Schism Sunday XIV: Relationships

One of these two is too young to get married!

In our relationship, one of us is a certain amount of years older than the other. Some would call this a significant amount of years and prior to our marriage I noticed a fair share of raised eyebrows and heard a handful of snarky comments. It was and is not something that has ever bothered either one of us and has only been mentioned in a total of 2 arguments in the 5 years that we’ve known each other. One day while waiting in line at a grocery store I picked up a trashy magazine to peruse and found a celebrity couple that was the same number of years apart as Mark and I and they were referred to as a May/December romance. I was actually a little offended (yea by an article about other people, silly I know). To me, May/December means a 22 year old with a 55 year old- where one of the lovers could be the other person’s parent. This is not the case with us, but it seems plenty of people have opinions on such matters. In love and marriage does age really matter?

Guest Blog: Abraham Chronicles

That's a pretty sweet Couch!

Today I have the honor and privilege of Guest Blogging over at Abraham Chronicles!

Abraham Chronicles is piloted by one cool cat named Dustin Valencia! I have enjoyed Dustin's blog for many months now and it has garnered quite a following from other great Christian Blogger Hipsters. I must warn you: there is something about Abraham Chronicles that makes you just want to spill your bloody guts to the world! Not sure what it is, but you have been warned. Now click HERE ASAP to head on over and watch me spill mine! 

Soul Meets Body

So many more chapters to write!

I want to first start off by saying that I love my gorgeous wife with all my heart and soul! She is the strongest, most beautiful person I have ever had the privilege of knowing…and she is my best friend (with benefits!)

Now I’m not saying this because I’m in the doghouse for forgetting our anniversary, leaving the toilet seat up, or getting drunk and passing out at a family function. I’m writing this because my wife is going through some really heart wrenching stuff, on top of recently starting a brand new job.

The Struggle to Surrender

I am going to attempt to write a real blog. A real post about something interesting and important and of God. I am going to attempt to keep the tone appropriate and not drown you all in the melancholy I feel right now. I am going to attempt to write above and beyond my feelings even though my brain, my aching heart, and my flesh scream at me to write about the lake of sorrow I am swimming in. But I hear a very small voice telling me not to. I don’t want to be the Debbie Downer blogger so I am attempting this as an act of obedience. Forgive me if I slip into momentary instances of morose, I will try to stay on track. Be patient with me.

“There is no bigger word and no word made more shallow than ‘surrender.’ To say ‘I surrender all’ may be blathering sentiment, or it may be the deep passionate utterance of the life.” Oswald Chambers

Luke 14:26-27, 33

Surrender. Submit. Yield. Bow. Bend. Cede.

Schism Sunday XIII: Politicians & Stalkers

You know you want ME!

Bend over...I'll drive!

A couple of things have been on my mind during the last week: Politicians and Stalkers. Politicians because of the debt ceiling quagmire that is currently inundating twitter and other social media- and Stalkers because a good blogger friend of ours has been targeted by some cyber-psycho who has apparently watched “Play Misty for Me” and “Fatal Attraction” one too many times.

Voices through the Walls

Yeah, I hear ya!

There are many voices that go out unto the world…Most are not of God.

Many years ago I was counseling a client who was diagnosed with Paranoid Schizophrenia. Recently this client had just moved into a new apartment and he was complaining to me that his neighbors were talking about him through the walls. When I asked him what the neighbors were saying about him, he told me that they were talking about how "dirty, smelly, and nasty" he was and that they wished he would take a "damn shower.” I asked him if he had ever met his neighbors? He said “no.” After telling me this he had small epiphany which led him to say: “Now how the hell would they know if I needed to take a shower!?! They have never met me and I’m fuc*ing always clean!” I told him that was a great question! For how could someone you never seen, or been in close proximity to, know about your personal hygiene habits?

Schism Sunday XII: The Golden Years

Would you want to spend the last years of your life in an glorified dormitory with strangers as your neighbors and shower mates, with strange people in monochromatic outfits “checking in” on you a few times a day? Would you want to spend the last years of your life with the complete inability to select your daily schedule and with the décor of plain walls, handicap rails and fluorescent lights? How would you feel if you didn’t get to pick your own meals, your own bedtime, or when and where you took your meds? How would you feel to lose all privacy and all independence? How would like to face condescension and baby talk from those who purport to take care of you? Doesn’t sound like the best way to spend the golden years does it?

Would you like to spend the last years of your life wasting away in a nursing home?

Did God always know Everything?

The intention of this short little post is not to cause a metaphysical controversy; nor do I desire to be branded as a heretic...however, I would like to ask a very simple complex question: Did God always know Everything? Now this has nothing to do with freewill because regardless of whether or not God knows the outcome of our future decisions, this does not negate the fact that we still make those said decisions.

My question more specifically is: Before God came in the flesh as Jesus Christ, did HE (GOD) know what it was like to be a flesh and bone human-being? I know that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost have always been…but Jesus did have to be born via a human mother in order to fulfill the scriptures.

What do you think:

Could God have truly known the physical struggles, temptations, and mortality of being human before Jesus Christ came in the flesh?

If the answer is “No”…Does this mean that God was not totally omniscient?

Door to Door Jesus

Recently we have had two instances of people trying to sell us something door to door. The first instance was a high school kid trying to sell us magazines for an upcoming senior trip. His sales pitch consisted of evoking Dale Carnegie interlaced with some slapstick comedy- ala Keystone Cops. The poor kid was unfortunate looking, not to mention he had a hideous grill which made me want to ask where he lived so I could go kick the crap out his parents! In order to put an end to his dancing and verbal theatrics, I took pity on the poor lad and purchased a wine aficionado magazine (that I still have not received!)

My Pocketful of Jewels

Well it’s been almost a week since our last post. I feel like a very bad blogger. We were at my parents over the 4th and when we got back home neither one of us felt very well for a few days. I blame all the smoke we inhaled from sitting around the fire with the fam. Honestly, on my part, part of me not feeling well is a weariness and an impatience that has prevented me from sitting down to write. And it’s not like I can’t think of anything to write about; in fact I have a gazillion ideas running through my head for blog posts. But I seem to lack any focus. So, in hopes that I don’t torture you with listless rambling, I will try keep this very late blog very short (well, short for Carla anyways).

Be Careful What You Pray For

This could be a dangerous activity

Have you heard the phrase, “Be careful what you pray for?” I’ve heard it quite a few times and I have to admit it kind of annoys me. But that might be because I don’t like repetitive, unoriginal, cliched phrases of any sort. Or it might be because there is some truth in it. You should be careful what you pray for. Or who you pray for. Here are few examples.