Delectable Thought

Part Two: When You Think God Picked Wrong We're over a month into our new lives here and it's less unfamiliar and just different now. I don't have to use my GPS as much to find places, but there's still that occasional time when I have no idea how to get somewhere. Lots of change has happened this week. My kids started school at our neighborhood school, Lopez Elementary. John Owen was so excited and nervous for his first day that he woke up super early yesterday. We're praying he has a full year of learning and being challenged. So far, I really like their school. It's not the school we originally planned to send them, but I'm thankful we chose our neighborhood school over the charter school. One, we're a two minute walk from the school. I can see it from my driveway. Two, it's helped us meet so many people in our neighborhood that we probably wouldn't have met if we'd gone to the charter school.  His teacher is incredibl...

Part One: The Beginning of New I've often wondered how Sarah felt when God called Abraham to follow him and leave everything. At first, God gave them no direction except to follow him. Did she go with excitement and exuberance? Or did she think it was the craziest idea she'd ever heard? Did she mourn the family and friends she left behind? Or was she shaking their dust off her sandal-straps? Was she a little reluctant in her heart even if she never verbalized it? Or a lot reluctant? I don't know the answer to my questions because scripture doesn't say, but what I do know is she went wherever, whenever, every. single. time. What I do know is that I'm no Sarah. Throughout this process of moving across the country, I've struggled with the realities of my own heart. Before we left Frankfort, I thought I knew the main issues and idols that God was sloughing off, but then we arrived at 4001 Moss Creek Drive and reality set in. I realized that for so long, I'...

I remember this morning six years ago vividly. Up early to prepare for the delivery of our daughter whose heart had stopped in the womb. The drive to the hospital that afternoon, the wait in the hospital bed, the nurse (Glenda) who wheeled me back (alone) to the delivery room, the sound of a newly born infant crying in the delivery room connected to mine, the touch of Glenda's hand on my mine as she squeezed it reassuringly. These are all things that I remember and think of often. I remember the recovery room and Glenda's voice telling us about footprints and birth certificates. I remember leaving the hospital in a wheelchair, footprints in hand, baby left behind. It may seem that my loss was great that day six years ago. For me, it is the greatest loss I've experienced, but even as I type, I know others (some whom I love dearly) who are walking through even deeper, even greater losses. What six years have taught me is that I really know very little about loss, death, and...

That there is a part two to this blog post is saddening to me. Sometimes, I'm dangerously close to being disheartened, but the truth that God is bigger and mightier than all, including things like racism, prejudice, agism, classism, poverty, and so on and so on rings clear in my mind and on my heart. My words will not end these things. Truthfully, I think until our broken world is made new by our risen Savior, no sin will end. At the start of this post, two more black males have died at the hands of white police officers. I know little facts about either case. I can make no judgment and won't. I can speak to the emotions that these stories evoke in me. Being a black boy's mama requires that I lean upon Jesus daily. I have NO idea what it's like growing up black in America where blacks and other minorities have been systematically oppressed. I find everyday that there are things I don't even consider that black mothers do consider when raising their young sons. For...

We Are The Evil There is a narrative that began the moment Adam and Eve believed the lie of Satan and disobeyed God by eating the fruit of the forbidden tree. The fruit they ate did not make them unrighteous. The disobedience was sin and sin entered their hearts and thus the heart of every person after them. Their natures changed when they made that choice and thus the nature of every person after them.  We are the Evil. Skin color is not the evil. A uniform and badge are not the evil. Money is not the evil. A raised fist is not the evil. A movement is not the evil. We are the evil. Jeremiah 17:9 reminds us that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Who can understand it?  Every. single. person has a heart set on sin and wickedness. It is only the blood of Jesus Christ that offers forgiveness and washes this heart clean. It is only by turning away from this sin and believing in Jesus that we are afforded the luxury of Jesu...

Since the events of last week, I've seen a lot of my African-American friends talking about starting conversations, keeping dialogue alive. I hear them and think it's important to keep the conversation alive and to constantly seek pro-active things we can do to bridge the gap. Part of breaking through barriers is understanding why the barrier is there to begin with. Aren't we better armed with knowledge and some understanding than none at all? I think so. As the weekend is upon us, I have some suggestions for movies that you could watch. Remember they are movies, produced by Hollywood, but I've found these movies to be helpful in my quest for understanding these past two years. 12 Years A Slave http://www.12yearsaslave.com This story is a hard one. It is based on the true events of Solomon Northrup, a free black man who was stolen from his home and family and enslaved in the South for 12 years. I've read the book written by Northrup and found that the movie clos...

Today marks the start to a new week, a new day, a new opportunity. As a new week begins and the news stories begin to shift to the "next breaking" thing, we can be tempted to move on from the events of last week and the weekend. We can be tempted to stop the conversation, end the dialogue about the issues of race in America, but this can't happen . If we do that, we become reactionary and not pro-active. In order to truly make a difference, to really begin to see change, we have to move from reacting to tragedy to seeking out change and making sure that type of tragedy isn't commonplace. I want to continue the conversation. I can't explain what it's like to be black in America. I can only write from the perspective of a white mother raising two sons, one white, one black. I'm going to ask a few things of you today and this week. They won't require you to do anything really other than reflect, think, consider, and maybe ask a few questions. I'm ...