I came home to from seminary this evening to find the fort has been fortified. Evidently my family challenges your family to an all out war.

BRING IT!

OK…. so I wrote this post several days ago.  I let it marinate.  After hearing more about this yet again today, I think I’m ready to post it.  So here goes.
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There are times when I want to carry duct tape for mouths.  There have been times when I wished I’d had a roll for my own mouth or typing fingers… I’m trying hard not to let this be one of those.

But I’m part mad, part bewildered, and part something I’m not sure what to call… maybe just basically in a funk over this so I’m going to say so. 

I got another e-mail the other day claiming that Miss California’s comments against gay marriage are to be heralded and the consequential posting of half naked pictures of her are an attempt to dethrone her by the left wing world.  This, I am told, is therefore a great reason for Christians to unite against this horrible social ill.

Christianity today reports that in her interview with Miles McPherson- her pastor at the Rock here in San Diego- following the controversy, Miles said this is evidence of “Christian church being punked.”

Are you kidding me?  Do you really think the “left wing media” is the real problem here?  I think we punked ourselves.  Notice the use of “we”.  I think this bothers me so much because my faith is not an “us” and “them” thing to me.  But either way, this is ridiculous.

I think somewhere, somehow, too many people broke the mirror in front of them. 

I wish “christians” would at the very least think, reflect, and process before opening their mouth or hitting the send button.

Here’s a few things I wish more christians were pondering:

1. Would you like to see your church host this beauty pageant?  If you did host a pageant for beautiful, and evidently god-fearing women, would you include a high heel clad, waterproof bra and underwear strut down the stage in the middle of it?  Really?
2. Do words now speak louder than actions? 
3. If you care so much about marriage, let me ask, “what are you doing to help the failing or struggling ones in your own church to succeed?” 
4. Are we going to embrace this pageant as a place of Godliness and truth?  If so, do we as a church have any grounds for standing against the constant barrage of “sexual images of our culture” that degrade women and influence the teens I work with daily?
5. If you think homosexual marriages are wrong… how do you feel about divorce among believers, or “married” fathers who sire children and then don’t raise them, or heterosexual couples who don’t see marriage as a priorty anyway, or porn that streams through homes like water… or any number of other social trends that are on the rise?  Why don’t we hear the church getting upset and forming rally’s and stuff about the whole set of family and marrital problems we experience today?
6. When you’re defending the covenant of marriage, have you considered that your voice might be ringing void in the street because the track record of “christian” heterosexual marriages is so ridiculously bad? 
7. If it’s time for righteous anger, maybe we should put up the mirror in front of us before we go casting stones? 

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If you want to hear what others are saying, here’s some other stuff I found in the process of writing this:

• If you want to hear another concerned christian response you can read this.
• If you want to read what the secular world is really saying, read this and the comments too, but brace yourself.
•  Oh… and for one more, here’s latest of which I posted two quotes from- paranthetical remarks and all:

“The organizers of the pageant say that the Miss USA runner-up violated her contract by lobbying for an anti-gay-marriage group and posing in her underwear (but not at the same time!)”

“Prejean claims the photos — they show her in pink lace underpants, hands strategically covering her chest — were taken when she was 17 (that makes it all right then!), and that yes, sometimes models model underwear.  But another pageant organizer claims that the photos were taken far more recently, after Prejean’s breast enhancement surgery (paid for by the Miss California organization!)”

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And finally a few clarifiers

• nope, I don’t think homosexuality can be supported Biblically.
• nope, I don’t think heterosexuality is the key to a God honoring marriage.  
• yep, I think homosexuality is a hot button issue today that is not the subject nor central concern of the Biblical teaching or of Jesus’ life.  
• yep, I think christians spend way too much time telling others where they went wrong and not near enough time figuring out where we have. 
• nope, it doesn’t matter to me one bit if Carrie Prejean keeps or loses the title of Miss California or Miss USA runner up or any of that. 
• nope, I don’t want to be the poster child for Christianity.  And I don’t think Carrie should be either.  yep, I have parts of my life that I don’t think would fall under the category of, “Welp, I did that while intentionally following Jesus.”
• yep, I think all future interviews on this subject by conservative talk show hosts and churches should be done in bikinis and speedos, regardless of your size or shape.
• yep, this is where my main problem lies- I’m tired of Christians making the front page news for accusations that point outward without any statement of inward examination first- I wish that was just because it’s been edited that way… but that’s not the whole truth. 

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ok… now I’m going to duct tape my fingers…

Today we spent the afternoon with our kids in celebration of mom’s day.   It was incredibly special for us due to the fact that we had 2 new ones to call Shannon mommy for the first time on an official Mom’s Day. 

I asked Shannon what she wanted to do several weeks ago and she said, “Let’s go to Subway, get some sandwiches and go to the park in Coronado.”   Then last weekend we figured out that it was the red bull air race weekend, so we decided to brave the parking craziness and give it a try anyway… and we were so glad we did.  So fun. 

So we had some lunch and hung out in the sunshine that San Diego is famous for.

Watched the air show, which has crazy fast acrobatics from some amazing pilots and with the San Diego skyline in the background.  It rivaled the Blue Angels for me… and that’s saying a lot cuz I love watching them.

And took some mom’s day pics.

I’ve had a thing for fort building in the last few years.

• I helped my kids turn the playground structure into one a few years ago.
• I then helped a friend build an adult sized one with all the trimmings in a tree.

And today I built another with my kids in the yard.

In like 2 weeks we have tons of family coming in from all over the place to hoot and holler with us and celebrate Becky and Billy’s 6th birthday. Most of this party is an outdoor event, so I’ve been working away at my pre-party to do list, one of which entails the getting rid of lots of piles of wood I had lying around from various projects.

For months, my kids have been asking if we could build another fort out of the piles. So today it went like this:

I said, “if you help me pick up the wood and put the extra stuff in my truck, I’ll build a fort with you.”

They said “Deal.”

I asked TJ, “What do you want this fort to look like?”

He said, “A fort built by kids for kids.”

So…. here ya go. We gathered the wood and piled it up and cleared the weeds from the front area that “someday” is supposed to have concrete and be a patio for a “pool”…. yeah that’s not looking good these days.

• Well, rumor on the street is, the fort-to-fort water balloon fight is looming as we speak.
• Believe it or not, my truck bed is still full with the extras from the project. Man there was a lot of wood laying around my yard.
• Oh… and yes my curb appeal just went way down. Anyone wanna park a trailer out front, I’m evidently trying desperately to hurt property values in my neighborhood.

Last night we went to a night of worship that our ministry does every year around the National Day of Prayer with high school ministries from all over the East County of San Diego.

It usually involves music, scripture, prayer, and some sort of experiential moment where students can do something out of their seats.  Last night was no different on many of those levels.  Lots of participation and various elements in the hour and a half we had together at a church across town.

But there were 2 things that were different about last night I found very encouraging and both involved our students stepping up to risky moments of faith. 

• I volunteered our student band to lead the music portion of the night.  When we were setting up they all said, “this is the biggest stage we’ve ever played on.”  In more ways than one, that might have really been true.  In the end, they sounded great, they led with excellence and humility… and they directed students and adults to God.  It was so sweet to see them lead this way.  I was so honored to be remotely associated with what they displayed on that stage- especially since I can’t take credit for ANY of their skill or ability.

• I had an amazing conversation with someone who took a massive risk to confess a fear and ask for help.  It was such an answer to the prayer from the post before this.  So cool how God works in just the times that we all really really really need to hear from him.