Friday, August 13, 2010

Is this a Christian Blog? A Disclaimer

Someone asked me the other day if my blog was Christian. 
Well. 
That's an interesting question. 

My blog, in and of itself, a noun, a thing, an electronic computer program able to transmit data, 
doesn't have a will of its own... so no..... 
My blog is probably not a professing Christian. 

Although, my blog does have a bare chested picture
 of Tim Tebow on it 
and HE'S a Christian. 
Ironically (?) my blog hasn't corrupted/crashed/lost that particular data, 
so..... I'm gonna say maybe.                    
Maybe my blog is Christian.
Or maybe my blog just likes hot boys 
who love Jesus. 

We'll see what happens after the Bronco game this weekend. 
If the photo is still sound after Tebow's pro debut.. 
my blog just might be admitting that its a football fan. 

We'll have to wait and see. 

Back to my original point, 
(how do I get so off track? Must be Lola's fault... she can't focus much either! Sheesh!)
as the writer of this blog and a follower of Christ
 - yes, my blog could be considered Christian.  
However, I'm hesitant to say that I'm a Christian Blog Writer. 
(I know, your saying "What, Cara, hesitant to say anything?!?!)

I don't want to be grouped in with a bunch of bloggers 
who do the whole "Christian Blog" thing 
with excellence, grace, elegance, 
scripturally sound and inspiring messages 
that discuss their striving to be 
Godly women, married to Godly men, bringing up Godly children
.... cuz that. ain't. me. 


are really GREAT blogs. 
(Please, check them out!) 

They've inspired and encouraged me, 
changed my perspective and outlook, 
and for a critical few minutes, 
kept me from walking out the front door leaving 
Liza and Bruce to fend for themselves, 
fighting over an unopened box of 
honey bunches of frosted fruity cardboard shreds! 

If you know me IRL (in real life)
you know that I love Jesus! 
I try to follow Jesus! 
I try to encourage others to follow Jesus! 
He really is the way, the truth and the life
... because I've been stuck in the 
fun house full of mirrors called self-sufficiency 
and it SUCKS with a capital UCK! 

However, I've also figured out in the nearly 4 decades I've walked the earth 
(how the heck did that happen... my mother looks 50!)
that I don't have the market cornered on
this whole Christian/Follower of Jesus thing... 
not by a long shot. 

I'm a sinner... a big, fat one! 

No worse than anyone else, really. I'm just not trying to convince anyone
I'm not a total screw up all on my own. 
I did that thing for awhile and that was a train wreck, too. 

As I understand it, there are these 2 worlds - 
the natural world 
(everyday life on planet earth) 
and the 
spiritual world
(God's world.)
 I live in both, occasionally at the same time. 
In the natural world, 
I'm a mess. 
I'm broken. 
I'm a sinner
(No, I'm not afraid of that word... anymore. Again, another blog post.) 

Those 3 facts won't ever change in the natural world. 
I will hurt people, do stupid, harmful, dishonest things. 
I will lie, cheat, steal, gossip.... and the list goes on.
Ungrateful, entitled, arrogant and stubborn are character traits 
that permeate my existence here on earth. 
The consequences of these traits and the actions are far reaching in this world. 
I hurt my kids' feelings, they go out and hurt their friends' feelings 
and so on and so on
... kind of like an old shampoo commercial. 

THANKFULLY, because Jesus "adopted" me as His child 
when I fell in love with Him, 
I am covered -- the punishment was paid
in this world 
for all my ugliness.  

In God's world and in God's eyes... 
He sees me the way He originally intended for me to be... 

Honest, loving, generous, patient, kind, self-controlled, peaceful, thoughtful, 
thankful, hopeful and 
 not worried about my life! 

In God's world, I don't have to pay the price for my crappy, earthly behavior and character. 
Jesus already did that when he died on the cross.  

When God's world and the natural world intersect, 
God takes the natural consequences of my dumb-ass behavior 
and turns them into something amazingly beautiful and fabulous... 
and THIS is the adventure.. 
the good stuff... 
the miraculous, magnificent, 
out of this world, 
nobody-in-Hollywood-could-write-this
stuff! 

Therefore, since the natural world on its own is a jungle, 
and God's world is still a ways away, 
I try to apply as much as I know of God's world 
to the natural world where I possibly can. 

For me, that means I've got to acknowledge and be realistic 
about the natural state of things, 
all the while striving for the 
"on earth as it is in Heaven" 
part of things. 

Some days, I do this well. 

Others, mmm... not so much! 
I will blog about both 
- my life in the natural world where I drop F-bombs 
and drool over young, hunky quarterbacks, yell at my kids, 
reply sarcastically to my husband and generally 
function out of individual and communal wounded-ness 
that keeps us all tethered to terra ferma ...  

BUT, I will also blog about living at the 
intersection of Rejection and Redemption... 
the times and places
where God intervenes in my humanness
and reveals Himself in new ways, 
calling me evermore to share
His world with my fellow sojourners. 

All that to say, for me to even think about writing a "Christian Blog" 
would require a level of
 excellence and piety that I don't have
and don't really feel comparable to.

... or maybe its because if I am a "Christian Blogger" 
I can't have half naked pictures 
of Tim Tebow on my blog.


2 comments:

  1. Great post Cara. You covered a lot of important ground. Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks! It was a little long, but I was on a roll!

    ReplyDelete