some sort of blogging by k-m-c-b

Sometimes between watching the news (which I do as little as possible... I like to read it online) and looking and listening around me, I feel like the cliche' that the world is going to hell in a handbasket is absolutely true.

In so many sects, it seems like there is no respect. It definitely seems there is no respect for traditional values. I'm considered a prude in my own family sometimes for the things I don't want my kids to hear and see. I'm considered an intolerant moron at work for being a "right-wing Christian," as if most of the people who use that term know what I actually am and what being a Christian really means. I see things like violence and sex and the loss of innocence treated as blase'. I see the concept of a Creator and His Absolute Truth being laughed at. I see a lack of forgiveness, hardened hearts.

And so sometimes it seems to me I am a foreigner in the world, wherever I am, that there is no hope... that maybe even despite everything I've always believed, God has given up on us, because we have obviously, as a human race, given up on Him.

We sang a song in church today. It's not new, but it's our first time singing it. It's a fast song, and usually those get people excited, but sometimes the words get lost. This song has a lot of words, and today they felt like blazing arrows to me. I needed this reminder. No matter what I see around me, I don't see what's really happening. God has a plan, and He is still very much in control of what happens in this world:

V1: These are the days of Elijah, declaring the Word of the Lord
And these are the days of Your servant Moses, righteousness being restored
And though these are days of great trials, of famine and darkness and sword,
Still we are the voice in the desert crying,
‘Prepare ye the way of the Lord!’

V2: These are the days of Ezekial, the dry bones becoming as flesh
And these are the days of Your servant David, rebuilding a temple of praise.
And these are the days of the harvest,the fields are as white in the world
And we are the laborers in Your vineyard, declaring the Word of the Lord.

Chorus: Behold He comes, riding on the clouds
Shining like the sun at the trumpet call
Lift your voice, it’s the year of Jubilee
Out of Zion’s hill salvation comes.

There’s no God like Jehovah…

(Written by Robin Mark)

I finsihed And the Shofar Blew. It was very good. I loved that the ending told me what happened to everyone, but not in great detail... and it wasn't all sunshine and roses. It was a great read...

... especially since I am probably done for the summer now. I still did not get to several books, and there are a few I started and never finished. I am going to upload them to help me remember.

And the Shofar Blew (Moving Fiction)

Francine Rivers

Francine Rivers is probably the Christian fiction writer I have read the most. I love her stories. Sometimes, I don't think her writing is that great. She can be very obvious, but I think part of that is because she very willfully weaves the gospel into her stories.

This book came out a few years ago, and I remember wanting to read it then. The summary appears to be about something scandolous or at least gone wrong in the relationship between the pastor of a growing church and his wife.

I'm not yet halfway through the book, and so far all the things I would have predicted have either happened or have been hinted at. It leaves me wondering where the story will go from here. I hope it ends being a book I can recommend. It's so important for people to realize that ministers and their families are human, and they undergo very real struggles.

The Cousins

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One definition of family is posted right here. From left-right: my 'baby' cousin Lauren, my cousin Lisa, me, and my cousin Tiffany. I grew up with Lauren and Tiff, who are the daughters of my dad's sister. Lisa married their brother. We're all around the same age. We don't see each other a whole bunch... not enough... but whenever we're together, there's not a day that's passed. We all have very different lives... Lauren is a newlywed & grade school teacher, Lisa is a stay-at-home mom to a one-year-old, I am a mom-to-be raising two teenagers, Tiff is married and has a 4 year old and a booming real estate business. But we all connect. We may not look at things the same way always, we may not get each other all the time... but we're connected.

Family = connection.

Thanks to Amee, I am now a Vox blogger. I am addicted to LJ, so I don't know exactly what will happen now. I may keep this journal for a specific purpose, which would most likely have to do with the Impending Arrival of Baby Miranda. But, I don't know. For now I'll do some playing and probably some cross-posting with the LJ.