Church is not for everyone….

/ Gina Marie / 2 Comments

Imagine yourself sitting in the pew (or nice, cushioned chair) in your church. Maybe your church is very small and older, or maybe it is a newer mega church with auditorium sitting. Either way, you are there – can you imagine it? For me, the best thought I have is when our Pastor has a call for anyone to come forward and accept Christ – when he does that and when someone responds, I can’t help buy cry (it’s true, I am a baby!)! Another sister or brother in Christ! Amen!

So, back to imagining yourself sitting in church – who would you want to come to the service?

  • An embezzler?
  • An alcoholic?
  • A druggie?
  • A divorcee?
  • A murderer?
  • A sinner?

I hope your response was YES to all of the above. I mean, we should want everyone to come to church to learn and know Christ. Heck, if I take the bible to be true, I am no better than anyone else EXCEPT I am saved by the grace of Jesus Christ. Anyway, most people I talk to wholeheartedly agree that we should expect, even WANT them there…..To be touched by those who have found the peace, love, and compassion of Christ.

You agree? Right on!

However, this is the place where I lead so many – and lose so many. Add to the list homosexual and many of my Christian brothers and sisters run like mad. “You would want those people in church?!?!!? Unbelievable!”

I want to scream – HELLO! Sin is sin is sin. Why do Christians, Evangelical especially, hiss and moan when this sin is mentioned. Why is that? Why is this sin one that we don’t want Christ to heal? Why don’t we PRAY for homosexuals to run into our churches to find salvation? Why can’t we, as a community, embrace these people and show them the love Christ poured out to so many sinners – to sinners like us????

You might say that this sin of homosexuality repulses you – that it is an abomination. I don’t dispute it. However, do you embrace murder? Do you rejoice when a fellow human is slave to alcohol or drugs? I think not. So why can’t you pray and seek peace for gays?

You may be wondering why I am writing this. I am sick and tired of so many hurting people in our world being afraid of coming into the house of the Lord because CHRISTIANS scream at them, show them no love, and make church the last place in the world they will go. I could even claim that many Christians straight out show hate to these people.

Today I read an email written by a homosexual – this young person was writing about ending their life because they were tired of it. They didn’t want to be gay, but they had nowhere to go for help, LOVE, and COMPASSION. They felt rejection, contempt, hate…..

And I say – shame on me, shame on you, shame on all these churches that ostracize homosexuals. Sin is sin. Damn it – we can’t be selective and not reach out to ALL sinners. I am so glad I didn’t make the “black list” or else I’d be damned to hell.

I, for one, am changing my ways. We need to love. Read your bible – God said it much better than me.

Remembering 9/11

/ Gina Marie / 1 Comment

I wrote this in 2001, but the memories are very fresh…..

A Day of Horror and Sadness….

“Our nation was horrified, but its not going to be terrorized. We’re a great nation, we’re a nation of resolve, we’re a nation that can’t be cowed by evil doers…” President George W. Bush, September 16, 2001.

As I sit here and type this, I have been through a similar week as you…..I watched in horror as so many of our fellow citizens died tragically and without good reason. I don’t need to tell you the details; you have heard them all week on TV, radio, through the internet, in magazines, and in the papers. September 11, 2001 will forever be remembered.

We all need to stand behind our President and this country and I pray for its future during this most disturbing time. I pray for the families that have irrevocably been affected by this action against our country. I pray for the thousands of people who, at this very moment, continue to search for survivors and who are planning this country’s response to terrorists abroad.

Having said that, I must thank the heroes that are nameless. Let us not forget all that have come together to help heal this country. For the neighbor that is hanging their flag(s) proudly, for the stranger on the street who now will notice when others need help, for those who will risk their lives to save others. We are Americans and will stand together even in this horrible time. I am proud to be associated with so many heroes and strive to be one myself.

Finally, I ask all who are reading this to know Jesus loves you and wants to have a personal relationship with you. Some of you know this, but if you think of God as a mysterious or unattainable “thing” (or even non-existent), please reconsider. Tuesday was a reminder of how short our lives really are, and I must attest that without him in my life, Tuesday would have sent me into an abyss of hopelessness.

New York and Washington – yes, the entire country – was changed forever on Tuesday. I know in my heart, however, that the change will be for the better…..no one can tear us down!

Here are some heroic stories taken from http://www.msnbc.com. I hope you feel a proud as I do to be an American:

When Maria Trotta, who was stuck in a subway under the trade center for 45 minutes, finally emerged from the smoke-filled subway, the smoke was even worse above ground. But instead of running home, she took care of a woman who had asthma. “I went looking for a mask for her, but couldn’t find any, but the only thing I could find was a pair of (fortunately clean) athletic socks,” Trotta said. She guided her several blocks, finally leaving her in the care of EMTs at a rescue station. Only then did she walk across Manhattan Bridge back home to Brooklyn to meet her husband. “I never got her name.”

Stephen Krause of Union, N.J., said his wife — who is seven months pregnant — works for Salomon Smith Barney and was in front of the World Trade Center when the attack began. A woman she didn’t know stayed with her for hours, taking a six-mile walk around Manhattan until the pair finally managed to get on a ferry back to New Jersey. “The woman stayed with her the entire time…. She got her water, too, and wouldn’t leave my wife,” Krause said.

Much of the real heroism came from fire and police workers at the rescue scene. A New York City police officer who declined to share his name was carrying victims out of Five World Trade Center when it collapsed. “The fire department was getting people out from the rubble, and we [the police officers] were carrying them out,” he said. “I carried some out and was going back in to get more, but they wouldn’t let me back in. They said the structure was unstable. That’s when the second tower collapsed.” He said many victims were still inside, and several were still alive after the collapse — and too stunned to yell for help. ”(People) were dazed and shocked. It was surreal. I’ve never seen anything remotely like it. There just are no words to describe it,” he said.

Across New York, thousands of volunteers pitched in. Store owners opened their doors and gave away flashlights, water, food or anything else that would help rescue workers or victims forced to walk home to Brooklyn, Queens, New Jersey or elsewhere once public transportation was shut down. A Duane Reade pharmacy gave out free water, snacks and first aid supplies. A Mrs. Fields Cookies gave away all its food.

God Bless America!!!!

Things are Pretty Cool….

/ Gina Marie / Leave a comment

Okay, no depressing rambling this time. Things are pretty cool. I mean, what do I have to complain about? I have a great job (new position, Ministry Loan Officer). I have a great family (the kids, of course, Deana and the Riveras, my awesome Dad…). I have a fulfilling life (thanks to my Lord, Jesus!). I have my health (ibid.).

So things are pretty cool!

Gina out!

Having a Teenager……Where are the Valium?

/ Gina Marie / 1 Comment

You know, I wonder why I thought to ignore all the warnings about teenagers. I mean, I have been told since my daughter was born in 1990 that the teenage years would be kind of tough. But here I am, amazed at the fact that they are kind of like what I imagine hell would be.

Not that I don’t love my daughter – I absolutely do! There are some things about her that make me smile to my soul – like the fact that she gets excited to tell her friends about God, or she wants to write poetry and be a journalist (maybe not like her old Mom, but that is something I used to aspire to).

However, most of the time I am sitting here wondering “what the hell?” For example, she tells me she doesn’t want to live with me anymore because “she doesn’t feel at home” at my house. This comes the evening following a morning where I made her change her clothes before going to school. Oh, and like a few days before Mother’s Day. And right after her father tells me we need to meet so that we can set Kirstie straight……

And then months later, after her room has been empty at my house with no one using it – and after I gave her plenty of time to change her mind – I decide to use the room for something else. (In this case, Deana’s brother who is going to college closer to my house). And what happens? Kirstie is shocked and thinks she is no longer part of my family because I did that.

Pass me the valium.

I have to remind myself, I am the adult here! I want to tell her she treats me like crap most of the time and then is OFFENDED when the world stops revolving around her. I want to scream at her and say she is selfish – she never even thought about what leaving this house would do to me or her little brothers. I want to tell her that I understand her way more than she realizes and I think about her at a level beyond trying to “be her friend” – I want to be her mother. I want to defend myself when she believes I don’t care, don’t love/like her, or that my rules are meant to torture her.

But I am the adult here.

And I love her more than she knows or will seemingly admit.

And my heart is broken.

Being a Friend (aka Loving your Neighbor)

/ Gina Marie / 1 Comment

Today at church we learned about loving your neighbor. If you’ve been to church more than twice in your life, you’ve heard the story about the good semaritan who helped the injured man on the road. Jesus showed how the most important things to focus on are loving God and loving your neighbor – so much so, EVERYTHING that the prophets and laws teach flow from these.

Matt 22:34-40: Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

I have never thought about it that way before….that everything Jesus wants us to really DO flows from this. How simple, yet almost impossible to follow! I mean seriously, I can SAY I love my neighbors, but what about that jerk that cut me off on the freeway this morning (without even using his blinker!)? And what about my neighbor that never says hello and keeps their trash can out of the curb for days on end? Or how about those “heathens” in the world that I see everywhere?

It’s simple – I (and we) should love them.

But what is love? Is that praying for them? Is that smiling and saying hello as we pass?

Those are good things, of course! But how about stretching the limits a bit? How about “doing to others as we’d have done to us?” I mean, Jesus said to love others as we love ourselves!

I am by NO MEANS an expert on this! I need to grow so much in this area. It’s easy to be nice to others when they are nice to you. It’s easy to be kind (and generous) when things are going your way. But it’s another story, for me at least, when I don’t really like the other person or things are bad for me. So I am challenging myself in this area – maybe you can use a good challenge, too!

If you have great suggestions on how God is growing you in this area, post a note to let me know!

Change

/ Gina Marie / 1 Comment

Sometimes it’s cool –

§ Like when you’ve lost weight and you need to buy new, smaller-sized clothes.
§ Or when you get that new haircut, a little wild, that you’ve been contemplating for so long.
§ Or when you are fortunate enough to have a CD changer or iPod and it moves to the next CD, for a totally different and refreshing sound.
§ Or when you look over the years of your life and realize the places where God has totally grown you.

Sometimes it’s neutral –

§ Like when you are going to a new place (home, work position, etc.) that is very exciting but the unknown scares you to death.

But sometimes it sucks!

§ Like when you look in the mirror and your face has wrinkles or sagging places.
§ Or the computer program has been “upgraded” and doesn’t act like it used to.
§ Or your kids grow up and don’t need you (or idolize you) like they used to.
§ Or something happens that cannot be changed back – a death, an injury, lost friendships, etc.

What to remember thru it all –

§ God is in control (Gina, read this twenty times……)

Life is pretty precious

/ Gina Marie / Leave a comment

I am amazed how we take many things for granted…..like our lives. Going on one week ago, the VP of my department was riding his bike home, somehow lost control, and flew into a light pole. He is currently in ICU with two breaks in his spine, trying to deal with both lungs having been collapsed. I have no idea if he will walk again, BUT HE IS ALIVE!!!

Yep, freak accident for a pretty careful person.

But who is to say we will have tomorrow? I can guarentee that tomorrow is not a given. Or that tomorrow will be just like today. I can assure you my VP didn’t expect to find himself in the hospital right now – on the eve of real issues that will affect his life (short term, long term, or forever).

But I CAN tell you this for sure – having Jesus in my life has made a huge difference. This is not a trite statement at all, nor do I have the words to expound what I am feeling right now. I am so…..overwhelmed by the knowledge of His saving grace, even when life sucks. But life IS pretty precious, and I am thankful that I have today…..to write this blog, to be with friends and family, and to serve Him.

More later….I am having trouble articulating what is running thru my brain.

Sometimes I just don’t know

/ Gina Marie / 1 Comment

Well, who knows if someone is even going to READ this, so there you go. Just exercise for the mind I guess – the rest is just gravy.

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.” Albert Einstein.

Well, so I am trying to do that. I would love you to post here (if you read it) and talk about anything. I guess I am trying to find that balance and I miss the days when I used to write and write and write and find some sort of satisfaction in it. I want that again.

So have fun reading and/or writing.