how to celebrate a holiday

the thought has crossed my mind about the diversity of ways in which people celebrate holidays. of course, america's independance day is tomorrow, so i'm sure that's the prompter of such wonderings.
as i contemplate the usual trappings of this particular holiday, i'm just not sure what they have to do with celebrating or understanding (or promoting) our independance. i'm not coming down on our national traditions. i just can't see what fireworks have to do with the land of the free and home of the dollar value menu.
perhaps it is to remind us of rockets and red glares. i could believe in that theory. but, sadly the war on terror reminds me more often of the price that has been paid and is being paid and will continue to be paid. i don't need combustable chemicals to do that. they are pretty to watch. i guess that justifies the 900 million dollars ($900,000,000.00) that americans spent last year on fireworks.
i could do similiar sarcasm with other holiday feats: picnics, parades, etc.
i freely confess that i am a product of america--land of the free and home of the homeless (check america's stats on homelessness and you'll be thankful for your run-down shack). but, because we've been free for so long, we really don't have a point of reference of not having freedom. sure, we watch the news, we hear stories from visiting missionaries, we see pictures of various places around the globe. but, we've never experienced a lack of freedom. i confess this is who i am. i am often unappreciative because i know no different. i am so blessed but don't know it.
ever take breathing for granted? probably every single one you take is taken for granted (until you don't have one to take).
ever take food for granted? well, when in a contest based on taking food, we'll certainly win. then, we'll take seconds, and thirds and we'll most likely win the miss congeni-gluttony award as well.
maybe i'm waisting your blog reading time. maybe i'm just full of hot air. maybe i'm right.
as with all my blogging, it is simply my thoughts, placed before you, for my own benefit of putting them down on paper (or pixels--whatever!).
but, it seems to me that more than ever, hoopla is not what we need.

finally baby pix

we've always heard that "you take tons of pix of the first kid, but not of the rest." we're finding that to be generally true. we were under the impression that it was true because the cuteness had worn off, in initial wonder had passed, etc. this is not true in our house. we're not taking as many pictures because with two of them under two, we can't get a free hand to work the camera.

emmaus, at a month old, has obvious needs that we attend to.

israel, at 15 months old, has the makings of a great worker. he always wants to help, but his help needs more supervision to prevent catastrophe. "let me share my toys by dropping a truck into the pack-n-play while the baby is sleeping." (he didn't actually do that, but he tried.) he likes to shake the bottles for us to mix formula. the problem is that he likes to take it out of baby's mouth to shake mid-feeding to the disgust of the baby. he's a big helper when he takes used diapers to the trash. but, too often he brings the diapers back (and then some) as if to say, "see? this is the diaper i put in the trash!"

are you like other people?

while in a staff meeting at church this week, the question came up, "do other churches do things this way?" we kicked around some ideas and theories, but the conversation moved on quickly and we didn't really give it another thought.
well, actually, i have given it another thought--and a third thought--and i think i might be about 3 degrees south of "consumed" by it. well, let me clarify that there is a lot of things on my plate right now and so i haven't given it tons of thought, but when my brain finds a spare minute, i've pondered the question.
it seems that deeper, broader questions are at the root. are we like other people? how do we compare ourselves? is there an ultimate standard for measuring the human condition? and in the realm of humans comparing, we go way back to cain & able (if not all the way back to thier parents).
here's what i've concluded so far (so you can compare your answers to mine)

• to the initial question, i don't think it matters if we are functioning like other churches. i fully believe we are functioning within the Spirit's will and with the Father's blessing. i believe strongly that we are abiding by Scripture and we are being blessed because of it. there are certain things in this life that just don't have to be exactly the same. that's the dynamic of teamwork. we all have different gifts in different proportions, so obviously, the dynamic is different. i compare it to marriage: rhonda and i have a system that works for us. we assume the biblical roles for husbands/fathers and wifes/mothers. but, within that framework, we have our gifts and passions and talents and skills that give us a balance within our home. it works for us. but, if john and jane doe tried to do things exactly like us, one of two things would happen: a divorce or a death (murder or suicide).
• but, at the same time, some comparisons, some standards need to be made. when we look to the example of Christ, we need to do more than recognize the standard, we need to live up to the standard. Christ was fully human (and fully divine) and He was sinless. therefore, we see a standard that a human can live sinlessly. i know that the Bible says "all have sinned", but that doesn't meen we have to stay in sin. we have free will and we can always choose the right things; we can always choose to not sin. we need this comparison--we need to compare ourselves to it and then work to bring ourselves us to it.

that's all i got for now. i'll keep pondering it as my mind has moments to ponder. if you have thoughts, post a comment. i'm sure this issue is far from over in my brain.