kitchen window because that’s where she would lay on sunny days.

When Ryan was 10, he came into the living room and said he needed to talk to us. He matter of factly told us he wanted a dog. We pointed out that we already had a dog, our Yorkie, Dixie. Ryan’s response was that Dixie was an adult dog and he needed a ‘kid dog’. He defined a kid dog as one who would lick his face, sleep in his bed, pull him on his skateboard, run beside him as he rode his bike, and play in the lake with him. We rarely went to the lake, so the last requirement seemed a little out of place to us.

We had 12 fun years with Willow. She went on vacations with us and although she was afraid of water, she eventually worked up the courage to get in our pool and swim with us.

Picture: Ryan, Tasha, & Willow.