Week Thirty-One in Review

I can't believe we are finished with another week.  This week seemed to fly past.  I had my last two days with the woman I've replaced at CHOA.  We had two packed days and then I was on my own.  Even though it's only been three days, I've already had a couple things come up that I had to handle and I knew what to do and felt confident doing it.  There's still a pretty big learning curve but it's a great position to be in.  I have a great team, great support in my supervisors and the job is challenging.  I'm still getting used to working on children's issues and what we discuss every day is difficult but I'm getting there.  I know I'm right where God wants me so that's an added bonus.

Spiritually, this has been an interesting week.  I've had lots of thoughts running bouncing around in my head.  Some of it has centered on the Chick-Fil-A "controversy" and some of them are convictions for me on what I've been reading this week.  I'm not rehashing the controversy here - that's been done to death.  What I will say is that the Cathy family is standing on biblical principles and as a private company are free to give their money to whatever groups they wish.  While I don't agree with the tactics of all the organizations they support, as long as Chick isn't discriminating against people in their restaurants, I'm satisfied.  What I've been thinking about is how leaders (both Christian and governmental) have responded.  For the most part, Christian leaders urged support for Cathy and his company but I wonder if we as Christians went far enough.  We support Dan Cathy but did our response last week advance the gospel?  Did we pray for the leaders of Boston, San Francisco, and Chicago as much as we vilified them?  If you're like me, the answer to that is no.  Funny - Jesus commands us to pray for our leaders.  Just pray - not pray if you agree with them, just pray for them.  They responded the way a non-Christian would...and why would we expect differently?  Their hearts haven't been changed by the grace of the gospel.  And here's how this ties into what I read this week...in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles, the writers outline how Manasseh and Josiah repented and followed after the heart of God.  God responded to their repentance and spared them destruction in their lifetimes.  What if we prayed consistently for our leaders to repent of their support of what God calls evil (homosexuality, abortion, etc.)?  What could happen if powerful leaders in this country repented and turned from their "wicked ways?"  What if we as Christians modeled this behavior?  What changes could we possibly see?  I don't claim to know all the answers but I'm going to continue to pray for my leaders - and pray for God to move.

Long story short, we as Christians can't totally insulate ourselves from the world and we shouldn't try to.  Sure, we should stand up when someone is attacked BUT, we should also stand up when someone is taken advantage of, discriminated against because of their skin color or ethnicity, abused, neglected or abandoned. If we want to make a difference, we have to be known as much (or more) for what we are FOR (justice, freedom from oppression, advancement of the gospel) than what we are against.  Sadly, we aren't there yet.

Officially off my soapbox. :-) Highlight of the week, I got a new (well, new to me) couch this week.  Yay for me!  My old one was from 1995 and had been lovingly used for 10 years before I got it and I've had it and loved it HARD for six.  It was way past its prime. The woman I replaced at CHOA was looking to sell hers so she didn't have to move it to Chicago.  So, I got a two-year old couch for REALLY cheap.  It's so comfy and easily adds space for someone to sleep on since it's almost the width of a twin bed when the back cushions are removed.  I love it because I can sit on it and work on my laptop much more comfortably than before. Again, yay for me!   

Don't have too much on the agenda for this week.  That's a good thing - the last two weekends have been a bit crazy so I can use a slow workweek to recover.  I do have at least one more book review to post and one to write and post.  Hopefully that will also happen this week.  More next time.