New Blog

I don't know if anyone still reads this...but if you do, I've started a new blog. Find it here:

http://mywildpreciouslife.blogspot.com/

Sounds Like Recession

When I broke down and finally got internet I had to get a phone line, too. For some reason, internet is better and cheaper if you get phone service, than if you get internet alone. I finally got around to plugging in a phone and discovered 28 voicemails waiting for me. From what I can gather, the calls are intended for a single dad, X----, with a high school kid, an elementary school kid, and 2 dogs. I was not prepared for the sadness of the messages and found myself really bothered by them. They went something like this:

- call from a credit card collection agency
- call from elementary school nurse urgently advising him to pick up his daughter and take her to the doctor
- call about vehicle reposession
- call from high school guidance counselor about his son's failing grades
- call from credit card collection agency
- call from a man who sounds angry "X---, you NEED to call me NOW!"
- call from vet clinic on unpaid bill
- call from an agency about unemployment benefits
- call from high school teacher about son's behavior in Engish class
- more calls from credit card collection agencies

I found myself haunted by these calls to this stranger who previously had my number. I hope he and his kids will be ok, it sounds like their lives are falling apart.

Prayer for Those Who are Unemployed

O God of the vineyard,
you call us all to productive labor,
to employ our gifts and talents for you.
We pray for those who are unemployed.
Strengthen them in this difficult hour,
uplift their spirits,
and grant them a place among your laborers
until all be employed for the common good,
and we share fully in our true work
of praising you with heart and mind and soul forever. Amen

(UMC Book of Worship, David Schnasa Jacobsen)

Healing of the Sick

This cartoon by Neal Obermeyer ran in the Lincoln Journal Star. He's a friend from college and I just love anytime he includes Jesus in his cartoons. I post this in honor of my friend Elizabeth, the badass Mexican woman who led me through Palestine and back and stayed with me recently for the CPT Congress where she spoke about what the Bible says about caring for the immigrant. She led the CPT Borderland project while it was in existence.

Top 10 Reasons Why Men Shouldn't Be Ordained

I'm reposting this from Christian Feminism blog. Enjoy!

10. A man’s place is in the army.

9. For men who have children, their duties might distract them from the responsibilities of being a parent.

8. Their physical build indicates that men are more suited to tasks such as chopping down trees and wrestling mountain lions. It would be “unnatural” for them to do other forms of work.

7. Man was created before woman. It is therefore obvious that man was a prototype. Thus, they represent an experiment, rather than the crowning achievement of creation.

6. Men are too emotional to be priests or pastors. This is easily demonstrated by their conduct at football games and watching basketball tournaments.

5. Some men are handsome; they will distract women worshipers.

4. To be ordained pastor is to nurture the congregation. But this is not a traditional male role. Rather, throughout history, women have been considered to be not only more skilled than men at nurturing, but also more frequently attracted to it. This makes them the obvious choice for ordination.

3. Men are overly prone to violence. No really manly man wants to settle disputes by any means other than by fighting about it. Thus, they would be poor role models, as well as being dangerously unstable in positions of leadership.

2. Men can still be involved in church activities, even without being ordained. They can sweep paths, repair the church roof, change the oil in the church vans, and maybe even lead the singing on Father’s Day. By confining themselves to such traditional male roles, they can still be vitally important in the life of the Church.

1. In the New Testament account, the person who betrayed Jesus was a man. Thus, his lack of faith and ensuing punishment stands as a symbol of the subordinated position that all men should take.

A Good Man is Hard to Find

My friend Tiffany and I were just talking last night about how many girls and women live in slavery, especially in the global sex trade. We remarked that after watching a movie like "Taken" which shows young women being sold into slavery and knowing that those conditions exist in the world for real women, it can be easy to direct a lot of angry, bitter energy to those people in this world called men (even despite having so many wonderful men in my own family and circle of friends!).

It seemed serendipitous today when I heard about a fellow Flobots.org Board Member and all-around great guy, Nic, who is a finalist in GQ Magazine's "Better Men, Better World" contest. He's nominated because he started an organization, Somaly Mam Foundation, to rescue girls from sexual slavery in Southeast Asia. He's also a graduate of my church's preschool! Encourage one of those men who's getting it right and help him maybe even earn $10,000 to free girls from slavery by voting for Nic here: http://thegentlemensfund.com/final_vote.asp

A Few of My Favorite Things

This fall I've been babysitting for a couple of adorable kids who I'll call BrownEyes, a 4th grade girl, and Shark Dr., a 1st grade boy. Their parents are raising them to be a couple of revolutionaries which I love. I picked them up from school and got a kick out of this conversation in my car:

BrownEyes: She even does it when she's driving!

Shark Dr.: What?

BrownEyes: (whisper) She's smiling!

Shark Dr.: (to me) Oh yeah, you smile all the time! Why do you smile so much?

Me: Just happy I guess.

BrownEyes: What makes you happy?

Me: Let's see...sunshine.

BrownEyes: Yeah.

Me: And good music.

BrownEyes: Yeah.

Me: And good food.

BrownEyes: Oh yeah!

Me: And family and friends and hanging out with you two.

BrownEyes: Hey! Those are the same things that make me happy!

Shark Dr.: Me too.


If I had been a better nanny I would have made up a choreographed song out of the conversation, torn down the curtains to use the fabric for playclothes, and then used our songs to outwit Nazi soldiers. Oh well!

God Bless the Freaks

NORMAL is getting dressed
in clothes that you buy for work
and driving through traffic in a car
that you are still paying for-
in order to get to the job you need
to pay for the clothes
and the car
and the house
you leave vacant all day
so you can afford to live in it.
- Ellen Goodman

For all three of you who still check this page, I’m back at the blog! I broke down and finally splurged for internet at my apartment which should facilitate posts more often.

Since returning from the Middle East my life has had a high level of transition. Some things are big like leaving the UMC candidacy process, starting a new job and taking on the Treasurer role of an organization with which I’m involved. Others are smaller, yet significant like an awesome new haircut and reconnecting with friends I missed with commuting to and from Nebraska last year.

This weekend I went to a Brandi Carlile concert in Boulder with two really great friends, Stephanie and Nicole. They were my first two friends when I moved to Denver five years ago to take a job as an Auditor right out of college. They are both brilliant and have been promoted in the company, are homeowners, and have lots of clients who rely on them. It is strange to think that my life would be similar to theirs if I had stayed on the same trajectory. Though I enjoyed my brief career as an Auditor, I had an irrational fear that at any moment a mob of accountants would gather around my cubicle chanting “imposter”, as if they had found out that I was not really one of “them.”

When I graduated from college my mom bought me a coffee mug (which I’m using right now – it’s filled with Apple Cinnamon herbal tea) with a quote from Thoreau: “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined.” It sounds cheesy to say, but I very much feel like this is what I’m doing, though I am more confident at some times than others. I’m experimenting with truth and beauty and living the life I’ve imagined, though it is not at all “normal.” I have moments when I lose faith in my beliefs about simplicity and security and panic about making so little money and not having a full-time job. I have moments when I feel like a freak for not living a “normal” life. At Convo the other weekend, my friend Tiffany and I found bumper stickers for sale that say “God Bless the Freaks”. They spoke to us immediately and I bought one for Tiffany and one for myself (I may put it up in the Middle School youth room).

What is normal, anyway? God bless the freaks.

Here's a little treat from Brandi Carlile, one of her new songs from her forthcoming album this fall:


P.S. Happy Birthday, Uncle Jerry!