Help, I'm Lost in an Un-factual SharkNado

Don't get me wrong I love Shark Week, but they repeatedly stray away from real science and move into sensationalism.

Last night they aired a show about Tonic Immobility called "Zombie Sharks". The findings they shared were already proved science thanks to research by Mike Rutzen. The biggest difference in Rutzen's findings and the rehash in Zombie Sharks was that Sharks were painted as aggressive man eaters, but in Rutzens they were portrayed as predators.

Shark's and by extension most marine predators are treated like monsters. When is the last time you turned on an nature program about big cats and saw them painted as ravenous blood thirsty killers. We're working on conserving them. Not giving them a reason to be feared. With sharks we've realized that blood sells a lot better than conservation.

We can't be surprised when we see that people refuse to give up overfishing and hunting down sharks when they're seen as monsters who have to be stopped. The battle for conservation has be played out in a way that paints sharks as predators to be respected and not as monsters to be feared.

There is Something Inside of Me That My Circumstances Can’t Contain

The last few months have been some of the hardest that I’ve ever had to go through. It honestly has felt like treading water in the ocean with no land in sight. I’m thankful that I’ve had an amazing support team in my family and friends but when I get home at night it’s just me and God who have deal with my internal struggles.

At one of my lowest days I was at work and instead of my usual play list of acoustic feel good jams and racy Latin music I switched over to a round table discussion of the Bible, current events, and other things that Christians talk about. The leader of this discussion was a pastor who has poured into my family often and I trusted what he had to say on a lot of what was talked about. Many of the members of his forum I had known as well, some very well, but most just in passing. I didn’t know their stories or their hardships. But I was hungry for something God was saying. After all, he and I were arguing, and like any good relationship weren’t speaking, perhaps he could use another mouthpiece.

Most of the 20-minute YouTube discussions were uplifting, and they strengthened my faith. But there was something said in one segment that lifted my head from my bad mood.

“I won’t let go of this situation until it has blessed me.”

(Gen. 32: 22-31)

In Genesis Jacob is given a new identity, many times people confuse this identity with that of Abraham. They assume Israel is the father of many nations. Which he was the father of a Nation but that was not why he was given a new name. The fact that he had two wives, two concubines and half a million kids is why he’s the father of a nation. The reason he is called Israel is because he had fought against strife and prevailed.

When you read Genesis 32 it’s hard to see why he prevailed, he was running from his brother, his father in-law hated him so much he kicked the entire family off of his land; including his two daughters and 11 grand children. Even when he literally fought with God his hip was displaced and he walked crooked, which would seriously debilitate a nomadic person like Jacob. Why Jacob was considered to have prevailed in this fight was something he said to God at this time.

“I will not let go unless you bless me.” Much like the woman with the issue of blood Jacob saw the face of God and knew that only he could change his circumstances. Jacob was in a place where everything in his life was set up to do him harm. Even God came out of nowhere and beat the crap out of him. But he saw something in the face of God and he knew that his circumstances did not define him.

For me I have to believe that my situations and my circumstances are in my life because I am to be blessed by them. I am not in them to be punished but I am in them because they prepare me for greatness.

I will not let go of this hardship until it is bursting at the seams with blessings. Until every dollar I don’t have today becomes one hundred dollars. Until every dream that isn’t fulfilled becomes a reality over flowing fulfillment and runs over onto every one I meet. I am not letting go until this circumstance cannot physically contain me because I have been blessed so much that it is intellectually impossible for me to have come from that circumstance to this outcome.

I have seen the face of God and my life has been delivered.

All Encompassing Love

I've had this blog welling up inside of me for quite some time now. I've started it several times, but it comes out angry or very judgmental. With a title like I've chosen some how the mood seemed to bog down the message I want to convey.
Usually I start these blogs when I get that over whelming sense of wanting to vomit after listening to a pastor preach against "sin" or a FaceBook friend condemn another persons lifestyle. Usually I'd get so pissed off with "righteous anger" that I just became the same bigoted person they were, only my bigotry was focused on fellow christians.
I once told a friend "How high does my pedestal have to be if I'm looking down on someone for being on their own pedestal."
It goes with out saying that we should all take my good pal Jesus' advice about getting planks out of ourselves before we help someone else with their splinter.

What really calmed me down and got me to climb down from my perch was some place I thought I'd never hear God. A real working Catholic Church.
To preface this, I am a firm believer God talks EVERYWHERE. He's spoken to me through Niki Minaj, through Buddhist Temples, and through fellow Christians. While I believe Catholics and Christians are the same, the icon driven form of worship just wasn't my style. Yet, when visiting friends in Ireland I wanted to stop in and look over some architecture at an old church.
When having a look around I noticed they had statues up of Jesus earthly family; His grandmother, his mother and Joseph his father/step-father. Beside each of these statues were prayers.
When reading them it was the prayer to Joseph that spoke to me deepest.
"O St. Joseph, who opened your heart to the earthly body of Jesus Christ, open my heart to love others as you loved our Savior." Reading these words brought home that righteous anger I'd felt every time before only it didn't make me angry. It made me squish my chin up and swallow back tears. It made me feel love.

When I think of the birth of Jesus I don't usually think about Joseph. I think about Mary, I think about Jesus, I think about shepherds and wise men, and I think about wether or not the Roman government would really let their pawn Harrod kill a bunch a kids for a prophetic vendetta. (but that's another blog for another time) The person I don't think about is Jospeh.
Joseph as most of you probably know was engaged to Mary. Sweet young virginal Mary, who got knocked up out of wedlock. Joseph like any well behaved man of the time peaced out on her and broke off their engagement. However thanks to some divine intervention Joseph and Mary made up just short of appearing on Jerry Springer. Usually at Christmas that's where Joseph's story ends. In the Bible he also doesn't get much more face time than that. But I want to really talk about Joseph for a moment. I'm sure Joseph's struggles didn't end when that Angel told him the kid was to be the Messiah. When little baby Jesus was crying in the middle of the night and it was Joseph's turn to get up with him I'm sure he resented him just a little bit. When Jesus broke one of Joseph's tools trying to help he probably wanted to explode at him. When Jesus took off to teach at the synagog and Joseph and Mary looked all day for him fearing the worst I'm sure Joseph wished that some other couple would have been God's choice. But despite humanity Joseph overcame and showed Jesus compassion and love as his son. Joseph broke with every tradition and concept that he'd been taught so that he could love Jesus. When we look at the book of Matthew, or Luke the Angel of God never told Joseph he had to love Jesus, he just told him he had to go back to Mary.  The fact of the matter is God's law prior to the Angel talking to Joseph is that he should drag Mary before the whole town and stone her to death for adultery.

Joseph broke social norms in the name of love. He broke what was interpreted as God's law in the name of love.
Let that sink in.

A lot of times I hear people using the Bible (as the inspired word of God) to create an Us versus Them situation.
"Our God, won't allow evil to come on us. " So what you're saying is God will only protect you from evil if you pay your tithes, go to church and don't do anything your pastor wouldn't approve of?
"Our God, will punish the homosexuals/adulters/democrats/abortionists/ect." So, Once you've stepped outside of what traditional Church thinks God now hates you?
"Your god may tell you to have peace but OUR GOD WILL HAVE JUSTICE!" So, God only justifies people who have never tried another religion?

If you were to read the Bible you'd find each of those statements to in error. "Our" God came to earth and never punished any one who sinned. You can find that detailed in Matthew through John, usually in the letters in red. Jesus only ever admonished any one who judged others. His ultimate goal was to do just what is earthly and heavenly fathers taught him. To throw out a social concept and to just love people.

If you take anything away from this blog I hope it's an idea of just how much God wants us to love each other. We're not called to tell people they're wrong or they're living in sin. We're called to tell people we love them, and Jesus loves them too.