Welp, I know who I'm voting for.

I just got settled into school, (and already have tons of stories to tell) but I honestly don't want to waste a good, healthy blog on wildcat news. So you'll just have to ask me in person.

However, there was another big event going on this week--a bit bigger than my college escapade. The Democratic National Convention ended on Thursday with Barack Obama's acceptance speech.

Amazing.

I have been watching the DNC with a careful eye because I know that it's political. And when I mean it's political (because you already knew THAT) I mean that people are crafty with their words, careful to make you feel all the ethos, pathos, and logos of whoever's speaking at the moment.

Prior to Thursday night, I was a bit wary of declaring my party (in this election, not just in general). I just knew that I wasn't ready to declare that my beliefs rest solely on one party's claims. And, I still feel that way.

But, here's the thing: I have been doing my research. I wasn't just taken in by Obama's (truly profound) speech, I started realizing that there are more issues out there that I need to take into consideration.

Yes, I agree that abortion is wrong. Killing babies is never good (hmm unless you believe it will lower crime). I have a problem with the government making the decision on a decision like that JUST because I know that in desperate times, some women will go great lengths to get an abortion. Clothes hangers. Risky drugs.

Now they're not only harming their fetus, but themselves.

But I also believe that war is wrong. War can't be just. I'm sorry, Austin Jett, it can't be. Like the hospital manager in Iraq, as quoted by Shane Claiborne, said, "Violence is for those who have lost their imagination. Has your country lost its imagination?"

I don't believe anyone is beyond redemption. Not even terrorists. (Paul was a terrorist, and he wrote half the New Testament!)

I believe we need to carry each other's burdens, financially even. I know we have a tendency to think that since we're in America, that means everyone else has equal opportunity to strike rich. But it's not true--it cannot be true.

I mean, after reading books like Savage Inequalities, which explored poor school systems, I can't possibly think that someone from a school in East St. Louis possibly has the same chance at "success" as white suburban me.

So what do we do? We help the low income folks. We provide some healthcare, nothing wrong with that. I know that it's easy to think that once someone's been handed a freebie they will always be begging for more. Maybe that's true. But what did Jesus say about the least of these? Jesus was homeless, wouldn't we give him healthcare?*



Now, I hate when people try to convince me I'm wrong in my beliefs (about anything), so I won't try to tell you to vote Obama/Biden '08. Seriously. I just want you to examine more issues than just the one you hear about the most (abortion).

Either way, as a moral person, you can't honestly believe one party is faultless. The question I've got to ask myself is what issues concern me the most right now.



*Don't leave me nasty comments for that. I KNOW there's more dynamics in helping the homeless than just giving them handouts. But sometimes I believe those handouts (money, food, blankets, etc.) could do WAY more good than trying to make someone go through some program to get them out of their financial woes. Why? Because with a handout there's love. Or, there can be love if you show it. Programs don't show love in the same way.







Lauren

Honor thy (grand)mother and (grand)father.

Again, totally not in the mood to write. Even if I wanted to write, I should work on my online class or trying to get something published, not wasting my time (and yours) blogging about nothing interesting. Sigh. But I'll do it anyway.

I was reading in I Timothy today and there's a lovely verse about taking care of the elderly. Yes, taking care of old fogies. Apparently it's a pretty big deal (or it was back in the day) to take care of your relatives, especially those unable to take care of themselves.

"Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God. . . . If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." I Timothy 5:3-8 (emphasis mine)



Now, I love my mom but today more than ever I realized how much I cannot live the rest of my life with her. I just can't! I love when we can sit around watching TV or eat lunch together, but that's about all of Mom I can handle.

Turns out we have a little unspoken deal. When I am a kid (and hopefully when I'm a poor college student) my mom will provide for me. If I need food, she'll make sure I get it. If I need snow boots, well, off to JC Penny's we go! That's in her Mommy Job Description.

But when I'm an adult and she's near dymensia, it's my duty to take care of her. (You know, throw her into a nursing home and all that.)

They cycle is thus complete.

But I wonder if that's what we're supposed to do. I mean, what kind of culture do we live in that we throw our elders into a sterile brick building with other fogies like themselves? Back in the day grandparents lived with their kids until their deathbed--and somehow everyone got along okay.

I'm not speaking out of experience because I don't have any grandparents, nor do I plan on letting my mom live with my husband and me. But it still has me thinking.

Do we honor our elders? Do we discredit them because they're not on the up-and-up with culture?



Ezek.

Jesus People USA.

It's been a few days... it's time to recap the missions trip.



My youth group went to Chicago, Illinois where we worked with Jesus People USA, a community of Christians that live out the infamous Acts 2 example of Church. While most of the JPUSAs were putting on Cornerstone Music Festival (the Woodstock of the Christian world), our team held down their fort.

Our jobs: Cooking for the remaining JPUSAs, working at their homeless shelter, serving their senior citizens, cleaning their main building, and, of course, showing people the light of Jesus through our actions.

Honestly, it was one of those missions trips that the focus remained on the service rather than the outreach. And after talking to my friend Amber, I realized that these are probably the best kind of missions trips (short term anyway). We get to show God's love which will make a greater impact than simply befriending people for a week then leaving them.

And so that's what we did. And truly, it was though that service mindset that we BUILT relationship and potentially CHANGED lives.

On the last night we stayed at JPUSA, we had planned a game night with the seniors. Only a few showed up (sad, sad) so my friends and I just played a rousing game of Pictionary by ourselves. Well, then there's this nice man named Jim (who wasn't really that old, but have Elephantiasis) asked if someone would like to play a game with him. Well, sure. That was why we were there.

Carlee, Nathan, and I played Hearts with him. It was amazing. We just had fun, laughed, made small talk, etc. I didn't think much of it. I didn't feel like I was working or trying to proselytize.

The next day at breakfast Carlee, Nathan, and I got a card from Jim thanking us for playing cards with him. Just a game of cards. (That I nearly lost both hands of.)

Before we left Chicago he told Sarah to thank us for treating him like he was normal. Normal.

I find that ironic. Playing cards with someone is one of the most "normal" things you can do--and he did that just fine. He may have a disease, but he was still a man. He was still a sacred human being, formed by God.

And we got to bless him.



I learned from this trip that it's not the big things you can do that solely make impact in people's lives. It's the little things. It's the scraping of grease off a pan. It's the playing cards with a lonely person.

*Ezek.