Midnight Moments

I've lived in NY my entire life. Aside from sparklers, NY law has never allowed private parties to use fireworks for any occasion. Therefore, 4th of July and other celebrations that employ the use of firework displays are done in public parks or in downtown Albany under strict regulations and laws. Now living in Kentucky, I can't drive two feet from house without seeing roadside displays of fireworks for sale. Apparently I've been told that this is the first year Kentucky has allowed the really big fireworks for private use. Driving home the other night I saw a few fireworks weakly being set off above a quiant neighborhood off the main road. A few actually exploded into what resembled mini fireworks, but most shot up and quickly diminished into the slowly fading evening. In the process of deciding whether to get together with friends for a do it yourself fireworks show or go see some done by professionals, I thought about what I had witnessed on my drive. Sure, it would be ...

June 24, 2011 New York State became the newest state to pass a Marriage Equality Bill. After the fact, Facebook was inevitably updated with thousands of posts either in celebration of this action or bashing the decision. I chose to avoid controversy by not posting my feelings on the issue. What often happens in these cases is that I express my stance and another individual gives me their counter stance and prepares to argue me down until I see things from their point of view. Here's the thing; your not going to change my mind anymore than I'm going to change yours. We just need to agree to disagree. My opinion on the matter is not an opinion but a viewpoint stemming from a source of morality outside of myself that does not bend and sway with the changing social trends. As I began to process the varying statements posting on Facebook in reference to the Same-Sex Marriage Bill now in full effect in my home state, I found myself reading the same argument over and over. "It...

Anyone who knows me knows that my random thought processing happens not only while I'm attempting to drift off to sleep, but also in the middle of what normal human beings call life. Life for me, however, is most generally lived in the plethora of randomness in my head. Thus the reason for this blog, in general, and specifically, the one which I am writing today. It all started his morning while I was getting ready for my day. My cat was as usual determining to jump from the floor, to the bathroom sink, to the top of the towel shelf on the back of my toilet. Like a good cat owner, I repeatedly pushed or threw her off the sink detering her persistent attempts. As I was preparing to yet again stop my stubbon feline from jumping on top of the tower of towels, she stopped in the middle of her pounce and caught sight of her reflection in the mirror. She preceded, to my amusement, to bat at herself in the mirror with her paw. Clearly she didn't realize it was merely her reflection. S...

If you’ve grown up in church, you may have had a situation similar to mine occur at least once: someone gets up to sing a special. Occasionally afterwards you wonder to yourself who ever told this person they should be singing in public, but you keep the comment to yourself. In the words of Tim Hawkin, a Christian comedian, you want to tell the person who probably is claiming that “God gave me this song” that maybe you should give it back. But in a more positive light, you step into a church service where the individual singing the special is truly blessed by God and obviously put a lot of hard work into developing their gift. And if you’ve been around “church people” enough, there’s usually the one talented special singer who humbly responds to every compliment with “I can’t take any credit. I owe it all to God.” While I’m not downplaying the important of giving credit where credit’s due and being aware that ultimately everything we have is from God (James 1:17), we are individu...

The only reformation Martin Luther initially sought to pursue was the reformation of his own spiritual walk. In engaging the Scriptures, he discovered that human endeavours at righteous living were not sufficient for salvation, but rather it was God's grace that pursued and saved individuals. The Christian life, he discovered, was not one of behavioral modification but rather one of personal freedom to live in the perfect will of God and communion with the holy Trinity. Luther's personal revelations stir him to share this amazing news with the rest of the fellowship of believers which spurred a nationwide reformation of the theology of the church. But before God reveals this Truth to Luther, he was plagued which a need to act holy in order to earn God's forgiveness and salvation. At one point, he felt that exhaustive confession of ALL sins committed would do the trick, but he found on leaving the confession booth that he had forgotten certain sins and this in turn would cre...

" 'Stop judging others, and you will not be judged.' For others will treat you as you treat them. Whatever measure you use in judging others, it will be used to measure how you are judged. And why worry about the speck in your friend's eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying, 'Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,' when you can't see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log from your own eye; then perhaps you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend's eye." Matthew 7:1-5 We're all hypocrites on some level, aren't we? None of us have it all together; we all have something we want to hide. But imperfection, our fallen nature, sin-- these are the things that unite us in our humanity. So why are we too proud to admit our weakness? Why are we so quick to point out the inadequacies of others but fail to allow our shared failings to bring us together? We are united in...

I had a choir director in high school that encouraged us to make “loud” mistakes. We were a timid, young group so many of us would hold back if we were unsure of a note, but he told us if we didn’t make our mistakes audible, it could never be corrected. Looking back on my choir days, I’ve found that this is an applicable lesson to real life. Now, let me clarify, I’m NOT encouraging purposeful sinning. What I am encouraging is taking risks. I once heard that often times discovering God’s will means doing what you think is God’s will and when it falls flat, trying something else. God does sometimes reveal His will to us (and by will, I mean personal fulfillments of an individual’s role in the grand scheme of the Gospel story), but sometimes we need to just step out in faith and be proven, or disproven. If you’re like me, the idea of taking risks sounds a bit, well…risky. Control is so much safer. But if you’re like me, you’ve learned that trying to personally control everything is tiring...