Do Your Job!

I don't do politics.  I don't get into arguments about the President, or Congress, or even local government.  I just don't.  I personally think that everyone has an opinion about politics, and just like everyone has a bum...they all stink. 

I'm going to break my rule of just not saying anything.  Watching the news has just lit me up.  I know, I know, the news is not always reliable.  It's biased (no matter what they claim), it's not always accurate, and again is mostly filled with talking heads opinions.  However, when the same thing is said over and over and over again by news stations who generally speaking can't agree on the day of the week, much less anything political...I tend to take notice.

First, either deport illegals or make everyone legal.  For pity's sake, PICK ONE!  If you make them legal, then make them get a social security number and pay taxes, Obamacare fees, and everything else we legal folks get stuck footing the bill for.  If you are going to let illegals get a license, go to public schools, utilize hospitals, ect. then good golly, let them help pay for it!  If you don't want to legalize everyone, then kick them out.  Make the hard decision, and dump them back over the boarder.  Take the money we would be using for licenses, schools, and hospital care, and beef up the border.  Neither decision will be popular with everyone.  Neither decisions will come with out any consequences.  However, the president gets paid big bucks because those decisions are hard and often suck.  Do your job!

Yes, I know...neither of those above choices are simple.  Yes, we have to worry about those companies that employ illegals on the down low and that makes it so we can afford fresh fruit.  Yes, we have to worry about ticking off those countries below us.  I get it.  I really do.  However, this passing the buck on to the next sucker who gets elected really needs to stop.  Sigh.

Second, there are bad, bad people in the world.  Those bad, bad people beheaded an American.  Those same people will do it again because they want to and because they have not been stopped.  Some of these bad, bad people even come from our own country.  And we HAVE NO PLAN.  Seriously.  No plan.  Awesome.  We, or more to the point our president, announced on world wide TV that "yeah, we got nothing".  Way to strike fear into the hearts of those who intend us harm.  I can see Isis shaking in their booties.  NOT.

Ok, sarcasm aside, something needs to be done.  While some people have the desire to make the Middle East a parking lot via dropped nukes, I'm a supporter of something a little less extreme.  I know we can't fight all the wars.  I know we don't have an inexhaustible supply of men and women who bleed red, white, and blue.  I also know, not too many of our military would not be a supporter of kicking some serious Isis butt.  You know, our saying in the US used to be "Walk softly, and carry a big stick".  We didn't go out into the world starting stuff...but we were known for finishing it!   Nowadays, not so much.  We are seen as weak, ineffective, and just plain inept.  It's a shame and it's disheartening, and really...it just makes me mad.  It makes me mad because those who are set up to represent us, aren't.  They just aren't.  Americans are not cowards.  They do not back down from a fight.  They certainly don't let fellow Americans die in an act of terrorism without a single sound. 

Finally, our education system.  Ok, I have to take a deep breath in order to be able to do this one.  Who in their right mind creates a new education system without using EDUCATORS to do it??  Who decides that a test is a measure of what a child is completely capable of?  Who decides that it is best to teach each and every child the exact same way??!!  Somewhere along the way our leaders lost their ever lovin' minds.  This is not ok.  We are killing the love of learning in our children.  We are teaching them that a test is the end all, be all of their lives.  We are teaching them that they are all exactly alike and to be different is wrong. 

The outcry and outrage of educators and parents alike is not enough to encourage our leaders to do something about it.  The blatant evidence that we are failing and falling behind other leading countries of the world is not enough to make our leaders do something about it.  What will it take?  How much damage must be done to our children before change (or better yet, let's just go back to the educators from the 60's and 70's...look at all the innovators that came from those eras) becomes a priority?

UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVES, TO INCLUDE THE PRESIDENT...DO YOUR JOBS!!  You are paid to represent the American people.  The American people are pissed!  Do your job.  Make the changes that need to be made.  Make the sucky, stinky, hateful decisions that need to be made.  Be unpopular with some people...it won't kill you.  Do what is right, not what makes you  money, gets you more votes, or makes you look good.  Look at the country you are supposed to represent, love and serve, and do your job.  If you can't do it, step down and let someone else who can, do. 

I hate politics....and I'm edging towards hating politicians.  Hate is not good...I get that, but  man, oh, man...it is past time for a change.  The American people have plenty of backbone.  Too bad those represent us to the world seem to be missing theirs. 

Gender Ministry

I read an article today that struck a chord in me.  It talked about a woman who hated, or at least really disliked, women's ministry.  This woman started talking about how she wasn't a tea and beauty kind of girl.  She was tired of hearing how beautiful she was through the eyes of God.  She was tired of being shown the "perfect Godly" woman.  (See article here)

I have to admit, I'm not a girly girl.  I feel awkward and out of place at those tea parties that get hosted so often in women's ministry.  I feel like a bull in a china shop when we do a "beauty tips" lesson.  Even worse, I feel loud, and pushy, and un-woman-like when I declare my dislike of certain books of the Bible.  (My least favorite is Esther...I know, I know how can I not like that book?  I'm weird, I admit it.)

I have attended women's Bible studies for the last 7 or 8 years and can honestly say I've never felt like I fit.  Why in the world would I keep going for that long if I was never comfortable?  For a long time, I couldn't figure it out.  I'm really not a glutton for punishment.  I don't enjoy being uncomfortable, nor do I enjoy being on the outside of a group looking in. 

I had thought that women's Bible study was a part of being Christian.  You know what, I still think it is.  Once a week I may have been uncomfortable, out of place, and more than a little lost.  Once a week I stated my unpopular opinions, feelings and thoughts.  Once a week I drug my Bible and my kids down the street to church and braced for the worst. 

I'm better for it.  I know I am.  Since I steadfastly endured the opinions and thoughts of others, I have become more understanding of those whose situations in life have differed from mine.  I have learned patience...and I've learned to shut my mouth.  I've learned to stand against wrong thoughts and to state the unpopular Biblical facts.  I've learned that God does not ask me to be comfortable, nor does He expect me to be silent when truth is needed.  God often asks me to curb my own instincts and fight my own nature. 

I still don't like the book of Esther.  I'd still rather study the WHOLE book of Proverbs rather than just Ch 31.  I still don't like beauty sessions or dress up tea parties.  I'm not sure that will ever change. 

So, while I understand the above mentioned woman, with her dislike of "women's ministry", and I understand her need to study the WHOLE Bible and not just the parts that apply to women, I also hope that she keeps going to those women's studies.  You see, there are people at those studies who need her...they need her frankness, her lack of vanity, her intensity in reaching God, her determination to focus on GOD and not self.  However, she needs them too.  She needs to remember that women are beautiful, that they do play certain roles in life, that God does call on us to improve our "womanly ways".  If those things were not true and necessary, they would not be written about in the Bible. 

Ladies, don't give up on your women's Bible study groups.  There is a balance and while it is not always going to be comfortable or fun, it is going to grow you and change you.  God asks that of us...stagnant growth is as bad as stagnant water.  No one wants that.