Saturday, August 2, 2008

I'm So Nervous and Happy and It Turns into a Music Review and Lecture

We hired a new sitter, I hope she likes us. I'm so glad I don't have to date.

Here's a real shocker for y'all. Our kids don't like it when strangers show up at the house and we let them in. They turn into little hellions, (that is a word, I've used it). You'd think kids who've been taken out of their homes by strangers, sometimes repeatedly would just get over it. I kept reassuring her it would get better when I left. It either did or our new sitter is a liar, either way I enjoyed myself.

How could I not I went to see him how much do we love him? How many people are going to be lining the streets of Heaven to welcome him home? I'd say come early it'll be packed.

Just for fun I'm going to call him Mike, like we're long lost friends. Back in the day when we'd go on trips with the church group and you could only bring Christian music it was him and Amy. I don't care who you are, if you were alive in the '80's you know every word to Friends are Friends Forever.

But anyway, he was kind enough to be a "crossover artist" during my prodigal years. Even when I wasn't in church every week, Mike and Amy and Rich and Steve kept me company. That's Smith, Grant, Mullins and Taylor. I'm glad Mike is still making music, it still rocks. I will play Amy Grant's first Christmas Album all year round forever. Rich is gone, but could we handle anymore awesomeness? I think not, and Steve is over working for a little band you've probably heard of, The Newsboys. they're pretty cool, you should check them out. Although I LOVED him as a solo artist. But I can understand that Christians don't want to hear music about adultery and fornication and suicide and teen pregnancy and "values clarification". Singing about abortion clinics will apparently cause rioting in the streets.

Guess what we talked about tonight? Meth addict turned Jesus freak and the prodigal years. Sound familiar? And we talked about grace and unconditional love. My two favorite things.

I've said it before, but why can't we extend a little more grace and unconditional love? The Jesus I know is not the Jesus I hear about. I believe that Jesus is the ONLY way to Heaven. Why? Because he said so. Now, what I can't believe is that those of us who also believe that get all worked up about songs, and smoking and beer and whatever else it is that gets us all worked up. Giving Satan a perfect opportunity to preach to the world that goodness counts. There are a LOT of good people going to Hell, and we're over here fighting amongst ourselves about the unholy things that go on in a fallen world. There are a LOT of good people looking at us and deciding that their goodness trumps our JESUS, and that ain't right. And the reason I'll take a meth addict over a church goer anyday is that the meth addict understands grace. They grab onto it and ride it where it takes them. And tonight it took one to a little concert hall where she opened for Michael W. Smith.

So, thanks be to God for His grace and unconditional love, I'm sure I've offended someone.


*****Update***** I did offend someone, check the comments.

3 comments:

Megan Wagner said...

Well said! I agree. I remember Pastor Bil saying years ago the number one thing keeping people away from Christ is Christians. My uncle was a pastor of a stubborn group of people for awhile who told him the way the one song kept repeating reminded them of those "rock n roll songs" and the repetition whipped people into a satanic frenzy. The word repeated? Not sure exactly, but I believe it was Holy or Jesus.

Anonymous said...

I think that your post was very well-written, especially since you are apparently a retarded child (I'm guessing age eleven?), and you have obviously been deprived of proper schooling. It is a scandal that public schools today do not have even the basic necessities with which to train you.

You should spend a good deal of time on a balance beam (low to the floor, of course), on puzzles with large pieces numbering less than seven or eight, and, I highly recommend, a music program (if one is available in your community) where you could take up either the cowbell or the tambourine...Or better yet, see if you could be the school's mascot (as long as the mascot uniform covers your body entirely and you are not expected to perform in any syncopated routines with the band)...and run around like, well, a retard. You would excell!

Sometimes I envy you...I truly do. Ignorance like yours doesn't result from a flu bug or the coldvirus...your retardation is a complex amalgamation of your white trash environment and your tainted, recessive genes.

In short, dear, you would be well-advised to shutter your "blog," accept your very apparent limitations (please don't make me elaborate...I haven't got the time, my dear little "missing link"...Do you mind if I call you ML?

Great. So, ML, turn off "The Bachelor" or whatever similar drivel you consume, accept your severe retardation and trashiness, and never post any "sentences" of your own on the internet.

Your ignorance appalls; your trashiness repels; and the fact that you felt free to put your stupid, stupid, stupid thoughts in writing galls.

Be a good little girl and tell your minder that you may have peeled out, or at least skidded, in your little WalMart clearance sale panties.

Have a great day, Sad Retard.

elisa said...

Hey Annie,
What did we leave??? LOL to your anonymous blogger....lol! I had one of those a few weeks ago and it really got me worked up, until Brandon pointed out that they did it anonymously because they were to much of a coward to admit who THEY were! I agree with you totally, so what happened at that concert? Man I'm so out of it up here :(