If God Is Good Book Club

I really have to apologize to you who are reading with me! I've just not been able to get the first blog post done for Session 1. Believe me, I've tried. I've even written most of a post but cannot seem to settle on what to share about the first session because it's all...well...SO GOOD! I feel like sharing anything here would not do justice to the content AT ALL.

I do however want to try to narrow down some thoughts on it and I really do hope to do that soon. Our kids are on their last week of school so there are lots of events this week. Last week I was up there helping with testing and such as well. I know that my free time will open up more for writing and thinking when the kids are off and we are in on hot afternoons to stay cool.

Thank you for being patient.

For those of you who are doing the book club with me either in person or just on the blog, I was wondering if you had any thoughts to share or questions so far (not that I can answer them all, but I'd love to have some to ponder or respond to if I can). Or just tell me what you are really appreciating about the book so far. What is really speaking to you?

Hopefully Session 1's reflections will pop up here soon......oh, where is my magic wand? I know I had it here somewhere......

Just a reminder, the reading plan is on the left side bar. There are links there for any blog post regarding this book club.

Letters To Juliet: A Sensory Packed Delight

I went to see this flick with a girlfriend last night. I've not got out for a while so my excitement was more for that than the movie. Sadly a lot of chick flicks have bored me the past few years to the point where I've stopped bothering and I'm surprised when one is good. This one was predictable but still delightful in every way.

Of course, I adore everything about Italy so if they had even left out the plot, and showed the footage I'd have loved it still. The aerial shots soaring over Verona are enough to get your heart thumping inside. You would think that that many dwellings packed in together, under the Italian sun, would give a feeling of claustrophobic cracker box living. Yet it doesn't, it's delightful! How do they pull that off? If the buildings were modern, symmetrical, sleek and straight, the city would not have the amazing charm that it does. The old architecture plays a character role itself in this movie. The balconys of romantic ironwork, the potted plants and flowers everywhere, the uneven stone work, the arched doorways and windows, it's all appealing to the romantic senses. It's amazing how the city plays a part to awaken the magic of love in the movie.

As if that were not enough, the other setting in the movie is the gorgeous country side. This we are more familiar with here, the rolling hills with vineyards under the sunshine. The only thing we lack here in Cali is the stone villa here and there to make it perfecto! The little roads winding through to little places unknown feed our sense of adventure and spontaneity. We North Americans are more accustom to freeways and straight roads with right angle turns leading to predictable destinations. There is no romantic mystery to our transient traditions. Even the roads in the Verona are small and winding making them mysterious and in a world where you are not in a hurry all the time to get where you are going. This makes travel much more fun! Unfortunately we here have cut the straightest most efficient path to everyplace to get us there as quickly as possible. We measure success with efficiency rather than pleasure of the experience.

The wine was more noticeable than the food in the movie! I hardly noticed what they were eating most of the time, though I 'm sure it was good but more noticed the customary glass of vino. Red, white, it didn't matter. The glasses graced the table everywhere and they spoke of sitting and delighting in conversation and food. They were never full, always about low to mid level. In our culture, many people fill their wine glasses to drink as much as they can as fast as they can. True enjoyment of wine is done in small amounts over long conversations about life and not for the purpose to forget your life entirely. It's another element of slowing down and enjoying rather than hurry up and forget. Eating slowly, drinking slowly, sitting long, letting the sun sink, eating out doors, all of these are packed with sensory delights meant to highlight life rather than smudge it out.

The letters, ah, the letters! The letters and the room where they wrote back to them highlighted a relational aspect of culture that our new generation is missing out entirely on. It really made me miss my stationary sets I had as a teen. Rick bought me a letter "A" wax seal when we were dating that is one of my treasures. He and I use to write love letters and I'd seal mine with that. What has happened to me!? I've been reduced to the occasional sweet nothing on his Facebook page! Life and sentiment, love and heart, are meant to be written with our hands! Something flows out of that that we miss in our high-tech age. The smell and look of the paper, the folding and tucking in the envelopes, the choosing of the perfect stamp, and the piling of the letters in an outgoing basket were delightful to see. It oozed with humanity and heart, and romance.

I could not help but notice the skirts and dresses in the movie as well. They were simple, and light for the weather, but they were so lovely. The women in the movie pretty much all wore skirts except for our main character who put her occasional pair of skinny jeans on. The choice of fabrics fed the femininity of the movie. The guys looked like guys and allowed them to take on their romantic rolls in our minds even better. Lorenzo's robust manly attire added EVERYTHING to his character. Vanessa Redgrave's character Claire wore the most graceful flowing fabrics that made even this elderly grandma full of feminine beauty. The secretaries of Juliet all had their own fashion statement but it was all skirts, florals, simple necklaces, vibrant colors and expressive hair styles filling out the variant feminine elements of their personalities. The clear definition and even highlighting of male and female characters intensified the romance of the film because it fed the core of what we are made to delight in.

We are a people made to fill our rolls and meant to be drawn to the opposite sex for every element God made in them down to their square shoulders hiding under their masculine Polo shirts. They speak strength, security and protection to us. Women in their feminine attire (though I'm admitting I'm a bit of a tomboy and love my jeans!) speak delicate beauty with inner strength but outer need for nurture and care but more than anything appreciation for the beauty God has given her. The costuming in the movie just really adds to the romance in these ways.

We are relational people, meant to be close to those we love and share the beauty of life with them. If we are close but stark and distant, the beauty fades and are just clusters of miserable humanity. The closeness with beauty feeds our desire for bonds to others. The unpredictable passage ways feed our sense of adventure and the tables set with food and beverage invite us to sit and share our lives. The letters invite us to pour out the secrets of our hearts and the longing for human connection. The filming speaks many unspoken truths from the Italian culture.

The story is simple, even predictable, it's true. However, this movie spoke to so many inbred human senses that it was just delightful to watch. I enjoyed the storyline between the two main characters for sure, but there was so much more character play that was not even done by actors at all. We in modern America are missing out on so much life with our fast pace and efficient methods. Who says life has to be efficient all the time!? Who says you have to eat dinner in 30 minutes or less? Who says you can't dress up just because you look darn pretty!? Who says you can't enjoy a small glass of wine with those you love over a well balanced and lovely meal!? Who says you have to eat inside all the time!? Who says you only have time to send an email or Facebook note!? Who says your home should look sleek and modern!? Who says there is no room in the budget for a Sunday drive on a country road leading to who knows where!?

We should take a lesson from these old ways and stop getting wrapped up in modern patterns of efficiency. Besides, my husband is a mailman and he'd appreciate the business of you sending a real letter now and then!:) Summer is coming ladies! Clean up your outdoor seating and use it! Pull out your light floral skirts and wear them! Pick up some lovely stationary and write a heartfelt letter. Let the dishes sit till tomorrow and sit way after dinner to talk. Bring some potted nature to your doorstep. Take a moment to notice your husbands broad shoulders and how romantically alluring they are. More than anything, slow down and notice life's beauty around you and bring it into your life in anyway you can.

When God Paints In Black

I introduced the idea of disagreement with God in my post the other day gearing up for the book club. Is that a new concept for you? It's a recent one for me.

When my grandpa died in 2001, I had my first firey trial with my faith that I think I'd had yet. We were not sure if he died with salvation because he didn't express much to us except that when my mom asked him if he'd made things right with God, he said he had. That was a vague way to end things in my mind. I really wrestled for the first time that God allows many to perish. It was the first time I found myself disagreeing with him.

Somehow we think that disagreement with God means that our faith foundation has crumbled, and God is no longer who we think he is. We assume that what he does should meet with our logic, emotions and sense of justice. So much of what God does does not seem fair to us. I remember being down right angry with God for a while when I started to realize these things. Thankfully, I began to pray my way though them and when I changed my own attitude I began to find greater, even more solid foundations to fall on than I had ever known before.

What are the things I disagree with God on?

1. That sin was allowed to enter the picture at all on any level.

Click here to read my post on the origin of evil itself. It's a huge mystery to the point of seeming a contradicting in our minds when we think of how evil could be birthed in God's world when only good things come from God, and all things come from Him as well.

2. That God says he is willing that none should perish and yet so many will.

Again, this seems like God contradicting himself. If he really did not want them to perish, they why are they? Is he not really in control?

3. That Satan was not destroyed early on when he rebelled.

Again, an all powerful God could have done that, had he chose.

4. That we are born with sin we did not ask for.

Really, it's not our choice to be blind to truth because of sin. If men are unable to be convicted because of sin, how is it fair that this sinful state is thrust upon them when it keeps them blind. How can they really be responsible for a blindness they did not ask for?

5. I certainly disagreed with God when he decided three years ago today that my dad should die at 54.

So, those are just some of my big ones. How did I resolve this and even strengthen my faith with these huge issues I had with God? Well, first I had to be willing to speak them out to him and let him know where my heart was struggling. Then I remembered my children.

No matter what we do sometimes, our children do not understand our rules. They don't think they make sense, they don't like them, they even disagree with them. I could sit there on the bed with them and talk till the cows come how trying to explain my reasoning but what is sensible to me is not going to be to them. There may be some light bulbs going off but many times it's just impossible to always get them to see things from my perspective.

If there is such a leap between a parent and child, how vast the chasm must be between us and God. The great mysteries are deep and wise. We don't have what it takes to wrap our heads around a single one of his thoughts. Even if we do get some of them, it's by the work of God's Holy Spirit which really is not us getting it but the Him in us getting it!

If someone rejects God for the holes they think they have found in His plan or their logic alone, they are just as foolish as a child declaring that their parent is not their parent who loves them because they do things they don't understand or like.

There is freedom in saying to God "I don't like this, I don't agree with this, I don't understand this." The freedom I'm referring to is a freedom from the chains of our understanding that hold us back from running the race we are meant to.

Think about it, what was the first thing Satan wanted human-kind to do? Doubt God. Well, not entirely, he wanted them to doubt and then act on that doubt. Doubting God is a result of a disagreement we have with Him. The disagreement is not something we should feel threatened by. We should expect to disagree with God because our wisdom is not equal to His and our thoughts are not like His. If you should not be surprised that you disagree, don't be surprised or discouraged by doubt either. Let it however spur you to do what it's meant to do, seek Him MORE. He promises that those who seek Him WILL FIND HIM. If you however, rebel and stop seeking because of these disagreements and doubts, you will be stuck in despair. If you, like Eve, allow them to become accepted lies about God, you will sin because you will act on what you believe to be true. Your truth has been exchanged by a lie and that lie is that God is not to be trusted and He is not completely good.

If your children doubt your love for them (most likely because they disagree with something coming from you) does that change the fact that you DO love them? Our doubt or disagreement does NOTHING to alter truth, but it DOES alter our thinking if we do not seek God in our questioning. There is only one way to do that and that is through His word. Rejection of God's word due to acceptance of a lie that it has lost it's validity due to our doubt is locking the gate to the path of our own happiness.

Does that mean God's word will give you all the answers you seek? No. In the book of Job, Job is finally angry and venting out to God. Does God answer him with clever comebacks for Job? No. Does he wow him with logic and wisdom that makes Job say "ah, duh, I get it now!"? No. What does he do? HE SHOWS JOB HIMSELF. There is only one cure for doubt of God and that is reassurance from Him that he is SUPREME. His supremacy gives us the eyes to see WHY he can be trusted. When you look at a planet in the sky, do you think about the fact that you could probably trust the maker of that planet to know far more than you do? When you see a baby being formed in the womb or feel it yourself, do you ponder the wisdom that is beyond you? Could God explain to you how those things were made? Would you understand it if he did? I highly doubt it. I can't even understand 12th grade math or science very well!

God showed Job how HUGE he was and how small Job was. He showed him what he needed to see. God cannot explain Himself to us because He knows we cannot comprehend Him. That is a side note to the fact that He doesn't have to! Yet, how lovingly he reaches down to extend himself to us at any level we CAN understand, be convicted by, or comprehend. HE has given us all we need to trust and come to him.

So, we could be like the child who hears his/her father say "I love you, trust me, do it this way" and respond with obedience. Or, we can be the one who says "no, prove to me first why it has to be this way." Sometimes all our wisdom would be complete foolishness to a child and God knows the same about us.

So, seeking is good, because seeking with a heart of trust and assurance will carry us through the parts about God that we don't get. When we come to those parts we have to reflect on all his amazing attributes to remind us WHY we don't get it. God promises if we seek we will find but what he promises is HIMSELF, not all our answers. Along the way, there are many things we CAN understand about God when we ask these questions and seek answers for them. With the submissive heart, it's all going to be a good journey to take.

Remember, when God paints in black, it's to highlight some element of his amazingly bright and beautiful character here on earth. Should you, the created, take the brush from his hand and declare "no, no, no! Yellow is much more cheerful here!"? The great painting he is creating requires the use of variant dark hues. One day we will stand back and be overwhelmed with delight, but sometimes all we can see are a mess of darkness right in front of our face and hear the echo of promises of goodness. If the artist is promising great things and he's shown you His phenomenal handy work everywhere, don't you think you can trust his masterpiece?

Tackle It Tuesday: Summer Game Plan

Slowly but surely making more TOPS progress. This week I only lost .8 of a lb. but it's a LOSS! I've been realizing that my kids only have a few weeks till school is out and last summer I gained weight. For people in different climates that may seem odd. Wouldn't you be out doing more in the summer? Aren't you MORE active? Well, we can be till about mid June. Our summer may as well be the North Pole because being snowed in would be similar. With temps that get up to 110* and one year even 115* (that was CRAZY hot), you don't go out much. So, we stayed home and were too sedentary and the kids were constantly hungry which put me in front of food more and more. We did not have money to run around doing activities or even jotting out to the ocean enough to cool off. So, it was movies in the afternoon to wait for the heat to pass and play out late into the night. I was always too tired to exercise in the evenings though.

So, this year I'm thinking ahead to have a game plan to keep my weight loss on a roll. Tomorrow I have an OB appointment and will be finding out exactly what she thinks my healthy weight goal should be. I'm pretty sure I'm getting close. So, I HAVE to keep at it. Here are some of my mental strategies so far:

• "Everybody say Wiiiiiii!" Seriously though, the summer is when we use the game systems more. Last year we only had the kids old V-Smile and my VERY old retro Nintendo original. That broke by the end of the summer and the kids were getting too old for the V-Smile. So, at Christmas we took gift money from my grandma and got the Wii. I don't think we could have done better, we love that thing. We use it for exercise, entertainment, and streaming in our Netflix online options which is awesome. You can even do the Internet on it but without a keyboard, it's too time consuming. So, I plan on making sure we do the active stuff a lot. Even getting out the dance mat and dancing with the girls on their "Dance Dance Revolution" game. I'm determined to learn that this summer. It's good for them too to be doing the active ones and not just Mario.


• Biggest Looser DVD's. I've only got one, but these are great. I have the sculpting one. I hope to do this with Princess also through the summer and am hoping she will enjoy joining me. They are 8 bucks at Walmart and easy to follow.


• Veggies and Fruits. I plan to NOT buy a great deal of the carb snacks we use during the school year. If it's here for them or me, it's not good for us. I plan to buy, wash and chop produce to have in bags on hand for snacks with peanut butter, almond butter and hummus for dipping. In the heat you don't usually feel like eating meals, you tend to want to snack but what you snack on is the key.


• I'm planning a bible time with the kids when we first come in or close up the house. I really have enjoyed reading the bible chronologically and though I don't want to hit them with the law stuff right now or some of the tough reading, I'd like to find a kid friendly plan to go through. I may just do a precept for kids study. I'm looking for something interactive. With kids in public school, it's hard to get that time in on school days. I'm hoping the summer will clear the academics for us to do this.


• Plan one beach outing a paycheck. If I can do two, even better. That would be one a week.


• Mama, get up early! This is my HARDEST part. I love sleeping in and staying up late. I'm very determined this year though to get up and enjoy the quiet and cool before the day. It's important because it's going to be my only time without the kids. I'm hoping to get out and do a morning walk outside to combat being in all day. I also want to have my quiet time out on the deck if I can.


• Last but not least, the evening family outing. I know we won't make this every night but I really want to walk as a family, or bike ride as a family in the evening. It's going to be important for the kids too because they can pudgy up just like me from vegging all summer.

That's what I've come up with so far. We usually have to come in and shut up the house by 10am and don't reopen it until about 7pm. If you have any other ideas for me, I'm listening.