Holders of our own Destiny, here we come!

Thursday marked the first official day of business here in the land of Shirley. Benjamin and Sara, land designers extraordinaire. With another job lined up in two weeks, and a couple bids in the wings, day by day we're making strides to (hopefully) ween ourselves off the financial help of our ever-generous parents, let me clarify - my parents and his wonderful mother and his mother only (oh, I have no strong feelings on this point) and back to the world of being able to pay our bills. Yay! Three cheers.

It's underrated the feeling of being able to tackle any financial obstacle that comes one's way. When lucrative jobs are few and far between, and you find yourself eating rice and beans for the 5th night in a row, just because there's nothing else in the cabinet, the meaning of a dollar is driven hard and fast into your mind, and even that penny on the ground is something to be valued and picked up. A penny saved is a penny earned and we need about a million of them to make it.

The hardest thing about times like this, and who's kidding, it's been going on for a year or so, is the flippant way other people in our lives have talked about money. Gambling it away at poker games, stating boldly the projects they're working on, or the vacations they're taking, the homes they're buying. I don't fault anyone for having more than enough to live, I fault them for flaunting it in the face of people who have cut back on everything, and yet still struggle to cover the costs of everyday life. The undeserving co-workers who get a promotion or a raise, the exorbitantly high cost of repair to a clunker car, the feeling of anger and hopelessness in a present situation. The taking of a step forward and one event pushing us back two steps. It's all part of a bigger picture, and that's the hope to hold on to. The lines aren't drawn, and until they are, things can still change for the better.

Whoa whoa whoa, and wow!

To be serious for a moment....and because I can't log onto Richmond.com to respond to a comment posted after a dry but "gets the conversation going" article, to be a Christian requires only to believe that Jesus was God in the flesh. That's it. It's everything else that can be debated. The comment left that leaves me feeling a bit miffed and ready to talk is (paraphrased) "if you don't believe the Bible is the inerrant word of God then you don't believe in Christianity". Ummm...... no. Truth be told, I did at some point in my life, think and believe this. But not any longer. In that statement I am not denying the sacredness of the Bible, I am acknowledging the bigger point. Christianity is Christ. Christianity = Jesus. Anything more than the cross and you've put yourself in a position higher than Christ. Try it. Just try. Jesus is preaching "I am the way the truth and the light", and you jump in with "and the inerrancy of the Bible. Oh, and while I'm at it, creationism, and pro-life. Yep. Without these things none of you are Christian". 

The heart of those additional defining statements is an honest desire to exhibit and live out a love and dedication to Christ. With additional rules to follow, stands to take and people who support those stands, it's easier to feel Christian. It makes things easier to divide between right and wrong, black and white. But we are each called to work out our salvation through fear and trembling. By blindly following whatever it is that a group decides is right, we each have gone astray from that calling; whatever that group may be. People can not be faulted for wanting to belong, to feel secure, to rest. It's when that people group, or a person in that group, enforces those ideas on everyone not in that group. Or attempts to. Or questions the belief and sincerity of another person, and makes a salvation judgement call. I think, and you can quote me on this, Judgement calls belong to God. I'm sticking by that. 

Here's the article. It's about Homosexuality and the Church, something that's close to my heart these days. I believe if people had the chance to work out their fears, to talk about anything and everything openly, and to appreciate people for who they are, we'd have a lot less hurt in our churches, and raise our children to believe Christianity is open to any who believe:

http://www2.richmond.com/content/2009/may/07/homosexuality-and-church-progressive-view/ 

Oh my modern woes...or My tea kinda tastes like 409.

My hairdryer broke. In proper humour fashion it broke with half of my head done. One side: coiffed, the other side: I woke up drunk. Holla. My hairdryer! What a specimen of early 90's design! Look at how beautifully the wording has rubbed off over the years! I'm reduced to "pony-nub"ing it today -- the faux hawk of ponytails, the "she had to work really hard and thinks she looks totally hard-edge with that ponytail that's been cut off" look. Sigh. See my face. What has 21st century america come to? Oh, the horror. I put black eyeliner on my face because black is how I feel on the inside. today.

In other news, the living room wall is finally something that makes me happy. Love that shelf? I do! I made that lampshade! It was sooooo hard.

My mission today, other than finding a wide brimmed hat and Twiggy sunglasses to shield my disheveled and shameful exterior from the ever hateful world, is to book it to Lowe's and find hinges! I put on doors! I do half my hair! I'm unstoppable. I haven't had coffee.