What to Believe Continued.......

I blogged earlier in the week about all the media attention and pending controversy around  the Kony 2012 campaign.


I came to my conclusion to focus on the words and instruction of Jesus.

After researching
increasing my confusion
and  my awareness of
the suffering of real people
I did not want o turn a blind eye
a deaf ear
or a lame foot
and then foolishly blame
my passivity on
 a organization that may or may not have it all together.

I am responsible for my actions.
 I am accountable for my answer to God.

This I remind myself in light of the recent controversy regarding the organization responsible for the Kony 2012, Invisible Children.

Today if you google Kony or Invisible Children  you get this article about one of  the co-founders caught in a public act of disgrace.
 http://news.yahoo.com/co-founder-kony-video-group-detained-calif-232427950.html

The story by all news accounts is accurate.
 What was the cause behind such actions ?
A spokesman for the group is claiming health problems. 

I really don't know of any health problems that make people publicly masturbate.
But you know maybe I just haven't researched Web MD enough.

I could go a lot of places with this one but I will try to stay on course.


My children had the privilege of hearing  a young man who lived in Uganda and was taken into Kony's army by force (LRA), lost his parents to the murderous actions of this army.  He spoke about being so little that he couldn't  carry the weight of the guns they trained him on.

That is nothing but pure evil. That needs to be stopped.

  He was helped by Invisible Children ,first in a refugee camp and then with a school scholarship to come to the United States.  What they did for this young man mattered.


But the lesson I am taking away from this is to watch your witness.

This one individual's action may prove to be the determent of the campaign.
His actions may prove to be accidental or exaggerated ( it could be a medical issue, right ? like as diagnosed by Dr. Suess maybe.)
Sorry--- my sarcasm is showing

But no matter what happens the damage is done.

Some who were thinking about getting involved won't

Those who weren't sold on the Invisible Children, but were stirred to
find out about Africa might change their mind

But I hope not .

I hope what we take from this is the fact that
no man , no organization, no cause , no political party, no ruler, or leader on earth
is infallible. 
No one is beyond temptation  and no one deserves to have us put all of our eggs in their basket

Except

One

Only God is infallible. Only God can handle it all.
Only God can be counted on 100 percent.

So I hope that we learn two things from this:

Our witness matters and we need to be careful-
lots of eyes , believing and non-believing are watching and trusting us.

 We serve a huge and Mighty God who has all the instructions we will ever need in order to love and serve the world without excuse. 

Crisis Averted

Today could have gone better

Well there is an opener. 
The coffee was made and I successfully found it

It was a good start.

Beautiful weather here in Bama at a warm 74 degrees blue skies with occasional passing thunderheads.

So I decide I will stain the deck
I've been waiting for dry weather.

All was going well , except for our English Springer being a less than
helpful deck hand.

Let's just say she left her mark- paw that is on the wet deck boards.

What I am about to tell you is extremely valuable advice

If you ever get deck stain in your eye
DO NOT   and I repeat 
DO NOT  spray your offended eye directly with the kitchen sprayer--EVER!!!

This information will undoubtedly safe you from
irrefutable cornea damage.

You are welcome :)

Coffee Hunting

Today was one of those days where  well
let me see how should I put this?

everything was a bit kaddywampus (it's a real word)

After a while I decided not to think of it as plans altered but instead
as mini treasures just a' waitin' for me 'round each and every corner!

First there was the morning routine

Now I am not the greatest "waker upper"  -upper here being a oxymoron

Anyway  I take a while to lift the morning fog out of my brain.
It doesn't matter how long I sleep or what time I go to bed  it is still the same
S-L-O-W   Going.

I take my coffee with a side of confusion.

For some reason this morning I forgot where the coffee pot was.
Yes you read that correctly. And you see it has been in the same spot for at lest four years.

I stumbled with one eye open   rose cheerfully and headed of to  the kitchen
I walk this path every morning
rain or shine
6 a.m. or weekend 10 a.m
every day that ends in Y

Only this morning for some reason my body took a sharp right turn , and then a slow left curve and landed in the dining room.
  Note : there is no dining involved in this room
It has a desk, table, bookshelves, computer, 2 bulletin boards and a dog kennel
No one has ever dined in here

So I am standing in the junk room from hell dining room searching for a coffee pot

I can't find it,  shocking I know, and I can't for the life of me understand why

Is it really too much to ask after everything I do for this family to have to coffee pot be wherever I am in the first conscious seconds of my day?

Apparently so.

After about, and I kid you not, three minutes my brain is waking up one cell at a time.
Sort of like bubble wrap being popped in reverse.

I accept the cold hard fact that the coffee pot is not here, nor will anyone make it here.

"Fine", I grumble to myself.
 But now I need to get to the kitchen and I just don't know which way to go.

This morning thing is so hard!

Eventually I hear Mr. Rodger's call my name in a questioning fashion.

The other eye has sprung open.  I have a voicee to follow!!!!

I take a step forward , right into a chair.

Now who the hell left a chair in this room I think.

Oh yeah it is the computer chair  okay check

Mr. Rodgers "are you okay?"

I'm getting closer now I head to the light peering through the kitchen/dining room doorway.

I step onto the cold tile of the kitchen floor and eye the coffee pot.

Mr. Rodgers step cautiously out of my way.

He has already pushed the button and their is enough brewed for one cup
He gets to live today.

I pour my cup add my dessert creamer and move like a sloth to the living room.
This room is accurately named . We do alot of Living in here.

I wrap a blanket around me and savor the first sips of sanity.

I am transforming.
The scowl is disappearing, the fuzzy amoebas are swimming out of my eyes and I have feeling in my
soul.

Wow that was close.

What to Believe

There has been a ton of social media explosion lately.

Unless you live under a rock, and even if you do, you can still access the Internet
and have undoubtedly seen the Kony 2010 Campaign.

It went to viral proportions in a matter of hours. 
The video produced by Invisible children is raw, invoking, and effective.

There has been much questioning and speculation on the group's finances , possible militant involvement, and effectiveness.  As I do research I become more confused rather than receive any clarity.
I have always been a researcher before getting on a ban wagon  because sometimes you get a great spot on the wagon but you fail to realize where its final destination is.

So rather than support the Kony2012  or dismiss it I have searched some articles and posted them in hopes that others will research as well.

But in today's media frenzy society where you can be a you tube rock star, ruin a life cyberbullying, or start a prayer train worldwide all in about 15 minutes; it is hard to know what is what

Seriously when the dictionary off the shelf is dismissed in favor of Wikipedia or Urban Dictionary I think sometimes we are just lazy.

I haven't come to any direct conclusions in regard to the Kony issue except this:
I believe Kony is the top canidaie for being the  devil himself.

And this is where the media . that can or cannot tell us the truth, or some of it, or none of it can really fail .
The Uganda crisis from Kony's army is sick, horrible, and very real.

We need to act on behalf of the innocent , the helpless, the voiceless.

But the debate seems to go on  Should we help through Invisible Children

What do we believe in this age of information overload?
Who do we believe?
Where do we begin?

I know one source who has always told me the truth.
One person who has always lead me forward.

I haven't always heeded the instruction .
I have veered off the path plenty
But the advice was always consistent never wavering, 
no addendum or asterisks involved.

"I was hungry and you fed me
I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink
I was naked and you clothed me
I was sick and you tended to me
I was a stranger and you welcomed me
I was in prison and you visited me

Whatever you did for the least of these you did for me."

His name is Jesus
and he has always had
The Truth.

I have all the information I need

The Obvious

A good friend of mine,
 who is as funny as they come and as dependable as you need,
 blogged today on an incident that one of her children pulled a few years ago.
  You can check it out at her blog The Fence when you wnat.

But it reminded me so much of the forever statements
that I make and have made to my kids
and how those statements have evolved.

As a parent I had the general rules down.
No meant no,
 now meant now
and because "I said so" was still in fashion.

But I obviously missed a few things, 
that, well to be honest I didn't think I had to say.

For instance I apparently needed to say:

"Do NOT place your Pb&J in the VCR ( yes I'm dating myself here I know)
or
"We don't lick our friends"

Who knew these needed to be covered?

But apparently so.

Soon Mr. Rodgers and I would look at each other and think
"Why must I always state the obvious?"

We never got an answer .
1. because it's a rhetorical question
and 2. because we only thought it and gave each other the look.

but as months went on and our children pushed the
buttons of mass porportions obvious envelope
we did say it out loud
and LOUD

things like

" The postman does not want to see your hiney",

"Please don't put play dough in your diaper"
and
the ever popular

"You say hello first when the phone rings"

were all followed by the under-the-breath statement of
"Why must I state the obvious?'

In later years the obvious statements changed to things like

"Yes you do receive a 0 when you fail to turn in your homework."
or
"Sharing answers during a test is called cheating"

but not until they became teenagers did the  rhetorical ? change.

 You realize your kids are trying to figure out the world they live in
first it's cute
then you tire of   "stating the obvious"
graduating into
"natural consequences" and them falling a few times to catch on.

But one day it came to a halt
and the teenage brain went into overdrive

The rhetorical ? changed from
"Why must I continually state the obvious?" 
to
"What in the hell possessed you to do that?"

(for those of you who think "How harsh"
probably have little ones.)

My philosophy is this:

"Make all the  mistakes you want under my roof, this is where the love is"

Mistakes made and dealt with while here are lessons learned . 
The world is far less forgiving.

And the last thing I want is a kid who never experienced a consequence
 for an action until she dealt with a cop
or a financial disaster,
all while wondering why the world stopped revolving around her.

So occasionally when Happy Mouth or Rollercoaster pull something like

answering the phone when driving
or
leaving the popcorn popping on the stove when they are showering
or
using dish soap in the washing machine
or
(my personal favorite and a WHOLE nother story)

"I'll just google it, it knows more than you any way"
Yes you read that right , and she is still alive.

I give a good ole' mama shout out  that goes something like this:

"WHAT in t-h-e-  HELL possessed you to do THAT????"
emphasis mine


It just fits.