Pancakes and Living

Thanks for the good word Colbert!

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 08:51:00 -0400

Listening to NPR on the way to work this morning, I got all hot and bothered hearing about the “vicotry” for witch-hunting down in Alabama (poor and desperate people doing to whatever it takes to bring their children to a land of freedom and opportunity are apparently the new witches) and then was greeted with this timely little gem in my facebook news feed:

Hmm&Hum: Fairest Of Ten Thousand #1

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 08:34:03 -0400

Hmm&Hum: Fairest Of Ten Thousand #1 :

A good word:

leeyounger:

What a minute… What? #1?

(That’s right - I didn’t start posting these things on tumblr until recently, so I thought I’d go back and post some of the earlier ‘Fairest’ posts - and while I’m at it, I thought a few revisions would be in order. Enjoy!)

He’s Not Of This World

John 8:23

…

On Money, Bitterness and Forgiveness

Mon, 16 May 2011 12:45:51 -0400

Our scripture lesson at church recently was Matthew 18 21-35, the parable of the unmerciful servant. In case you haven’t read it, it is here: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+18%3A21-35&version=NIV&src=embed

Now, if you are familiar with this passage, you will know it is a story of financial debt cancellation used to teach about forgiveness in general, but I am coming back to this scripture in a whole new frame of light now: financial debt! (isn’t it funny how things come full circle?)

I happen to be a landlord (by necessity, not by choice or financial savvy) and am in the throes of a property crisis. My current tenant has lost her job and can no longer afford to stay in my house. She will be looking for a new, cheaper, apartment and I will be looking for a new tenant. Now this alone is financially stressful, but there is the added problem of said tenant owing me several thousand dollars. As I mentioned, I am not a landlord for investment purposes, so the several thousand dollars equals mortgage payments that have been paid by yours truly during months that my tenant was unable to pay rent for various reasons. I don’t know about you, but that’s a lot of money for me! When I found out that my tenant would have to move out, this nasty little attitude started creeping in and poisoning my thoughts: Bitterness

Over the last few days, I’ve found myself thinking: “How dare this woman just walk away and not pay me the money that she owes! I am the one who has been responsible and dutifully paying the mortgage on time every month even during the months that she didn’t pay rent. It’s not fair that she should get to walk away and get a clean slate and I have to pay the price!” I have been filled with anxiety and almost a state of nausea over what I thought was fear of my own financial crisis, but last night I realized that the pit in my stomach that’s making me sick is not fear about my finances (I have savings, I have support, I know I will get through the money part and be ok) It’s the insidious desire to go after this woman and get what I deserve.

This thought is not from God, this is the enemy trying to harden my heart and make me forget that 1) I am forgiven 2) my tennant is a child of God dealing with her own set of struggles 3) God is big enough to handle ALL of if and I just have to trust in him. When I remembered these truths last night, the pit in my stomach eased and I was able to sleep. I don’t know if my tenant will ever pay me back, and I don’t know how God will work out my mortgage, but I know that I won’t let bitterness rule my heart!

If God didn’t want us to eat the pig, why did he make it...

Sun, 15 May 2011 17:32:33 -0400

If God didn’t want us to eat the pig, why did he make it out of pork?

Whadaya have Whadaya have Whadaya have?

Sat, 14 May 2011 17:24:49 -0400

Whadaya have Whadaya have Whadaya have?

Back to Basics

Mon, 09 May 2011 13:40:12 -0400

At what point did Christianity become synonymous with intolerance, and when did Christians decide they would rather be known for their judgement of the “wicked” instead of their Christ-like love for all people??? I’m pretty sure when Jesus said this:¹⁴“You are ^(R)the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden;

¹⁵^(S)nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.

¹⁶“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may ^(T)see your good works, and ^(U)glorify your Father who is in heaven.

-Matthew 5

He didn’t mean you should be illuminating signs that reads “All (homosexuals, muslims, un-wed mothers, illeagal immigrants, drug addicts, etc. etc.) are going to burn in hell” I don’t know about you, but if someone told me that the God of the universe was going to delight in my desctruction because I’m doing something that he declares a sin, I WOULD NOT glorify God as a result!

We all need to seriously just get over judging folks and start doing what Jesus told us to do: LOVE FOLKS! And also read this, courtesy of the peerless Unka Glen:

POINT BLANK: I’ll tell you here what I have preached from the pulpit: “Jesus loves gay people, and I love gay people, and anyone who has a problem with that can meet me and Jesus in the parking lot” …there were no takers, by the way. I’m small but fierce. This is an easy question for me, because I’ve worked for the past 20 years with people who’ve done far worse than have a different sexual orientation from me. And these are some of my closest friends in the world.

Like many of you, I sure do wish that Christians would just frickin’ let it go. Dang. Think of all the issues in the world they appear to have no opinion on. Like, let’s say, world hunger. Now is no time to feed the hungry, I have to make a hateful protest sign! Anyway, all this is about manipulation, here’s how it works: a) be afraid of these people, b) let me protect you from these people, c) have your credit card standing by. Make no mistake, we are Christians, and we don’t tolerate persecution of anyone, ever. Period. When Jesus said love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, He didn’t mean that it’s okay to persecute people who are different from you.

But if you want to know what God really thinks about anything, it’s not about asking what’s sinful, it’s about asking what’s righteous. The most right thing for ANYONE following God is to give complete control of your sex life to Him, and allow Him to call all the shots there. This includes letting God tell you “today this needs to stop”, Him telling you “wait awhile longer on this”, or even “doing this is fine for now, we need to work on other things first, but someday soon I’m gonna ask for you to stop this”. Very few heterosexual Christians have truly allowed God to call shots in this manner, so why don’t we all work on submitting ourselves to God? Mmkay?

Bottom line: no matter what you’re on, Unka Glen loves you, and he knows where that love comes from.

"Dad, movies with sad or scary parts are better because they make the happy ending that much sweeter...."

Thu, 05 May 2011 08:35:24 -0400

“Dad, movies with sad or scary parts are better because they make the happy ending that much sweeter. It’s kinda like the way God is going to make all the sad things come untrue in the end.”

- Anna, age 7 (via leeyounger)

Redemption

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 15:14:00 -0400

HAVING been tenant long to a rich Lord,
Not thriving, I resolved to be bold,
And make a suit unto him, to afford
A new small-rented lease, and cancell th’ old.

In heaven at his manour I him sought :
They told me there, that he was lately gone
About some land, which he had dearly bought
Long since on earth, to take possession.

I straight return’d, and knowing his great birth,
Sought him accordingly in great resorts ;
In cities, theatres, gardens, parks, and courts :
At length I heard a ragged noise and mirth

Of theeves and murderers : there I him espied,
Who straight, Your suit is granted, said, and died.

-George Herbert

Mmm, good stuff!

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 15:07:23 -0400

Mmm, good stuff!

"And then Harold saw it: a damaged and terribly mistreated sea-foam-green Fender Statocaster staring..."

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 17:33:00 -0400

“And then Harold saw it: a damaged and terribly mistreated sea-foam-green Fender Statocaster staring back at him. Despite its obvious maladies, the guitar spoke with conviction and swagger. In fact, it looked Harold directly in the eye, and very plainly stated, “I rock””

- Stranger Than Fiction

Does Jesus really love you no matter what? Yep! Need proof? He...

Wed, 20 Apr 2011 17:07:00 -0400

Does Jesus really love you no matter what? Yep!

Need proof? He totally loved that akward teenager (aka me) white tights (aaahhh!) permed bangs and all!

"Harold had never once paid attention to is watch, other than to find the time, and, honestly, it..."

Wed, 20 Apr 2011 16:56:00 -0400

“Harold had never once paid attention to is watch, other than to find the time, and, honestly, it drove his watch crazy.”

- STF

The taxman commeth!

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 17:33:45 -0400

My Stranger Than Fiction quote today is in honor of the tax-filing deadline:

“

-I can’t imagine anyone hating you, Harold.

-Professor Hilbert, I’m an IRS agent. Everyone hates me.

-Right, right, good point. Have you met anyone who might loathe the very core of you?

-I just started auditing a woman who told me to get bent.

-Well that sounds like a comedy, try to develop that.

“

Let's be kind to each other folks!

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 15:32:25 -0400

“You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him.”

-Leo Aikman

When I read this, I did a mental double take. Whoa! We christians talk about guarding our hearts…but how often do we guard our words? How carefully and lovingly do we choose the words we use to and about our fellow children of God? If I were given a transcript of all the things I’ve said about other people, would I be ashamed to read most of it? Probably. Can I make a chioce every day to try to change that ratio? Definitely!

"The only way to find out what story you’re in is to determine what story you’re not it. Odd as it..."

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 15:17:25 -0400

“The only way to find out what story you’re in is to determine what story you’re not it. Odd as it may seem, I’ve just ruled out half of Greek literature, seven fairy tales, ten Chinese fables, and determined conclusively that you are not King Hamlet, Scout Finch, Ms. Marple, Frankenstein’s monster, or a golem…aren’t you relieved to know you’re not a golem?”

- STF

It’s a good thing I did my first brick workout of the season last night because my wine-lovin...

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 08:38:39 -0400

It’s a good thing I did my first brick workout of the season last night because my wine-lovin brookelyn buddy just brought Dunkin D’s for the office this morning. I happen to be demolishing a pudding-filled powdered delight as I type!

“What? Don’t you eva drink and take pickchas?” My hilarious (former cop)...

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 16:07:49 -0400

“What? Don’t you eva drink and take pickchas?”

My hilarious (former cop) co-worker to the security guard scanning her purse on the way into the courthouse when he questioned why she had 3 corkscrews and a camera…you’ll have to imagine the Brookelyn accent for yourself!

Sometimes a girl just needs to put on a princess dress and jump...

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 15:59:44 -0400

Sometimes a girl just needs to put on a princess dress and jump around…ya know?

"I’m not an expert in crazy, I’m an expert in English literature, and I gotta tell you..."

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 11:01:28 -0400

“I’m not an expert in crazy, I’m an expert in English literature, and I gotta tell you Harold, so far there’s not a sigle literary thing about you.”

- STF

Unka Glen's Citadel of Enlightenment: What the heck is wrong with you? (a new series)

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 10:26:42 -0400

Unka Glen's Citadel of Enlightenment: What the heck is wrong with you? (a new series):

This is no lie! I’m not a preacher like my brother, but I’ve been known to do some good cookin, and let me tell you, the Lord uses that too! Case in point: My sweet neighbor across the street passed this weekend about 5 days after his 94th birthday. He spent his last couple of days at home with his equally sweet wife of 53 years. I took over a tray of lasagna and chocolate pie (my specialty) and dang if Mrs. D’s face didn’t light up like a christmas tree. She told me chocolate pie just happens to be her favorite dessert! It may seem small, but it did my heart good to know that Mr. and Mrs. D spent their last day together on earth enjoying some good lasagna and pie together.

unkaglen:

You know what bugs me? Christians that are always looking for any little excuse to tear people down. And they won’t just get over themselves and lovingly accept that we’re all imperfect. Thank God you aren’t that way. Except… I’ll bet you sometimes judge yourself like that. (Bam! see what I did…