SelahV Today by hariette petersen

When Bloggers Like Me Are Cautioned About Gossip

should we take it seriously? Other bloggers have to speak for themselves.  As for me???

In a previous article I wrote (here), a commenter, Mike, cautioned me about how "risky" quoting someone can be and how it can lead to "gossip". Actually, he didn't like much of what I had to say, at all.  He even assigned an ulterior motive to the purpose of my article.  Unfortunately for my commenter, that part of his critique proved totally false.  In his critique, he included a quote, which he attributed to me, but was actually written by someone else, from another website-- Erick Erickson. It can happen. When folks read a lot of sites covering the same subject, folks can get confused as to what they read and who said what.  That aside...

I do think personal criticisms need to be taken seriously. One-- because it's prudent.  Two-- because I may need to repent and apologize (which is expedient to be done as quickly as possible--like Mike did when I pointed out his error).  Three-- because I may learn something.  In this case, with Mike, I found his caution unfounded.  Rather than let his critique simmer on the back-end of my article, I'm using it for an example to consider as a guide in discerning the value of a critic's criticism and the validity of what I say.

Firstly, we disagreed on premise. "Gossip", to me, is passing on private information about someone with malicious intent. I had no malicious intent, nor do I think Kirsten had any. One author says this about gossip:

"The Hebrew word translated 'gossip' in the Old Testament is defined as 'one who reveals secrets, one who goes about as a talebearer or scandal-monger.' A gossiper is a person who has privileged information about people and proceeds to reveal that information to those who have no business knowing it." [To read more on gossip, go here/link]

So, did I really gossip about Andy Stanley? did Kirsten Powers? I don't think so, the information I had was not privileged, nor private. It was public knowledge.  Also, Kirsten Powers is a well-respected journalist and popular news analyst. It's  presumptuous to consider she'd attribute a private personal quote to someone that is not hers to reveal or was not freely given--she's a credible writer.  Journalists protect sources--they don't expose them.  She went to Andy in an interview situation to acquire his opinion.  He gave it.  She quoted it to reinforce her position on what she deems homosexual discrimination, albeit others, including I, see as a religious discrimination issue. So, given how many people have written about Andy Stanley's quote to Kirsten, I felt quite safe in re-quoting it after I found it at the source of her own article/here.

Given the ripple of public scrutiny and troubling confusion created, a retraction would be in order if it weren't true. To my knowledge, Andy hasn't requested one, nor has he walked back the statement.

Anyone can say something they wish they hadn't (Mike regrets his mistake with me). I'm a bit snarky at times (I'm working on it).  I don't think I erred when I lamented my mental and soulful weariness regarding Christians who try to live as Jesus would want in all areas of life (as in the case of the Seattle bakers), only to have their concerns tossed aside as irrelevant by a brother-in-Christ with prominent status.

Since the issue went beyond that of the bakers in Seattle to the bill in Kansas, which inadvertently coincided with the Arizona law, we must recognize this as a much larger issue in our country.  Even Eric Metaxas, a minister instrumental in Kirsten's recent conversion to Christianity, disagrees with Kirsten and Andy; he said so on his facebook page when Erick Erickson's rebutted Kirsten's views:

"I'm afraid that in this my dear friend Kirsten Powers and pastor Andy Stanley are mistaken. I believe their hearts are absolutely in the right place, which is perhaps the most important thing, but in their ultimately standing aside so that the Religious Freedom of Kansans and other Americans can be disregarded, they are missing something very important, something crucial, and with great ramifications for all. Let our conversations on this subject be civil and respectful, but let's have them."

So, folks, I make no apologies for writing about a subject I find most "crucial" as Metaxas affirms.  As a blogger and a sister-in-Christ, I saw a need to support fellow Christians and defend their position. 

As Christian bloggers grapple with issues of the day, we must engage with caution, in a spirit of grace, but we must not sit silently on the sidelines while religious liberty is crushed beneath the feet of rulers who usurp the constitution and the conscience of man, either.  

So I wrote about the quandry of it all. It was not gossip.  It's a matter of exhortation, similar to what my commenter tried to do with me in his critique and caution.  We learn, we share with one another...then Christians must pray.  We offer apologies, ask forgiveness wherein we err, and move on.  Most importantly, we must look at Scripture and stand on it, and it alone, to make decisions when we speak, think, or write.  For me it's all about Jesus and I won't leave Him out of my conversations. Without Him, I am nothing. ~hariette petersen @SelahVToday

Related articles

Should Jesus be None of my Business?

Where and How Kirsten Powers Is Misrepresenting the Christian Position on "Same-Sex Marriage"

 

How to Be Victors in Life

is only as possible as we define victor.

To some, "to the victor goes the spoils".  It's a war in which we become victorious over another person--an enemy who seeks to destroy us.  However, that's not exactly the kind of victor I am interested in being.  To do whatever it takes to win?  To ignore that which is pure and holy and godly to end up with all the goodies via whatever means it takes to obtain them?  No. That doesn't mean you are a victor.  That just means you are the most deceptive manipulative bully. In that sense, a victor gains the "spoils"-- the enemy's treasures and belongings.  The victor assumes possession of the enemy's material gains. I don't want my enemy's spoils.

My enemy is Satan. Anything he has is not worth owning.  Satan is everything that is ungodly--he is the opposite of God. Why would I want to have anything he has?  In fact, the Lord instructs me to resist him so that he flees. To put on the whole armor of God so that I may "stand"-- to plant my feet in the solidity of God's grace and salvation-- and not waver wherein Satan and his minions seek to devour me.

"The Lord’s slave must not quarrel, but must be gentle to everyone, able to teach, and patient, instructing his opponents with gentleness. Perhaps God will grant them repentance leading them to the knowledge of the truth. Then they may come to their senses and escape the Devil’s trap, having been captured by him [Jesus] to do his will." 2 Timothy 2:24-26

It's important to realize as I tweet on Twitter and toss my sarcastic barbs that what I say must align with God's instruction. All too often I allow my flesh to control my fingertips as I respond to various folks and agree with some who see things the way I see things. I cannot be a victor if I walk outside of God's pleasure and instructions and mingle with those who seek to live for position and power outside of God's divine plan and purpose. 

I wholeheartedly believe I am living in the last days as prophesied in God's Word:

"But know this: Difficult times will come in the last days.  For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good,  traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to the form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid these people!" 2 Timothy 3:1-5

How does one avoid these people?  How can we avoid them when they are at every turn in our lives?  When every program we watch on television has their influence in every commercial, every news report, every sitcom and every reality show?  when every social media we join has their "voice" and intrusion? When every magazine screams at us with headlines as we check out at the grocers?

Well, for me, I think it is to avoid entering the fray of their conversations. To avoid walking where they walk.  To avoid listening to their music, their entertainment, the diatribes on their networks with their analysts and slanted reporting. To refuse to attend ther movies and support their lifestyles and ability to spread their poison in my life. I've come to see that playing on their playground can lead to throwing dirt and kicking sand.  To be a victor in this time of history, I must climb to higher ground.  I must stand on the Rock where my refuge is above the world.

And yes.  I will run into many of those Timothy warns me to avoid on my journey. You will, too.  The key in being a victor among them is to avoid their "kind" of conversations and speak up when necessary. If they do not hear my voice and become hostile, I kick the dust from my feet and move on. When necessary, I delete, unfriend, and block.  I pray for the scales to be removed from their eyes. Then I share the "good news".  Speak goodness with kindness and love.  I must refuse to tolerate the intolerable.  I cannot accept their arguments as instructions to preserve some politically correct position.  I will refuse to fall for their accusations of hatred in the face of truth.

Above all, I cannot let them define or redefine God's Word from society's flawed understanding or culturally acceptable opinion. A victor is only victorious who rests solely upon God and His unchanging Word--regardless of world opinion and attack. He alone is our resource and refuge.~~ selahVtoday by hariette petersen

Related articles

Tear Down That Cross

I Had an Awakening

Trust the Still Waters

It Never Ceases To Amaze Me...

Wednesday CONTENTIONS

Contention is a work of the flesh. It is bred from a superior mindset. I-know-better-than-they-do. So isn't it something we should avoid at all costs? (Galatians 5:19-21)

How do we do that when there are so many different viewpoints? personalities? emotions? mindsets?

I've always had an aversion to contention and conflict. It stems from all the conflict I witnessed while growing up. I often find myself swallowing my words and praying away my thoughts...sometimes not nearly as quickly as I would like to avoid an argument.

Lately, I have less and less desire to read posts or news reports filled with contention. You see, I think contention breeds contention, begets contention. In time, contention flows into a cesspool of stagnation. The pool fills with anger, bitterness, animosity, division, strife, and pride.

It's becoming a deep conviction for me that as long as there is contention in my heart or mind, then it will travel out my fingertips and onto the monitor of potentially millions of people. I don't want that. I don't believe God wants that.

It seems that all contentious elements about a particular topic need to be addressed with the utmost care and concern for those who observe us--for those who read us. I do not want to add to another's ire with ire of my own. Do you?

I have less and less desire to write about things I disagree with. Brothers and sisters in Christ must tread far more carefully than the world when discussing differences. Since 2006 when I first began blogging, I have seen more contention between Christians than I did in my entire 23 years in ministry. It seems that the internet has provided a venue for venting that exploded into a venue for polarizing brothers and sisters.

Does this bother you?

This is cannot be the fruit of the Spirit. We can rationalize it four-thousand ways to Sunday, but in the final analysis, contention is contention. It is fingerpointing from any direction the hand is extended.

Is it quarrelsome when one knows in his/her heart that they do not "like" another individual they intentionally engage on a subject? Is it quarrelsome if a person thinks for one second that their comment one-ups another in a discussion. Competition in the mind of man on wholesome, spiritual and biblical topics is just as vulnerable to the expression and birth of jealousy, envy and pride as arguing over who is the worst sinner at the altar of God. Do we even recognize our desire to contend is perilous in the family of God? To our own growth as a Christian?

I wonder if the race for more page views, greater readership, or more commenters illustrates a seed of idolotry growing in one's heart. Do those thoughts breed the germ of lust--lust for recognition--the approval of man, the validation from man?

No matter how we wrap it up in ribbons, contention is sin. It's a sin born in pride. It is ego on steroids, running a race to the next "Amen" and "hoo wah". The fist-bumps, the chest-thumps, the thumbs-up can be all the reward we need in life--and all the reward we receive in eternity. It's up to us. For me? Well...

"It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife." Proverbs 21:9

So I think I'm going to crawl into the corner of my housetop and pray a bit more about the direction of my reading habits and writing. Meanwhile, let me recommend a few excellent articles:

FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT, (part 1) Counterfeits

FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT, (part 2) Love

A Blogger's Comfort Zone

We each have them.  Comfort zones.  We have a space in which we find it comfortable to talk, to chat, to give our opinions.  We have topics we choose to avoid.  We have bloggers we avoid or ignore.  We are not comfortable with ourselves when we try to converse with others.  We don't trust ourselves.  We don't trust the other blogger.

Comfort comes when we trust our situation, our circumstance, our fellow bloggers.  When we feel we will be attacked for absolutely no reason, we do not comment.  When we feel a mere question can cause an avalanche of speculation and assumptions and motive interpretations, we don't ask.  We simply do not trust people.

It's sad that we cannot trust other Christians, isn't it?  I have no problem with secular blogs and I recognize that should I decide to comment and give an opinion (which I rarely do), that there will be explosive attitudes, snarky statements, and snide remarks.  It comes with being a follower of Christ.  However, when I visit sites and see this kind of comment stream between Christians, I avoid it like the plague.  It gives no honor or glory to God to demean another with tit-for-tat comebacks.  Rudeness is not love, because love is not rude.  Love is patient.  Love is kind.  Christian love is considerate.  It does not keep an account of wrongs...nor does it nit-pick others to pieces.

The more uncomfortable I find myself with a group of blogging voices, the more I avoid that community of bloggers.  I dare say, there are many bloggers just like me.  They have no desire to voice their thoughts when derogatory attacks are commonplace in a particular blog or collaborative blog.

I notice the more I read disturbing prattle, the more comfort food I eat.  That only adds more weight to an even weightier matter--my waist.  Why would I want to waste time fueling my desire to sabotage the temple of the Holy Spirit? Why would I want to violate my mind in such a way?  It is beyond my comfort zone.  Why would I want to try and add reason to the unreasonable?

It leaves a vacumn of reality in the blogging world when a group focuses on the "atta boy" and pat-on-the-back, and fist-bumps they give and receive from one another on a particular topic.  There are some, and I dare say many, who would totally disagree with a particular topic but bloggers like me stay clear of the streams because the tone is totally untrustworthy.  Therefore bloggers settle into a false comfort zone of ego-boosting.  They think they've found a safe-zone of wisdom and introspection.  When other bloggers refuse to enter those self-made zones to challenge their thoughts, they live in oblivious belief that they are right and everyone believes like they do.

Scary.  For it is written:  "Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!" Isaiah 5:21

"Woe" means a consequence is coming.  "Woe" is a warning of condemnation to come.  "Woe" is not a good thing to look forward to--no matter how educated we get, or how many people agree with us.  In the end...the majority has no voice--only God's voice counts.  selahV for Today

 

Blogger's Curse

There are those who curse in words and gnaw on their own words forever, like a cow chews its cud.  Their curse has a reverberating effect and cause others who hear it to gnaw on those words and judge other words they may have spoken in the past.  The unsettled curse taints the reception of other words in the future.  One's curse gives birth to suspicion, to question, to deeper inspection.

My stepmother cursed me.  From the time she entered my five-year-old life, to the day I left home at sixteen, she told me I was "a lazy, good-for-nothing brat".  She said, "You'll never amount to nothing!"  "You're a hussy like your mother."  It took years for me to overcome some of the other curses she wrapped around my brain.

Recently, a respected individual in my faith accused me and all my brothers and sisters (of like faith), of lying and being bigoted toward a certain people group.  Some think this curse will all blow over and go away.  A few think that it was a well-deserved indictment for which we all should repent.

Here's the thing.

When a person (of world-wide reknown and influence), accuses a whole group of people (within earshot, or Twitter-shot, of his sphere of instructional authority), of mean-spirited bigotry bathed in lies, it is not likely that Believers who "hear" or are made "aware" of the curse will sit kindly by and nod their heads in agreement, or flick away the condemnation with apathetic ho-hums. Though some will turn the other cheek and move on, the curse will not settle anymore than a fluttering sparrow or darting swallow.

It is also likely that those within the "people group" will use the indictment to further their own agendas and cast their own unrelenting form of accusation upon us all who were being cursed with the scarlet letter from the reknowned and influencial.

"Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest." Proverbs 26:2

In other words, when someone condemns, the untruth will not settle down.  The curse will flutter in the wind and live on in the minds of others and flutter in their imaginations and obscure viewpoints again and again.

Because I blog and because I have on occasion voiced my opposition to another's words or views, I have been lied about, dumped on, maligned, accused, and criticized.  Goes with the territory of voicing one's opinion.  Not everyone will agree with you.  Oddly, in the nearly 2,000-plus posts I have written, I can count on one hand the people who have sent disparaging, meanspirited, accusatory emails:  One.  One person.  I can also count on one hand the ones who've logged on to bash me...one preacher of said emailer, and a handful of their cronies.

God has been good to me.  God has blessed me.  I am grateful.

For me, the lesson in the blogger's curse, is that we'd do well to guard our tongues in what we say about others--especially when speaking of the Bride of Christ. Personally, I have no animosity towards the "reknown and influencial" spokesman who let fly a curse upon me and my faith-group. I just lament the fact that this "curse" will not rest for a very long time.

Indeed, because it was spoken by such a person of influence, it will go down in the annals of history of my faith-group and will someday be ferreted out as a nugget that few even realize exists. "An undeserved curse does not come to rest."  There is a day of accounting for every word we utter.  Best we choose them wisely, don't you think?  selahV

For Other Related Posts:

WHEN THE DEVIL SPINS A TALE

Bloggers Biting Bait

Bloggers are funny characters.  Some bloggers really crack me up.  They have no problem jumping into the middle of a stream that does not concern them whatsoever, and giving their undiluted opinion of a person's character. Often these folks do not even offer a "how do you do, mr. host/hostess," nor a "thankyou for allowing me to comment on your blog".  Nope.  They just plunge right in and say unseemly things about some person's motives, intent, and integrity even though their blatherings have nothing at all to do with the subject matter.  It's crazy.

Other bloggers write posts designed to bait other bloggers to bite on the topic and find nothing but minnows nibbling at the end of their lines.  I almost jumped into a stream yesterday.  People were going on and on and on about a person I felt was being maligned in a way that was so far from the truth it embarassed me for the writer posting their rhetoric.  I thought long and hard about correcting the record.  I even wrote a calmly, well-reasoned, logical response to each and every person who was saying demeaning things.  Then...

...then I decided to read through some Proverbs for a energy-boost of wisdom.  I read several verses until my eyes landed on this one:

"Like one who grabs a stray dog by the ears is someone who rushes into a quarrel not their own."  Proverbs 26:17

I've never grabbed a stray dog by the ears.  But by golley I do know the sounds of a hound-dog that is grabbed that way.  It's such a bone-chilling bellowing wail.

The offending words being written about this person in that blog-stream illustrated this verse very well.  Writers obviously were ignorant of the subject matter and only based their opinions and thoughts upon previous encounters they'd had with the person--or things they'd read about the person.  And even though I am privy to far more about motive, intent, and thoughts behind the discussion topic, I had no business rushing into a quarrel not my own. 

I felt really good that the Lord checked my spirit, controlled my fingers, and helped me resist the temptation to meddle where meddling is not warranted.

I've all but stopped commenting on blogs.  I find most blogs I frequented in the past (and no...you know I'm not talking about yours), have deteriorated into quarrelsome blatherings and fingerpointing rather than engaging the subject matter.  Quarrelsome attitudes beget more quarrels.  There's little room for reason or truth or desire to get at the truth in a matter when people write post after post inviting character assassinations. 

I find some bloggers write just to rattle out words to get more readers.  More comments.  The more outrageous they can make their posts, the happier they seem.  The more pats on the backs they get for unwarrantly slamming another individual for even daring to broach a controversial subject, the more they write about the individual...the more they bring up that person's name...the more they post about them to bring more readers to rush in and grab stray dogs by the ears.  My eyes can no longer stand the screeching wails, my friends.  I think I've decided how I will handle further streams with tangled lines baited with guile.

I shall not bite the bait, or rush in with a stray dog by the ears.  I might even give up fishing altogether and train my dog to hunt.  selahV

BLOG WARS (Part 1)

There really must be a method to a blogger's madness.  Many bloggers visit other bloggers to see what they write.  Then they pick out something about the post, or some comment someone makes in a stream, and their muse goes into overdrive.  Sometimes it happens to me.  I have a cache of devotionals that are a direct result of another's inspiring messages.  (No one at war there.)

However, there are some bloggers whose muse gets drunk and it's no telling where that muse will take them.  They are bloggers gone wild.  Sometimes one blogger posts something that draws blood about a particular subject.  Then a second or third blogger mentions it at their blogsite and then links to the first.  Often bloggers link one another to carry others to the blogs discussing the same subject with different perspectives.  Sometimes those links are constructive and informative.  Other times, one wonders how they arrived; they know they're not in "Kansas", anymore.

I call these blog-wars.  It can be absolutely maddening trying to keep up with the battles, the strategies, the captains, the sergeants and minions that run back and forth pasting comments, links, and supporting opinions.  It can sometimes be humorous to see how quickly someone counters another, as if they are sitting right there at their monitors all day long like a watchman on the frontlines of war.

Ever been to some of those blogs that open up the stream with nothing but a posting box--any topic goes?  You know, like Greta Van Susteren from Fox News?  Those commenters can get really nasty over there.  Not fun to enter that stream.  No one really cares what the other person thinks.  No one wants to carry on conversations or dialogue about a matter of significance.  They just want to voice their opinion and beat others up when they don't agree with them.  I visited a few of those during the 2008 elections.  Not pretty.  Those blogs are doing battle with no strategy of a victor--and no reason to their rhymes.

I don't know what to say about bloggers who find their delight and calling to denigrate.  I really don't.  I don't know what kind of psycholocial reasoning some bloggers have for posting perspectives meant to divide humanity rather than to unite it.  I especially have trouble wrapping my mind around that reasoning when it comes to Christian brothers and sisters.  But it happens.  It makes me wonder, though.  Whatever happened to "do unto others as you would that they should do to you"? 

Do Christians not know that God is not sleeping or slumbering?  Do they not know that He doesn't just look at the outside of man, but He knows the heart, the mind, the intent and motive of each and everything they do?  Do they not realize a dog shall return to its own vomit? (I know, that sounds nasty but it's in the book of Proverbs and really makes a point, here.)

If you came here looking for the battle-front, I probably just disappointed you.  For that I am sorry.  I am truly working through this whole thing myself.  I watch what others write and wonder why.  I figure in the scheme of things, the hay and stubble will eventually be burned away.  The gold and silver will remain and Jesus will get the glory.  What do you think?  selahV 

WITH A VENGEANCE

February smacked us in the face.

Can't believe January has already come and gone.  Until now, we've been quite fortunate here in my part of Oklahoma.  Just last week I was boasting of our 75 degree temperatures.  It was wonderful.  Then wham bam, on February 1st, we got slammed with the rest of the country.  Seven inches of snow (lying on a sheet of ice) closed churches, schools and many many stores.   My chiropractor called and rescheduled my appointment.  Good thing.  Don't think I dare waddle out onto that icy mess.

Don't know if the mail has come or not.  We haven't ventured down our driveway to find out.  Can barely push the door open to get the newspaper.  Snowdrifts.  However....

We are so blessed.  We've had lights, heat, water and television.  We had a bit of frozen pipe in one of our bathrooms, but a blow-dryer fixed that.  I lost internet service till today, but that was just as well.  Don't need to knock my neck out of joint when I can't see the chiro till Friday (maybe...depends on whether we thaw out or not). 

They predict record ZERO to greet us tomorrow morning.  Right now it is 2-below with our windchill factor.  Forecasters say our thaw begins on Friday.  That's far better than our relatives in Connecticut can hope for.

My brother's wife has no place to put all the snow that's piled up from their record storms this winter.  I got an email from my sister-in-law from Florida.  She's so grateful she moved south.  Her son called from Connecticut and told her he had to climb up and shovel off his brand new roof.  The weight of the snow must have wiggled its way through some crevice and caused a leak into his master bedroom.  They get snow by the foot--not the inch.  I loved it when I was young...but have come to truly appreciate southern Oklahoma as I've grown older.  We may have cold for a few days, then it's gone.  New England has is for months.

Couldn't believe over a thousand cars were buried on Lakeshore Drive in Chicago.  Thousands stranded for hours upon hours.  Unbelieveable that anyone would go out with all the storm-warnings we had.  Man makes a habit of ignoring warnings.  The Psalmist began his work with warnings:

"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers." Psalm 1:1-3

Seems many see no need to heed warnings.  Storms are coming:  Smoking kills.  Texting while driving kills.  Driving under the influence of alcohol kills.  Sin kills.  And when we ignore the warnings of God, we have only ourselves to blame.  He warns us to stay away from so much--not to hurt us, but to protect us.  Yet, we ignore His Word, dismiss His instructions, quench His Spirit and go our own way.  We walk where we shouldn't.  Linger when we should run.  Surrender when we should resist.  Then we wail and cry for Him to help us out of our self-imposed plights.  Yet, even in our sinfulness, He stands faithful to forgive--filled with mercy to pour out each morning.  Such grace.  Such love.  You'd think every stone-cold heart would melt, wouldn't you?  

I have so much to talk about.  Hopefully, as I am able, I'll be writing more frequently.  However, I'm learning to pace the time I spend at the computer.  While I sit here at my laptop, I place a little stuffed puppy behind my neck to relieve my neck.  The chiropractor is really helping me avoid taking pain meds.  Hate those things.  Make ya feel loopy...not to mention what they do to your liver and kidneys.  How do I know?  They have "warnings" on their labels.  Allstate wasn't too keen about me seeing the chiropractor.  But that's okay.  I'm not too keen about taking a bunch of drugs.  After all.  I've been warned.  selahV

Blogger's Blight

Have you had it?  I have.  When I first started blogging, my heart brimmed with great expectations.  I envisioned designing a colorful blog, and writing inspirational stuff to encourage the masses.  Somewhere along the course of things, my hopes and ambitions withered (that's what happens to something infected with blight).  I lost heart.  Not in the Lord, mind you--but definitely in the blogging community. 

I branched out with my main blog, which I started in 2006 to keep myself from going absolutely insane over the loss of my son, Chad.  I only knew one person on the internet, so my blog grew from that core.  I started a few blogs which I have eliminated from my blogroll.  I built Feminine Matters hoping to develop some dialog with other women.  Hardly a peep.  I created Daily Impact and found most folks don't really have much to say to a devotional thought.

My stats indicate that my readership has grown, 65% of my readership is new every day.  I was greatly encouraged at that discovery.  I sure wish some of you folks would leave a comment and say hello...tell me what brought you here, how can I keep you coming by.  What interests you?  Am I accomplishing my goal to encourage, inspire, edify?

I was "stumbled upon" by someone who recommended my site to folks.  The message said,

"A member of the StumbleUpon user community previously added your page to StumbleUpon's index of hi-quality, human-powered content.

Now, each time StumbleUpon refers a user to your page (based on StumbleUpon's analysis of what that user's friends and other like-minded users have recommended) --voila! --an entry in your referral log will be generated."

I was pretty impressed with that message, but wondered if it was just one of those generic messages the cyber-search engine sites use to get you to sign up with them.  I don't know.  I'm so SEO limited.  SEO is "Search Engine Optimization, the process of improving ranking in search engine results."  Who knows for sure?  Sincerity is a rare commodity these days.  I digress (someone shoot that rabbit!). 

The online dictionary says blight is "an extremely adverse environmental condition, such as air pollution."  I thought about that and realized the air in which my blog floated for the most part was polluted--with debate, confrontations, and religious politics.  I didn't fit in.  Not at all.  I don't like that kind of stuff.  Don't like the back and forth, the analyzing of every single word one writes--the contending, the arguments that aren't arguments.  Don't like motives being presumed, attacks being lodged.  It's just not very loving.  One can get infected with that kind of writing style and opinionated dialog, and before one knows it, they are eaten up with it.  Also, it is dominated by men.  Most of the women that venture into those sites weren't like me.  They enjoyed battling it out with the guys.  Not my idea of fun.  Ask my husband.

Thus, I've decided I have Blogger's Blight.  This blight upon my heart and mind leaves me wondering.  Why in the world do I do this? Sometimes I find myself surrounded in an "air" of suffocating bitterness, anger, finger-pointing, talebearing and slander.  I cannot breathe.  The scent is overwhelming. 

I've been thinking about a remedy for this blight.  It's not like I can go down to Lowe's and purchase some kind of spray, some kind of repellant.  I've thought about how one gets rid of blighted stems on a rose bush.  They cut it off.  The healthy stems are nurtured and fed, tilled and fertilized.  Could that be it?  Chop off the blighted part of my blogging experiences?  Feed on the Word of God and develop a better root system?  Then bloom, grow fruit, and wait upon the Lord for the harvest?  I think so.

We who blog for Jesus, are the fragrance of Christ.  At least that is how I see myself in the kingdom's garden.  Lilacs, roses, hyacinths and more.  May my scent bring pleasure to my Father, and all those He brings my way.  God bless you today.  selahV

Devotion for Today, and "IF God is in Control..."

Last week I wrote a devotional for Devotional Christian entitled: When Life Falls Apart, Jesus Holds It Together.  It is published today at their site.  I am compelled to link it here for my readers in light of some of my posts of late.

It is not my intention to create more fear in our lives as I write about combustible gases on tankers, trials of terrorists in New York, and the injustice of health-care reform in America.  It's also not a weakness in my faith that nudges me to write prayer requests for my brother's situation with emphysema or the safety of his daughter as she lives in New York city.  My faith is strengthened by my dependence on the Lord.  My posts are meant to show our complete reliance upon Him as we do what He leads us to do in the scheme of things as we walk in this world.  I was reminded by a dear friend today that nothing and no one can do anything "unless it is given to him of the Lord".  In other words, God is in control.

We might ask, as a reader recently wrote me via email, "If God is in control, does that mean He is controlling us?"  Whew!  That's some  heavy stuff to lift above our finite minds, isn't it?  To believe otherwise would make us seem to question the sovereignty of God.  But to dissect the entirety of this question, one must also remember God's sovereignty is big enough to allow us choices in life.  With every choice comes a consequence.  And the blessing within God's protective grace is that He is, indeed, in control of the consequences, too.  Who are we to challenge His decisions?  Who are we to tell Him when to pour forth rain, withhold it, or grant us sunshine?  Who are we to decide which calamity will bring greater peace? Who are we to tell him that our illness is not the best part of His plan for us? if we trust with all our heart that He rules upon this earth as He sees fit for His glory?

Maybe the question we should ask is, If God is not in control, do I want to be?  Really?

TO WRITE OR NOT TO WRITE...my last post?

It's not an April Fool's Day joke.  I'm serious.  It's become a burning question in my mind, lately.

I've been thinking that I should just shut down this blog.   Even though I have managed somehow to accumulate a fairly strong readership, I am not all that sure that the whole world has need of my voice.

With all the mounting internet threats, I really don't feel safe anymore.  I've heard of stories where when you click on a certain site from somone who has left an url, that the second that site opens up, you have just opened the door for someone to enter your computer and gather any and all information you have stored in it.  They can add a magnet of a worm to be able to see your every keystroke.  I don't know quite how it's done, but there is software available to do that.

With the threat of computer viruses, destruction is commonplace. Even today, April Fool's Day, we have been warned of a virus being launched to worm its way into every computer it can.  Microsoft is actually offering a 250,000-dollar reward to anyone who can tell them how to destroy its capabilities. 

With the belief of many who think even a personal email should be viewed as public information the moment the button "send" is pushed, I am no longer as trusting as I once was.  That bothers me more than anything.  I do not like feeling like I should constantly be "watching my back", for fear private conversations could be placed in a book or given to the world with the "click" of a "mouse".  I do not want to be the next "fool" who trusted amiss. 

Just last week I googled my name.  And lo and behold, in the midst of all the posts that showed links to my site, was a private email I'd sent to someone.  How can google do that?  I have a password protected server.  Yet Google can somehow grab my email from somewhere--my computer?  another's computer?  cyberspace?--and then place it on a search engine's results page.  How can this be?  To my knowledge, I haven't given Google permission to grab my emails.  Nor have I given AOL permission to share them.  Yet, there it was in black and white...on my monitor screen.  They said it was only for my viewing, but people, come on.  If they can do that with an email, they can do that with anything in my computer.

With privacy being breached each and every day, I'm not so naive to believe there are not people who are devious enough to destroy a person's reputation and impugn another's character by simply buying software that can invade their lives.  It wouldn't surprise me at all (now that I've seen a private email lifted from my files and appear in a Google search of my name), to learn that someone knows every detail of my life.  From medical conversations to chatting about the weather and incontinence.  All of which has been taken straight from cyber-space.  Not a good feeling to comtemplate, is it?

So folks, I am thinking.  I am praying.  Is this worth it?  selahV

PROPHETIC UTTERANCE OF ADRIAN ROGERS AND OTHER MINISTERS

"There is coming an economic calamity that will make the great depression of 1929 seem like child's play."  Adrian Rogers 1995

Thirteen years ago.  Long before 9-11.  Long before the Dot-Com bubble burst.  Long before the Iraq War.  Adrian Rogers spoke those words.  He did not know the market collapse of 2008 would occur.  He did not know that a president could be elected who would turn back the clock to even more abortions in our country with a mere signature on Inaugaration Day.  Yet, he predicted a calamity of historical proportions.

Are we so blind we cannot see the signs of the times before our very eyes?  Are we so vile and wretched we are calloused to His Spirit's conviction?  Are we so deaf we cannot hear the Word of God?  Are we so self-saturated we cannot heed the warnings of a minister's words?  Are we so apathetic that our First Love is the least of all we treasure?

Australian minister, Steve Grosey, must be wondering just that.

Indeed, Southern Baptist minister, CB Scott, questions the lukewarm hearts of man as he contemplates President-elect Barack Obama signing the Freedom of Choice Act in January as his first act as president of the United States.

While I do not write too many posts of outcry, I could not sit here after reading the linked posts above and not moan a cry of my soul.  May God have mercy on us all.  May we turn from our complacent musings and self-absorbing fears and come before the throne of grace with a repentant heart.  Only He can heal our land.  Only He. 

"Come now, you rich [people], weep aloud and lament over the miseries (the woes) that are surely coming upon you.  Your abundant wealth has rotted and is ruined, and your [many] garments have become moth-eaten.  Your gold and silver are completely rusted through, and their rust will be testimony against you and it will devour your flesh as if it were fire.  You have heaped together treasure for the last days.  [But] look!  [Here are] the wages that you have withheld by fraud from the laborers who have reaped your fields, crying out [for vengeance]; and the cries of the harvesters have come to the ears of the Lord of hosts, [Here] on earth you have abandoned yourselves to soft (prodigal) living and to [the pleasures of] self-indulgence and self-gratification.  You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.  You have condemned and have murdered the righteous (innocent man), [while] he offers no resistance to you."  James 5:1-6  Amplified.

"You have condemned and have murdered the righteous (innocent man), while he offers no resistance to you."  Abortion of innocents.  They cannot offer any resistance.  "Be patient, brethren, till the coming of the Lord." selahV   

 

WOE UNTO YOU WHO CAUSE ME TO STUMBLE!

I'm not the brightest lightbulb in the box.

  I've got a whole lot less education than most anyone who reads my blog.  I know less ecclesiology, theology, psychology, biology and methodology than the majority of people who happen by.  (Needless to say, I'm honored anyone would choose to read me.)  HOWEVER...

Since I became a Christian, the Good Lord in His all-knowing character saw fit to enlighten me on a few things from His inerrant, inspired Word.  One of the things was to "beware of the wolves dressed as sheep".  God warned me early on in my sanctification process that there would be those folks who'd come with every wind of doctrine and try to twist the Truth of God and lead me down a boulder-strewn path.  So I am ever-mindful of my Lord's prayer for me that I be protected from the evil one. (see John 17).  Nevertheless, occasionally I find myself persuaded to walk along after someone's pathway till I stumble across a boulder of ignorance and hypocrisy.  Oftimes I'm met with scrapes and cuts that sometimes heal easily--while others leave gaping wounds that take years to heal.  And even when they heal, they leave very noticeable scars as reminders to "beware of the wolves".  Whoa!

“Woe”.  I believe Jesus warns all Believers to be extremely careful with the knowledge, influence and power we have been given.  (All things are from God--you can't boast in your own success, you know.)  There are those who know a lot more than I, and those who know a lot more than you.  And sometimes, the Lord gets in one of His humorous moods and takes someone who knows less than you or me, and uses them to teach us a lesson or two.  He has great fun with those times, I think.  Sometimes God even sends in the kings of Babylon to enslave us, an Egyptian caravan to move us, a giant fish to reduce us to vomit to get us to follow after Him and His righteousness.

To prove His point, God is not all that concerned with our comfort.  Think about it.  Prisons of Rome.  Executioner's block.  Waterless wilderness.  Darkened caves.  Storm-tossed boats.  Hanging baskets.  Isles of Patmos.  No wonder Jesus warned us of the millstone; we can't all be Johns and Pauls.

"But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in and acknowledge and cleave to Me to stumble and sin..."?  WOE UNTO THEM!

As I wrote today in my daily devotional blog, "It's not the unbeliever that will be held accountable, for he is condemned already."  It's gonna be better that a millstone be tied around my neck and tossed in the deepest sea, than it will be if I lead a single child of God to stumble and consequently sin.  I don't know about you, but I take that admonition quite seriously.  How about you?

Has someone tripped you lately?  Have you fallen into sinful behavior because of another's penchant to sin? Have you been provoked to arrogance because another was arrogant?  Have you given into your own pride because another was condescending toward you?  Have you used another's sinful behavior to excuse your own?  Woe unto us who have.

Given the Lord's "Woe-of-Warning", what should Christians avoid doing?  What should we avoid saying?  What should we avoid supporting, endorsing, condoning and validating?  How relevant are my choices to the "little ones" who believe in and cleave to Jesus?  What difference does my example mean in the scheme of things?

Is what I tolerate today, the validation of tomorrow?

"Frankly, Scarlett," I do believe so. 

[copyrighted, SelahV Today, 2008]

CHATTER, PRATTLE AND FUN IN THE SUN

While I am away from home, I venture onto my granddaughter's computer from Ocean Springs, Mississippi and catch up on some of my SBC friends' chatter.  I must say that a great deal is being said about things which could be less of a "deal" if all parties simply rest in the Son.  Son of God, that is.  Most of the chatter and prattle is a direct result of an inability to trust in God and a need to trust in man, in my own biased opinion.

A great deal of heartache in life can be avoided when one seeks not the counsel of men, but relies solely on the counsel of God and His Word.

Today I was privileged to go to the beach.  We had an abundance of sunshine and warm soft breezes.  The sand was plentiful; ocean waves tiptoed into shore as seagulls floated above us.  Conner was mesmerized by the gigantic sandbox at his fingertips.  He'd never seen sand before.  What a joy to watch him experience the wonder of God.  The sand was so fine it felt like ground flour in my hands.  As I sat there watching one-year-old Conner's expression change from fear to bewilderment, to timidity and then sheer joy and pleasure, I was reminded of God's promise to Abraham.  The promise was so profound and mindboggling--just like the billions upon billions of grains of sand that lay before Conner.

Abraham did not need to worry about sacrificing his son, Isaac.  He only had to obey God.  God provided the sacrifice.  God provided.  And just as God provided for Abraham, He takes pleasure in providing for us.  In our rejection from others.  In our accusations from others.  In our losses.  In our difficuties.  In our fears.  In our inadequacies.  In our helplessness.  In our moment of crisis and need.  God provides.  God multiplies.  And just as in Abraham's case, the blessings are too numerous to count. 

"In blessing I will bless you and in multiplying I will multiply your descendants like the stars of the heavens and like the sand on the seashore.  And your Seed (Heir) will possess the gate of His enemies." Genesis 22:17

The difference between Abraham and many in the SBC and faith community, is that Abraham's faith and obedience to God brought forth immediate provision.  Lack of trust and disobedience brings forth consequences of greater fear, greater heartache, and greater turmoil.

As sand seeps through my fingertips and the wind carries it away, I am grateful to know God provides and I don't need to concern myself with the enemies at His gate.  selahV

[copyrighted, SelahV Today, 2008]      

LAST ONE IN...

IS GONNA GET WET!

FIRST THINGS FIRST!  I shall not be as attentive to this blog in the next couple of days.  My grandchildren are coming to visit!  We're having a party for my eldest granddaughter (in her twenties).  The one from Alaska who blessed me with my first great-grandson last March?  Yeah...her.  She's in for a week and we're gonna celebrate...

...but not just her birthday.  She's expecting again!

Hip, Hip, HOORAY!  Another greatgrandchild is on the way!

As for my parting words on this blog-- possibly for the rest of the day--don't forget that tomorrow is launch day at sbcIMPACT and dailyIMPACT.  What is cooking on your grill may not be as interesting as the conversations being served up over there.  We shall see.  You be the judge!

NOW....everyone ready to party?  selahV 

POINT OF IMPACT

IMPACT

The very word conjures up a myriad of pictures in my mind.  My grandson's head pummeling the earth and breaking his neck and back.  The school bus that almost killed my son when he was but five-years-old.  My brother's car hitting head-on with another on a dusk-darkened highway that claimed his life.  The gigantic stones my son later met when he was crushed beneath the weight of the young man driving a four-wheeler two years ago.  Impact.  A horrid thing?

NOT ALWAYS.  There is a positive impact as well as a negative.  A furrowed ground.  A seed sown.  A kind word, a generous action.  A repentant heart.

"God is working out all things for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose in Christ Jesus."

In fact I believe if we all took a few moments and considered the impact others make on our lives in any given day, we'd see far more positive things than bad.  Today I had friends email me encouraging letters because they knew it was the day my son would have been 36 years old had he survived that fateful Mother's Day in 2005.   Yesterday I went to my son's grave and there was a gold chain with one-half of a Mizpah hanging from the crossbar.  His dear friend, Chacon, had left it to honor their friendship and the promise of seeing one another again someday in eternity.  My son helped him study for his citizenship which he received two months after Chad died.   A little thing--a big impact.  I thought of all the times my son read scripture to him as they rode long distances to work together on a tile job.   

Seeing that chain and half of a prayer on the gold medallion, warmed my heart as I struggled with the loss of my son's absence today.  It showed me that Chad was still remembered to another--his life had been significant to Chacon.

I'm embarking on an exciting new venture with the Lord.  I've joined a group of Southern Baptist men who are seeking to challenge readers toward greater love and good deeds in ministry.  Geoff Baggett captured a vision to build a collaborative blog sbc IMPACT to accomplish this.  With it he and other contributors seek to write God-honoring posts that emphasize ways this can be done.

I shall be writing a daily devotional entitled DAILY IMPACT which you can access below the head banner of sbc IMPACT which leads to its own page.   I'd love it if you'd come by and leave a note of encouragement.

But more than that, I'd love for you to be a part of the vision I have for the daily devotional.  Please go read my Welcome to see how this can be done.  And as you go about your day, watch for those tiny little times in your life when someone makes an IMPACT that causes you to  pause a moment and reflect on the goodness of God and all He does through His people.  When you do, contact me and let me know.  I believe God wants me to share it with others so they can be encouraged, inspired and comforted, too.  Bless you.  selahV  

ROAD WORTH TRAVELING

Life is a two-lane highway

~~especially in blogging.  Which way one chooses to travel on the road is significant.  In fact, it is crucial to the believer.

A believer who is blogging has more influence than he or she realizes.  According to Rev. Michael Bresciani at the American Chronicle, "...it holds the single greatest potential for evangelism through the media since the advent of television."

And what are we Christians doing with such an opportunity?

Are our blogs pointing the way or blocking the way to Jesus?  Is our roadway clear of potholes, pitfalls, and detours?  Does it lead unbelievers to our Lord or away from our Lord?  Do our words bring honor to our King or dishonor?  Is our time well-spent or misspent?

When I began blogging, I wanted to use this venue to create a Christian conversational retreat.   My prayer was to impact the world with an encouraging message for the Lord.  Lately I have found myself retreating to blogs which are strictly inspirational and edifying.  (Yeah, they are out there.)  Some of my favorite writers have taken long sabatticals from blogging this summer and it's been tough reading at times.  But I've enjoyed reading several of those I have listed in my bloglists.

In mine, I try to imagine a seeker who might do a search on a word and come popping in unexpectedly into my site.  (can't tell you how many I've gotten through the Peanuts character post and the Sensodyne post) I want my blog to have a welcome mat that says, "Come on in, I'd like to meet you.  And there's Someone I'd like you to meet.  His name is Jesus."  I want folks who drop in to feel comfortable chatting with other commenters.  I know I'm probably living in a eutopian mindset, but I like to look on the bright side of possibilities.   Fortunately, I've had little digression from my hopes and goals.

This past week, I felt like stopping my little blogging roadtrip.  The traffic had slowed considerably and it seemed to me like the majority of interest was on landscapes of destruction rather than my panoramic view of meadows and pasturelands.  I even told a few folks that my traveling days were limited because I was running out of gas.  They weren't at all supportive of my thinking.  I told them I'd think harder.

Then I happened upon Rev. Bresciani's article at American Chronicle.  Odd how someone who doesn't even know you can influence your thoughts, huh?  Well, that's the point of this post.  Your words influence my thoughts.  They influence others' thoughts.  Sometimes what you post stimulates a post in my mind.  I pray about it and think about it and then write about it.  Sometimes it is a passing comment in a thread that catapults my muse into the sphere of cyberspace.  Sometimes it's a picture I take.  But for what it is worth, I try to honor Christ with my words.  I pray I meet the mark every time.   Do you?  selahV

NOTE OF INTEREST.  THESE ARE A FEW BLOGS I'VE READ RECENTLY THAT I RECOMMEND AS REST-STOPS ALONG YOUR HIGHWAY:

Rose's Reasonings

A Rambling Prophet

The Resurgence

Along the Shore.

[copyrighted, SelahV Today, 2007]

      

 

WHERE WORDS ARE STORED

THERE WILL COME A DAY

When every word we say--spoken or written--will be revealed to the world and to the heavens above.  As I was about to respond on a blog's comment thread today, the Lord spoke ever so gently to me.  "SelahV, dear SelahV, you may leave your comment.  This is the freedom I have given you.  But remember, it may take a moment for it to appear in the Kingdom of Blogland, but it has already been saved in the Kingdom of Heaven.  So, yes, leave your comment, my child.  Post what your mind leads you to post, but let My Spirit be seen as the fruit I've blessed you with."

That was one heavy thought that mingled with mine.  God is so great.  So good and so merciful.  His Sovereignty leaves room for we humans to follow any dictate of our will we so desire.  He allows our plans to go forward.  He lets us wander in our wildernesses, climb any mountain, and settle into whatever valley our paths take us to.  But He is still God.  And with all of our self-inflated wisdom, His is Supreme.  The ways of man are right in his own eyes, but God's ways are not man's.

Whenever I wake in the morning, I am reminded of Whose day it is.  It's not mine, but His.  He's allowed me a few more moments to walk in it, talk in it and enjoy it.  What I do in His day, what I say in His day, is really up to me.  He gives me that freedom.  However, with that freedom comes reward or consequence.  And someday in His Day of Completion, He will reveal to my eyes what was pure as gold and what was simply hay and stubble.

I am not so much wise in my own eyes as I may sometimes think.  I am not as discerning as I should always be.  But as I "leave my comments" in the Kingdom of Blogland, I am praying they are worth reading someday in the Kingdom of Heaven.  While they may only take a moment to appear today, they are stored in a place no one can delete or erase.  And thus I am grateful for the Lord's gentle reminder to be kind, loving, patient, encouraging and merciful.  Are you?  SelahV  [copyrighted, selahvtoday,2007]