Lately I have noticed several  Facebook groups called “Let’s keep Christ in Christmas”. I have simply been annoyed about this group. It seems that it is mostly geared toward consumerism and also that “people” are not celebrating what Christmas is. From what I gather, some Christians are upset at being wished a happy holiday!!!

How dare people wish you a happy holiday??

Since when does everyone in the United States have to acknowledge the christian definition of Christmas? Last time I checked this was a free country!! It seems that some Christians want to force everyone to celebrate what they do and that everyone should say Merry Christmas. This country is full of people from all over the world with different traditions and customs, we are a nation of blended people. We don’t all celebrate Christmas or do so in the same manner.

As for the consumerism well, this time of year lots of people like to acknowledge the people in their lives and honor them. How ever people do it is their own business. I personally like a well thought out gift and appreciate the time someone took to select something just for me. I’m not a huge fan of buying someone something just because they feel obligated or just because they are family. I find it amusing that there is a complaint about consumerism with some Christians yet they still go out and buy gifts. Whether it’s buying them for a homeless shelter or a kids program, it’s still consumerism.. right? I also like all the websites that popped up when I googled “Keep Christ in Christmas” selling items with that slogan on it.. HAHA, ironic right.. buy this bumper sticker that is against consumerism.

Look! You can’t go around telling people what to say and what to believe. You can only lead them and by leading them, live the life that you believe is best for you. When that is attractive to others, they will watch your lead and then move in closer.

No one is out to steal your baby Jesus, it’s not possible. The meaning of Christmas is in the hearts of those who believe in Christ and no one can ever take away your meaning. Take a look at so many of the symbols used in Christianity… Christians have taken Pagan rituals and symbols and given them a meaning that suits them. So much of Christian heritage and symbolism was adapted from Pagans. Look up some of the history of the symbols and celebrations and you will see.

There are those that go out of their way to exclude or include and I would say live and let live, if a child want’s to do some Christian symbols for art in school.. go ahead, if someone doesn’t celebrate Christmas, wish them a happy holiday or Winter!

Lately my husband has been really busy. He’s getting up a lot earlier because our oldest daughter, Ashlyn, is going to a school our of our zone and he has to drop Ashlyn off at his moms house to catch the bus. Then he’s going to a job that sucks any energy he might have been able to conserve.

He’s got this thing lately about wanting to do everything himself . I offer to assist him with the things he needs to do so I can help him save some of that energy but that’s a no go.

Last night at 7:00 he says, “OK I’m going to go get some cupcake mix and frosting.”. A dust/rain storm had just blown in… and I thought we were settled in for the night except that Ashlyn had to be picked up from her debate at some point. (She’s also on debate and Hally is practicing for the school musical and he has been picking them up after school as well.) Apparently he had promised his Sunday school class he would make them some cupcakes.

I was annoyed, “Why didn’t you let me know you needed cup cake mix and frosting, I was just at the store, I could have gotten them?” His response… “I’ve got it covered.”

So he trots off to the store, gets his mix, comes home, mixes it and pours it in the muffin tin and bakes. While it’s in the oven I ask “Did you put any cupcake papers in the tin first?” His response “Uhhhh, Oh crap!”.

When they finish baking he pulls them out. In the mean time he has picked up the oldest from her debate. After they cool he starts frosting them and after he has frosted about 6 of them, I notice that he hasn’t mixed the funfetti in. “Aren’t you supposed to mix the funfetti in?” He picks up the container to look at the directions and Ashlyn walks in the kitchen and says “You’re supposed to mix that stuff in first.” Christian: “Oh, I just thought you were supposed to pour it on top.” So he mixes the rest in and continues to finish frosting the rest of his naked, paperless cupcakes.

First thing this morning Hally trounces down the stairs to the kitchen, looks at the cup cakes and asks “Are those muffins?”

It’s OK honey, you got it handled.

There are tons of reasons to love Disney Land and Disney World. As a kid I remember my first trip to Disney World in Florida. It was the inaugural year and I was 6 or 7 years old. We had to have tickets for each ride.. haha. I went with my whole family, my parents and 5 siblings. I absolutely loved it.

I went again a few more times at different times in my life. I watched the park grow and the city around it. It’s been wonderful to grow up with that park and I carry so many memories. I have different experiences from each time I went, as a teen I went with my cousins and it was a whole new experience, as an adult and checked out Epcot…each time I went it was a new park.

This year I made my first trek to Disney Land in California. I had a couple of new experiences there. It was the first time I ever went with my own family-3 kids and my husband. It was great to see my son experience it because it was his first visit ever. My husband had taken the girls when they were younger and before we met.

I had an additional experience there that I thought was just wonderful and this is when it hit me. My oldest daughter bought a “Goofy” hat and wore it both days in the park. On our last night there when we were in line for our last ride… Space Mountain (my fav) and Ashlyn spotted another girl wearing the same hat. When they got close to each other as the line wrapped around Ashlyn said to the girl “hey, I like your hat!” and the girl giggled and said “Thanks!”. This girl was covered in clothing head to toe and was wearing a hijab. I loved that this girl was wearing traditional cultural dress and a Goofy hat!

That got me thinking about the many people I had seen those 2 days at the park. I had seen people in saris, I had seen many nationalities, I met a cute gay couple… I’m sure there was some of everyone there. I’m sure there were several religions represented there, there were many nations represented there, there were people from all walks of life right there in the same park.

That’s not totally unique, there are other situations where this occurs… there are lots of places where this can happen. What I believe is unique though, is that they all had the same agenda.

What is the agenda of everyone at a Disney park? To have fun! Disney is for everyone, anyone can have a good time there. I saw babies, I saw grandparent in wheel chairs, I saw teens, newlyweds, long time couples: the whole gamut.  Everyone’s goal is to have a great time!

Here is the other observation I made – No one cared about where people were from, what religion they were, what sexual orientation they were, or what they were wearing. They were all fixated on a good time. No one was rude or mean or belligerent. No one had anything negative to say to other people at the park who were “different” from themselves.

I believe that people are more the same than they are different. There really isn’t much that divides us and we all want the same things in live essentially.

What if the entire world were like Disney Land or Disney World? What if we all just set out to have a good time, enjoy our families and friends, what if we were kind to everyone around us? What would the world be like?

Just sayin”

Even Moses doubted his greatness …. Exodus 3:11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

It’s funny that we, as creations of God, do this. What is it that makes us think we are not good enough. I believe that sometimes that is the message many take away from sermons and studies. “I’m not good enough”. The lessons in the Bible are not to make us feel bad and unworthy but rather, to show that there are many a regular every day man (or woman) who served in a big way. These people did not have pre-requisites spelled out by God… they did not always have a degree in theology or take leadership classes or speaking classes. These were every day people and often times, the least or marginalized or smallest of the bunch.

For most of us seeking Gods will, it’s right in front of us usually. If you have a passion or a flame that burns on a certain issue or some thought you can’t get rid of on changing the world (or your bit of the world) then that’s probably what you should be doing. There’s no clay tablet with your destiny on it, there’s no burning bush… The drive that you have is what you should be doing.

God didn’t create human beings to think negatively. We need to be confident in who we are because of our origins, creation in God’s image. We are created for greatness and we are created to think ” Who am I NOT to be doing this?”. Our thinking has become backward. We are great because that’s what God made humans to be, our experiences (that funny thing called life) is what qualifies us, we are not created for doubt but to life a rich and full life giving to others and serving others. In doing that… well.. it’s where the blessings come in.

That is the sort of legacy we need to leave for this earth.

In verse 12 God says to Moses…. “I will be with you.” What more do you need to pursue that passion? You don’t need to be sanctioned by a pastor or a choir leader or teacher in your church, you already have it.. it’s been given to you by God and no one trumps that.

So… if there is something you desire to do, if there is someone you desire to be, know that you have already been commissioned and don’t need any persons permission to be the person you desire to be.

Originally posted at http://robintramblecommunity.ning.com

When he passed away, my Mom made sure he got the Military casket with the flags on the sides and had a military burial with the gun ceremony. When you grow up in a military family (because if one is in the military, pretty much all of you are.. you are at the beck and call of the US service and you move where and when they say) there are some ceremonies that you become accustomed to, flag raising ceremony, brass band concerts, presenting of the colors, taps and so forth. Those events breed familiarity. Wherever you go in the US and you observe or participate in one of these events, it feels like home.

I knew that one day he would have a military burial. It wasn’t at a military cemetery, we have a family cemetery in Florida… almost in Georgia. It’s at the old “Butler” place that’s been in my dads family for over 100 years.

When we arrived I saw the casket draped in the American Flag.The flag has become a symbol for me in a personal way. Yes it does represent this country and the battles (good and bad) but it was something my Dad revered. My dad was a very patriotic person. The flag was also at the center of so many ceremonies that I had participated in. It’s as though all these flag ceremonies that I had watched and participated in were setting me up for this moment.

At the beginning of the ceremony, a lone bugle played taps and 2 men in full military dress folded the flag and then there was a gun salute. My mother was presented the flag and the presenter thanked my Mom for my Dad’s years of service and then presented her with 3 shells from the gun salute.

There is such finality in that ceremony. That meant the end. It was the last ceremony my Dad would ever be a part of and I don’t think I would have felt the closure I do without that ceremony.

My husband, Christian, delivered a wonderful eulogy and talked about my Dad’s life and legacy. He did a wonderful job but there is no way to sum up the life of a person in such few words. Each person sits at the funeral and thinks about their life with the person deceased and they process the whole life of the person.  Nothing he said would have brought closure like the flag ceremony did.

For some, the military can be a controversial issue. There are some that feel it breeds force and violence. There are some who do not care to be part of anything military but the life of the person celebrated who served in the military deserves a final ceremony.

Funerals are not for the dead but for the living. They are to celebrate the life of the person who has passed away and an opportunity for those left behind to mourn and release. Most of all, the funeral is to bring some finality and closure to the living. They are not confrontational, they are not for arguments or drama, they are not for revealing hidden information; they are simply meant to end the last chapter of the persons life and create a place of grieving and celebration for those lives that were affected.

We changed up topics a bit to travel. She was telling me about some place that they visited that was lovely only… there were too many pan handlers. The tour guide told her that these pan handlers were perfectly able to work and chose to be pan handlers instead. Then she said “I’m not giving any of my money to those pan handlers!”.

She went on about them and how “if they can work, they should be working and not pan handling.” I shared with her the fact that I used to work in a Salvation Army soup kitchen in Washington DC and that even though they are on the streets and may have addictions that they still need to eat. She wasn’t interested.

I felt as though she just took this tour guides word for it and knows nothing about these people. Perhaps some can work but right now, there are A LOT of people who can’t find jobs. They could just be trying to support a family. She also made the judgement that she wouldn’t give her money to someone smoking. “If they can buy cigarettes, then they can buy food”.

I wondered where her compassion was and why she felt so strong about judging these people. I felt sad that she couldn’t try to see her way to the other side.. to try to put herself in their place.

When I see pan handlers, I give them money. It’s not my job to judge them, I don’t know their situation. Money is just a thing… it’s not part of my legacy on this earth. When I give it to someone else, I don’t have any attachment to it or what happens with it. 5 bucks might buy me a snack but it could be a dinner for their kid or them self… I could use it for my own pleasure and have a glass of wine or I might pay for their beer. People who live in the street have it rough. I got a glimpse of it working at the soup kitchen. Most of the people asking for money on the street have started out behind in life.. they are doing the best they know how in many cases.

Isn’t it Jesus who said “Whatever you did to the least of my brothers, you did to me”?

I personally like that he made a lot of Fine Art references. That appeals to me as an artist, he was speaking my language. The word that spoke to me was the word….

Frame.

You would have to see him live or read the book to get the whole concept of what Rob Bell is talking about but I’ll talk about this word frame.

In the language of art, rather than have words represent a thought, idea, concept or thing, there are visual symbols that represent thoughts, ideas, concepts or things. We all have experience with a frame. We have all seen a frame and most of us have at least one in our homes. Frame is use to describe a physical thing that usually holds a painting, a photograph, a collage or some special certificate. Frame is also a word that describes boarders or a reference point, it also describes containment. There is a distinction about what is inside and what is outside.

He talked about how pain and/or suffering are a reference point. People are more affected by pain and are motivated by pain more than any other emotion or state.  He pointed out that if we didn’t have any suffering in our lives then we wouldn’t move toward change, that we wouldn’t have a frame of reference in our lives for what life is about.

I myself, at some points in my life, have cried out “WHY, Why is this happening to me?”. I believe that a persons choices lead them to where they are now. If I didn’t feel the suffering from those choices, then I would not make the changes I need in my life to not feel the suffering and to be a more productive person.

Christ’s frame was the cross. He came and chose suffering over battle. He didn’t choose to fight the Roman government but went the peaceful way and silently suffered so that he would know.. How I feel, how you feel, how the single parent feels, how the man with cancer feels, how the mother whose child is on drugs feels, how the child who gets picked on feels. His choice brought him physical and emotional suffering.

The next time you suffer, realize that the event is for growth and change. It’s to compel you to move forward in your life. The cross hanging on your neck is your frame.

When I was younger, I was very unreasonable. I was a C- student who went to college. It’s unreasonable for a C- student to go to college but I didn’t worry about that. I wanted to go and found a place that would take a C- student and I went. When I was in high school, we had an exchange trip. 30 students from my high school got to go for a week to a school in another part of the country and go to high school there and then we hosted the students that hosted us. C- students didn’t get chosen to do this… it was all A and B students but I didn’t care. I wanted to go and I was unreasonable until I got myself selected to go and loved it.

One spring break while I was in college, I had a friend who had a $200.00 ticket to England and she offered to sell it to me. I wanted to go! I didn’t have $200.00 but that didn’t stop me. My family didn’t have a whole lot of money. I had just paid for a ticket that winter break to go to England. I could barely make the money to pay for college and supplies. That didn’t stop me. I was unreasonable and was determined. I asked around for ideas. I knew I didn’t know anyone who could lend me $200.00  or 2 people who could lend me $100.00 bucks…. but what my friends pointed out to me was that I knew 200 people who could give me $1. So, I was unreasonable and asked 200 people for a dollar. In the end I got $225.00

Back then I was relentless. So when I heard my mentor talk about being unreasonable I had to take a trip back in time.

Some how I slipped into a pattern of being a little more agreeable and REASONABLE. That’s not me. I don’t want to be reasonable anymore.

I’m documenting my unreasonable actions that got me the results I wanted and that is what I will focus on to become the unreasonable person I desire to be again. I will be taking my husband (mr. resistant to change and slow to choose) to the seminar I has asked him to go to . I am moving forward being unreasonable with my business partners so we can stop messing around and make more money.

I am unreasonable.

What are you going to do that is unreasonable?

I grew up going to Florida frequently. Although I grew up in a military family, my parents were originally from Sarasota FL. We visited my grandparents there and of course, we always made it out to the beach. I still find the beach peaceful and healing.

In the 70′s and 80′s I remember seeing lots of girls in bikinis (keeping my mind from going to a B52′s song) and guys in their jams or swim trunks. Most were rather slender. I grew up being the skinny girl. When I graduated from high school i was 105lbs and 5’4 1/2″. I wasn’t far below typical of girls in my age range. I have a small frame and I know that 105 is lower than typical of the medium frame.

When I was in college in the mid to late 80′s I didn’t have as much opportunity to hit the beach as my college was in Kentucky. After I left college and was in Florida I noticed that people there were a bit larger. Not just one or 2 but many. I wondered if people were getting bigger or were they just not as concerned with body type and enjoying the beach no matter what.

I left the country for a couple of years then came back, went to Florida and made the same observation. Same types of people going to the same beach yet they were yet even bigger.

All through the 90′s I witnessed the trend. It wasn’t just as people got older. It was the kids too. People in their 20s and teens. It wasn’t just the mommies and daddies who had kids and were getting older…. and it was the same into the 2000′s.

I kept wondering what was going on. Why were American’s getting so big. What is happening in this country?

We often hear about people not being able to control their eating habits. We also hear about how much fast food people eat. I had a hard time believing that people were having control issues on a massive scale. So.. in the last couple of years  I have been reading about it.

What I figured out was that the first wave of “healthy foods” were those fat-free foods. Those foods replaced fat with salts, sugars and chemicals. Then the second wave … sugar-free. The sugar is replaced with chemicals that clog up the system that processes the sugars.

All the while, the food industry is genetically engineering our food and has been shooting up animals with antibiotics and hormones. They are breeding bigger animals that can’t stand on their own legs and these animals are fed on corn. Corn is not the natural diet of most of the animals we consume. Speaking of CORN, hardly anything is made with real cane sugar anymore, not even candy, high fructose corn syrup has replaced almost all sugar in any products and it is IN EVERYTHING.

Start reading the labels, it’s seriously in everything. Canned juice, granola bars and much, much more. It’s hard to buy products without it unless you go strictly fruit and veggie in your diet (not canned because those fruits have it too).

If we start purchasing more organics and foods that contain real sugar (sugar is addictive and has no nutritional value but at least it’s not as offensive as corn syrup) then more places will sell it.

If you have not seen the movie Food Inc I highly recommend it. We think we are protected by the government but they are NOT regulating food well enough and partly they are to blame for this mess. They should not be subsidizing the corn industry to create this corn syrup (which is cheaper than sugar) they should be eliminating it from our food sources.

If you are not having any luck, take a look at the TYPE of calories you are consuming. It’s not completely your fault… Read the labels, read what’s in your food, if you can’t pronounce it, it’s probably not fit for human consumption. Your doctor might tell you that calories are calories but she really should be telling you that a raw diet is the best diet for you, humans are designed to eat mostly fruits, veggies and nuts with some meats and maybe the occasional dairy.

Don’t take my word for it, read up on it.