What are your thoughts on the matter?

Court: CA Gay Marriage Ban Is Unconstitutional

A federal appeals court on Tuesday declared California's same-sex marriage ban to be unconstitutional, putting the bitterly contested, voter-approved law on track for likely consideration by the U.S. …

Just proves it does get better worse.

Roseanne Barr Files Official Docs to Become President

Roseanne Barr — who famously butchered the National Anthem — has filed official documents to become the Green Party’s nominee for President of the…

Girl can instantly say any word backwards

Silly but remarkable…

"People in California generally know two things about this agricultural city nestled among lettuce fields east of Monterey’s beaches and hotels: John Steinbeck was born here, and it has a big problem with gangs."

In Salinas, Fighting Gang Violence on a Shoestring

Aggressive measures helped reduce gang violence in Salinas, Calif., a city that is notorious for it. Then the budget cuts came.

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It also tells an amazing story of his death. Ben Breedlove died this past Christmas, 2011, just one week after posting these videos on YouTube. To me, it seemed as if he knew there was another place for him; a better place, and that he was as ready as any 18 year old kid can be. What an amazing and courageous young man.

Ben, you’re my hero.

Admit it. You’ve prayed more this week haven’t you? Give more tithe last Sunday? Indulged on chocolate this week? Called your mother/grandmother/siblings? Cleaned incriminating evidence off your computer? Put off work until next week?

No? Oh, well then, me either. That would be crazy, right?

So, you probably have seen the news or billboard or heard people talking about Judgement Day/Rapture/End of the World/We’re All Going to Die this week. If not, here’s an article for your reading pleasure. In short, Harold Camping, the President of Family Radio and the guy who predicted Judgement Day for sometime in 1994, has said that now that date is 2011. In fact, it’s May 21, 2011 at 6pm (all time zones). I guess if New Zealand is safe in roughly 9 1/2 hours, then we should be okay. From what I gather, it starts there–an earthquake or something–and makes it way around the world so that it hits each place around 6pm local time. Like I said, I think I’ll just turn on the news around 11pm Pacific Time and if all is well in New Zealand, I’ll sleep soundly.

No, of course I don’t think the world will end tomorrow. Why? Because of this:

(Jesus speaking) “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

-Mark 13:32

But all the same, I would love to take a big nation-wide poll of the above things. Are people praying more and repenting more this week? Was church attendance last week higher than normal? I think, even for me, in the back of my head, even though I’m confident in my faith and believe that Judgement Day isn’t happening tomorrow, there’s that small little voice of, What If? I mean, if so, I think it’ll just happen to be that day and not because Harold Camping was able to figure it out. Even so, I have a place in heaven, so I guess I don’t need to worry either way.

People think he’s crazy. People also probably though Noah was crazy for building an Ark. I can’t say 100% that I would have been totally on the Noah boat (literally). We have a tendency to laugh at people who get messages from God. I mean, unless it’s us or someone we know. Small messages seem to be okay, but big ones seem to make us call them crazy. I don’t think Mr. Camping has said he got a message from God though. I think he just thinks he’s smart enough to have figured God’s plan for Judgement Day out. You know, the one that Jesus himself said He didn’t even know, only God?

Then there is the fact that I have to answer questions from my teens like, “Ms. Melissa? Am I going to die on Saturday?” No, you’re not. At least not because of the world ending and I hope not for any other reason. And in the extremely unlikely case that it is Judgement Day, you’re not going to die. You’re going to be in heaven if you know Jesus, and I think you do. At least that that’s generally what I said. I’m pretty sure if he (the teen) throws in an extra few prayers this week, as he likely has, it won’t hurt anything. But why do we have to scare people into heaven? Fear is a terrible motivator. It works, but it’s terrible for getting people to do things for the right reasons. Sure, we should fear God, but out of reverence and not because of some man going around fear-mongering.

Either way, rapture or not, I’m going to be in heaven on Saturday. I’ll be at AT&T Park watching the Giants game. That’s about as close as you can get to heaven in the meantime.

I’ve been getting a bit frustrated with some comments and judgement being  thrown out in the wake of the announcement of the death of Osama bin Laden. I’ve seen a lot of posts from the Christian (and non-Christian) community about it not being right that we are celebrating the death of an individual. There are a ton of Bible verses both ways that people have thrown out. I won’t do that now. Let me be clear off the bat though: I don’t believe death should ever be celebrated.

However, I say that with one caveat. I will not be made to feel guilty for feeling some joy in the demise of evil. Osama bin Laden did many evil acts. His organization killed thousands of innocent people. His organization intended to kill thousands more and probably killed more and did more evil than we even know about. His organization was a terrorist organization and Osama bin Laden was a terrorist.

So, let me first say that I believe most Americans who were happy, were simply happy at seeing justice in an unjust world. I believe that people celebrating in the street was a small portion and not representative of our country, but I also think that for the majority of them, I do not believe they were wrong in what they did. Does that mean I would have  been there? Probably not. But most of the chants were chants of being proud of our country. USA! USA! and singing the National Anthem are not vindictive kind of chants. From what I saw, a lot of people there were young, taking part in a historic moment–a moment at which it is easy to get caught up in the moment. I would imagine in New York there were more people in the crowds that were impacted directly by the September 11 Attacks. They again, were celebrating at some sense of justice that they had been waiting on. You may call it revenge, but when evil is stopped, I call it justice.

Did Osama have to be killed? Maybe, maybe not. But you and I both know that if he was ever caught, that was the only way it was going down. He would not be taken alive. His men crashed planes into the Twin Towers taking their own lives. Do you think he’s going to sit in a US prison or elsewhere in captivity for one second? If he was captured and placed somewhere it would give his followers even more motivation to attack (though I understand we are in danger of that now). Wherever he would have been held would have been a target. Officers who guarded him would have been in danger. Other inmates held there would have been in danger. When we embarked on this mission to capture Osama bin Laden “dead or alive” nearly 10 years ago, the entire world knew that there would be no “or alive” if he was ever caught. And at that moment, I heard not one single person complain.

Does his death even matter now? Probably not too much, but I can tell you that Al-Qaeda will be different, and hopefully weaker without him. Yes, they will be pissed off. There will likely be a new leader to arise, but leaders like Osama don’t come along everyday. Not everyone can be Osama, Hitler, Stalin, so personally, I’d rather take my chances on the next leader not being quiet as powerful.

I’ve head people compare the cheering in the streets those that happened in Pakistan after 9/11 and all I can say is, REALLY? It is not alike. Not in the least bit. Why? Well, here’s the thing. Pakistan was cheering at the deaths of thousands of innocent people. We were not at war with Pakistan. We may not have been friendly, but there was no reason for them to feel a sense of justice at the deaths of our people. Our thousands of people. The cheering in the streets last night was different because for one, Osama bin Laden was not innocent. There also wasn’t thousands of people killed last night (perhaps during the war on terror, but not last night). And most importantly, I’ll reiterate that  I think most people were celebrating that justice was done. That couldn’t be said legitimately by the cheering in Pakistan 10 years ago. However, I will say one more thing about that: Just like the people celebrating last night was a very small representation of the American people, I think that what we saw in Pakistan those years ago was probably a similarly small representation of the Pakistan people.

I am proud of our county, of our military, of the Navy SEALS that courageously and successfully carried out this mission. I am happy that there is a sense of justice. I am sad that Osama bin Laden chose to live a life pursuing evil and that he died before he saw the light (as far as anyone knows), however, I will not feel guilty in celebrating justice. Osama bin Laden, unfortunately for him, suffered the consequences of his actions on this earth, and ultimately will be judged by  the only Judge that matters. Sometimes the consequences of our actions are death. You may not rejoice in his death, but for those impacted by 9/11 directly (and trust me, the majority of you are not and as much as you may think you get it, you don’t–and neither do I), allow them to have that short moment without getting a guilt trip. Allow them that one night to pretend this brings some closure. They’ll deal with it later. They may say they are celebrating death, but I do not think they are. They are celebrating a small sense of closure and justice. We are all human. Allow them to be for a short moment.

[This was a sermon I did at church I think last spring sometime. It was while writing this that I actually came across the book called Prodigal God by Timothy Keller, but I just got around to reading it last month. It's a really good book--definitely worth a read. At any rate, it was good to see I wasn't totally off track with my thinking here either.]

When I was about 11 years old I decided to run away from home. See, I just had this terrible life. My parents had the nerve to make me do chores like wash the dishes. I had to share my video games with my little brother. But the worst offense, the one that pushed me over was that was I had to go on vacation every summer to Florida for one whole month! Can you imagine how terrible that would be? Disney World, Universal Studios, SeaWorld, Key West, Everglades, Daytona Beach, Miami. It was terrible. The only people I had to talk to for an entire month was my family! I got pretty good at making new friends quickly, but it was just torture. And of course, as fair skinned as I am, I’d always burn the first day of vacation, peel and then look like a freak the remainder of the trip.

So that was it. I had enough and I set off on a hot July day to leave home. I packed up some clothes and money and headed down the road. I made it about as far as the others side of the gate from my house…after all, it was pretty hot out, and I’ve already told you–I burn easily. I decided I could probably tolerate life with my family a little longer.

Probably all of us as children (and maybe as adults) have wanted to run away from home at some point. You didn’t like the rules or the chores or you just thought you could do better on your own. You didn’t need no stinkin’ family.

Well, that’s basically the story of The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32). It’s one of the most well-known stories in the Bible. Sometimes it’s called The Lost Son, but whatever you call it, it’s probably a familiar story and most of us can relate to it on some levels, which is why Jesus used it. He knew that it’s something that most everyone can relate to in some way.

Many times we see ourselves in one of the two brothers. The rebellious one who comes home seeking forgiveness, or the loyal, obedient, but full of jealousy one because he just doesn’t “get” it. Or perhaps we’re like the unconditionally loving and forgiving Father.

But rather than just being one of the characters, they all have qualities that I think God desires to see in us.

Let’s start with the Prodigal son. He went out and wasted away the money his father gave him–money his father didn’t have to give him. He worried his family and just royally messed up. He did some idiotic things. But in his time of desperation, he humbled himself and went home with this tail between his legs and his head lowered. He didn’t have high expectations, but he recognized his father’s love for him. Now, we could go a bit deeper than that, but for now, let’s just look at the fact that he returned home, admitting he messed up. And that’s what God wants from us. A humble spirit, confessing our sin and asking for forgiveness.

Then there is the jealous brother. He just didn’t understand unconditional love and he was a little a lot self-righteous. But despite him failing to see the big picture and the bad rep he gets for this, he does have some qualities to be desired. He was loyal, faithful and obedient–perhaps not for all the right reasons, but he was still obedient. Guess what? God wants those same things from us. Yes, He wants them as an act of love in a real relationship with Him, but He wants them all the same and wants us to be assured of His love, which this brother wasn’t.

Obviously the father represents God in this story. Unconditionally loving, forgiving and waiting on us to return to Him. And unconditional love and forgiveness toward others are qualities He expects of us as well–not just of Himself. But let’s look at what else we can learn from the father.

I’m a bit of a geek when it comes to understanding things, so I pulled out the dictionary and looked up the word “Prodigal”. Prodigal is defined as a “wasteful expenditure or something given or done in abundance”. Recklessly extravagant. An unneeded expense. The son was indeed prodigal. He was recklessly extravagant and he lost everything. But there is another character in this story that was also recklessly extravagant. The father was also a prodigal. Think about it. The culture of the time, and maybe even our own time, would say the father owed nothing to the son. He didn’t have to forgive him. In fact, the fact that he did probably caused quiet a stir in the town. Now God tells us we have to forgive. But this father didn’t just forgive his son, did he? He didn’t say, welcome home, you’re forgiven, now go out there and help your brother in the fields. That would have been okay, right? As long as his heart was in it, that’s all that required of us, right? But he didn’t just stop there. He lavished his son. He threw a feast and killed the fattened calf. He did things that were recklessly extravagant and perhaps even a little wasteful, but chose anyway to show his son his abundant love. In verse 20 it says he ran to greet his son. He was watching and waiting for him.

When God sent His son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins, so that we could receive forgiveness, wasn’t that a little reckless? Couldn’t God have just given us another way–a way a little less painful for His Son and for Himself. A way that didn’t require Jesus to die a painful death on a cross? I mean, He IS God, right? He can make all the rules He wants. But God’s love for us is anything but basic. It’s extravagant. Jesus’ death on the cross was extravagant. The world that was created for us is extravagant. God doesn’t just dole out love as a means to an end. He drowns us in it and grants it to us unconditionally. Even when we don’t deserve it. Especially when we don’t deserve it. And He wants us to love Him–and others–in the same fashion. John 15:12 says: “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” As He loved us…extravagantly.