Before I start my workday today, I wanted to post a blog that I was actually going to post a few days ago.
When I was in high school, I remember considering myself the "word police." If someone ever said that they weren't feeling well, I'd come back at them with "Don't say that! By the stripes of Jesus, you are healed." I didn't want them to have the "wrong confession."
I must have been really annoying.
Thankfully, the Lord pulled my pride down a LOT of notches within a few years after that and I started to realize that my convictions aren't necessarily the same as someone else, and I haven't been called to push my convictions on someone else.
Every Christian will have a different conviction than each other. Granted, there are baseline convictions - the ten commandments for example - that can't be broken. If you feel God has convicted you to murder someone, there's a problem with your theology. But on less obvious matters - for me, it's always been which movie(s) should Christians really watch - I will absolutely have different convictions than someone else. And there are reasons for that. I realize that images stay in my head a LONG time. If I watch a bloody, gory movie or some type of sexual scene, those images will replay in my head WAY longer than I'd ever want them to. I remember talking to a friend, and she said, "Oh I never remember things from movies like that." I was like, really???
People have different personalities and different ways they respond to and remember things. People also have different calls on their life and their convictions will be lived out differently.
What does that have to do with Kurt Warner and Carrie Underwood?
I admire these two people a lot. Kurt Warner is an outspoken Christian, and from I can tell, Carrie Underwood is a Christian as well. They are living Christian lives in the public eye (a very difficult place to be), and I guarantee that their lives will be lived differently than mine simply based on the place God has chosen to place them as Christians.
I went to a Carrie Underwood concert for my birthday and loved it. I went because I love her voice and I appreciate the way she sings her songs. She has some solid, good, even godly songs, even amidst the "Before He Cheats" and other not so Christian-themed songs. But when she sings the songs that talk about breaking up with a boyfriend, I can tell she doesn't have a vendetta against those people. She knows she is playing a character because of the platform she has been given. And she simply has fun singing those songs.
In the middle of her concert, she stated, Now I'm going to sing the song that truly represents my life and my career, "Jesus, Take the Wheel." You could tell that she truly gives Jesus the wheel in her life as best as she knows how. Halfway through, she broke into a rendition of "How Great Thou Art." I worshiped and felt God in that place that was probably filled with many people who didn't know Him. I saw Carrie worship God too. How cool that in the middle of all the publicity, she makes a statement for who her life follows.
I admire her.
Kurt Warner is a retired pro football player. He recently joined the cast of Dancing with the Stars and I admire him for doing so. I can see that God had called him to be a light right in the middle of darkness. I know he will stand out as a person who isn't raunchy in the middle of raunchiness. I kinda hope he wins just because God is with him!!! :-)
I really admire him for taking a leap of faith and living out his Christianity in a unique way in front of America. And when I watched the first show (yes, I watched the first show), I could see a peace and graciousness on his face that I know wasn't on others' faces. He has a different aura about him (and his family) and God will be with him during this crazy yet wonderful opportunity in his life.
He twittered this link recently: http://filesocial.com/exopq9o If you go there, you can download a document that is a letter from him explaining why he placed himself as a Christian in the middle of dancing with another beautiful woman when he has a wife and a family at home. I read through it and thinks he states it very well: We're called to be in the world, but not of it. This is his God-given opportunity to be right in the middle of the world, and take the high road and not be "of the world."
I'm excited to watch how God uses him - although I'm sure a lot of it will be behind the scenes that we can't see as the American public.
I'm bummed he's gotten criticism from Christians, but I know where they are coming from because I've been there. It's easy to think my Christianity and convictions are the right way of living and assume everyone has to agree with you, but that's not true. We all have glimpses of the truth; we're all on the same journey, growing in our relationship with God and trying to figure out God in the middle of life on earth!
I almost forgot... Pastor Mac recently addressed this in a video when someone asked about convictions (I'll post the link later if I remember!). He said, you don't need to judge by convictions. Look at the fruit. What fruit is appearing in their lives?
For Kurt and Carrie, I see fruit that is different from the society around them, even though they are right in the middle of perhaps you could say a "bad orchard." And yes, that is my thoughts - your thoughts might be completely different, and that's okay.
Kurt, Carrie, thanks for living out your Christianity in a godly way. Blessings and grace to you as God continues to help you in your journey.
All is well today in the Wegener household. I'm resting at home while contemplating cleaning and making something homemade; Erik's out in the "wild" duck hunting - and he got 2 this morning. Yahoo!!! So excited for him. Tic Tac (that's our baby's name, thanks to my aunt - I forget if I already mentioned that!) is 14 weeks along, and has most of his/her organs developed, even though he/she is only the size of a lemon! Crazy! God made our bodies to be so cool! Tucker is hanging out somewhere, well into his 3rd or 4th nap of today.
I love the colors fall brings and the crisp air from the breeze. Tucker was pretty mystified by the frost this morning; I smiled thinking about what he'll do when he sees snow again! (And no, I didn't necessarily smile at the thought of snow coming... I just know it will come!)
