so maybe...

The "sinner's prayer" doesn't save people. Wait. Hold on a minute.

Maybe we save people by acting in love, God's love, towards them. The disciples never led anyone in a special prayer. People came to be saved by living as a christian, by claiming that Jesus is Lord. (Kinda like the Bible says...) Maybe little acts we do towards people draws them nearer to God than any prayer.

Ok, so it says that God has forgiven everyone, yes? That the only "unforgivable sin" anyone can commit is to reject Jesus. So, instead of focusing on all of the "bad things" we've done in order to know God, why aren't we showing people Love? And in showing them Love, the way to live in Love. The way to know Love (aka God).

I met a homeless man today while I was doing laundry. He talked to me for a little while outside of a coffee place downtown (next to the coin-op). The people at the table next to us were casting sidelong glances, ready to spring into action. After he left they asked me if I was alright. Because I listened to a lonely homeless man for 10 minutes. They made me feel like I'd commited some unspeakable act.

Cold shoulders and sneers must get old pretty quick. There are a lot of men like that who come by the coffee shop where I work. Sometimes they're given food, usually they just ask for a glass of water. I don't know this man's past. He has one, though. We all do, don't we? Maybe we should give the same amount of respect to everyone. Can you love someone without respecting them? Without acknowledging the fact that we're all human, we all have history, and it's not all pretty. We're in different places in life, but what does that have to do with our worth as people?

Just some thoughts from the day. Blessings.

friday!

Watched Evan Almighty last night. It was incredibly cheesy and the acting wasn't so hot, but it surprises me when hollywood doesn't make fun of God. They made some really good comments. Like, Do you think when you ask for patience God just gives you some, or does He place you in situations tha require a great deal of patience? etc.

Watched Across the Universe for the second time tonight. Still amazing.

No, I do not spend my life watching movies. I've also taken up tennis (again) since the weather is still nice.

I also may go to a parade tomorrow. An NAU parade at that. It would be the first NAU event I've attended since orientation. If you count that as an "event".

Time for sleep. Blessings.

this week...

Tonight I was vulnerable. And I decided, I don't like being vulnerable. It's a little uncomfortable actually.

But good.

Yesterday at work a couple of the guys were up front and we got to talking about politics which led into religion. One of them is a christian, pretty conservative, etc. The other is an 'I-don't-care-what-you-think-as-long-as-you-don't-mess-with-others', anarchist, yet middle of the road (businessman-conservative, moral-liberal). I don't think I classify as anything at this point. One of the managers likes to call me a communist. I think because I'm studying social work and I read books about Eleanor Roosevelt. It actually is pretty far from the truth. Truthfully, the government scares me half to death, and I'd really rather it didn't gain more power. But, I think our country should take care of its own. As to how those two go together? Beats me. Actually I think the states should have more individual power. Not a lot, but I think if something needs to be done, it should more often be done on a small scale.

Our office is pretty diverse in that respect. There are a couple of flamin liberals (I think I've been placed in that category since they don't know what else to do with me), a few middle of the roaders, and a couple of staunch (and fiery) conservatives. A nonreligious Jew, a christian jew, a fiery mexican christian, a catholic, a few nonreligious, a lesbian, and me. They usually avoid political conversations like the plague for the safety of all involved. lol. But every couple of weeks one of those chain emails will appear on the white board making fun of a political party. Usually democrats, since they're outnumbered.

it is interesting to say the least.

It's black tie week at the coffee shop. Yup, shirt and tie. Or dress. I found a dress at the thrift store for the occasion. Coffee making can get messy. We're also having a chili cook-off at the office on friday. Yee-haw. Yippie kai-ay. All that stuff. Only I think the music selection shall be confined to some hip hop. The boss is in charge of music. There will most likely be tequila, which means whoever's left that afternoon will be in a great mood. I like it when they're in good moods.

We will be holding the first sock wrestling tournament this weekend. The guys have their poker nights, we get sock wrestling. Should be good.

Need sleep. Blessings.

Community

We started work on a community garden today. We got permission to turn a lot in back of the coffee shop into one. Today we cleared junk and weeds. There were a lot of weeds. And junk. We found disco balls. And skis. And like 7 desks. It was great.

It's so refreshing to actually DO something that we always talk about doing.

Afterwards we had story time (Hans Christian Anderson) and drank coffee and ate strawberry cheesecake.

I feel like I got some rest last weekend, in Oklahoma. We went to a Regatta race on the river which was fun and made me wish I were cool and in shape and could row a boat like them. But I'm not and I can't. It was still fun.

I feel like God is constantly surrounding me with extremely hurting people. I love them to death, but sometimes I get so tired. Which makes me feel selfish. I'm still not very good at giving that burden to God. It sounds funny, doesn't it, to need to give other people's pain to God... Sometimes I wonder if I should be a social worker, but I think it'd be worse to live and purposely not get involved in people when they're going through hard things, not to do anything to help. I guess I could help without being a sw lol..

I wonder if all the world is like this, if there aren't people who are just happy. Some people seem to be that way, but that is probably because it takes a while before you can see that far into a person's life.

It's so important and yet so hard to remember that people act the way they do because of their past. I think we'd all be a lot more understanding if we knew what was going on inside each other. I think I would.

We all assume so much. It's easier that way, I think. I like doing things sometimes to throw people off. Kinda fun.

I should get some sleep. Blessings.

the fountainhead

Back at work... not one person has come in yet this morning :(. WInter's always slower.

I just finished the Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. It was one of the best books I've read in a while. Wrong, but good, well written and interesting. It's not every book that can hold your attention throughout its entirety, and almost never through 700 pages. Ayn Rand grew up in the Soviet Union (adding her to my list of favorite russian authors) and once she escaped from that she came up with a new philosophy she called Objectivism which she somewhat discovered through writing. I should say, she portrayed her ideas in her writing which helped her in her formulation process.

The Fountainhead was written to portray the ideal man and the contrast between collectivism and egotism. There are no mediums for Ayn Rand. Her "ideal man", Howard Roark, is an egotist. It's not that he doesn't care about other people, it is simply that he does not think of them. Ms. Rand wanted to make his character as real and alive as possible so she went into great details and descriptions about him, however I didn't get a sense of his being "alive" until he showed a hint of compassion. Until then he seemed more robotic than anything.

It was a very interesting book, and philosophy. She needed to make room for love and compassion though.

I have a question. How far do you think Jesus meant for us to take the whole "turn the other cheek" thing? My roommate and I had an intense conversation with someone about it on our trip. I think I've always put a limit on it. Did Jesus though? It's a kinda scary thing to think about. It would mean changing a lot about the way I think.

People came in, gotta go....