Oh Yeah... forgot about that old stuff....

I've sat down to write several times today but I just can't articulate my thoughts... I keep returning to the internet to see if I can find out the latest on the Boston Marathon bombings.  Like any other human, I am addicted to a train wreck.  I don't want to be, trust me... I am reduced to tears every single time I see an image.  My core is rocked thinking about that precious 8-year old boy who just wanted to see his Daddy finish his race.  My thoughts quickly track back to when my son was eight and we made the trip to downtown Chicago to see my husband finish his race.  More tears.  I'm immobilized.  I'm grieving those people who will forever alter their plans because they are missing a limb.  Again... tears.

Yet I am moved by compassion...the hundreds of people who stayed and helped.  Color was not an issue for those hours after the bombs went off.  Neither was race, gender, economic status, age.  Quite frankly, I LOVED that the world suspended judgement against one another.  Labels vanished.  It was all for one and one for all.

I loved the comraderie that was so prevalent today as I went back to my "normal life."  Smiles were more genuine.  "Thank-you's" were a bit more heart-felt and not just obligatory manners.  And oh, the runners... the runners were out in full force today.  There was an appreciative nod to one another; we were of one accord today.  (It helped that the rains subsided enough in Seattle that the ark finally rested on high-ground.)

And that was good.

But amidst the extra effort to treat others a bit more humanely, amidst the light layer of solemness that exuded itself today, there was definitely a spirit of restlessness.... a itch I just couldn't scratch.... a question I just couldn't answer.

How did we get here?

I poised this question to my husband last night as we were about to head upstairs to bed... (c'mon, get your head out of the gutter... I've got 3 boys... bed = sleep!)

No, seriously... oh man, I've lost some of you... come back.  Okay, I asked,

"Do you think the world has gotten a lot crazier or are we just more aware of it because our faith in Jesus Christ has grown and He has opened our eyes to it?"

Mark 8:17-18     Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear?

(I am referring to our ability to see the world through the eyes of Jesus as opposed to our sinful selves.)

My husband's answer has followed me everywhere today.  This is not what I intended to write about; I intended to write about a huge breakthrough... future plans... updates on transitioning from life as I know it to life in ministry (cliffhangers, I hope...do make sure you "join" my site to receive my next few posts.)  But I think my hubs, Chris Turnley answered that question so well that I am COMPELLED to share it with as many who are willing to listen.

We, as a society, as a culture, as a nation... are here because we've lost the reverence and fear of God.
Really.  It is as simple, yet haunting, as that.

We don't fear him.  We've shaved Him down, watered Him down, contorted Him into what works best for our lives.  And quite frankly, now that He's so manageable, He is no longer a giant.  He is no longer Lord.

Hubby went further to illustrate how the nation has gone from its creation, it's Birth, conceived out of dennouncement of England... being able to be "indivisible, under God" to movements that call for the removal of the word "God" from our currency, our schools, our statues, memorials and the very pledge of Allegiance that founded this country.  (By the way, can I just draw your attention to the "Pledge of Allegiance."  Ahem.... allegiance.... synonmous with "devotion" and "loyalty.")

Okay, so here is what I am driving at.  I'm sure you have scrolled Facebook after a national tragedy and seen posts such as this:

"You ask where I am in the school shootings yet you try and remove me from schools.  You ask where I am when the town square is bombed yet you remove the plaque that says 'In God we trust.' from the very same park.  I want to be in your life but you keep kicking me out."   -God

I have to be honest with you... it ressonnates with me for a few days after a tragedy; it gets me all fired up and I'm ready to send off letters to my public school system, my representatives and anyone else who will listen.

And then life returns... schedules resume... a child gets sick.... the minivan's tire is flat... and the news coverage is no longer 24/7 about the incident... it's filed away in the "where is this world going to?" bucket.  Quickly, our life bucket (which is much larger and leaks, by the way) gets stacked on top of our deep moral compass concerns and we move on.

The truth is, guys, is that God is actually the answer.  Now, is He going to create utopia for us here on earth?  Ummm... no, that's actually what he calls Heaven...and He DOES say there will be trials until you graduate to Utopia.  Trials can be anything from a broken fingernail to the senseless death of a loved one.  BUT... friends... BUT....  as a whole, we need to remember who created the universe... who breathed us into existence... who spoke a mere four words and "poof," here we are.

I'm speaking to the 84% of us... the 84% who responded to some survey, somewhere along the line and claimed the existence of God.  Who believe that there is one true God.  Right now would be a really good time to drop your theologian hat and keep reading...  stop getting hung up on the "does he love Gays?," "Why does a church ask for money?" "Was Jesus's body really put in tomb?"  STOP!

Drop the backpack of baggage you've been slinging around that "religion was forced down my throat," or you had a "bad pastor" or "God wouldn't let bad things happen"  STOP.

I'm not going to tell you I have answers.  But I will point you to a few things that started to make so much sense:

Jeremiah 2:13

“My people have done two evil things.
    They turned away from me,
    and they dug their own water cisterns.[a]
I am the source of living water;
    those cisterns are broken and cannot hold water.

The cisterns that are broken and cannot hold water are interpreted by scholars to be His analogy for idols.  Most people think of little wooden or ceramic carvings when you hear 'idol" in a religious context.  I suppose if you are reading this late at night you might be thinking about Ryan Seacrest, Simon Cowell and American Idol, the TV show.  But check out Webster's Dictionary and what they had to say about the word "idol."


1.   a. An image used as an object of worship.
      b. A false god.
2. One that is adored, often blindly or excessively.
3. Something visible but without substance.

Check out number three.  As I mentioned before, we've neutered, binded, and trimmed God to a point that he's no longer welcome in our neat, tidy and "lots of gray area" little world.  He gets in the way of the choices we want to make...and feel okay about making them.  Yes... long gone are the "fire and brimstone" messages our parents grew up with (and maybe even some of us) about the fear of God and the fear of his condemnation, his damnation and our the destiny of our eternal souls.  Good grief... heavy stuff... who would want to listen to that?

But perhaps we should every now and then?  Perhaps not in a way that it is delivered, Bible thumping, some would call it... but shouldn't we... and don't we owe it to one another... to bring God out of the box and put him back in his rightful place?  At the top?  Bigger than us?

Bigger than our other idols?  As world-renown author and leader Beth Moore has put it, an idol is "any tradeoff for God."  Wow.

What I love is that God "seeks" us.  We don't "find" him.  We... at some point... turn to Him and there he is... waiting.  He was waiting the whole time.  But lets not miss the fact that we have to turn to him which means one, it's active and two... it means we turn away from other things.  We turn away from our other idols and turn instead to a mighty and powerful God, who according to the Old Testament says He is:

• El Shaddai (Lord God Almighty)
• El Elyon (The Most High God)
• Adonai (Lord, Master)
• Yahweh (Lord, Jehovah)
• Jehovah Nissi (The Lord My Banner)
• Jehovah-Raah (The Lord My Shepherd)
• Jehovah Rapha (The Lord That Heals)
• Jehovah Shammah (The Lord Is There)
• Jehovah Tsidkenu (The Lord Our Righteousness)
• Jehovah Mekoddishkem (The Lord Who Sanctifies You)
• El Olam (The Everlasting God)
• Elohim (God)
• Qanna (Jealous)
• Jehovah Jireh (The Lord Will Provide)
• Jehovah Shalom (The Lord Is Peace)

That sounds like a lot more security than any of my other idols can offer.  That sounds like a lot more happiness than my glass of wine, my workout regimen or juicy novel can offer.

And that sounds like something worth fighting for.  Worth speaking up about.  Worth writing to my school district and my government representatives about.  Worth telling my neighbor about.  Worth telling the stranger at the bus stop about.  Because let's face it... this "hush-hush" attitude about God isn't going so well.

As Craig Groeschel  mentioned in his book Weird, "The majority of people claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. And all this is normal. But normal isn’t working."

What will you do tomorrow to make God bigger in your life than he was today?