Afternoon Ramblings

I finally switched over to the new version of Blogger after finally having the time to read the latest Blogger/Google TOS agreement and discover that what had been told to me about my intellectual property rights (that Google owned whatever I posted) was false. I feel comfortable with this decision, though I still argue that Google is taking over the world and I don't appreciate it.

Anyway, I'm currently in the middle of entering information about prospective families for kids who are waiting to be adopted. I never before knew the scale or scope of adoptive needs within our state or our nation. It's incredible! There are so many kids who are waiting to be adopted, who have all sorts of issues because 1) they were abandoned, neglected or abused to begin with and because 2) they desire a family and the system takes so long that they lose faith in their prospects of finding a family.

When did we become a society that abandons its children? When did we become selfish enough that we thought our pleasure in abusing our own children took preference over their well-being? Who in the world beats, sexually or verbally assaults, or neglects their own children? Who are we as a nation when we can't even take our eyes off of ourselves long enough to see our own children and their needs?

This is one reason why I can't work this job forever: I get too emotional when I think of all the kids and prospective families and the average time for adoptions to go through and all of the different types of therapy they are undergoing in the meantime (and possibly for the rest of their lives). The people who do this day-in and day-out have my sincerest admiration - they have more emotional gumption than I think I will ever be in possession of.

We were talking the other night at the Student Voice meeting about how sin should make us sick - how we should weep and grieve over it. In the past few weeks, I have moved toward knowing that more acutely than I ever did before, with both my own sin and seeing what the sins of one generation can mean for the next.

In our culture, we have developed a widening dichotomy for this generation. On the one hand, as news outlets are reporting today, this generation of college students is more narcissitic than any other that has come before - they are self-aware and self-righteous and think they are untouchable. On the other hand, we have a generation that has grown up being neglected and abused, drenched in mental health therapy and struggling to develop some sort of positive image of themselves.

Somewhere along the line, our culture began seeing a person's worth as something that is acquired - not as something that is intrinsic. Our culture says that we have worth when we're physically beautiful, healthy and capable of some form of success (whether fame or monitary).

We have lost the fact that we have intrinsic, in-born worth simply because we are made in God's image.

We are made in God's own image! Why doesn't that blow our minds? Why do we not see the child with Down Syndrome or Epilepsy (as a recent New York Times article read) as something to allow out into the open, not as something in which to find shame or ambarrassment? As something of worth, even to society, as a teacher and reminder of what is important, of what is simple enough to actually enjoy?

There is good in store when we place our hope and trust in the Lord. Good. Surely, it may not always appear that way at first - when our hearts are breaking over some guy or girl, or when a family member dies, or when you can't (for the life of you) find a job - but God has good in store for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes.

Good.

What a strange thought that I have been trying to digest over the past few days - many of our distresses in life are caused by the fact that we do not trust God to bring us good out of situations we automatically label as dire and nigh impossible to live through.

We must trust that He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son that He loves, and that that action has purchased God's favor toward us - that we are being refined and made perfect and more like His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. We must trust that!

No father, when his child asks for a fish, will give his child a scorpion - so why do we expect that God, who is a perfect father, would ever give us anything less? Everything He allows to be sent our way is for our good and, more important, for His glory.

So, I wonder, can we strive to take what we're given and return to God His glory with it? I pray that it would be our sincerest desire and at the forefront of our every thought.

Hosanna Filio David
Hosanna in altisimis

Mood: Discombobulated Listening to: downhere, iPod shuffle
Reading: Warren Wiersbe, Be Heroic