Personality Plus

Becoming a parent is a crash course in learning to put another person's needs ahead of your own. A very small, loud person, but a person. Something has changed though. This small loud person suddenly has wants, and not just needs. She wants to climb on top of the lady's desk at the bank. She wants to yank every skein of yarn off the shelf at Michael's. Not all of the wants are automatic yeses or nos though. Michael's is right beside Barnes & Noble, which Abigail loves thanks to all the toys on bottom shelves. I didn't need to go to B&N, but we did since we had spent the rest of the morning running errands for my wants and needs. Abigail was very appreciative, until it was time to go. I know we can't do everything she wants, but it is so gratifying to make that little girl happy. Especially since one of her most frequent wants is for us all to shake our heads no as a family. You have never seen a smile so big as when that happens! At least we're a ways off from her most frequent want being not wanting to be seen in public with her dorky parents.

And then I'm back! From outer space!

I can't remember what movie the song that contributed to the title of this post is from. If you remember, you get bonus points! Which are worth ... not much. Anyway, sorry for the long break. I was in school and working on homework most days at work. I'm fixing to start summer classes, so I may disappear again, but I'll try to do better.

I know there are seasons in life where God focuses you in on certain spiritual themes. For a while, every sermon, radio show, or scripture I read was about honoring God in your marriage. I've been through seasons where it was all about knowing how much God loves me. But lately I feel like the heart of my focus has been on Israel and it's role in the Middle East. I'm not going to pretend to be on my way to be an expert, but it seems like I keep stumbling on information, and not from the news on tv.

Nathan gave me a book to read called Destiny Disrupted by Tamim Ansary, which is about the history of Islam in the Middle East. It started with Mohammed and continued on through 2001. It didn't lay blame on anyone or excuse anyone, but instead attempted to present history through the view of a Muslim in the Middle East. It was really fascinating. I knew next to nothing about the Middle East, Muslim or not, and the author did an amazing job of not sounding like a complex encyclopedia.

The next book I picked up was Israel, my Beloved by Kay Arthur. It was a completely random choice, as I was working through a stack of books in my closet and this one was next in line. I also did not know what it was about, except of course Israel. It's actually a history of the world through the eyes of a group of Jewish people, told in a narrative form. It was the perfect book to follow Destiny, since the information was all fresh. It was two sides of the same story one after the other.

I have no grand thesis to share with you right now. I'm still learning and don't have my thoughts organized enough to present anything like a coherent argument, except to say that Satan doesn't want any of God's children to prosper in any way, and especially not God's chosen people. And Satan uses willing people to do evil things every day, whether they know they are being used or not. It's a very complex issue though and smarter people than I have not been able to find a solution. It's interesting though, and nice to feel like I'm getting a grasp of what's going on behind the 5-minute snippets on the nightly news.

Now I have to go play in a bouncy castle with Abigail, so that's all for today. I know, life is hard right?