Eight Minus Jon & Kate?

The tabloids have been buzzing this week about the indiscretions of Jon and Kate (from Jon and Kate Plus 8 fame). I admit to watching several of the show's episodes and enjoying them for the most part with one cringe inducing exception: the way Kate treats Jon. I am sure that taking care of eight children all day plus working around a camera crew is stressful in addition to the everyday things. I can't speak from the experience of having eight children, but I can speak from the experience of going through a painful divorce. The pain that this is going to cause those children, now and in the future, is a huge price to pay. The stark truth is that perhaps this could have been prevented with a bit of respect...

Long time, no post

Today I went with D. to Luhvuhl to eat at the Old Spaghetti Factory. I don't know why I wanted to go there; I had been once when I was in high school with my mom and some family friends. At the time I thought it was the nicest place I'd ever eaten and I can't think of too many teenage girls who wouldn't find the horse drawn carriages wonderful. I was excited to see several teenage girls all decked out in prom dresses, with their (white!) tuxedoed dates standing next to the horse drawn carriages. One carriage looked amazingly like Cinderellas, but none of them went for a ride. While we waited for our table, I spent my time looking at all of the beautiful gowns (and frankly, some slutty dresses) and thinking back to a time that I am ten years removed from.

It's crazy how different my life is now compared to what I thought it would be. Back then, I thought I would be married with at least one or two children. At the least a stay at home mom or a part time worker. I had no plans for college.

Fast forward to today. I have taken classes off an on over the years and I'm about halfway to a four year degree. I find it incredibly ironic that I work for a branch of the government that lives and breathes postsecondary education. I have been married and divorced. I have no children. And my life is so much more than I ever thought it could be. I've traveled to Africa, flown on planes and connected with people I've never bothered to think about before. I have (tentative) travel plans to go to California in late summer, and a man who is so crazy about me that it borders on ridiculous.

In fact, my biggest fear lies in which good path to choose, because I only want the path that God wants for me. Yes, I really am that blessed. I suspect the day is fast approaching when I will have to make at least one decision. And it could be the most painful.

God is empty, and so am I

I was concerned when I saw the above written as a Facebook friend's status last week. I started to comment, but hesitated. This individual is someone I went to high school with, and our ten year reunion is coming up. Did I really want my former classmates to see my response? I was immediately reminded that I did not receive a spirit of fear (Romans 8:15) and that if I could sit less than fifteen feet away from a hungry lion with no protection in Africa, that commenting on a Facebook status was cake. I logged back in and commented along the lines of:

"Hmm...God is many things...empty is not one of His attributes."

Later that night, I logged in and noticed that he had replied to my comment, along the lines of:

"I assume you are referring to the Christian God. That God is not that of my own."

Fair enough and I deeply appreciated that he was respectful and capitalized "Christian" and "God". My knee jerk reaction was to type: then no wonder you think He is empty and you feel the same way! However, I thought it best to pray before responding. In the meantime, some others had responded to tell him God isn't empty and show their concern. After a couple of days, I had my response and logged in to give it. I soon discovered that I had been "defriended" by this individual. Granted, it's Facebook. It's the Internet and friend is a loosely applied term on social networking sites.

There are two things that jump out at me from this whole thing. The first is the absolute loneliness and hopelessness of that statement. It's a place I was in just a little over a year ago. The second is that if I was "defriended" because of my beliefs in our "tolerant" American society, what's next? This type of persecution is nothing compared to what some face in other parts of the world. I'm not one to focus too much on eschatology, but I do know this much: God is in control. There is only so much time that we are given, and a great deal of people without hope. The question we've got to ask ourselves is:

"What am I doing to share the reason for the hope (1 Peter 1:3) I have?"