Why the Supreme Court decison gives me hope

The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that marriage is no longer defined between a man and a women.  Gay couples can now marry in the United States and be recognized as a couple just like heterosexual couples have always been recognized.  I have watched my Facebook page blow up with everyone's opinions, for and against (mostly against on my feed) and many friends changed their profile pictures to a rainbow of colors for their profile pictures.

If I'm honest here, I was disappointed yesterday. I believe the Lord designed marriage to be between a man and a woman.  I don't think there is any question about that.  To see the White House lit up in gay colors gave me great pause.  But as I watched opinions fly back and forth on the news and on my Facebook feed, I wondered what God really wanted us, as Jesus followers, to do in this situation.

It's amazing how much I have bounced back and forth from being angry and fearful over this event, to being filled with love and compassion for the gay community.  I know what this decision means for our country....the path this puts us on at breakneck speed.  I know the whole Sodom and Gomorrah references and comparisons.  When I allow it, fear creeps in when I think about what my children will have to endure.  I see news about persecution of Christians and evangelicals predicting there is more to come and I believe them.  You can't be a Jesus lover in this country and not see the turn we are taking. A man can marry and man in a courthouse where no biblical reference is allowed.  I get it. 

I'm not gay, but I wonder what it has been like for them to be left out.  To be condemned.  To be told you don't belong because of who you love or how you feel.  When I stop being fearful and judgmental for a minute, I think about the people behind the label.  The people God loves.  The people Jesus died for.  I wonder if I were labeled because of my sin and was condemned by others the way we condemn them, would that make me want to be friends with them?  To know them?

Maybe if I stop judging and just love.  Maybe if I stop.  Maybe.  If I set down my fear and condemnation and "you're going to hell" attitude, maybe then I might have a chance to get to know them.  Get to be friends with them.  Maybe I will understand a little more and judge a little less.  And maybe then I can tell them about Jesus.

This is why yesterday gives me hope.  Because none of this comes as a surprise to the God I love.  I know how this all ends.  No Jesus follower wants sin and what the ramifications are on us as people and a country; but it's here.  Always has been since Eve listened to the snake and acted on it.  It's time I stop listening to the snake and focus my eyes on the God who makes all things and allows all things to happen. 

My how things change!

We took the boys to NewHampshire this summer and ate at our favorite place in Lincoln called "Flapjacks".  I am amazed at how much they have grown.  The first picture is from the summer of 2013 - the next one is just this summer - two years later.   Yowza!  David sure has grown!

Cairns

We recently took a vacation to the New England area and stayed in Vermont near the base of Mount Mansfield.  It's a beautiful mountain and the tallest in Vermont.  We drove up to the top and then hiked several miles from the parking lot to the peak, then back again.  These markers, or "cairn" as they are called (pronounced kern), helped mark our path.  They also had these little lines placed along paths you could take to the peak as you hiked.  We stayed on the white path, but there was also blue.
  These markers kept us on track.  We looked for them as we were walking, and noticed immediately if we were following the wrong marker.  The blue path was much more difficult and closer to the edge than I wanted to be, so I was always making sure I was following the white line.  If we went a little distance without seeing one, we would immediately stop and start looking.  There was even one time the white line went a little too close to the edge and I decided to move away from it.
These cairns parallel so closely the Lord's presence and direction in my life. How often I have stayed on path and looked for His direction, and how many times I have drifted away.  Sometimes, like on my hike, I deliberately kept away from His direction for fear of what it may hold.
Cairn's are also used as markers in life.  That what this blog is for me.  It's a way of remembering what God has done in our lives.  It's so easy to forget, so it's important to write things down; to remember.
God instructed His people to use cairns when they crossed over into the promised land.  He instructed Joshua to appoint 12 men, each from the tribes of Israel, to take a stone from the middle of the Jordan river they had just crossed.  Joshua placed them together at the place where the priests who had carried the ark had stood.  These stones were used as a memorial to what God had done.
I love that!  How quickly we forget!  And how important it is to remember - in what ever way we can - that God is faithful.