I'm breaking the daily rule

This is too good not to share. It's the lyrics from Steven Curtis Chapman's newest release. I bought it today and am already sitting here with tears in my eyes. I wanted to post it for everyone who has lost a little boy or girl. It's a hurt that never really goes away and it's expressed beautifully here in Chapman's words.

Heaven is the Face

Heaven is the face of a little girl
With dark brown eyes
That disappear when she smiles
Heaven is the place
Where she calls my name
Says, "Daddy please come play with me for awhile"

God, I know, it's all of this and so much more
But God, You know, that this is what I'm aching for
God, you know, I just can't see beyond the door
So right now

Heaven is the sound of her breathing deep
Lying on my chest, falling fast asleep while I sing
And Heaven is the weight of her in my arms
Being there to keep her safe from harm while she dreams

And God, I know, it's all of this and so much more
But God, You know, that this is what I'm longing for
God, you know, I just can't see beyond the door

But in my mind's eye I can see a place
Where Your glory fills every empty space
All the cancer is gone
Every mouth is fed
And there's no one left in the orphans' bed
Every lonely heart finds their one true love
And there's no more goodbye
And no more not enough
And there's no more enemy
No more

Heaven is a sweet, maple syrup kiss
And a thousand other little things I miss with her gone
Heaven is the place where she takes my hand
And leads me to You
And we both run into Your arms

Oh God, I know, it's so much more than I can dream
It's far beyond anything I can conceive
So God, You know, I'm trusting You until I see
Heaven in the face of my little girl
Heaven in the face of my little girl

To read the story behind the lyrics, visit CNN's story.

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The movie list, day 1

Recently, I asked for movie recommendations on Facebook. Here's the list so far:

• Babbette's Feast
• The English Patient
• Frozen River
• Henry Poole is Here
• When Did You Last See Your Father? (Initially, I thought this person was actually asking me this question. Yes, I was blonde when I learned how to think.)
• City Lights
• Casablanca
• Metropolis
• Citizen Kane
• Schindler's List (four recommendations at last count)
• The Wind that Shakes the Barley
• The Elephant Man
• The Green Mile (three)
  
• Boondock Saints (two)
• Hotel Rwanda
• Amazing Grace (two)
• Flash of Genius
• North Country
• Marie Antoinette
• Defiance
• Last Chance Harvey
• Penelope (two)
• Cold Comfort Farm
• Marigold (Bollywood)
• Welcome to Paradise
• Ballet Shoes
• Rescue Dawn
• Band of Brothers
• Grace is Gone
• 500 Days of Summer
• PS I Love You
• Moulin Rouge
• Life of David Gale (two)
• A Mighty Wind
• Best in Show
• Waiting for Guffman
• Paycheck
• I am David (at least two)
• Dear Frankie
• Gran Torino
• Sense and Sensibility
• Emma
• The Mirror has Two Faces
• Winds of War series
• Sabrina, both the old and new versions
• The Brothers Bloom
• Luther (2001 version)
• August Rush
• Departures (Japanese version)
• Ghost Town
• Dan in Real Life
• My Sister's Keeper
• Once
• Passengers
• Food, Inc.
• Sandlot

More have been added since this list was compiled so I'll include those tomorrow. Later, I'll let you know which ones I've actually seen and which I've added to my Netflix queue. Feel free to share any recommendations you have or comments about which ones you think I'd like!

Frustration

I've spent most of today being frustrated with customer support, technical support, and every-other-kind-of support with our home internet company.

Since watching Slumdog Millionaire, I know I should have compassion for the people I've been trying to communicate with today, but it is very, very frustrating. I have to repeat the same information over and over. No, I'm not at home. Yes, I'm sure I cannot afford for you to come fix the equipment. Yes, the person I talked with this morning assured me that your company would be glad to pay all the costs if it meant keeping my business. No, I don't know exactly what the problem is because you know what? It's not my job to know. No, I have not had internet service at home for the last month but yes, you charged me for it anyway and yes, I would like that money refunded unless you really will come and fix the equipment at no charge to me.

I'm currently on hold for the fourth time so that they can check the notes on my account.

Sigh.

Breathe, Lisa.

In through the nose, out through the mouth.

OK.

Maybe looking at pretty pictures of Harding's campuses -- past and present -- will help.

I almost forgot!

I'm about to leave my office and just realized that I haven't done a blog post today. This is how inactivity happens. You forget one day . . . and then the next . . . and then the next . . . and then the next and before you know it, you've overlooked things for a month or more.

Trust me. I know that pattern all too well.

Given the small amount of time I have, I'll just leave you with several questions that have been rumbling through my mind lately. Feel free to chime in if you have answers.

1. Why does that church building south of Searcy always put the words God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit in quotation marks? Am I the only person who thinks this seems like visual sarcasm?
2. Who would I work with better? Bob or Jillian?
   
3. Why does Hollywood keep redoing movies that were already good? Don't they know the remake rule? If you can't do it better then leave it alone! Would you like proof of my quandary? Netflix the 1968 version of Yours, Mine, and Ours and the 2006 version. There's no comparison.
4. Last but not least: What exactly is the pompitous of love?
   

New books

Yesterday I went shopping with friends from work. Of course, we bought books! I bought The Madonnas of Leningrad and look forward to reading it over the next few days.

When I got to work last night, I was perusing -- look it up; it does not mean lightly browsing -- the used book sale table and found Jesus in Blue Jeans. I picked up it and am anticipating being challenged by new ways to incorporate faith into the dailiness of life.

Tonight I'm going with friends and family members to see Scrooge. We missed it Homecoming weekend, but they're doing an encore production tonight.

I have much to anticipate, don't I?

Glad to be back!

Reasons I Know I'm Getting Older

1. Daughter number two is college hunting.
2. I prefer having short fingernails.
3. I look forward to the days when I can wear sensible shoes. (Don't even ask how sad I was when I realized this was true.)
4. Today's shopping trip with my girlfriends included stopping by Sam's to buy laundry supplies, dish detergent, and trash bags.
5. I have big plans for Thanksgiving break that include decluttering and painting a room.
6. Recently, a friend of my parents passed away. One of my first thoughts was, "but 70 is too young!"
7. My youngest child is in double digits.
8. I spent most of last week crashing into bed by 10:00. Two of those nights, I was in bed by 9:00.
9. I prefer talking on the phone to text messaging.
10. I still don't think that leggings = pants or that tights = leggings.
    

I have no internet connection at home right now, and typing on my phone is a pain so this is all the post you get today .

Blog-a-day number 6

If this doesn't make you think, I don't know what will

I found this on Mike Cope's blog, but it originated at Experimental Theology. I thought it was insightful enough, that I'm including the full text here.

To start, a story.

A few years ago a female student wanted to visit with me about some difficulties she was having, mainly with her family life. As is my practice, we walked around campus as we talked.

After talking for some time about her family situation we turned to other areas of her life. When she reached spiritual matters we had the following exchange:

“I need to spend more time working on my relationship with God.”
I responded, “Why would you want to do that?”
Startled she says, “What do you mean?”
“Well, why would you want to spend any time at all on working on your relationship with God?”
“Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do?”
“Let me answer by asking you a question. Can you think of anyone, right now, to whom you need to apologize? Anyone you’ve wronged?”
She thinks and answers, “Yes.”
“Well, why don’t you give them a call today and ask for their forgiveness. That might be a better use of your time than working on your relationship with God.”

Obviously, I was being a bit provocative with the student. And I did go on to clarify. But I was trying to push back on a strain of Christianity I see in both my students and the larger Christian culture. Specifically, when the student said “I need to work on my relationship with God” I knew exactly what she meant. It meant praying more, getting up early to study the bible, to start going back to church. Things along those lines. The goal of these activities is to get “closer” to God. To “waste time with Jesus.” Of course, please hear me on this point, nothing is wrong with those activities. Personal acts of piety and devotion are vital to a vibrant spiritual life and continued spiritual formation. But all too often “working on my relationship with God” has almost nothing to do with trying to become a more decent human being.

The trouble with contemporary Christianity is that a massive bait and switch is going on. “Christianity” has essentially become a mechanism for allowing millions of people to replace being a decent human being with something else, an endorsed “spiritual” substitute. For example, rather than being a decent human being the following is a list of some commonly acceptable substitutes:

Going to church
Worship
Praying
Spiritual disciplines (e.g., fasting)
Bible study
Voting Republican
Going on spiritual retreats
Reading religious books
Arguing with evolutionists
Sending your child to a Christian school or providing education at home
Using religious language
Avoiding R-rated movies
Not reading Harry Potter.

The point is that one can fill a life full of spiritual activities without ever, actually, trying to become a more decent human being. Much of this activity can actually distract one from becoming a more decent human being. In fact, some of these activities make you worse, interpersonally speaking. Many churches are jerk factories.

Take, for example, how Christians tip and behave in restaurants. If you have ever worked in the restaurant industry you know the reputation of the Sunday morning lunch crowd. Millions of Christians go to lunch after church on Sundays and their behavior is abysmal. The single most damaging phenomenon to the witness of Christianity in America today is the collective behavior of the Sunday morning lunch crowd. Never has a more well-dressed, entitled, dismissive, haughty or cheap collection of Christians been seen on the face of the earth.

I exaggerate of course. But I hope you see my point. Rather than pouring our efforts into two hours of worship, bible study and Christian fellowship on Sunday why don’t we just take a moment and a few extra bucks to act like a decent human being when we go to lunch afterwards? Just think about it. What if the entire restaurant industry actually began to look forward to working Sunday lunch? If they said amongst themselves, “I love the church crowd. They are kind, patient and very generous. It’s my favorite part of the week waiting on Christians.” How might such a change affect the way the world sees us? Think about it. Just being a decent human being for one hour each Sunday and the world sees us in a whole new way.

But it’s not going to happen. Because behavior at lunch isn’t considered to be “working on your relationship with God.” Behavior at lunch isn’t spiritual. Going to church, well, that is working on your relationship with God. But, as we all know, any jerk can sit in a pew. But you can’t be a jerk if you take the time to treat your waitress as if she were a friend, daughter or mother.

My point in all this is that contemporary Christianity has lost its way. Christians don’t wake up every morning thinking about how to become a more decent human being. Instead, they wake up trying to “work on their relationship with God” which very often has nothing to do with treating people better. How could such a confusion have occurred? How did we end up going so wrong? I’m sure there are lots of answers, but at the end of the day we need to face up to our collective failure. I’m not saying we need to do anything dramatic. A baby step would do to start. Waking up trying to be a little more kind, more generous, more interruptible, more forgiving, more humble, more civil, more tolerant. Do these things and prayer and worship will come alongside to support us.

I truly want people to spend time working on their relationship with God. I just want them to do it by taking the time to care about the person standing right in front of them.

What are your thoughts?