"More Like Falling In Love"

I first heard this song on a Christian radio station called K-Love. It was love at first sound. The day I first heard this song, Jason Gray shared something about it. He discovered that there was some controversy regarding it, which had him baffled (frankly, it has me baffled too). All I can think is that there are some Christians who hear the song and think that it makes God seem too human (this reminds me of an old heresy that says the fleshly things are evil and the spiritual things are good). The truth is, though, Jason is right.

What is it like to fall in love? For someone, like me, who's never fallen in love, this is a difficult question to answer. However, I believe this is one of the reasons God has granted us with an imagination. When you fall in love, you want to do anything for the other person. You're willing to die for the other person. You would change for the other person. You want to know the other person even more (you can never learn enough). You want to spend time with the other person learning this person's likes/dislikes, friends, family, etc.

With all this in mind, why should the idea of Christianity being "More Like Falling In Love" seem so wrong? In fact, the entire Bible tells the story of God wooing His people back to Him. He did this by sending His one and only Son to die for us. If this isn't love, I don't know what is.

The Power of Prayer

Disclaimer: The following is something I wrote back in 2003 and felt compelled (by personal events) to post here today.

Victoria Beth Roberts

On Wednesday, November 10, 1992, I was in the tenth grade and was attending Starkville High School. This particular day, my parents left for one of my dad’s computer conferences. It was three days before my sixteenth birthday. I was coming down with another one of my colds. As the day progressed, I felt worse and worse. That night I tried to sleep, but could not. I was coughing incessantly and was in such pain that no words could describe. I don’t think there was a part of my body that did not hurt. Eventually, I got out of bed and went to the living room. I remembered that, when I was younger and was sick, my mom would take me to the living room. She would put a movie on for me to watch so that I’d forget about how sick I felt. Remembering this, I decided to give it a try. I made it to the couch and curled up in my intense pain. My pain was so intense that I began to cry. As I cried I prayed begging God to take away the pain at least long enough so that I could sleep. I cannot remember the words I prayed. All I can remember was that by the time I finished praying, I was laughing through my tears. I cannot recall if the pain disappeared. All I can remember was that I was thanking God for His grace and mercy to me. I do remember saying something along the lines of, “Lord, You are so amazing. I started this prayer in tears and now I’m laughing. You are so amazing.” After that, I got up from the couch and went back to my room where I fell asleep.

Eleven years later, as I write this story out, two events occurred that resulted in my decision to write this. The first was the death of a dear friend of mine, Jean Taylor. I had basically known her my entire life. When I heard that she died, I cried. The sorrow was more than I could bear. This event, along with the event of eleven years ago, led to the writing of the song “How Can I.” This song tells, in brief, both of those stories. The second event I am currently going through. On April 28, 2003, I came down with yet another one of my typical colds. It is now May 13 and I’m still suffering. I feel worse now then I did eleven years ago. It is not because of pain, though, but because of the coughing which is keeping me from sleep. On May 12, at about four in the morning, I was not getting any sleep so I decided to try working on a song I had not completed. This song is called “Totally Dependant On God.” Is this true for me? Absolutely! I had some ideas of what I wanted to write, but could not find the right words. So I stopped and prayed. “Lord, I am feeling miserable, but I don’t want You to take it from me because I know it will help on this song. I know what I want to say, but I need You to give me the words I need. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.” It was a few minutes before the words came, but they did. After I finished the song, I read it smiling and thinking, “How true is this?” When I finished reading it, I prayed again. “Lord, thank You for this song. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.” It is now about five in the morning of May 13, 2003 and I am again finding it difficult to sleep. I decided to go ahead and write this now rather than wait until later in the day. As I read back over this story, I can’t help but cry. These are good tears, though. God is so amazing and I can’t understand why He would love me. He does, though. To this I testify.

Silent Night

Silent night, holy night,
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin mother and Child.
Holy Infant, so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.

(Josef Mohr,c. 1816-1818. Retrieved January 2, 2010, from http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/s/i/silntnit.htm)

I have to disagree with Herr Mohr on at least one point. The night that Jesus was born may very well have begun as a silent night, but it certainly did not stay that way for long.

On a hillside not far from Bethlehem were a band of shepherds who were caring for a flock of sheep. Their job was to protect the sheep from predators and to guard them from injuring themselves. In order for these men to do this, they had to stay awake. It would not be at all surprising for them to talk about various topics or tell each other stories or to sing. On that hillside, it was likely not silent.

The silence was further broken when an angel appeared before them and announced the birth of the King of kings. This angel was soon joined by a host of angels who all sang the first Christmas carol - "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace goodwill to men." It was not a silent night on that hillside.

Once the angels left, the silence resumed for a moment while the shepherds recovered from the initial shock. Soon, though, I can imagine they began talking at once saying such things as "Did you see that?" "Were they real?" "Did you hear what they said?" "Let's go and see this newborn King." I can imagine their words overlapping. Imagine, for a moment, being in the midst of a crowd who are all talking at once. Perhaps that is how it sounded on that hill that night. It was not a silent night on that hillside.

When they decided to go to Bethlehem, it is possible that they ran all that way and as they did so, they would possibly have continued talking about what they had seen and heard. It was not a silent night on the way from the hillside to Bethlehem.

After arriving in Bethlehem and to the stable where Jesus lay, silence resumed as they gazed in awe and wonder at this newborn baby boy. When they left, though, the silence would have been broken as they told everyone about everything they had seen and heard that night. It was not a silent night in Bethlehem.

When the shepherds began their journey back to that hillside from whence they came, they were probably talking about all that they had seen and heard that night. It was not a silent night on the way from Bethlehem to the hillside.

In this one phrase, silent night, I disagree with Herr Mohr. I do agree, though, that it was a holy night.

The Christmas Tree

I have heard the history of many things, but do not recall having ever heard the history of the Christmas tree. One day recently, I was looking at the Christmas tree and was struck by what it was telling me. This post will relate to you what I learned.

The Christmas tree is traditionally from a group of trees commonly called evergreens. Evergreens are called this because they are green all year round. Does this sound familiar? God is eternal and unchangeable. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So when I look at a Christmas tree, I am reminded of the eternal and unchangeable nature of God.

While I have never heard a history of the Christmas tree, I have heard the story of the candy cane.

Many years ago, a candy maker wanted to create something that would remind people of the true meaning of Christmas. After much thought, he decided to make a candy in the shape of a shepherd's staff. When people saw this candy cane, he hoped they would be reminded of the birth of Christ. I do not know if this candy maker had a reason for choosing the colors red and white, but this is what I think they could represent. Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins The red is His blood which washed us whiter than snow. So when I look at a candy cane, I am reminded of the shepherds who ran to Bethlehem to see the newborn King. I am also reminded that Jesus came to save us from our sins.

I have never heard any history of Christmas lights, but I have heard that Jesus is the Light of the world. So when I see Christmas lights, I am remided that Jesus is the Light of the world and He shines in our lives.

The traditional Christmas tree is laden with decorations which are, usually, beautiful. Sound familiar? God decorates His creation everyday with beauty. When I see Christmas decorations, I am reminded of the beautiful decorations God has places on His creation.

The top of the traditional Christmas tree varies from family to family. Some place a star at the top and some place an angel at the top. Both the star and the angel were part of the first Christmas. The star was seen in the eastern sky by a group of men we know as wise men. Upon seeing this star, they determined it was a sign pointing to a new king. They loaded their camels with provisions and gifts and followed the star until, about two years later, they came to the house where Jesus lived. They worshiped Him and offered Him the gifts they had brought. When I see the star, I am reminded of the wise men who journeyed long to worship Jesus and give Him the gifts they had brought. It also reminds me that Jesus is God's perfect Gift to all who would believe. The first Christmas was filled with angels as they gave the birth announcement of Jesus to a humble band of shepherds. Upon hearing the good news, the shepherds ran to Bethlehem where they found Mary and Joseph and Jesus who was lying in a manger. When they left, they told everyone what had taken place. They glorified and praised God for all they had seen and heard. When I see an angel, I am reminded of the host of angels who proclaimed the good news and gave glory to God. I am also reminded of the humble shepherds who ran to see Jesus, told everyone about Him, and gave glory to God.

Overall, I believe we can look at a Christmas tree and be reminded of that first Christmas when heaven came to earth.

Isaiah 9:2-7
John 1:1-18
Matthew 1:1-24
Matthew 2:1-23
Luke 1:1-80
Luke 2:1-40

Altered Book Program Update

Well, it's done. YIPPIE!!!!

I was told it went well, but you never can tell. After I finished with my "spill" and the teenagers started working, I was quite bored. I spent my time going around looking at what they were doing and taking LOTS of pictures. There weren't many teenagers there, but somehow I managed to take somewhere around 160 pictures. ;-j Just FYI, I LOVE my camera. My sister (who is a librarian there) was on hand and took a few pictures, but worse than that, she also made a video of my "spill." I could tell even before she told me that that was what she was doing because she was standing still and just holding her digital camera still (that means video is being made). She's "threatened" to put it on youtube. Don't know if she has, though. I was probably not the best person for this task. Based on the advice given to me by members of the altered book group I'm in, I was probably just giving a bit o' a speech and then turning 'em loose. In my defense, though, this program lasted from 2pm-4pm (there abouts) so there wasn't much time to go teaching a whole lot. I did let them know about the Altered Art Club so hopefully some of them will join.

I was told by the aforementioned members to be ready for some "dark" themes. Maybe I don't understand what "dark" is, but I don't recall such. There were a couple who went fairly sci-fi, but that was about it.

One encouraging thing came about during clean-up. One of the teenagers (a summer volunteer) suggested that the volunteers create a scrapbook using what was left of the original book (the books for the program were made by tearing pages out of another). I hope they do and can't wait to see how it looks (I think).

I had to laugh a lot at the volunteers (these were the aforementioned teenagers. they weren't volunteers for the program). One created a few sci-fi pages and another used paint for all but one page. Because I kept explaining to her that she didn't have to paint ALL the pages, she created a page just for me. ;-j It had some unknown material (not necessarily as in fabric) as the background and had butterfly sequins on it (I love butterflies).

Those present seemed to enjoy themselves. We did loose two near the beginning (I guess they decided this wasn't for them after all).

Some of the parents and a few patrons nearby also seemed to think everyone was having a good time.

I almost forgot to mention, in the beginning, there were two tables set up for supplies. In the end, it almost looked as if the two front tables (used for the AB work) had turned into supply tables as there was so much supplies on them.

I think this pretty much covers it.

Altered Book Program

I have been neglecting this blog lately, but had not realized this fact until today.

Today, I will be leading an Altered Book program at the library as part of the first ever Young Adult Summer Reading Program. I am still nervous about it, but have few (if any) doubts about it going well. I was not able to get everything accomplished that I had hoped, but am not concerned about that as I have a plan in mind to handles those things. I am planning to take my camera with me and will take as many pictures as I can (which may end up not being very many as I am leading the program).

I will continue to provide updates as they develop (just wanted to say that. ;-j).

Wish me luck!

Seachd