why christianity makes me CrAzY

Recently, my girlfriend, Pea, got the following email, plugging the Christian god:

Father John Powell, a professor at Loyola University in Chicago, writes about a student in his Theology of Faith class named Tommy:

Some twelve years ago, I stood watching my university students file into the classroom for our first session in the Theology of Faith. That was the day I first saw Tommy. He was combing his long flaxen hair, which hung six inches below his shoulders.

It was the first time I had ever seen a boy with hair that long.

I guess it was just coming into fashion then. I know in my mind that it isn't what's on your head but what's in it that counts; but on that day. I was unprepared and my emotions flipped.

I immediately filed Tommy under "S" for strange... Very strange.

Tommy turned out to be the "atheist in residence" in my Theology of Faith course.

He constantly objected to, smirked at, or whined about the possibility of an unconditionally loving Father/God. We lived with each other in relative peace for one semester, although I admit he was for me at times a serious pain in the back pew.

When he came up at the end of the course to turn in his final exam, he asked in a cynical tone, "Do you think I'll ever find God?"

I decided instantly on a little shock therapy. "No!" I said very emphatically.

"Why not," he responded, "I thought that was the product you were pushing."

I let him get five steps from the classroom door and then I called out, "Tommy! I don't think you'll ever find Him, but I am absolutely certain that He will find you!" He shrugged a little and left my class and my life.

I felt slightly disappointed at the thought that he had missed my clever line -- He will find you! At least I thought it was clever.

Later I heard that Tommy had graduated, and I was duly grateful.

Then a sad report came. I heard that Tommy had terminal cancer.

Before I could search him out, he came to see me.

When he walked into my office, his body was very badly wasted and the long hair had all fallen out as a result of chemotherapy. But his eyes were bright and his voice was firm, for the first time, I believe.

"Tommy, I've thought about you so often; I hear you are sick," I blurted out.

"Oh, yes, very sick. I have cancer in both lungs. It's a matter of weeks."

"Can you talk about it, Tom?" I asked.

"Sure, what would you like to know?" he replied.

"What's it like to be only twenty-four and dying?

"Well, it could be worse.

"Like what?”

"Well, like being fifty and having no values or ideals, like being fifty and thinking that booze, seducing women, and making money are the real biggies in life.”

I began to look through my mental file cabinet under "S" where I had filed Tommy as strange. (It seems as though everybody I try to reject by classification, God sends back into my life to educate me.)

"But what I really came to see you about," Tom said, "is something you said to me on the last day of class." (He remembered!) He continued, "I asked you if you thought I would ever find God and you said, 'No!' which surprised me. Then you said, 'But He will find you.’ I thought about that a lot, even though my search for God was hardly intense at that time. (My clever line. He thought about that a lot!) "But when the doctors removed a lump from my groin and told me that it was malignant, that's when I got serious about locating God.And when the malignancy spread into my vital organs, I really began banging bloody fists against the bronze doors of heaven.

But God did not come out. In fact, nothing happened. Did you ever try anything for a long time with great effort and with no success?

You get psychologically glutted, fed up with trying. And then you quit.

"Well, one day I woke up, and instead of throwing a few more futile appeals over that high brick wall to a God who may be or may not be there, I just quit. I decided that I didn't really care about God, about an afterlife, or anything like that. I decided to spend what time I had left doing something more profitable. I thought about you and your class and I remembered something else you had said:

'The essential sadness is to go through life without loving..’

But it would be almost equally sad to go through life and leave this world without ever telling those you loved that you had loved them.

"So, I began with the hardest one, my Dad. He was reading the newspaper when I approached him.

"Dad."

"Yes, what?" he asked without lowering the newspaper.

"Dad, I would like to talk with you."

"Well, talk.”

"I mean. It's really important."

The newspaper came down three slow inches. "What is it?"

"Dad, I love you, I just wanted you to know that." Tom smiled at me and said it with obvious satisfaction, as though he felt a warm and secret joy flowing inside of him.

"The newspaper fluttered to the floor. Then my father did two things I could never remember him ever doing before. He cried and he hugged me. We talked all night, even though he had to go to work the next morning."

“It felt so good to be close to my father, to see his tears, to feel his hug, to hear him say that he loved me."

"It was easier with my mother and little brother. They cried with me, too, and we hugged each other, and started saying real nice things to each other. We shared the things we had been keeping secret for so many years."

"I was only sorry about one thing --- that I had waited so long."

"Here I was, just beginning to open up to all the people I had actually been close to..

"Then, one day I turned around and God was there.

"He didn't come to me when I pleaded with Him. I guess I was like an animal trainer holding out a hoop, 'C'mon, jump through. C'mon, I'll give you three days, three weeks."

Apparently God does things in His own way and at His own hour.

"But the important thing is that He was there. He found me! You were right. He found me even after I stopped looking for Him."

"Tommy," I practically gasped, "I think you are saying something very important and much more universal than you realize. To me, at least, you are saying that the surest way to find God is not to make Him a private possession, a problem solver, or an instant consolation in time of need, but rather by opening to love..

You know, the Apostle John said that. He said: 'God is love, and anyone who lives in love is living with God and God is living in him.

"Tom, could I ask you a favor? You know, when I had you in class you were a real pain. But (laughingly) you can make it all up to me now. Would you come into my present Theology of Faith course and tell them what you have just told me? If I told them the same thing it wouldn't be half as effective as if you were to tell it..”

"Oooh.. I was ready for you, but I don't know if I'm ready for your class."

"Tom, think about it. If and when you are ready, give me a call."

In a few days Tom called, said he was ready for the class, that he wanted to do that for God and for me.

So we scheduled a date.

However, he never made it. He had another appointment, far more important than the one with me and my class.

Of course, his life was not really ended by his death, only changed.

He made the great step from faith into vision. He found a life far more beautiful than the eye of man has ever seen or the ear of man has ever heard or the mind of man has ever imagined.

Before he died, we talked one last time.

"I'm not going to make it to your class," he said.

"I know, Tom."

"Will you tell them for me? Will you...tell the whole world for me?"

I will, Tom. I'll tell them. I'll do my best."

So, to all of you who have been kind enough to read this simple story about God's love, thank you for listening. And to you, Tommy, somewhere in the sunlit, verdant hills of heaven --- I told them, Tommy, as best I could.

If this story means anything to you, please pass it on to a friend or two.

It is a true story and is not enhanced for publicity purposes.

With thanks, Rev. John Powell, Professor,

Loyola University, Chicago

What makes this email grating in the first place is that she, like myself does not support religios based beliefs and that makes this email offensive, and disrepectful. If she was sending you examples of poignant vignettes rooting for athiesm, you would ask her to stop, most likely. And yet, you continue to send emails supporting your beliefs to us. I think I may start sending emails supporting my reasons for thinking religion is a twisted and immoral way to control vast majorities of weak minded people who need an 'answer' for it all and really never get it because it's all about the 'wait and see' effect. BAH! You want proof of evolution? Have you ever considered your tailbone (coccyx)? There are still new spiecies if animals and insects being disovered on the regular. The real reason for this rant was actually that when Pea googled the 'good reverend' to see if he even existed, this was one of the top hits on him.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2008/11_12/2008_12_05_ThePhoenix_PriestAccused.htm

So effed up!

Glory be!

Praise Jesus!

What-the-hell-ever!

Peace OUT!

Why You Shouldn't Donate to the Salvation Army Bell Ringers

Why You Shouldn't Donate to the Salvation Army Bell Ringers

the Salvation Army is a horrible organization

do not support them

NEW BEGINNINGS!

So, to start at the beginning, I went to see BW, the third weekend in September, where he has been working since August and is about 4 hours away (I can do it in much less).  I left on the Saturday and returned Monday morning, exhausted as I left there at 0630 and then drove through rush hour Toronto traffic, which I LOVE by the way.  I am NOT afraid of a good drive.  I rise to the occasion, in fact.  On the way home I stopped in at my bestie's, one B$ (Bee Money) as B (daughter) was at her donor's for the weekend.  By the time I got home and had unpacked and played with B, I was exhausted and had a sleep.  I had to cut my nap short because I'd committed to attending my friend T-Dawg's Party Lite party that evening and almost missed it, which, looking back would have changed the course of things altogether!  Yay for being a good friend!
From arriving a little late to T-Dawg and Momma's with B, I snacked, visited and smelled some awesome scents and some my nose didn't care for and placed and order and was convinced by LAW (the PL consultant) to have a party of my own so that I could get some saweet things on the cheap or free, depending on how lucrative my party was.
So October 13th arrived and I had two of my best gfs helping me out with last minute preparations.  I must say that I LOVE hosting parties because I LOVE to feed people delicious food especially tapas and desserts! We had a great time, spent some money on delicious scents and beautiful home decor and ate!  These are the things I prepared:

Spiced pecans over cranberry compote with assorted crackers and cinnamon pita bites
Spinach dip in pumpernickel round
veggies & dip
fruit & dip
chocolate & chocolate mint fudge

wine, coffee, tea, juice, etc

So I had a fairly lucrative party (thanks to all who came and spent, and some online orders!) and it was time to settle up with the consultant, LAW.  It worked out, after comparing, that I would be further ahead to become a consultant and thus always get 50% off wax products (yay! I LOVE great smells and thus go through a TON of wax) and if I happened to make some money, great but I didn't strive to be a career PL'er.

A couple weeks later, after having let my fb friends know that I was a consultant and they could get their PL fix through me if need be, I was approached about doing a 'one stop shopping' event which was a fundraiser for our local bantam hockey boys, who are headed to Europe this winter.  In hopes to get some of the trip money back in Mom's and Dad's pockets, ($3600 per kid times an entire team plus chaperones is a TON of coin and hockey is an expensive sport to begin with!) they planned this event of a pile of home based businesses in a rented hall with display tables showcasing each one's wares.  So, I was booked in for that gig.  In addition, they were asking for a raffle item of approx $25 retail value.  This is where I had an issue.
As a new consultant, I only had what I got in my kit, plus what I ordered for personal consumption and didn't have anything PL to part with, let alone for free when I hadn't made anything from it yet.  I'm not a money bag either so I can't really afford to order things to give away.  I had figured that anything I did make, would end up going to buying more yummy smelling wax anyway.  Yes, I am an addict!
My gf Pea and I had discussed getting together at my place to do xmas baking because my utilities are included in my rent and I have a Kitchen Aid machine, so it was the cheaper choice.  So the day came that we were getting things done that would freeze well (fudge and anything with fat (peanut butter) or candied freezes super well) and we were talking about what I was going to raffle for that event and we decided that fudge truffles would be a great one because really, who doesn't like fudge, especially in a little round ball of yumminess?  So now we have 2 tables at this event, one for Party Lite and one for PeaKay Fudge and Confectionery!
Then the question was asked, what happens if people wanted more of this heavenly balled treat?  Well shit son! So in about 20 minutes we devised a plan and off I went to our local Staples to get some cards (which were on sale) designed and printed.  We are currently awaiting their completion as they have a 7-10 day turn around, which is pretty fast. They are pink and purple and pretty.  Loves it!
Since then we have booked into several more of these events and are really busy from now til mid December, which is exciting to say the least.  Yesterday morning I went to 98.1 Free FM with some samples for a friend of mine who co-hosts the morning show and took our product for a test run to people who didn't have to say that they liked it because they knew us.  It went so super well that we're going to look into advertising with them.
So we've started this on a whim and have setup to hit the ground running at a neck-breaking speed, but we're a perfect team and I think that we're going to do well! We're still working out price and product lists, but we are accepting orders and I will post all the events that we will be attending on here and on our PeaKay blog!

Ciao for now!

CrAzY mOmMa


PS we are also working on putting together an appetizer and dessert catering business that will be launched soon, with a third partner who owns a cupcake business and makes DELISH cupcakes!  So much going on, this is an exciting time for this squirrel chasing crazy momma!

Catch you up!

WOWZERS! Has it really been since mid-April that I last sat down and ran off at the world?  To sum up:

Got 90% of issues sorted with Boy Wonder
Went on a FABULOUS mini-break with BW in July to celebrate our 1 yr anniversary
Had a pretty good relaxing summer
Got applied to college in the paralegal programme and started working on finishing my OSSD
BW has been working about 4 hours east of here for 4 months, which has been both a blessing and a curse.  I think it's healthy to know what it's like to miss your partner and it certainly is good for passionate homecomings. ;)
We saw Cirque Du Soleil thanks to my dear friend who works in radio!  It was fantastic but made me feel like a cow.
Had a couple beautiful family weddings that were super fun!
B had a tonsil and adenoidectomy as well as having bilateral myringotomy which was drama and a half from my little princess! I will expand on these later (time permitting)
Had a fancy pants Party Lite party and that had brought me to my next entry!

NEW BEGINNINGS!