Catching Up...part one

It was a difficult week for blogging.
Maybe you noticed.

I was moody and uncreative.
I found it hard to focus and spent most of the week completely annoyed.
I didn't figure you wanted to read what I really felt like writing (trust me on this) so I just skipped it.

So now I'm feeling more alive and have a few quality thoughts to write.

First of all, can someone tell me that *all* little boys are born with the desire to be naked. Tell me it's not just my boys. If it's not a universal genetic tick then I fear I am in deep trouble.

Why?

Because I discovered my youngest running naked (or nekkid, for you true southerners) in the backyard no less than 3 times this week. Yes, he's 3 and learning about the proper use of certain porcelain facilities and it seems that this stage of learning has brought out an intense desire to neglect all clothing and just... well, run free. I hope no one saw him riding the bike without a stitch. If they did, I have no doubt that they shook their heads and muttered "where is that boy's mother?"

She's pulling out her hair, I assure you.

In the reading news, two items.

First, I could not be more diametrically opposite Terri Gross on most every issue if I tried, but for some (perhaps sadistic) reason, I listen to her show pretty often. It's Fresh Air on NPR . Her interview on Monday with Michelle Goldburg about the new book, Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, made me feel so many things:

--Sadness, that so much of what this woman has written is just not true. It's mostly spin and perceptions.

--Mad that she presumes to make assumptions about *all* of Christianity based on her limited amount of exposure to a few Christians as an outsider.

--Irritated that she really believes that Christians are vieing for world domination.

--Confused that she thinks of herself as balanced and sophisticated based on her urban-cosmopolitanism...yet she clearly has deep disdain for people of faith. Her work as she discussed it, appears to come straight from a place of fear, not a place of understanding. She has not endeavored to understand anything about true Christianity. She's simply bashing it because she doesn't understand it personally or agree with it.

And sad again because so many people will hear this interview or read her book and be drawn to a deeper distrust or hatred of Christians. On Monday night I went to Amazon to read the reviews of the book and was surpised to see that there weren't any. Today, 5 days after the NPR interview, there are plenty of "reviews" and pre-reviews from people who heard the interview and can't wait to read the book. It saddens me that so many people preach (to use a religious term) acceptance, inclusion and freedom, yet are obviously accepting only those who are not Christians.

I choose to live my life with a Christian worldview, based in my faith. This faith is as much a part of me as my hands and feet. Does being a Christian believer negate my right and responsibility to participate in my government and my world? Does choosing Christianity mean I should be required to check my faith at the door of the world? I just don't think so.

I picked this book up at the library but I can only read it in spurts. It gets to me. Like most anyone (I think) I detest being painted with a broad brush.

More on this later...my eyes are crossing.

And yet another book that has me intrigued was profiled on a locally-produced radio show today, The Fine Print with Rebecca Bain. The book is Two Little Girls: A Memoir of Adoption by Therese Reid. It was profiled on today's installment of TFP which you can hear at WPLN.

I'm positive I am not going to agree with everything Mrs. Reid says about adoption (do we see a trend developing?) --not that what I think really matters in her story of two adoptions. The interview was very intriguing. I think this book will be one that makes me think on a deeper level about adoption, yet again. I've ordered this one.

www.theresareidbooks.com


(to be contined)