Finding Real Republicans

Help. I don't see a single one on the debate floor. Where is Rand Paul? I usually look to him for something that reminds me of the Republican values I learned as a child. The rest just sound like mean people, none are Presidential at all.

When did God and Country come to mean war and violence?

i need to write here

but, to be honest, i'm too angry to really say anything too christian right now so i'm just going to take it to my facebook and be as normal as possible there. seriously, WTF is it with our schools right now?!

omg wtf fukushima!!!

Lord we need some serious help this time. There is a nuclear plant on COMPLETE MELTDOWN and have have NO IDEA how to stop it right now. Our water is at risk. First, we need Fukushima's nuclear meltdown to become contained. For us to find the solution before this disaster renders our water cycle too toxic to sustain human life on earth, we need every one to ask "HOW DO WE CONTAIN FUKUSHIMA?" If there is an answer, it is only going to come by all of us collectively asking that question. It may not be the nuclear scientist that has our answer, it may be something he says that sparks the mind of an idea in another human being who has also asked herself that question and they've been pondering this for over 60 years since she first learned about the bombs of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Lord, help us ask this serious question diligently until our answer to protect and serve Creation is complete. Lord, guide our global leaders to REFUSE TO ACCEPT AS A GLOBAL COMMUNITY any continued operation of any nuclear plant or the building of any new nuclear plants which have not integrated what we will learn from our COMPLETE CONTAINMENT OF FUKUSHIMA, but on another note, i haven't been here in a while. i've been busy losing my haters, finding new ones and wondering why i do anything in life that creates a hater. i mean, i seem to have an absolute knack for it. i often wonder what is wrong with me. i'm too _____________ for everyone. i'm sorry if i'm intense. there's a nuclear power plant melting down RIGHT NOW ... its not like the test drill we all did in school, this is the REAL THING. For over two years now .... UNCONTAINED, MELTING DOWN. right now. n2 our water. i learned about the quantum nature of water, did you? keep breathing. <3wins. so, what is it you are really fight about .... who do you know who can think of a way to solve the fukushima problem ???? who can do it? help us find that person AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, that's what we need to do right now. Who's got the answer?! =) prayers of a mom for what they are worth right now. breathing. good thing that this is but a moment in infinity and not the only thing, and yet, the truth is .... it is the only moment we will ever know right now, this moment of infinity. rambling off to another space and time and more inclined vibration!

ZAS: The Process

Am I still a "Noble Wife"?  I had this blog "qualified" for the "Noble Wife's Ring" a mainstream Christian female blog feeder.  What was I thinking?  Because while life changes, blogs are forever.  When I came back to visit my very neglected blogs, this is the reason why.  This Blog.

It happened to be the 7th of January that I wrote and printed out the cancellation of our marriage -- my resignation as "The Beautiful Wife."  I wonder if I can still be a "Noble Wife" albeit a "Noble First Wife" (I like that so much better than ex-wife!).  My husband took it hard, as I knew he would.  We agree, though, that it is the right thing to do even though neither of us really wants to do it.

So why am I doing something I really don't want to do.  Because I really KNOW that its the right thing to do, but I KNOW my doing it will hurt my husband or my daughter, and I know that because it hurts me too.  And the last thing I want to do is to hurt anyone, especially them.  But, the truth is, to change something as intimate as a small family like our's hurts.

There's no way around it, there's only the process of dissolving the marriage and the continual renewal of commitment to communication, focus of priorities (a healthy relationship), an acknowledgment of feelings (he's way better at that than I am!), and a constant reminder that we must be aware of each of our shifting emotional attachment and how they can sneak up on you in ways you never expected.

The promises we made when we got married are not going to change, really.  Ok, except maybe the logistics and the dynamics of our relationship that will shift dramatically, but "love and cherish" ... yes, we are determined to do that the rest of our lives, even if it is just as friends.  And, as I know that my first husband happens to be friends with all of his significant ex-girlfriends, that if we cannot remain friends that is on me.  Not the only challenge he gave me in this process, but by far it is the most daunting.

To know that the process of becoming requires you to make difficult decisions you know are right and maintain the discipline to see them through even when its just so easy to go back to how it was.  But, the truth is, there is no going back to what was, because that no longer exists.  There is only the future and what determines that is your journey.  I just wonder why some of those evangelical noble wives would think of my new job.  

peace & harmony,
elaine x
'liberties are best taken straight up!' - niki v.

What Does it Mean 2 Follow Jesus?

no, i'm not posing that question really.

well, maybe i am, but mostly i was just thinking about that concept and what i thought jesus meant when he told peter ... don't worry about what john is or isn't doing, you follow me.

actually, it was the title to the song that my daughter and two of her church friends sang in this past sunday's service at st. paul's in the desert. its a sweet song about helping your sister, sharing with your friends and feeding the hungry.

and, i suppose it was fate, destiny or god's will that the song did not get sung on the intended sunday -- that being the first sunday of lent. because in that service jesus was awfully salty in his admonishment in the scene just following the ascension -- you know, the one where, after god speaks and says, "listen to my son," the very first thing jesus "says" is he blasts everyone out for not being able to just "do it." unabashedly impatient that they still need him to yet again show them how its done. its interesting to me that he loses his patience with their lack of self-empowerment and their 'omg, you're so awesome' attitudes.

and that was the only real issue i had to point out to my daughter in that song -- it said that "to follow jesus" she could "sing his praises in both word and song." not after that scene in the bible!

so, why do we do it? "worship jesus" that is? he definitely never said or asked anyone to do that. so, why do we feel like we need to do it? perhaps it is because we worship something we think is soooo much more powerful than ourselves, so we can excuse ourselves from our inability to "just do it" ... much like those he was frustrated with back in the day. and, just like then, i suspect that jesus is likely just as impatient with our modern self-effacing, "jesus" worshipping wannabes. after all, when's the last time, you performed a miracle just because you could?

i'm just saying, its something to think about.

peace & harmony,
elaine
'freedom must be exercised to stay in shape!'

Faith in the Unknown Present

"no word yet."

not quite yet.
our faith is being tested in the place of our ancestors.
well, not mine, per se, but the home of my husband's and my daughter's ancestors.

haiti.

what a challenge of our faith and demonstration of god's grace.

even without knowing, we know our family is fine. they are smart, they are prepared, they know how to handle anything -- if they work together. so, for our family in haiti we hold in the place of faith of god's mercy and the same fortitude of survival that flows through the veins of our relatives.

when times get tough, the tough get going.

its time for the tough to get going.

we are all in the midst of the unknown . . . after the earthquake, after the verdict, after that which could not be predicted or even expected, you find yourself not on solid ground, but on ground that shakes with the movement of something bigger than you.

it is your faith that allows you to perceive even the movement of tectonic plates or political swirls of character assignation and abuse of power, that "everything is ok." no matter what comes your way, god never gives you more than you can handle.

tomorrow when the sun comes up, the grace will be there once again to help you create a new world from the ravages of the old one. and your choices will once again reveal your faith.

my swirl is caused because i love my daughter, perhaps much like god loves us. and, i will be a witness for the world i want my daughter to live in -- i will move to change the world to be a place where i want her to experience the joy of living. i will move to change the world to be a place of equity, respect, truth and empowerment for my daughter.

i chose to do that in the public schools of las vegas, nevada.

my swirl has caused the need in some to come against me and use the power they have against the truth . . . the bigger truth on which my faith is founded.

and i choose to do this despite the seeming futility of it all.

i choose to do this despite the resistance to what i say.

i choose to do it because . . . it needs to be done.

the political forces of las vegas, nevada want our little girls, our daughters (especially those of certain demographics), to be paraded (literally) as "candy girls" in a parade to honor dr. martin luther king, jr. downtown, las vegas, nevada -- with its strip bars and out-of-control underage prostitution -- is the venue for this presentation of our school girls.

imagine, for a moment if you will, dr. king looking down at a parade in his honor -- everything he stood for, everything he fought for, everything he said, and there's a public school, with a black female principal, who thinks that its appropriate and acceptable to present a dance to "Candy Girl" -- "you make me feel so good in every way" candy girl.

politicians and administrators, using the public schools, have taken our little girls -- in the second grade, third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade, even the first grade -- and said, "that's what they are, 'candy girls!'" all the way to the superintendent of schools, that's appropriate education for our daughters.

yes, they do not like me for being a witness to the values and truths i was raised with in the church. because i stood up as a witness to what as i saw as being wrong, they are persecuting me in our courts -- trying to put me in prison. but, that's ok -- it really is.

because now you know.

and, if parents do not stand up and say to our schools who are failing our community in the education of our children, that, "no! our children do not belong to 'caesar,' they belong to god. and little girls are not to be pimped by our schools. and, little boys are not to be taught how to disrespect girls that way in our schools."

the community must stand together to witness the truth of raising a child in the safety and security of high moral ethics, and hold our schools and administrators accountable for the educational sanctuary they deserve. they do not have to have prayer in our schools, if they just preserve a high moral and ethical space for the children to live and learn while they are in the care of the schools.

stand as a witness for your child even if it throws you into an earthquake of after shocks that you cannot predict or even know what to do in the moment. it is the earth we stand on and she's not going anywhere but 'round the sun. faith in the truth that eclipses all the definitions and labels is where our strength is found.

for haiti. for our children. for our world. be a servant and a witness.

peace & harmony,
elaine
"freedom must be exercised to stay in shape!"

The Ethics of Jesus

Are you a rule follower?

Have you noticed in your dealings in your life that our society has more and more become affixed to the adherence to "the rules" and "procedures" and "directions" than we are to using our own judgment, our own discretion and our own choices to live our lives, do our jobs, interrelate with others?

This is a problem. Rule followers worship the Jesus idol. Sure, they think they are doing the right thing, after all, its "right" to follow the rules, isn't it?

I don't know, what rules are you following? Do they contradict the purpose and destiny Jesus has given you to fulfill? Do they feel wrong when you measure them against your innate and instinctive actions consistent with what you feel is right?

Jesus did not give much weight to the rules of his time, and if you are following Jesus, then you too should examine this question of "should I or should I not follow the rules?"

This question is one that is paramount in this time on our earth. This question is not just for those who are in power, but it is for the everyday person . . . the postal worker, the bank employee, the power company customer service representative, the teacher, the politician, the policy maker, the police man, the mother and the student.

Abdication of your own self-determination of choice based on the situation God has presented for you to experience, whether it is in your job, your life, your school, your interactions with other people, is one of the biggest ways to separate yourself from God.

Every time, in every experience, in every situation when you know what you should do or know what you feel is right to do, and you choose to say, "No, the 'rules say ...'" to shut down your inner knowing, your inner voice, close off your connection with God ... you are separate yourself from God in a blind following of an idol that replaces the truth you know with something artificial and arbitrarily established by man to create a false experience, a false truth, an illusion of reality that is not connected to the flow of the Spirit through you.

So many people are soooooo afraid to lose their job because the "rules" tell them "_______ is the answer." So, regardless of what they feel and know to be right, they follow the rules. In essence, you put another god (the rules of man) before God -- that which you know is right when you are connected to the Spirit of God.

Because in truth, the truth you know of how you should handle the situation is a result of your connection with God. Supplanting that knowledge with the rules of man, of your boss, of the company, is where we separate from God, and fall into the ways of idolatry. To follow the rules out of fear, well, that is the way of the Devil.

That is not to say, you should say "screw the company, I'm going to do this, this and this because I think its right!" But if you place yourself under the authority of man who takes from you YOUR ability to choose and be discerning, you have placed yourself under an ungodly authority.

No one who stands in the power of God will take another person's connection to God and supplant it with their own. Those who are truly in the power of God want to support and uplift the power of God in others -- building in you, your own personal connection to the voice of God as to what is right. Godly people do this for you, even in something as mundane as your job.

What is right is known to you. If you choose to be connected to God, based the experience you have before you, you know what is right, and if you don't know, you should seek help and seek the answer so you can learn more about your connection to God. Each experience of life is test of your connection to what is real (God) vs. what is false (the World). Who do you follow?

Jesus taught us to follow our own connection with God -- that path supersedes all the laws and rules of man that do not feel right in our own spirits.

Stop following the rules. If you are Godly, you don't need to be told "don't kill anyone." You already know that to be right. You don't need to be told that war is tool of coveting, killing and murder. You already know that, because the Spirit of God gave us some general commandments or rules to make that perfectly clear even when man tries to twist it with fear and lies.

Follow the higher ethics of the spirit of God, and if you get fired for it, God has something oh, so much better for you to build a deeper connection, receive greater joy and fulfillment in the time you spend here on earth!

peace & harmony,
elaine
'freedom must be exercised to stay in shape!'