“I embrace all things corrupt; therefore I am better than you”.

There are some things that you learn and observe. This is one of them…

“I embrace all things corrupt; therefore I am better than you”.

This is an attitude I see often at COS, specifically my art classes. (Although it happens all over campus). There are people who embrace being “corrupt”. The dictionary.com definition as I use it is: “debased in character; depraved; perverted; wicked; evil: a corrupt society.” So in reality, we are all corrupt because we are all sinners and fall short of God’s glory. But, not all of us pursue corruptness, revel in it, and embrace it! I have noticed that those who do take pride in being this way. 

These folks don’t live by the principles found in Proverbs and 1 Peter that say to shun evil, turn away from evil, pursue peace, watch over your heart and put away your deceitful mouth and devious lips. I try to live this way and because of this, I am aware of others around me who try to live this way. This is why I notice this situation a lot.

The situation usually goes something like this: (Lets say Larry is the “corrupt” one and Ed is the “innocent” one.) Ed and a group of people are talking together about whatever, good naturedly. The convo turns into something Ed would rather not partake of and thus it becomes slightly awkward for him. Larry instantly notices this because Ed sticks out like a sore thumb considering he’s not laughing or contributing to the new conversation. Larry grabs at this like a flame at oxygen and you can feel the attitude of “I know more about this un-innocent topic than you do! I have experience in talking about this, I am AWESOME and I must teach you young Padawan!” The group then sort of laughs and make fun of Ed, but in a non-bullying, non-obvious way. Ed just wants to leave because he knows the idiocy of the situation, is rolling his eyes in his head, but being polite on the outside. By now, the whole group, be it 3 people or 6, is aware of Ed and his un-comfortableness and they utter things like “poor guy” or “look at Ed!” or “we are corrupting him, hardy har har har!”

Topics include, but are not limited to, various sexual references, innuendo’s, or practices, porn, homosexuality, certain movies or music, body parts, etc.

Eventually Ed gets on with his activities but those people continue pursuing it when they see him. They remind him of their previous conversation and laugh at their abilities to try to “corrupt” Ed and make him “one of them”.

I have actually heard people doing this. One group said “Yes, we corrupted Billy!” (name changed) with pride in their voices and smiles on their faces! Some people actually do become like them, if they have no spine. Others stand on their principles and choose sanctification over corruption with the world. 

“I embrace all things corrupt; therefore I am better than you”.

~Laurel May~

Pregnancy Pills and Weed Killer

My Introduction to the Old Testament class is quite interesting. The other day we talked about Genesis 3-the Fall of Man. The Instructor wanted to discuss the part of the curse that says that men will labor and toil in the ground and women will have pain in childbirth. He asked, “Is this prescriptive or descriptive, meaning does God allow this curse and like it, or allow this curse and not like it, respectively?” We answered that is was descriptive. Of course God doesn’t want His children to suffer, but sin entered the world anyway.

So he asked if a woman taking pain relievers for pregnancy or a man using a weed killer is going against God (since He allowed the curse). Immediately I thought that would be legalism! But what I found interesting is the fact that women do take pain relievers during pregnancy and men do use weed killers in their yards. These events happen quite often, actually everyday. And not only these two things, but other things as well; we are trying to recover and restore the earth through environmental laws, we seek and find beautiful things, we exercise so we don’t get fat, we do absolutely anything to be happy and to obtain fulfillment.

 

It just really hit me how these things are acts of trying to return to Eden; trying to “get back to the heart”, if you will. We know we were created for something entirely different than this broken world and we spend every waking moment trying to get back to it. We use pain relievers during pregnancy because we know we weren’t created for it to hurt; we use weed killer because we know we weren’t created to take care of a thistly, weedy land. We are trying to get back to Eden.

~Laurel May ~

Handbook for the Sellout

“Do you remember where we all came from?
Do you remember what it's all about?
When you made a point to be objective,
before you started writing Handbook for the Sellout?”

These are the words to one of my favorite Five Iron Frenzy songs. It’s about selling our your Christian values just to be like everyone else. It is very close to my heart right now.

 The world says that Christians need to be “tolerant” and “accepting” and, my personal favorite, “non-juding”, of everyone because Jesus was. It’s true that Christians cannot judge the world according to God’s standards (because they aren’t Christians), but as far as other Christians go…it’s a different story. When Jesus confronted the woman at the well, who had multiple husbands, He didn’t say “you know what, you do have 5 husbands, which is sin, but that’s okay. I am just going to try to love, accept, tolerate and not-judge you out of your situation”. No, He was kind to her, told her about His Living Water, then called her out and told her to sin no more. What an example!

It’s hard to be a Christian sometimes. Take the narrow road and stop writing Handbook for the Sellout.

~Laurel May~

Married Life

Married Life! As you may well know, I got married on June 11, 2011. Best. Day. EVER!
I will post wedding pictures as soon as possible. But for now, I will just post these:

 

Fourth of July Cinnamon Rolls!

 Delicious "homemade" bread from my breadmaker! (I don't count it as really, truly, "homemade" because I did not knead it and everything...the machine did! Hahaha.)

 Asparagus quiche.

Salad, fried okra, asparagus quiche and grey potatoes.

So I have been doing a lot of cooking lately, because now I am a housewife. Hahaha. I remember in my Public Speaking for Business class, there was a redneck man who did a presentation on someone he admires. (Everyone had this topic. Mine was my Mom. :-)) He chose his "housewife". This was his wife, but he constantly referred to her as his "housewife". Finally, at the end, one nice gentleman raised his hand and asked him why he kept referring to her as his "housewife" and the oakie redneck man, with a mustache, replied "'cause she's always at home. I always know where she's at!" It was...interesting and just a little, or a lot, chauvinistic!

Anyway, I love cooking and baking, so that's been awesome. My MIL (Mother-In-Law) gave my Hubby and I some tomato plants, and they are doing okay. Tomato plants in this area this year are hit and miss! I traded some apricots for tomato's from the Spiritmother. What? That's her name.

Being married is divine. Brad and I have discussions about life, the Bible, everyday things and our hopes and dreams. We move furniture around and discuss the best place for our turtle, Shelby, to go. We don't have a T.V., so we play board games and cards, and we read together. We exercise together and go for walks. It has been quite blissful...to be so in love with a man and finally get to a point where you don't have to leave him anymore or watch him drive away. We get to be together all the time! (Except for when we have to go to work...lame.) Anyway, we are blessed. Our families help us abundantly to get settles, move us in, and give us food! Hahaha, thank you families!

We know there will be difficult times...troubling times that are hard to wrap our heads around. But we are falling more and more in love every day.

~Laurel May~

"All I do is dream of you The whole night through With the dawn I still go on Dreamin' of you"

Susan was a successful young student. She went to school at a local community college and quite enjoyed herself. She had a wonderful family and great friends. She was happy being single and anticipated her future.

            Susan studied Communication, but took art classes on the side. She started taking super fun art classes that exposed her to new ways of thinking and a whole new purpose in life. She started realizing things about herself and the world around her. Susan was quite good at using her creative abilities and thoroughly enjoyed it.

            One day, an old friend, Billy Bob, asked Susan on a date. She happily agreed and they went out on a lovely outing. Turns out they had much in common and they quickly grew fond of each other. One day, Billy Bob declared his love for Susan. Soon enough, she returned it back. They wrote letters and went on adventures together.

Susan decided that all this lovey-dovey stuff better not get in the way of her education. After summer was over, it was back to school for Susan. Susan set things straight with Billy Bob and told him they could only hang out on the weekends and she had to be in bed by 9 o’clock every evening, so that she had energy for school. Billy Bob was a little taken aback because the two of them had fallen pretty hard for each other. But he accepted.

In the summer, their relationship flourished and they were mighty in love. Once school started, they longed for more time with each other but no can do with the new rules Susan had set. She had to be in control of her emotions and not compromise her education for something as silly and fleeting as love could be.

            Susan spent very sufficient time in her art class room. She received an A+ in her art class, as well as her other classes, and signed up for another. During break, Billy Bob proposed marriage to Susan and she accepted in a quite average fashion-not too excited, not too bored. She couldn’t let Billy Bob think she was too eager. She had to balance love with reason, after all.

The next semester rolled around and she set the same rules with Billy Bob. Billy Bob had hoped that Susan would relax a little bit with school so that they could work on their pre-marriage relationship. Susan would not have it. She strived to find the perfect balance between Billy Bob, family and school. Who had time for friends anymore? She sacrificed marriage books her and Billy Bob could have read together for textbooks. She gave up special dinners and outings, in order to study and prepare for tests. But of course, she fit Billy Bob in on the weekends and holidays. After all, she loved him and needed to give him a balanced spot in her life. But her education was number one. She would not let a boy come in and ruin everything she could be learning.

One day, Susan stopped and looked around her. She realized that her dear Billy Bob was gone and all she had was some wonderful talent and no one to share it with. Billy Bob wanted all of Susan, wanted their relationship to be her top priority-above school. Susan was not willing to give this; she must obtain perfect balance in her life. She quickly realized that her way of thinking was wrong.

Susan searched out Billy Bob and begged him to return. Billy Bob accepted, only if Susan was willing to put more into their relationship. Susan agreed. Soon enough, she found herself giving into daydreaming about life with Billy Bob and allowing her heart to anticipate seeing him everyday. She wrote him letters and declared her love quite often. She worked very hard in her art classes, but sometimes got distracted from thinking about some romantic thing Billy Bob had said or sending him a quick message, declaring her desire to be with him always.

Susan got back to the heart.

Danke…

           

Saying "I Love You"

 I wrote the following over 3 years ago. It is interesting to go back and look at what I have written in the past. It is all still so true and relevant today. When I wrote this post, I had never been in love. I can see now why it is scary to say "I love you", but I still understand my point. People are so afraid to love other people, whether it be romantically or just in a "we are all in this together" sort of way.
Also, the article gives such wordly reasons for not saying " I love you".
1. Make sure your sober when you say it for the first time.
     My Answer: Make sure your sober all the time.
2. Don't say it for the first time in bed.
     My answer/question: Why are you sleeping with someone you are not in love with, and therefore, not 
     married to?
3. Say it face-to-face
     My answer: DUH. Common sense!
4. Girls can say it first
     My answer: Stop being feminist and let the man play the man by declaring his love first.

Anyway, here is my post from the past:
___________________________________________________



Some thoughts.
This LINK is really stupid. Okay, I always learned about "oooh saying 'I love you' is so huge! Don't say it unless you mean it". In the context of boyfriend/girlfriend. But are we not supposed to love everyone? Why is it a big deal to love? Shouldn't it be easy to say "I love you"? Why are people afraid of those words, when it is the most important thing we can do? Love, even those who your NOT in a relationship with. Family, friends, people. Just love.
We went to a 4-H LCORT conference this weekend. I was a presenter for 4-H and it was really cool. I enjoyed myself, it was a beautiful mountain setting too, and it rained! Anyway, our guest speaker this morning was Keith Davis. I'd never heard of him before, but I guess he played with the NY Giants and was on ABC and ESPN and sports illustrated and what not. He was this huge black dude and he bent a metal pole in half and folded a frying pan into a burrito. .
He talked about dreams and visualizing them. He grew up in a broken home with abuse, but he was the change he wanted to be. He broke out of that mold and changed.
So at the end of all that he had to get in some stuff about abstinence until marriage. He feels strongly about that. It was really interesting to see a football player, who played in the major leagues, so into teaching these Jr. Highers. And to set them such an awesome example of someone who is cool, but believes in abstinence until marriage and staying married to one person your whole life and breaking out of the mold. Kids need more people like that setting examples. Being immoral is very, very glamorized in America. That needs to change.

Danke...

"No one ever really dies as long as they took the time to leave us with fond memories." ~Chris Sorensen

“I confess that I love him, I rejoice that I love him, I thank the maker of Heaven and Earth that gave him to me. The exultation floods me.”-Emily Dickenson

This must be how one feels when they lose the love of their life. The exultation floods me.

To have so many people praying for you that you stop in your tracks because you feel God’s physical presence so strongly is mind-boggling.

We can’t understand God’s design for His beings and when they should and shouldn’t go home to Him. But we can thank Him profusely for the time we had with that person.

We love you Jason, and miss you something awful.

Danke…