A few thoughts

Well, it's way to late for this mama to be awake, but I fell asleep on the couch at 8:30 tonight and when Marvin woke me up to go to our bedroom I couldn't sleep. So after tossing and turning I decided I need to get up and write down all the thoughts going through my head, hopefully it will help me sleep. Here goes nothing.....

Living in a different country changed my outlook on things. Sometimes I find myself being overly critical of the country I am from and sometimes I am overwhelmingly thankful. I have never been so thankful for the freedom we have as Americans since living in a place where that wasn't a part of life. I think back on the generations who have given their lives just so we can have freedom. Most of us as Americans don't understand what that word means let alone appreciate those who continue to fight for it. I am thankful that I don't have to show my id at every city I travel to, I can cross state borders without any checkpoints and heavy military presence. These are just a few freedoms that come to my mind right now. I want to thank those who have served our country or are currently serving our country for defending things we all take for granted.

Now there are some things that also really bug me. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't see a news story reporting on the increases of gasoline prices. Finally I think us American are starting to examine our lives but I think we feel entitled to this "American Dream". We want a house, 2 cars, a dog, kids and we don't want to pay too much for anything. The other day the president was pushing to start more drilling here in our own country for oil. You would think that lessening our dependency on foreign oil would be a good thing, but there were several criticisms to this plan. One of these was from those who don't want to see our coast lines become cluttered with oil rigs, they desire to preserve the beauty of our country. Now there isn't anything wrong with this essentially. To be quite honest I am sure I wouldn't want to look out my window and see a big oil rig, but I think it is very interesting that we as American would rather just have these things out of sight, we would rather clutter another country's shoreline and complain about how we can't afford gas. I have no idea if this is the solution, but attitudes like these shed a little light into why the world hates our country.

Okay on to a new subject, worship. Several things have been rolling around in my brain recently about this subject. I have been thinking a lot about a comment my father-in-law made that church isn't about entertaining us. I think he hit that point right on. I got to thinking about how my heart connects during worship and the songs that resonate with my heart usually aren't hymns, there are a few that touch my heart very deeply but in general it's the new stuff that really allows me to enter into Father's court. Now I was thinking about this and how worship has changed over the years. I think it is impossible to ignore this fact but at the same time I think we at times emphasize it too much and many times use it for our own entertainment. There is definitely a fine line. I saw an add on TV for a church that advertised that it was a lot of fun because the music was great, church should be more than a show. My heart is encouraged by the body and worshiping together and yes it is fun, but as I saw that ad I was convicted to challenge my heart to worship the King and not the experience.

Well it looks like my brain is getting tired. So it's off to bed. Hopefully I will be rested enough when my hungry little boy makes me get out of bed in the morning. Goodnight.