Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Gifts, Jesus, & Politics

My son and daughter always get me the best presents! For Mother's Day, my son bought tickets to the Spirit West Coast Concert this month! I'm really excited to attend because several of my favorite Christian artists and bands will be appearing! Hopefully we can encourage a group to attend with us!

Brief Spirit West Coast video

He gave me the funniest card! On the cover was a photo of a dog (looked similar to our puggle!) with a towel wrapped around it's head and two pop-out cucumbers on it's eyes.

The card read:

It's your special time, your day to be #1...
Then it's back to me the rest of the year, right?
Happy Mother's Day


Sooooo cute! Really made me laugh, too, because it's so true! Our puggle (Sasha) runs my life! Ha ha

My laughter turned to tears...of joy...when I read what my son wrote:

Mom,
I don't think I'll every find a better card than this one! Thank you so much for everything you do for us. We are blessed to have been raised by such a loving and caring person. I don't thank God enough for you because I should be doing that everyday! I love you so much, Happy Mother's Day!

Love, your son! (and Sasha)


My daughter's card made me cry just by reading the cover! LOL There is a picture of two cartoon-like women on a blanket in a meadow with a picnic basket nearby.

My Mom
if I had to get right down to the reason you're everything from my hero to my friend, it would be this:

your constant, strong, forgiving love.


Inside:

I believe that God is good and kind and generous - I feel that way because He gave me you.

Happy Mother's Day
with Love
(heart shape) always,
your daughter


Then she wrote in the card:

Mama-
Happy Mother's Day! I hope today is everything you could have wanted on Mother's Day. I hope you know how much I truly appreciate all that you do for me. All the advice you give, support, guidance, and even just the random chats...none of it goes unnoticed. Even if I don't say it enough, know I want to say it a thousand times! & more! THANK YOU! for all you do for me and for being the best mom and friend I could have ever hoped, wished, and prayed for. You are an amazing woman. I love you so so very much. AND of course you're beautiful! & YOUNG! :-)


If only the "beautiful and young" part were true! Ha! I look much older than my profile pic, now. Ah well. See what three years of blogging can do to a person? heh heh

Now that she is about to turn 21 soon, our chats often include how grateful she is that I didn't allow her to do certain things when she was growing up. She has seen the fallout from the errors of other young women who either did not have such guidance or didn't heed the warnings and advice of their moms. It is very gratifying to now know that she sees such past restrictions as helpful in avoiding the painful consequences that she has seen others around her now (unfortunately) bearing.

She gave me the greatest gifts, too! A CD by Natalie Grant, a book called "On The Anvil - Stories on being shaped into God's Image" by Max Lucado, and a book called "Jesus For President."

"On The Anvil" is Max Lucado's first book. He wrote it back in 1985. It has been re-published this year. I like what is written on the back cover:

We are all somewhere in the blacksmith's shop.

We are either on the scrap pile,
IN THE MASTER'S HANDS ON THE ANVIL,
Or in the tool chest.

Some of us have been in all three.

In this classic collection of inspirational reading, best-selling author Max Lucado takes us on a tour of the blacksmith's shop - examining every tool and looking in every corner, from the shelves to the workbench, from the water to the fire...

For those who make the journey -- who leave the heap, enter the fire, and dare to be pounded on God's anvil--a grand privilege awaits: to be called one of God's chosen instruments.

SEE YOU IN THE SHOP.


Since I didn't recognize the authors of "Jesus for President," I flipped through it briefly to get a "feel" for it. Well, the first well-known name that I ran across was "Tony Campolo." O.K. now I knew that this was another book similar to "Unchristian" - which hails from the liberal Christianity crowd.

In the back of the book are photos of stacks of book titles. I didn't recognise many of them. Then I realized why! Towards the end of one stack on the second page of these photos, there was more evidence of the liberalism I was about to read in this new book because Brian McLaren's book (Everything Must Change) was listed there.

While flipping through the book, I noticed this subtitle on page 106:

"On Citizenship in Heaven and Being Born Again."


I will have a lot more to say about that particular chapter. For now, I will just give you a glimpse of what the authors think being "born again" means. At the end of this section, they write:

This is not the old-time religion of going to heaven; this is about bringing heaven to the world.


Today, I decided to see the reviews on this book at Amazon.com.

There were only a few negative reviews, but I found one in particular to be quite accurate in his evaluation based on some of what I had already seen and read in the book.

It's Sad: Legitimate theological issues are hampered by awful logic. by "Phil K."

It's funny. Pastor Miles McPherson tells the congregation to "vote God." I don't think that he had what the authors of "Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals" had in mind!

Christine

P.S. How strange that the authors only have "Jesus for President" on the cover. They eliminated the "Politics for Ordinary Radicals" phrase! Hmmm......

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Update: Just received an email with a link to Dr. David Jeremiah's new book called, Hopeful Parenting. Looks really good!

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