PART IV: LOVE

Ya.. that's it. Just Love. And only because I feel like all my notes end up talking about Love... I can't cover this word in one note, but I'll give a brief synopsis anyway. Enjoy.
So, before I get too involved in this, I'm going to step back.. way back...
We're going to talk a bit about the origin of the word... and why I, personally, hate the word Love.
Love.. well, the word came from the German, Russion, and Latin words for "pleasure"... but for some reason, odd as it may seem, when Greek manuscripts were being translated into English, the word "Love" was used in place of 4 (sometimes 5) different words.
Confusing? kinda.. I'd love to end this here and say that our language is stupid.. good night and good luck. However, you would hate me for doing that, so I'll continue.
English has one word.. Greek has 4 (or sometimes 5).. how the hell did
this happen? Honestly, probably the biggest mistake of the English language.. EVER!
I have never in my life discovered a more loaded word than the word Love.. and it's no wonder! So here's the Greek:

-Eros.. if you have heard the word "erotic" then this should be fairly self-explainatory.. romance, sex, blah blah blah... all that stuff.

-Philia.. ever heard of Philadelphia? The city of BROTHERLY LOVE... ya that's about it.. The kind of love with which you love your friends, family.. it's a nice kind of love.

-Storge.. this one's not used often. It has to do with natural affection.. like parents loving their children. that kinda thing.

-Thelo (sometimes this is replaced with the word love.. not always).. it's more accurately translated as "desire"

-Agape.. Believe it or not, this is the only word that is correctly translated as "love"!.. and it's a killer. Sometimes literally.. yikes.. It's known as self-sacrificial love. This word was used most commonly in the New Testement of the bible.. God's love for us is agape.. "Greater Love has no man than this; that he lay down his life for his friends"

So why do I hate the word Love? Well.. mostly because it has been washed out to translate all these words... Love is most commonly defined now as an emotion.. :S If that's the case, it's no wonder so many people hate love, love love, are confused by love.. Love in it's purest form is NOT an emotion. (feel free to argue with me.. I will bring you down. good luck.)

And now, since I really can't say much more because this is getting long. . I will leave you with my favourite definition of Love.. You've heard it before, an you're about to hear it again..

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. "

Next time.. I'm ripping that apart jus for fun.. so.. more thoughts on love tomorrow.. or sometime when I have the time and energy.

Out!
-Emily

PART III: The future is friendly..?

The future.. Do we care?
What's left once I'm gone?
Well, I want to suggest that the people before us never asked that question. Perhaps it never crossed their minds.
Now we suffer the consequences...
and continually screw over generations to come.
And now I'm going to suggest something that may come as a shock to some of you... Pollution and global warming/climate change are NOT our biggest concerns right now!
Don't get me wrong.. I love trees and I enjoy breathing and if we can minimize the pollution then that's awesome.
But it's a surface issue
First, maybe we need to learn how to love.
Throughout my life, I have met many people (I'm sure you have too)... many people who seem to have it all together, but after getting to know them, I find that there is something missing and that is love.
Sure, most people say they know how to love or they say that they "feel" love... so I want to look at love and the best definition that I've ever found. (If you look at the greek, this is a definition of agape love which is the love of self-sacrifice. Probably the most "true" definition of love)

1 Corinthians 13: 4-8a
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8Love never fails.

The Qualities of Love.. here they are:
-Patience (let's face it, we could all use more of that) :P
-Kindness
-Protection (not in a sexual way.. I could write a whole note on that one all on its own, but I'll leave that for another day)
-Trust
-Hope
-Perseverance
-Rejoicing with Truth

The Un-Qualities of Love.. here they are not:
-Envy
-Boastfulness
-Pride
-Rudeness.. haha is that a word?
-Selfishness
-Anger
-Keeping records of wrongs.. also known as "holding grudges" and let's face it, who isn't guilty of this?
-Delighting in Evil

Seem simple? If it does.. read it again. Some of those points could really use some more depth and explaination, but maybe I'll get into that on a different day.
For now, I want to challenge you.. hmm weird, I never thought I would say that... but I want to challenge you to Love! Love your friends, love your enemies, love your family, love the people you don't even know!
Or, maybe pick one thing from the list and focus on it for the next couple weeks. We don't all struggle with all of them, but I think everyone has trouble with at least one of them.
That being said, let's band together and make this world a better place.. now and forever. It's not too late... Persevere! :)
-Emily

Does Anybody Hear Her?
by Casting Crowns

She is running
A hundred miles an hour in the wrong direction
She is trying
But the canyon's ever widening
In the depths of her cold heart
So she sets out on another misadventure just to find
She's another two years older
And she's three more steps behind

Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?
Or does anybody even know she's going down today
Under the shadow of our steeple
With all the lost and lonely people
Searching for the hope that's tucked away in you and me
Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?

She is yearning
For shelter and affection
That she never found at home
She is searching
For a hero to ride in
To ride in and save the day
And in walks her prince charming
And he knows just what to say
Momentary lapse of reason
And she gives herself away

Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?
Or does anybody even know she's going down today
Under the shadow of our steeple
With all the lost and lonely people
Searching for the hope that's tucked away in you and me
Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?

If judgment looms under every steeple
If lofty glances from lofty people
Can't see past her scarlet letter
And we never even met her

If judgment looms under every steeple
If lofty glances from lofty people
Can't see past her scarlet letter
And we never even met her

Never even met her

Does anybody hear her? Does anybody see?
Or does anybody even knows she's going down today
Under the shadow of our steeple
With all the lost and lonely people
Searching for the hope that's tucked away in you and me

Does anybody hear her? Does anybody see?
Does anybody even know she's going down today?
Under the shadow of our steeple
With all the lost and lonely people
Searching for the hope that's tucked away in you and me
Does anybody hear her? Does anybody see?

He is running a hundred miles an hour in the wrong direction..

PART II It starts with YOU

So here it goes.. part II. Oh, and Happy Mother's Day! :)
I want to respond to Lucas's comment on my last note. In case you didn't read his comment. Here it is:

"I think that God will be wherever he is wanted, but God can't stop these tragedies. God gave us choice, and it is people's choices that are the cause of these disasters. Not necessarily the choices of the killers either, the choices of society, and society's treatment of the killers before and after these attacks."

Good point, Lucas. And now I'm going to delve into that even further.
I do agree that God will be wherever he is wanted... in some sense. I believe that he is everywhere ALL the time, but that doesn't mean that he is constantly interceding. I think, though, that God absolutely COULD stop these tragedies, but because he is giving us choice, he will not stop them. If he did, we would never learn from our mistakes. That being said, Yes God is merciful, but he also believes in consequences. If you think about, it, though. He has probably stoped many more incidences from happening that we are not aware of.
But yes, I agree, society is screwing up BIG TIME and by society I mean me and you. Not just the general "society" statement. Let's face it, this is personal. It starts with you.

And now I want to take a look at Arend's comment. I found it interesting. He said,
"thats pretty tough. ...i dont know where, but isnt there somewhere in the bible that it says something about how the people will call out for God, but he will be gone because they rejected him....thats really scary."

Arend, I am guessing that you were referring to Micah 3:4 which is talking about the Israelites when they were turning against God. I do believe, though, that God will respond to us if we are faithful to him and we need to keep in mind that he knows our hearts... creepy. Anyway, here's a story that Jesus told. It's a good one.

Luke 18
The Parable of the Persistent Widow
1Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. 3And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.'
4"For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men, 5yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!' "
6And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"


I think we need to ask ourselves that... "will he find faith on the earth?"

And now I'm going to leave you with lyrics to a song that is musically distasteful, but lyrically awesome.

Hero (Red Pill Remix)
-Superchick
Verse:
No one sits with him, he doesn't fit in
But we feel like we do when we make fun of him
Cause you want to belong do you go along?
Cause his pain is the price paid for you to belong
It's not like you hate him or want him to die
But maybe he goes home and thinks suicide
Or he comes back to school with a gun at his side
Any kindness from you might have saved his life

Tag:
Heroes are made when you make a choice

Chorus:
You could be a hero
Heroes do what's right
You could be a hero
You might save a life
You could be a hero, You could join the fight
For what's right for what's right for what's right

Verse:
No one talks to her, she feels so alone
She's in too much pain to survive on her own
The hurt she can't handle overflows to a knife
She writes on her arm, wants to give up her life
Each day she goes on is a day that she's brave,
Fighting the lie that giving up is the way,
Each moment of courage her own life she saves
When she throws the pills out a hero is made

Tag
Chorus

Verse:
No one talks to him about how he lives
He thinks that the choices he makes are just his
Doesn't know he's a leader with the way he behaves
And others will follow the choices he's made
He lives on the edge, he's old enough to decide
His brother who wants to be him is just nine
He can do what he wants because it's his right
The choices he makes change a nine year old's life

Tag
Chorus

Little Mikey D. was the one in class who everyday got brutally harassed
This went on for years until he decided that never again would he shed another tear
So he walked through the door, grabbed the four-four out of his father's dresser drawer
And said I can't take life no more
And like that life can be lost
But this ain't even about that
All of us just sat back and watched it happen
Thinkin' it's not my responsibility to solve a problem that isn't about me
This is our problem
This is just one of the daily scenarios which we choose to close our eyes
Instead of doing the right thing
If we make a choice and be the voice for those who won't speak up for themselves
How many lives would be saved, changed, rearranged
Now it's our time to pick a side
So don't keep walkin' by
Not wantin' to intervene
Cause you wanna exist and never be seen
So let's wake up and change the world
Our time is now

Chorus:
You could be a hero
Heroes do what's right (our time is now)
You could be a hero
You might save a life (our time is now)
You could be a hero, (our time is now) You could join the fight

THERE WILL BE MANY MORE BLOGS AFTER THIS ONE

Recently I felt the need to focus on a particular issue. I haven't written about it yet because I didn't know where to start. I still don't. For this reason, I'm re-posting an e-mail that I received. I want to hear your comments and I will write my next blog in response to your responses.

Dear God:
Why didn't you save the school children at:

Virginia Tech 04/16/07

Amish Country, PA

Wisconsin

Columbine High School

Moses Lake , Washington 2/2/96

Bethel , Alaska 2/19/97

Pearl , Mississippi 10/1/97

West Paducah , Kentucky 12/1/97

Stam! p, Arkansas 12/15/97

Jonesboro , Arkansas 3/24/98

Edinboro , Pennsylvania 4/24/98

Fayetteville , Tennessee 5/19/98

Springfield , Oregon 5/21/98

Richmond , Virginia 6/15/98

Littleton , Colorado 4/20/99

Taber , Alberta , Canada 5/28/99

Conyers , Georgia 5/20/99

Deming , New Mexico 11/19/99

Fort Gibson , Oklahoma 12/6/99

Santee , California 3/ 5/01 and

El Cajon , California 3/22/01

Sincerely,

Concerned Student

--------------------------

---------------------------

Reply:

Dear Concerned Student:

I am not allowed in schools.

Sincerely,

God


How did this get started?...


I think it started when Madeline Murray O'Hare complained
she didn't want any prayer in our schools.
And we said, OK..

Then ,

someone said you better not read the Bible in school,
the Bible that says
"thou shalt! not kill,
thou shalt not steal,
and love your neighbors as yourself,"
And we said, OK...

Dr. Benjamin Spock said
we shouldn't spank our children
when they misbehaved
because their little personalities
would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem.
And we said,
an expert should know what he's talking about
so we won't spank them anymore..


Then someone said
teachers and principals better not
discipline our children when they misbehave.
And the school administrators said
no faculty member in this school
better touch a student when they misbehave
because we don't want any bad publicity,
and we surely don't want to be sued.
And we accepted their reasoning...


Then someone said,
let's let our daughters have abortions if they want,
and they won't even have to tell their parents.
And we said, that's a grand idea...


Then some wise school board member said,
since boys will be boys
and they're going to do it anyway,
let's give our sons all the condoms they want,
so they can have all the fun they desire,
and we won't have to tell their parents they got them at school.
And we said, that's another great idea...


Then some of our top elected officials said
it doesn't matter what we do in private as long as we do our jobs.
And we said,
it doesn't matter what anybody,
including the President,
does in private as long as we have jobs and the economy is good....

And someone else took that appreciation a step further
and published pictures of nude children
and then stepped further still by
making them available on the Internet.
And we said, everyone's entitled to free speech....


And the entertainment industry said,

let's make TV shows and movies that promote
profanity, violence and illicit sex...
And let's record music that encourages
rape, drugs, murder and suicide

And we said,
it's just entertainment
and it has no adverse effect
and nobody takes it seriously anyway,
so go right ahead.

Now we're asking ourselves
why our children have no conscience,
why they don't know right from wrong,
and why it doesn't bother them to
kill strangers, classmates or even themselves.


Undoubtedly,
if we thought about it long and hard enough,
we could figure it out.

"We Reap What We Sow"
(Galatians 6:7)