The Idolatry of Self and How Kanye is a God

Kanye's public antics and seemingly inflated sense of self have long been a subject of mirth and incredulity for me. I've followed his career off and on since he emerged on the scene as a producer for Rock-A-Fella records. I have a love of hip-hop that dates back to the nineties and Kanye is a part of that. No doubt Kanye has contributed an incredible amount to hip hop and rap. He has produced music for some of the greatest.  Jay-Z and Alicia Keyes to name two.

Kanye West is considered one of the greatest rappers of all time. He has won 27 Grammy's, sold millions of albums, yet I woke up this morning to see him begging for money on Twitter. I was left wondering how he got to this point. There's no denying Kanye's contribution to the music industry. But his career and personal life are clouded with controversy. His declaration of himself as a god has long brought him criticism by some and applause by others. 

This morning as I read his many tweets asking anyone and everyone to support his dreams because he's in debt to the tune of $53 million dollars, I wondered at first how it happened. He answered the "how" himself in later tweets. I find it hard sometimes to not be incredibly critical and even condemning of Kanye. How dare he call himself a god or say he's Jesus?

But the truth is we are all guilty of the idolatry of self. I want to be critical of Kanye. I even typed out a sarcastic tweet about him and his begging for more millions, but first I must get the plank out of my own eye before I condemn another.

No, Kanye and I aren't really that different. I don't declare I'm a god---not aloud anyway. But in my heart I feel the tension, I fight the battle daily, sometimes hourly to put away the idol of self. This struggle is evident every time I feel entitled to this or that, I spend more than minutes with wounded feelings over some slight, I put my own plans before the plans my Creator has for me. How often do I think, "I can't do that for God, I'd have to give up this or that?" How often do I feel jealousy when someone else's article is liked more than mine, or worse, when my article gets lots of praise and I think, "I know, I'm a great writer."

The idolatry of self is blinding. We need only look at the life of someone like Kanye who has achieved so much and has contributed even more, yet it has not been enough. I dare say the same is true of me. I may think if I get so many likes or achieve so many things, I'll arrive at some place of contentment or happiness, but the truth is I need only remove the idol of myself and instead focus on the one, true God. Then, I can be content no matter the circumstance, no matter the unrealized dream, or the difficult task. 

Happy Gotcha Day, James Melaku Thurman!

February 13, 2013---The day we got to pick James up from the orphanage. This is his "gotcha" moment. In this moment, he is ours forever. Where we go, he will go. Where we stay, he will stay. He is no longer under the care of the orphanage, even though we are standing in the orphanage. He is no longer under the rule of the Ethiopian government because he belongs to us.

Adoption is not without great loss, great pain.  For me to be this child's mother, a woman is without her son. A father, a grandmother, an aunt, perhaps a sibling. I can never think of this day without thinking of "them". I don't know why they chose to give him up. I will most likely never know, but I do know that God ordained that James Melaku would be our son. Of all the little boys in that orphanage, God chose James' paperwork to the paperwork that was completed, allowing him to be adoptable. God writes our stories. His the author of all life. He does not stop authoring our stories at birth. He continues to write them and He wrote this boy's story.

This is one of the nannies who took care of James while he was at the Tikuret orphanage. He loved her very much; he was greatly attached to her and would cry for her while we were at the orphanage.

He has no memory of her now. I show him these pictures and he understands that it is a picture of him, but she is a stranger to him now.

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The Tikuret orphanage where James lived while in Addis Ababa.

Saying good-bye to the orphanage and his nanny.
If you were to measure the time since we left the orphanage in days, 1, 095 days have past since that day. Three years today.

1,095 days of being a little brother, the best helper, the youngest Thurman boy, the baby SOT, a Son of Thunder, a friend to many, loved by so many.

To know him is to know energy, joy, big eyes and an even bigger smile. Three years ago, God chose Melaku and we are forever grateful.
Happy Third Gotcha Day!

Our Posture is Our Response: Why Women Must Speak Up About Women Being Drafted

Our Posture Is Our Response:Why Women Must Speak Up About Women Being Drafted

One Destination Is Reached By Leaving Another

We have not arrived at this new destination by accident or happenstance.  We began this journey many decades ago when women bought the idea that they were being oppressed. In reality, they were being oppressed in many ways. They did not have the right to vote or own property. They were thought of as not as intelligent or not as valuable---all ideas and realities that still exist for many women in other parts of the world today. But two wrongs never make a right. The response was a swinging of the pendulum so far to the extreme that we are now left with the over-sexualization of women, the systemic killing of female babies, the transformation of the woman into a feminine version of a man and now, the proposed threat of our daughters and grand-daughters being drafted into military service.

Perhaps somewhere, we, as women, began to believe that we were being mistreated or belittled or held back. Perhaps we felt the desire to be as good if not better than our counterparts rise up inside of us and we gave in to it instead of resisting it. Perhaps, somewhere along the way, we've allowed what it means to be a Godly woman get distorted and muddled and I think we have. We've allowed an ever-changing culture define who we are instead of the Word of God.

In The Beginning...

In the beginning, God created man and then He created woman. His creation of our lives was not haphazard and without design. David writes in Psalm 139:13-16 of the intricate ways in which God formed him. If we apply this idea to all of creation, and I do, then each of us was created in a unique and intricate way. The creation of woman was not an afterthought on God's part. When God finished His creation, He found it all to be good, and He found man and woman to be very good. Somewhere along the way we've allowed the lie that this secondary creation somehow means women are less important or of less value, as if we've fought all these years to prove that we are what we are already seen as in the eyes of our Father---very good.

But our first error is finding what God sees as very good lacking or not good at all. When God created man and woman, He created them with purpose, a unique purpose. His design is best. Since the first sin in the Garden of Eden and the subsequent curse of woman desiring her husband's place, we have warred against the created order established by the Creator, God. We began from this destination and arrived at the first wave of feminism in the nineteenth century with the second wave hot on its heels.

Many things have transpired since the first rumblings of feminism in this country. Many wars have been fought in this country and the woman's place in the U.S. military has evolved until we have arrived at this place, this destination. But where we go from here is of the utmost importance, most especially to women.

Our Posture Is Our Response

Our posture cannot be one of apathy or disregard. Our posture cannot be one of focusing on a single issue that is at the forefront presently. We cannot just fight against women being drafted, we must fight against women being so transformed and morphed that they no longer resemble God's original design. We, this generation of women, must have a posture of submission to God's created order. 

We must know the truth and understand that we are created of equal value but for different roles. Each role is of great value and seen as very good to our Creator. 

Our posture must be one of submission to God recognizing that being what God created us to be is not a blanket statement saying we aren't as good, we aren't as strong, we aren't as smart. There are jobs that I can do better than a man, that perhaps I'm better qualified for, but does that job help me fulfill my created role is a questions I must always ask. There are jobs that aren't ours for the doing and there are roles that aren't ours for the taking. God's design is always best. And our primary purpose is to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever. We glorify Him when we are obedient to His Word and we enjoy Him when we embrace who He created us to be instead of railing against it.

I am most fulfilled when I am most satisfied with my Creator, with my Lord. I am most dissatisfied when that relationship is out of kilter. We will always battle the desire inside of us to rule over our husbands, to be the boss, but we must take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God and we must fight and fight hard. We must fight for ourselves. We must fight for our sons to be allowed to fulfill the role they were created to fulfill. We must fight for our daughters to be who God created them to be in the roles that best help them do that. We must fight, armed with the truth of God's Word and we must so do daily by embracing who we are in Christ. We must fight to arrive at a different destination than the one our culture is propelling us toward.