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Trippllb
| | Posted on Thursday, January 03, 2002 - 1:14 pm: |     |
I generally lurk more than post here, but I must pop on and say I have completely enjoyed this thread. It brought back so many memories for me. Some good, some bad, some just plain absurd.
A couple sad notes were as recent as this week. While flying back from CA, we were laid over in Las Vegas. I didn't have any plans to gamble (not because of moral issues, but because we were already tapped from Christmas and vacation spending!) but knew we would enjoy walking around doing some people watching in our spare time. When I mentioned to my Mom that we were laid over for hours in Vegas, she got a paniky tone in her voice and told me that I better not gamble. That I shouldn't even venture near a casino because they were the house of the devil. She went on to tell me that if I gambled I would 'loose my blessing' on the trip. I had a good laugh with my brother on the phone about using the airport paging system "Would the lost blessing please meet your party at gate 7B." "This is the final boarding call for the lost blessing."
Another note from this trip was a comment from her about 'spicy foods' and how people of different cultures with certain food traditions seemed to have hot tempers because they ate spicy foods. Insert "Huh?" here!
I remember when I was growing up that I had a mental picture of a bunch of angels standing in a long line leaning up against the wall of a movie theater waiting for the people they guard to come back out. After all, if angels can't go into the theater, then they must be waiting right outside. I was always scared the theater would catch on fire and there I'd be without my angel to help me get out.
Who can forget Adventist Poker tournaments (A.K.A. Rook) and Sabbath version Bible Monopoly. Move player 4 spaces and recite a bible verse. Hey, it convinced Mom and Dad that it was OK and we had something to do during their Sabbath afternoon naps.
On a different note though, I wanted to share a blessing from this holiday season. This Christmas was one that held a particularly strong blessing for me. Not because God chose to give me many things, but because he taught me a wonderful lesson about forgiveness. I spent a large portion of my vacation with someone whose name isn't allowed to be spoken in the SDA portion of my immediate family.
A few years ago, my brother had not yet truly found freedom in Christ. We were both raised strict legalist SDAs and he chose to not just walk away from THE church, but to walk away from all church. He had an affair a few years back and his marriage ended as a result. I am one of the few members of the family who have forgiven him and have actually developed a wonderful relationship where we openly discuss just about anythiing.
For some reason, in the back of my head I have always been able to continue to justify not forgiving the woman he had an affair with since I did not know her and she didn't have a face to me. This Christmas I spent 2 and a half weeks with my brother and had the opportuity to meet her for the first time. I had the opportunity not to meet her if I didn't want to, and coming to the decision to meet her was a hard one. Not because I didn't want to meet her, but because meeting her meant that she had a face and I would have to choose to or not to forgive her. I wouldn't be able to ignore the issue anymore and would have to make a decision. Inside I wanted to keep the unforgiveness in my heart. Inside I wanted to keep blaming her. But inside I knew that what my insides were telling me was not what Christ would do. I prayed about it and I prayed about it a lot. I knew that I had to forgive her and meet her. In the end, the Holy Spirit impressed upon me that if my brother could have such a huge change in his life since finding Christ, that I had to leave her in his hands and know that he was working in her life as well. I realized that judgement was not mine to claim and that by definition, she was a sister in Christ and I was commanded to love her accordingly.
To make a long story short, we met and actually ended up spending quite a bit of time together over the holidays. I can't say that sometimes I don't feel just a little bit 'oogie' when I'm around her, but I can say that I have forgiven her and God has blessed me by taking the weight of unforgiveness off of my sholdiers. This Christmas was one of the best I can remember in a very long time, and she ended up being an integral part of it.
Now for a prayer request. As of the 25th of this month I will be out of work. The company has been laying off like crazy and I finally got caught in their last riff. I live in a very small town with little skilled job opporunities. I actually work for a company about 100 miles away from home but have been able to telecommute each day so I haven't spent the 4.5 hours driving each day. There is no work locally (that I know of) for a data analyst so I will have to look outside. I know that the job I am most suited for is out there, and God already knows what it is. My request is that you will pray he will put me where I can best serve him and to help me stay strong when my faith that he already has my job lined up starts to waiver. I know he already has the job ready for me, he just hasn't told me about it yet. But I also know me and my faith tends to waiver. I love to take the problems I've given him and put them back on my sholders. I want to put the burden of my job on his sholdiers and leave it there until he shows me where he wants me. |
Colleentinker
| | Posted on Thursday, January 03, 2002 - 3:47 pm: | |
Trippllb--Thank you for posting! Your being willing to meet your brother's friend is such a wonderful thing. I'm so thankful that we can leave these issues in God's hands and let him show us how to forgive and to love people. As most of you probably know, my husband and I are each other's second marriage. Suffice it to say that I have struggled with some similar feelings of not wanting to forgive but knowing God wanted me to. As I have been able to give the future and the people I resented up to him, it is amazing how I have been able to lose the bitter feeling in my stomach when I had to deal with those people. I have had to remind myself that God loves those people as much as he loves me and wants to save them, too. I do praise God for the healing he has brought into our family over the years, and how He redeems the most apparently unredeemable circumstances when we submit them to him.
I will certainly be praying for your work situation. You're right--God does have something planned for you!
Grok and Fdauns, your memories above remind me of my eighth grade teacher telling us very soberly that he knew we would not graduate from academy because Jesus would come before then. I remember being upset and worried and knowing that my feelings were wrong. I remember my instant thought that I surely wished I could get married before that final day!
I also remember (in a similar vein) a (pretty neruotic) reaction I had to my fear of the time of trouble and the possibility that I might have to burn in that final cleansing fire. Here it is: my parents built a house on 10 acres and drilled a well. The well was over 150 deep, and the water, while cyrstal clear and pure, was COLD. I remember that it came out of the ground at about 58 degrees. My physical therapist father who firmly believed in the benefits of hydrotherapy declared that we needed to end our hot showers with a squirt of cold water--a little therapeutic technique he learned from giving Russian steam baths to his upper respiratory patients.
I, you must understand, was obedient to a fault for fear I wouldn't get to heaven. Consequently, I turned on the cold H2O after every shower and counted to 3. (My sister never thought it necessary to be so compuslive.) I HATED that cold water, and I remember thinking almost every time I endured it that it was preparing me for the time of trouble and the possible torment of that final burning. If I could stand that cold water, I remember reasoning, I might make it through the time of trouble or at least I might be able to endure until I burned up. Sick, huh?!
My father would be horrified if he knew how I reacted to that little health tip of his!
Unbelievably grateful for my security in Christ,
Colleen |
In_his_service
| | Posted on Thursday, January 03, 2002 - 4:33 pm: | |
What memories! I too can remember thinking I would never see adulthood, never be married, never, have a family, all because Jesus would come. Then being SO afraid of the persecution. I had a second story room, and I wondered which of the neighbors in our farm community would be the ones to turn us in. I just KNEW that they were keeping track of our every move and reporting to "someone". I can remember thinking that it wasn't fair that my parents had been able to grow up but I would not because HE was going to come and take that chance away from me. I can remember the night that Kennedy was elected. The local church had a special prayer meeting to pray that Nixon won so a Catholic wouldn't be elected. When I heard the next morning that he was going to be President, I was certain the soldiers would be coming any time. Even the adults were very somber and sober. It wasn't hard to see the fear in their eyes.
Now I am middle age, (OK that Kennedy story tells on me) and I can't WAIT for Jesus to come. He is my friend and He can come TODAY.....RIGHT NOW if He wants. It would be wonderful! What a difference "relationship" makes.
On that famous subject of "persecution", have you ever wondered why so many brothers and sisters are being killed, raped, kidnapped, tortured, and imprissoned for Jesus every day, RIGHT NOW in this world.......for the wrong reason? I mean if the Sabbath is the reason that God's people will be killed in the last days, these people who only die in the name of Jesus have got it all wrong. Does that mean that all of the millions who have died for Him over the last 2000 years have died in vain? Somehow, the SDA's I've asked that question to, never seem to have an answer. In fact, I have had them deny that such persections are even taking place.
There is none so blind as he who will NOT see!
In His Grip,
Thomas
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Grok
| | Posted on Thursday, January 03, 2002 - 5:26 pm: | |
Thomas...I remember crying when Jimmy Carter was elected in 1977 because he had religious leanings and again was going to bring about the Sunday laws...again...(I was in eighth grade).
I am with you in that nothing is going to be as good as being with Jesus...to meet him in the air!
I remember when I started telling my family that I thought there are millions of people who have already gone through the "time of trouble"; who have already died for the cause of Christ; and that it was interesting that it didn't revolve around Sabbath keeping. They never had much to say either.
Colleen, it is interesting you bring up the cold water "conditioning". My immediate family was not so worried about Sabbath keeping --- we were allowed to ride our horses and swim on Saturday...just no buying and selling! The area that was fanatical for us was the "health message". My grandfather was a naturopathic doctor and we owned a health food store! Every aspect of food preparation and consumption was a religion to my step-father. We were required to carry a "green drink" to school made out of pineapple juice and parsley (and any other green leaves my grandfather grew)blended in a blender. We could have drunk the "green drink" at dinner...but taking it to school built character! It reminded us that we were differenct...set apart, etc. Can't get too close to the world when you have "green drink" in your thermos!
Actually his best laid plans were thwarted...everyone liked me anyway and didn't care what I ate for lunch. This was a good lesson to me on the triumph of true character over the shallowness of just looking at the outside.
When I was pregnant with my first child I craved chicken...I never had touched it, but my body craved protein that I wasn't getting. I actually feel much healthier now that I eat a balanced diet that includes all the food groups...especially steak!!!! |
Sabra
| | Posted on Thursday, January 03, 2002 - 6:57 pm: | |
How 'bout them pork chops? I have lived in TN for 12 years now and let me tell you pinto beans are much better with a big hunk of lard in them. I'm not trying to impose bad health on anyone, just an observation. Green drink? Hey, I had to drink a cup of boiled WATER every morning for I don't know how long because someone in the church told my mom that was a good thing to do. Have you ever had just hot water? I can see my kids, now about the age I was then drinking hot water, yeah right! Colleen, I thought I was the only obsesive-compulsive obedient child! I remember obeying every single rule for fear of hell! My mom would ground me from the phone or TV and I wouldn't even watch it while she was gone! Hey, I drank HOT WATER, If I could have worked my way to heaven that would have done it I'm sure. You know, I was always sick when we were vegetarian and after we started eating meat I hardly ever got sick. I think vegetarianism is great if someone is educated into how to get all the vitamins and nutrients needed. I'm not sure that includes vege-steak and morningstar patties! |
Colleentinker
| | Posted on Thursday, January 03, 2002 - 10:02 pm: | |
Sabra--I blush to admit I drank hot water in the morning, too! But I wasn't as obsessive about it as about the cold shower. I can't explain why--probably it wasn't presented as something as important as was the cold water.
We just had dinner with some friends from our church (who happen to be former Adventists who left a long time ago), and I sat at the table marvelling that our entire conversation focused on our experiences with the Lord, yes--we talked about our experiences as Adventists, too, but our relationships with Jesus shaped the entire evening. I am in awe of the reality of the body of Christ. God is so good to us, and he brings people into our lives to remind us how he loves and cares for us! Have any of you noticed that being born again really does make everything look different? Things seem trivial that used to seem important. Being filled with love and having an actual relationship with Jesus takes care of the boredom and compulsiveness and anxiety that uesd to characterize much of my life.
I really do praise God for giving me a new life!
Colleen |
Sabra
| | Posted on Friday, January 04, 2002 - 6:34 am: | |
Further confirmation that having faith in a church and understanding a religion is a far stretch from knowing and following Jesus. |
Sammi
| | Posted on Friday, January 04, 2002 - 7:48 am: | |
i had the same experience with jimmy carter as you grok, i can remember hearing him make a speech and mentioning his faith in God, and i cried out of fear, knowing persecution was just around the corner. i also grew up certain i would never reach adulthood, never be married, never experience childbirth, etc., etc., and thinking it so unfair, actually praying for a boyfriend, then a husband before Jesus returned, then feeling guilty about those feelings....now i LONG for His return.
we always ate meat (clean of course) but i also remember every time we'd visit my grandparents there would be bacon every morning for breakfast. all the cousins, everyone else could eat it except earl's kids (my dad was also non-sda). i would look at that bacon longingly, enjoying its smell and everything about it. a few times if everyone left the kitchen and i was sure my mother was nowhere around i'd sneak a piece, boy was that goooood!!! |
Grok
| | Posted on Friday, January 04, 2002 - 9:31 am: | |
My family was too dysfunctional for me to ever worry about never growing up and getting married (my mom has been married 4 times). It was the obsession with food and the health message that reigned. Both my sisters ended up full-blown anorexics.
I realize that all the dysfunction cannot be blamed on being SDA, but it contributed in a significant way.
I praise God every day that I am SAVED!!! I have been through the "tribulation" of legalism and have come out on the other side to relationships with God and my fellow seekers that are meaningful and fulfilling! |
Fdauns
| | Posted on Friday, January 04, 2002 - 3:58 pm: | |
You know so many of the things that we focus on about our life as SDA's are not unique to SDA's. We just pefected them...... ;-)
Like the hot water for instance. I first heard of the idea related to an elderly methodist lady in rural KY. Judging from her age I don't know that it hurt any so who's to say ;-) Certainly drinking hot water is one of the least harmful "health tips" out in the world. |
Colleentinker
| | Posted on Friday, January 04, 2002 - 6:15 pm: | |
Your post, Grok, reminded me that it often seems that the people who seem to be juggling the most shame and guilt are the ones who are the most obsessed with the health message and what goes into the mouth. It seems that often people who feel deeply tainted by shame or sin or guilt try to purge themselves by eating rigidly and denying themselves sensory indulgence such as taste or even excessive beauty in their surroundings.
I have a friend who grew up an Adventist preacher's kid but has since left and studied theology at Fuller Seminary and Berkley Theological Union. She said that her Adventist mom used to say, "Never trust anybody who won't eat cheese!" I'm inclined to think she might have been onto something! I remember how startled I was several years ago when this friend commented to me that Adventism was a very carnal religion. Its focus was so heavily on what we put into the body and how we treated it and what we did with it. The focus was not our Lord Jesus!
I love the passage in Matthew where the Pharisees were giving Jesus a hard time about washing hands and not eating uncleanly. After he dealt with them Peter asked him exactly what he meant. Jesus replied, "Are you still so dull?" He went on to say that what we put into the body eventually comes out of the body. What goes INTO the mouth does not make us unclean. Rather, it is what comes OUT of the mouth that makes us unclean because it comes from the evil in our hearts.
Praise Jesus for making us clean in him!
Colleen |
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