Breaking the chains
I write this blog to allow readers to see parts of me. Sometimes it's stuff that I wouldn't be comfortable speaking, but print seems safer. I think God is challenging me to get better about speaking things out, but my best form of expression is writing. And I love to do it, just don't always have as much time for it as I'd like.
Today I watched
a women's conference promo that featured Kim Walker. She talks about a message that brought freedom to her, that cut the ropes off her.
A video of Kim singing is
here "How He loves us"I think God is continually breaking ropes off me. And every time I'm surprised that there are more chains!
Last week, I did feel like there was a particular rope that broke for me. And all week it felt like it was trying to re-rope me. But I knew I was free and I had to keep saying that. A little bit closer to free anyway.
This week was Al's last Sunday at Rustle before he starts on his sabbatical. We signed a card for him. That made it seem a bit like a funeral to me. I don't like goodbyes. But do I think the sabbatical is a good idea? YES, I DO. Good for Al, to recharge. Good for Rustle. I think we rely on Al a lot to be "God" to us. I hope it will bring our congregation into a deeper relationship with God, as we no longer have Al to lean on, we will lean on God. We will miss him big time.
Al spoke today from Matt 5:3
You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.At the end of the service Shari sang
Amazing Grace (my chains are gone) An appropriate choice!
name release
I read
this article in the Toronto Star relating the public "outing" of those involved in child pornography charges (guilty or not) by the media and police to suicide risk.
I can see both sides of this.
I grew up in an anti-censorship household. My father was an advocate for freedom in books and movies- against the banning that sometimes went on. An advocate for free choice, you could say. Though this did not mean he approved of MY choices. Specifically the one that I made to become a Christian he had a hard time with.
Also, as a Christian I believe that truth should be free- that everything is going to be seen in the end, why not see it now? I'm not much for hiding things in this life.
On that basis, I would argue for the publication of all truth.
Others would argue that the names should be published so that the community can be protected. I am not so sure that the publication increases the safety of the community, however, it certainly doesn't decrease the safety so there is a bit of an argument there.
However, the point that the article makes is:
For the most part, child pornography offenders are white, male and educated, and have had no previous contact with the criminal justice system. They are less likely than other sex offenders to be psychopathic and appear to be at a higher risk for suicide, according to the 2009 report co-written by Lurigio.
The men, he says, are also in a “position of prominence or trust, whose activities utterly belie their public reputation, and are invested in their public reputation, and who have spent time cultivating it, and feel a great deal of shame and hopelessness about their future. What this seems to imply is that the type of person that allegedly engages in this type of behaviour is not the typical criminal and so needs an element of protection.
Is there a way to protect both the community and the accused?
New Year!
New Years' Eve can be a difficult one as well as people tend to want to spend it with people they love but sometimes people don't have anyone.
Kim's mom was sad as she and her second husband would go out and celebrate the new year together but he passed away a couple of years ago. She hasn't found a church family yet and both Kim and Zully were heading off to their respective Churches so she was home alone. She could have come with Kim and I and she thought about it, but she didn't sleep well last night so she decided to go to bed early but Kim felt bad to leave her behind.
2010 had a lot of bad bits to it, so I'm not sad to see that year behind me.
I'm looking forward to change in the new year.
Forcing change on myself, if necessary.
Doing more. Stretching myself. Loving God more. All of it.
Let this year be a year of healing the broken and lifting the burdens.
