I'm reading The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis right now. What a great story, peopled with greats, and a premise we all want deep in our souls. Maybe you want to give it a shot. It's short and flowing.

The Man at the Mattress Store

I had to swing by Eckerd's yesterday afternoon to refill some medication. Nope, not my anti-depressant, but another "fixer-upper" I won't go into. See, they used to just call some pills "uppers." But who wants to say "uppers?" Now, "fixer-upper," yeah boy. That's okay.

Shoot, we're eating nothing but poison these days. No wonder everybody's mental. Don't get me started on what we've done to God's good earth. Being the highest members of the food chain doesn't entitle us to do whatever we want with His creation. 'Nuff said on that. I want to tell you about the man outside the mattress store.

He possessed one of those distinguished airs. Out of place on the gray concrete of the strip shopping center. It was easier to picture him in a kelly green golf shirt, stupidly preppy pants-embroidered with hippos or umbrellas or goldfish--and you have to admire a man that can wear such garments and still talk about things like business investments, the Orioles or the great steak he had the night before--stepping catlike on a fuzzy green up at Maryland Golf and Country Club. Although, the outfit he wore might have blended in perfectly during dinner at the club--his navy blazer, pressed khakis, school tie and white buttoned down. It was the way he wore them too, in the same comfort as an onion sports it's tawny paper.

But there he stood, smoking a cigarette, on the gray pavement outside a mattress store, taking a break from selling mattresses all day long.

And how did he end up there?

grace to you today,

lisa

Grace in the Strangest Places

For some reason, I like the women other women despise. Take Tammy Faye Bakker Messner for example. I love that woman. I love her sincerity, her kookiness, her smile. I'm sorry she's taken very ill with lung cancer. Did you know that Pamela Anderson has been helping her during this time of illness? Tammy Faye was very caring during Pamela A.'s divorce and now they are friends.

Tammy Faye wears lots of makeup. Uh-yeah, Lisa. Thanks for noticing.

There was another woman who wore lots of make up. My fave bombshell, Marilyn Monroe. She said she wore all that makeup at premieres because those way across the street in Times Square who came to get a view of her wouldn't have seen her without it. She didn't want to disappoint them. Here's a great quote from M.M.

"I don't understand why people aren't a little more generous with each other."

Me either.

But hey, take a look at Tammy Faye and Pam Anderson. Grace comes in the craziest of disguises and I for one am glad it does. Ever thought about praying for these two ladies? Maybe we should be a little more generous with them just as they have been generous toward one another. What do you think?

grace, lisa

New Directions

Okay, I'm already bored with the fundamentalists' quotes. It's weirding me out thinking about people assigning such sexuality to such benign, God-pleasing activities. I read a note on the same website as my last quote about The Passion, and the woman had to beg God's forgiveness after seeing it. I'm not doubting her sincerity at all. But after I saw The Passion, I felt such a renewed spirit of repentence and a willingness to lay it all on the line for Him. Which God is requiring of my family more and more.

So . . . met with a wonderful group of ladies in Littlestown, PA on Saturday at The Littlestown Chapel. They had read The Church Ladies. We had a great discussion at the church and they took me out to lunch in Westminster, Maryland to The Fat Cat Cafe. It's cool to connect with sisters-in-Christ like that. I wish I did more of this, but I have to wait as they come. I'm doing on-line book clubs now and had my first one last month. That was a hoot, too. Those ladies were from Texas. It seems that no matter where we live, we sisters just jump on that relating wagon and off we go. Feminists go on and on about 'sisterhood.' Let me tell you, those ladies don't know the half of what those words can mean.

The pressure of being a woman in a man's world?

Pah! How about the pressure of being a woman in the church? Gloria Steinham wouldn't last ten minutes!

And yes, we can be hard to deal with, (and for those of us in conservative churches and denominations, being in subjection to only male leadership isn't always fun and games), but there are those moments, during heart-to-heart conversation or serving alongside one another, that we shine the light of Christ. And it is good.

My husband Will is listening to God's call for ministry and we'll be heading off to seminary next year. If you've read The Church Ladies, this happens to the main character at just about my age. I swear. :-

How about you, though? God calling you to a new direction? Want to share with me or the blog? Email me at lesamson@hotmail.com. My husband always says, "God's Busy!" How's He leading you? Are you even 'part of the program?' Sure hope so. Wouldn't want you to miss out!

grace, lady, to you today. yes, i mean you!!

lisa

Amy in Washington gets the John Fischer book! Yes. Hope you enjoy it.

Been off the blog recently, so I'll jump right in. Amy's email made me actually want to hop on!

Here's the creepy quote for the day:

“June 14, 2000 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) -- While most of the music produced by Majesty Music of Greenville, South Carolina (headed up by Ron and Shelly Hamilton), is excellent, we must warn that some of the newer recordings are moving in a contemporary direction. This is particularly true of the newer Patch the Pirate children’s tapes.

The Mount Zion Marathon tape for example, has a song titled "Lazy Bones," which is certainly akin to rock music. It uses a syncopated rhythm with a heavy, synthesized bass. The music would be right at home in a nightclub or a sleazy Broadway play and could easily conjure up such unwholesome images as that of a saucy woman sauntering across a stage. Though it is tame compared to much of the standard CCM fare today, Patch the Pirate’s "Lazy Bones" will help develop an appetite in children for worldly music.”

This part was my particular favorite:

"The music would be right at home in a nightclub or a sleazy Broadway play and could easily conjure up such unwholesome images as that of a saucy woman sauntering across a stage."

Gross! This guy needs to clean up his mind if children's music brings such thoughts to his dirty brain. I swear, this mentality brings a dirty mindset to completely innocent activity. And why isn't it okay for Patch the Pirate to "conjure up such wholesome images" but it's fine for Cloud to just come right out and say it! What's the difference?

I honestly feel sorry for a guy that's got such a sexual mindset he can even walk the street without feeling tempted. Let's take a moment to pray for David Cloud.

I'm serious!

grace,

lisa

I Can't Believe Somebody Wrote This: No. 2

Regarding music:

from this website - http://www.wayoflife.org

“Not only does the CCM crowd not care about what conservative Bible-believing Christians think about their music, they do even not want conservative Christians at their concerts. They want people who will dance and sway and yield their bodies to the sensual music." David W. Cloud

Eew!

He thinks we're all getting sexually stimulated at Christian concerts?! Yeah, that Third Day, they get people going every time! The funny thing is, he'd probably lump Bill Gaither in with this. Oh, yeah. Bill Gaither. With that perm? what a hottie!

David Cloud. Dude. Eeew!!

Whoa

I was surfing the internet last night under "fundamentalism" and was reading about women wearing pants and that wicked CCM (Christian Contemporary Music). I have to admit these people throw me right into the arena of sin and I do nothing to stop it. I think all sorts of disparaging thoughts about brothers and sisters in Christ. Honestly, though, some of it is just gross. Especially the concentration on "sensuality" when it comes to music and the accusations that Christians who like praise and worship are getting a sexual thrill from 'the beat.' I'll be putting up several quotes today from David W. Cloud's website. Man, I wish I had the extra time he does to write copious discharges on the devil's music and women's hair and clothing. Then again, I have time for blogging so who am I to judge?

On a different, less disgusted note, do you ever have mornings where you wake up and say, "God help me." And mean it? No strings. No requests or stipulations. That was me this morning.

grace.

Really cool article on the idolatry of the KJV-Only crowd.

http://www.mainstreambaptists.org/mob/Whyobject.htm

I Swear Somebody Wrote This: No. 1

"If the King James Was Good Enough for Paul, It's Good Enough for Me!

This statement is usually made in a sarcastic manner in order to embarrass Bible believers in their belief. The FACT is, the King James Bible WAS good enough for Paul, as well as Peter, Luke, and Jesus Christ."

Wanna read the entire article?

http://www.baptistlink.com/godandcountry/html/kjv_enough_for_paul_.0

Is there anything better than Chic Fil-A?

I think not! Had some nuggets for dinner. Dessert island food? Oh, yeah!

I haven't slept well in months and last night, six hours of straight sleep. I couldn't believe it when I woke up and the sun was already creeping into the bedroom. I feel like a new person. Blood Type diet, day two, going great.

Had a great talk with a friend this morning about "the church." Why is it so many 'evangelicals' will come out in droves against homosexual marriage, but could care less about AIDS? "Well they bring it on themselves, why should I care?" I have heard people say. My answer is, God cares. No wonder homosexuals think Christians hate them. If I was scared and sick or worried I might contract a deadly virus and someone only cared about what I did in my bedroom, turned their back on my very real, physical ills and emotional needs, well I guess I'd think they were hateful.

Homosexuals not allowed, malicious gossipers put up with on a daily basis. I don't get it. I don't get why we've zeroed in on this. Jerry Falwell should be ashamed of himself for finger-pointing without lending a hand. WWJD? He'd heal this community and love them.

Maybe I'm just getting too liberal in my old age. Stay tuned each day for a "shocking quote" from an Christian website.

grace to all.

check out www.thedoormagazine.com

I tried to get this on here as a link but, typically for me, I couldn't get it to work. I'm not surprised by this one bit.

Another book you might want to check out is a book by a writer-friend of min, John Fischer. Fearless Faith. It is right on! (I sort of miss 60's speak, don't you?) Read this book if you want to walk down the street and not be scared of the people around you. Read this book if you want to know who the true enemy of the believer is. Read this book if you want to be freed up to love as Jesus did.

First person that responds to this blog by emailing me at lesamson@hotmail.com gets a free copy of this book. It's that important. I'll slip in one of my books too if you want one. Let me know in the email.

Do you ever have a day when all your stuff wears you down? I swear, if I could just take the roof off of my house, tip the darn building on its side and shake, shake, I'd do it. I guess I'd have to box up my books first. Yeah, I can't ever seem to get rid of a book, even if I hated it. Anybody else long for their own library?

Grace on this day.

check out

Alone in the House

This is so rare. And here I sit at the keyboard. I've a thousand things to do. Ten thousand things that need putting in their place. And here I sit at the keyboard. Well, at least I'm not gaming. I don't game. There I admit it.

Got the book on diets 4 your blood type yesterday from Amazon. Great stuff. It figures, I'm Type A which does best with a vegetarian diet. I love meat. Still, I'm going to give it a go and see if it helps my depression. I'm so sick of this monkey on my back. Sick of taking a pill every day. There's got to be a better way.

These days, it's okay to be depressed and on meds. But inside of me, I feel like someone who can't get her act together. Something's been very wrong inside of me for a couple of weeks now and I'm praying for God to just step in and take me away from myself. I get in my own way all the time.

Today will be better, though. I'm actually going to get at the upstairs of my house which right now looks like a tag sale in the bargain basement! Say a prayer for me, huh?

Grace.

Gwynnie had a 24 hour migraine. She's only seven and I feel so sorry for her. But the medicine finally worked for good and she's happy, fed, and watching Freaky Friday.

I found out today that some of the hollywood women have had ribs removed to make them thinner. This is great. Women have made such strides and now we're disfiguring our bodies. I'm sure these people would describe themselves as feminists, but are they feminine? And is being feminine being the most ultimate feminist? I would say yes. I am woman, 36-32-41. (I just took my measurements to make sure, and my hips are 3 inches bigger than I thought, o, joy!) I have all my ribs, all my original cellulite, having-nursed-babies bazooms and upper arms that are increasingly puffing up as I age!

We should celebrate this, at least when we're not comparing ourselves to the rib-challenged.

God created us to be nuturing softies. I truly believe this. Yep, the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. Only nowadays, we're doing things with the other hand too: writing, painting, running factory machines, teaching, doctoring, and, in essence, redeeming life and making it better than when we found it.

Personally, my stomach and liver are a little too valuable to me to remove that boney protection that shields them.

Another rumor: Demi Moore runs 15 miles a day and works out 2 hours in the gym to look like that!

Well, that's freeing! Who the heck has the time for *that*?

Heading off to steal some candy from an Easter basket or two! Might I suggest you do the same?

Grace.

I've been up since two-freakin'-thirty! I just can't sleep these days. Started on a proposal. Surfed the 'net for beads, because I love making jewelry. Surfed for stage design for church because we're hopefully going to be moving into something new. We've got some old-fashioned hold-outs and sometimes I long to be in a church where no one tells me "That looks like an entertainment stage!" if I dare to move the biggity butt thrones we have up there. And yet, God's called us here right now. Some people are really there to lay down their lives. Others are there to pick up those lives and their own as well, and walk around with them clutched to their stomachs like they really do own them. But I have to believe that God's working. I've seen too much happen to think otherwise. Still, I struggle. As an artist, a mother, a wife and a servant, I struggle at this place. I've been around too much to know there isn't a perfect church out there, but most Sunday's I'm scared to enter in because I wonder if this will be the day me and the praise band step over the line.

Yet I think this temporary confinement is building up muscle from pushing against it. Once we break free, wow. I have to believe it will happen. I have hope it will. I have to. Because if I can't serve here, maybe the truth of the matter is, I can't serve anywhere. I have to be faithful no matter what, but I sure wish my attitude was better, that I had the Jesus Reaction right up front. Will I ever be like that?

I was driving to church yesterday morning, me and the fam, getting there early for praise team practice, and I felt such relief that it was Easter. Having been so connected to Good Friday this year, I wanted to almost cry out "Hallelujah, He is risen!" as we drove by the cornfield across the street from our church. I felt such a gloriousness, such happiness melt away the suffering as it hit me that Christ still lives, that He survived the pain and the death. Eyes of fire. Hair as white as wool. That's Him now. Man, I'm so glad! If He'd stayed in that tomb, I would be, "of all men, most miserable."

The choir wasn't as frightening as I thought we'd be. So it just goes to show you that God is in the business of redemption. Even in the small things like our church choir. O me of little faith.

Fun time at my sister Lori's house afterwards. The traditional egg hunt spearheaded by my brother-in-law, pastor, and friend, Tim. Pretty dresses all over. Jake's hair sprouting on top of his head like one of the Bay City Rollers. Gwynnie looking like a little fairie and Tyler, a glistening, sparkly teenage girl that leaves behind a shimmering trail of what? If I could say, maybe I could repeat the process instead of continuing in this sometimes weird, sometimes good, sometimes horrifying process of aging.

Grace.

He is risen, indeed!

A fresh image of the beaten Christ came to me around midnight last night as I rolled around trying to get to sleep. It was from The Passion: that horrible moment when one feels relief that the cat o' ninetails has finally finished. The Roman Centurian then planes his hand, flips it over, and so his soldiers obey, and the lashing begins again. I felt the same nausea as I did watching the picture. And I couldn't help but say over and over, "Why me? Why me?"

Why would He do that for me? Certainly I'm not worthy and never could or will be no matter how much I grow spiritually.

And so I'm faced with the image of the crushed Christ and I cannot turn from it and walk away, for it follows me. Even as a believer it follows me and says, "Why you? Why you?" And I can only answer with tears and a bruised, saddened heart, a convicted soul and a gratitude for which words will never suffice.

"Why not you?" He asks, resurrected now, blood having been shed, whole again.

It was God's will to crush Him. For God loved the world that He gave Him. For God is love. For here is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Why not me? I learned the answer to that question at the age of three, and today, resurrection day, I remember that day, kneeling at the pillows on my mother's bed, coming to faith as a tiny child, and I can truly say with full assurance, "He is risen indeed." I am restored. I have been brought from death to life. Today is my resurrection day too, in Christ, thanks be to God.

I think I've eaten almost an entire bag of crispy M&M eggs. Crap.

Well, now this is linked to my website so I'd better be more faithful with this. I'm not all that hot at keeping up on things. My bedroom looks like a deer came in from the woods and ran around a spell before disappearing in a flash of white tail and dark hooves. Okay, maybe that was overstating it a bit and it smacks too much of someone trying to sound poetic and missing the mark. Actually, it looks like bedroom stew. I stir it once a week and it still manages to go right back the way it was.

Yesterday was Good Friday, and once again I have to wonder about a God who loves so lavishly. I read some wack letter by a Christian hater on the internet. I've got to admit it, my first thought was, "What a boob." I'd like to say I have the Jesus Reaction first off. But I don't. It really colored my Good Friday, thinking about his rantings that he proclaimed "devastating" to Christianity. Basically it raised a lot of questions then said, "And all the burden of proof is on you. All I have to do is ask the questions." A lot of the "what ifs" were just crazy. And I guess I could go into them here, but I won't. I realized, though, this morning, that God loves this guy too. Like Jesus said, "What's so great if you love those who love you? Love your enemies and that's where the reward comes in." (LS Paraphrase!) If God is love, He loves those who hate Him, like this Christian-hater. So then, I guess I don't really have a choice but to love him too.

Anyway, this thought came to me about it all. He calls his questions "devastating" but in reality he's doing all us annoying Christians a favor. He's making us answer them, even in our own minds, and in the end causing our faith to be strengthened. That's pretty cool. I'll take it.

And his knee is going to bow someday to this Lord Jesus he despised on the earth.

So today is the day Christ was lying in the tomb and doing all sorts of things behind the scenes. I'm feeling quiet today, and soon I have to leave to go practice with the worst choir in Christendom for the Easter service tomorrow. I wrote about a choir in my book The Church Ladies. To be honest, this is even worse than what I imagined in that little fictional foray. I'm the pianist. And I think I'm the worst one!

Grace.