Larry's Great American Novel

My brother-in-law introduced me to Larry Norman's music five or six years ago. Until that time, I had not heard of Larry Norman.

Say what you will about Larry Norman. His music was genuine.

As many of you know, Larry died this past Sunday at the of age of 60. Heart failure was the official cause of death. Ironic in a way, when you consider that this was a guy who sang from the heart (and some might argue from the hip as well).

Larry recorded this song, "The Great American Novel" back in 1972. 36 years later, I find this song just as relevant today as it was back in 1972.

I guess that old saying is true.

The more things change, the more they stay the same........

...enjoy the video. (Lyrics can be found below.)



The Great American Novel
by Larry Norman

i was born and raised an orphan
in a land that once was free
in a land that poured its love out on the moon
and i grew up in the shadows
of your silos filled with grain
but you never helped to fill my empty spoon

and when i was ten you murdered law
with courtroom politics
and you learned to make a lie sound just like truth
but i know you better now
and i don't fall for all your tricks
and you've lost the one advantage of my youth

you kill a black man at midnight
just for talking to your daughter
then you make his wife your mistress
and you leave her without water
and the sheet you wear upon your face
is the sheet your children sleep on
at every meal you say a prayer
you don't believe but still you keep on

and your money says in God we trust
but it's against the law to pray in school
you say we beat the russians to the moon
and i say you starved your children to do it

you are far across the ocean
but the war is not your own
and while you're winning theirs
you're gonna lose the one at home
do you really think the only way
to bring about the peace
is to sacrifice your children
and kill all your enemies

the politicians all make speeches
while the news men all take note
and they exagerate the issues
as they shove them down our throats
is it really up to them
whether this country sinks or floats
well i wonder who would lead us
if none of us would vote

well my phone is tapped and my lips are chapped
from whispering through the fence
you know every move i make
or is that just coincidence
well you try to make my way of life
a little less like jail
if i promise to make tapes and slides
and send them through the mail

and your money says in God we trust
but it's against the law to pray in school
you say we beat the russians to the moon
and i say you starved your children to do it
you say all men are equal all men are brothers
then why are the rich more equal than others
don't ask me for the answer i've only got one
that a man leaves his darkness when he follows the Son

Woman at the Well

Just a few inches down, you shall find a YouTube video that showcases a modern day monologue of the woman at the well. You bible folks might recognize the story from John 4:3-30.

It's powerful.

Watch it and see....

Wonky

I live a wonky and wobbly souled life.

My plaster is cracked.

My paint is peeling.

There is darkness in my inner self.

And yet....

there is something strangely lovely about everything that is me.

I think it must be God.

God within,

slicing through the darkness

Making my peeling,

painted self

shine.

Spring!

Would you believe that it has been warm and sunny here for nearly a week!

The other day I took advantage and snapped a few photos.

Here are two!

The first photo shows a neighborhood church steeple contrasted against the blue sky. The second photo shows a little patch of yellow crocus pushing their way through the cold soil and dead leaves of winter.

Enjoy!





Spring is springing! Hip, hip, hooray!

Full

My heart is full.

On Thursday, our Bible Study group took my husband and me out to celebrate our 25th Anniversary. We had a very nice dinner at Fratello's. The food was good, but the companionship at our table was even better. I love these new friends so very much and I thank them for the care and the friendship they have offered my husband and me.

This was the first time any of our church friends have done anything remotely nice for Tom or me. After nearly a decade of attending the same church, several of our church friends finally took the time to care about us, to honor us, to love us. And I have to tell you, it felt good.

Last year when I struggled with some health problems, I told several church friends that our family would really benefit from the healing prayers of others in our community. I even went so far as to suggest that we would like to have a group of our neighbors join together to pray with us and for us.

And do you know what I was told? I was told, "Well when you get something organized, let me know. I'll come by."

There I was, bouncing in and out of the hospital, struggling to keep hearth and home going, and not one of our church friends could be bothered to organize a healing prayer group for our family.

That was when I really understood that the people I had been worshipping with, praying with, working alongside, simply didn't care. I know for a fact that healing prayer groups were organized for other families in crises....but not for our family. I can only surmise that we weren't important enough to be prayed for, or our timing was inconvenient or....well you fill in the blank. The bottom line is, our church family failed us in that moment of need.

The real tragedy in all of this was the deep crises of doubt that whole situation created within me. If my church family cared so little, loved so poorly, then perhaps God loved me the same way as well. I began to question the quality of God's love for me. I began to doubt His goodness. I began to doubt God. And this doubting has persisted for quite some time....perhaps even into this present moment where, if I am honest, I will admit to harboring just a smidgeon of uncertainty about God's ability to love me.

I talk with God about this all the time, like a modern day, female version of Jacob wrestling with God, I wrestle with God too. I think I wrestle so hard because I desire to become so entangled with the Holiest of Holies, that when I finally give up, God's own presence will be so enmeshed with my own that in my moment of surrender, I will be completely encircled by God's life, so much so, that I will be forever and eternally embraced by Him.

Yeah well, that's what I'm hoping for anyway.

....but getting back to the whole "My heart is full." thing. On Friday we celebrated our oldest daughter's 18th birthday. It was such an incredibly sweet day for me. Our oldest daughter is becoming an amazing young woman. I have been so privileged to be her mother. I love her so much.

Last week was just filled with so many joyful things/moments: sunshine, children's laughter, cheesecake, barbequed hamburgers, singing, prayers, birthday candles, true friends, and love. Every little thing, swelled my heart a little more. And now, sitting here, I can honestly say, my heart is full.

Not coincidently, my conversations with God this weekend have been filled with whispered words of gratitude. If God were here right now, you know, enfleshed and physical, I would hug him and I would jump up and down in his arms and tell him how my heart is so very, very full. I imagine that he would smile and celebrate with me. I imagine his love raining down upon me like the feather light kisses mothers press into their children's hair. I mean, just imagine it. Wouldn't that be a beautiful thing?

Sounds pretty freaking fantastic if you ask me.

25 Years Today!

Today is my 25th Wedding Anniversary!

Happy Dance Time!

Everyone get up out of your chairs and do a little jig!

We are celebrating 25 years of nuptual bliss.

So many times, either one of us could have thrown in the towel on our marriage. God knows we've both done things that could have given the other good cause to terminate the relationship....but we never gave, we beat the odds and we continue to choose to each other again and again.

That's what makes a good marriage...the choosing.

We choose how we are going to love one another, treat one another, and forgive one another. We choose to stay commmited, even when our feelings scream otherwise. We choose to see the good in one another, even when we are at our worst. We choose to inspire, we choose to be faithful, we choose to be honest with one another...we choose, in the midst of a world with its infinate choices, we choose life with one another.

....and it aint always pretty, this life of ours.

But by God's grace, we have loved. Against all odds, we have loved.

Thank you for that gift of love God.

Thank you for your love dear, sweet husband.

Thank you both for choosing me.

Forever Friends...

Every now and then, our church does this thing with our youngsters where the adults in charge of their Sunday school groups present the gospel message.

Little ones from kindergarden up are told how Christ loves them, how he died on the cross for their sins and how he rose again. They are invited to ask Jesus to be their "forever friend".

The following Sunday, the stage in the church sanctuary will be filled with roses. Each rose represents a child who prayed the sinners' prayer and became a follower of Christ. Proud parents flock to the service to hear their child's name read to the congregation.

I can understand a parent's joy in learning that their child has accepted Christ. I remember when my middle daughter told me had given her life to Jesus. I remember the radiant look upon her face and I remember how my soul soared for the new life she would discover as she walked through this world and the years to come with Christ by her side. I remember my joy watching her baptism. Those were days I shall never forget.

And yet, something in me rebels at the idea of our church manipulating our children to accept Christ. Something in me pulls back at the idea of canned "forever friend" presentations, roses, and podiums and public announcements naming little five year olds as having asked Jesus to be their "forever friend". I can't shake the idea that this is highly manipulative of our children's minds and hearts. It is hard for me to conscience.

Not long ago, we received a letter from our grade school ministry pastor (grades K-3) explaining that a special Sunday was being planned for our children with the express purpose of leading each child in asking Jesus to be their "forever friend". My husband and I opted to keep our youngest child home that week.

Before making this decision, I asked my seven year old daughter if she had ever asked Jesus to be her "forever friend". She answered me by asking, "What does that mean?" I explained that it means she knows Jesus is real, that she loves him and that she wants to share her life with him the same way she shares her life with her family and her friends.

Her reply?

"Oh, I already know all that. I've known Jesus since before I was born. I've loved him since forever."

Now I know for some, this is hardly a traditional confession of faith. It lacks the solemnity and the formality of praying the sinner's prayer. It slips by unannounced, unadorned, unnoticed except perhaps by God.

But I know for a fact that Jesus danced in celebration when he heard my daughter's declaration of love for him. I know, because this child and I have been dancing with Jesus since before she was even born. We dance with him still.

Maybe the church's way of leading little children to Christ is beneficial for many. Who am I to judge?

I just pray that each child represented by a rose on stage this Sunday morning either already knows, or will know, what it is like to twirl about with Jesus until they are both breathless with delight.

Make no mistake, there is an eternal dance of love shaking our cosmos. Can't you hear God's heart beat rocking the universe? I can! I can feel the very heavens shudder with God's own pounding rhythm of invitation to join the dance.

Can you feel it? Join the dance people!

......and this is precisely why I'm not teaching Sunday school.

There'd be chaos if I had 300 plus children out of their chairs and dancing with Jesus. Chaos.

Roses are safer....much, much safer.

Lent

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, a day which marks the beginning of Lent.

I am going to spend the next 40 days purposefully praying, meditating upon God's word, fasting and giving of myself.

I have decided to blog my through the Lenten experience and I have set up a special place for this express purpose.

If you would care to join me on this journey, you may do so HERE!

I've entitled the new blog, "A Lenten Longing" .

I'm very excited to begin this new spiritual adventure and hope that some of you will join me along the way!

Frozen Art

I found this little YouTube clip today. It's really quite amazing.

I would love to be a part of something like this.

It would be so cool to simply freeze for five minutes alongside 200+ people in a public space. I wonder what folks in my community would say? How would they respond?

Don't you think it would be interesting to find out?

Tombstones and Shepherds.

"The Lord is my shepherd is written on many more tombstones than lives."

~ Dallas Willard

Is Christ the shepherd of your life?

Really?

I say that I want Him to be my shepherd; but deep down, I know that I am a fickle and faithless little sheep.

All too often, I choose the things of this world over my relationship with Christ.

I long for Christ to be my center, the heart and the soul of my life.

I want His heart of compassion to be my heart.

I want His love for Abba to be my love.

I want ....

....well, God only knows what I really want.

Forgive me Father God for being such a silly old ewe.

Thank you God, that Christ is my good shepherd.

I love that you love me the way that you do.