Heavy Load?

Are you carrying a burden?

When you think of this life, what is it you live for? If you’re like me your energized when you think about your family, and the love they give you. I’m constantly renewed as I look at pictures of Shanda, Myles, Micah, and Jillian. Because of this energy and life I find in my family I have a burden to love my family well, and see my kids become all that God has called them to be!

I have also been given a new life for and a burden for the local church. I think the church who represents Jesus as HIS ambassadors for the kingdom of God is the Hope of the world. I have a burden to see that church transform itself into the people God has called them to be. This burden is the sole reason I have found myself in seminary!

Whatever you’re burdened with, you can bet it’s what God has called you to!

Never Enough Time…

Last weekend my wife and I spent some time together celebrating and reflecting on 10 years of marriage. We spent the weekend without the kids (both missing them dearly) and enjoyed some good food, good conversation, and a good show or two! I would have loved to spend the week in Tahiti, but a good weekend away was the  best we could do with our time and money for now : )

Here is what I came away with. One thought, and one concept I hope to keep in the front of my mind and life, are you ready for this?  We can never spend enough time with the ones we love! I realized this as I spent time with my lovely wife who loves me more than I deserve, while simultaneously realizing that I was missing the kids because the weekends are when I get to spend the bulk of my time with them! A Catch-22 you could say. I loved spending time with Shanda without the kids, but your kids are only young for a short while… time goes so fast… there is never enough time! I’m envious of Shanda when she sends me pictures of Jillian doing the cutest stuff throughout the day… of course I’m grateful she thinks of me and send me a picture of the days events! It’s her little way of helping me feel connected to the kids and their fun-filled days! But that is just it… even Shanda can’t get enough of those turkeys. She loves the time she gets to spend, and like ALL Mom’s she needs a day off every now and then, but it’s those days off when she realizes just how much she loves them and adores spending so much time with them. She can never spend enough time…

Anne Rice Quits Christianity…

If your familiar with Anne Rice, you know she is a prolific writer who is most famous for her Vampire Chronicles Series that yielded the movie Interview With a Vampire in the 90′s. She has sold more than 100 million books, and in 2005 she publicly returned to the “catholic church” because of some health struggles, while she verbally made sure everyone knew she was not anti-gay (her son is openly gay) nor anti-abortion (she wouldn’t get an abortion, but says she would never deny someone the option).

She keeps a pretty active Facebook account, and here is what she posted about 3 weeks ago…

“For those who care, and I understand if you don’t: Today I quit being a Christian. I’m out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being “Christian” or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to “belong” to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten …years, I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’m an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.”

With this rant, she wasn’t trying to stir up controversy and she wasnt trying to grab some publicity, she was serious. Since that time she has given several interviews clarifying her comments further cementing her stance that organized religion is the problem, she is still following Jesus, just not in the organized “Catholic” way.

She further posted…