It's Oprah's fault.

I sometimes wonder about whether connecting my parents to the internet was a good idea. When my mom first got online several years ago, Darren and I were constantly troubleshooting. Mom would call to chat, but inevitably there would be a question about why something wasn't working properly, or an email attachment wouldn't open, etc. And it was probably a really important attachment, like a picture of a cat in a teacup or something else animal-related that my aunt had sent her. We would go out there for dinner, and there would always be something to fix on the computer. Somehow, the sound would be turned off, even though Mom hadn't clicked on anything. I told my sister that I was going to write a book: "Mom on the computer...One Woman's Journey to Insanity" (my journey, BTW).

Most of the bumps have been smoothed out now, and Mom is able to navigate around to do her puzzles and listen to online sermons from her church, among other things. The problem now is that Mom and Dad tend to believe just about everything on the internet.

When we were at their place for lunch yesterday, Mom told us that a friend had given her a link to an article about Oprah. She couldn't remember what it was, and she couldn't remember what exactly the article said, but what she got out of it was that Oprah is evil. Actually, it was more like EVIL. That was the word that she and Dad kept using. I'm not too sure whether they actually gave specific examples. Kimberly was asking them about it, but I was busy laughing, so I didn't hear how they responded. The part that put me on the floor was when they mentioned that the friend who'd given them the link in the first place thinks that Oprah is the antichrist.

Now, I'm not a huge fan of Oprah, but I don't think she's the antichrist. I think that like a lot of people, her theology is completely screwed up, and she has a very humanistic way of seeing things. I think she's bought the same lie that satan has been serving up since the beginning of time, but that doesn't make her the antichrist. While it is a shame that with the millions of people Oprah reaches every day, the right message isn't getting out there, I haven't heard of any Oprah cults forming. I really don't think she's more dangerous than any other celebrity out there.

I googled "Oprah antichrist" and "Oprah evil" and was amazed at what a following there seems to be for this particular idea. There seem to be a lot of confused (or paranoid?) people out there who are attributing a great many things to this woman that she could not possibly be responsible for.

So just when we thought we were out of the woods, in terms of mom and the internet, it looks like there may be more work ahead. I think I'd rather deal with the spamming issues we had previously, where most of mom's emails had FWD in the subject line. I think mom and dad were a little concerned that Kimberly and I weren't taking the whole thing very seriously, that we just weren't grasping the EVILness. We promised them that we don't watch Oprah anyhow, so I think they were satisfied. Just between ourselves, Kimberly and I decided that from now on whenever anything goes wrong, we're gonna blame Oprah.

Encouraged

I woke up this morning at about 3:15 or so and could not get back to sleep. Apart from feeling a little nauseous (probably the Mars bar I ate right before bed wasn't a good idea, but a girl's gotta have her chocolate fix), I was also having a bit of an anxiety attack. Why do things always look so hopeless at that time of the night? I sat up for a while and tried to distract myself with an old 90120 episode, but eventually I picked up Will's bible and started reading some psalms. I love the psalms. There's a lot of good stuff in there. I read for a while and prayed for a while, and the Lord comforted me and I had a real sense of peace.

I know I'm going to continue to have some anxious moments, but it is such a comfort to me to know that God already knows where we're going from here. He has a plan, and all we need to do is be willing to do whatever he wants us to. Check.

This is the psalm that really reached me this morning:

Psalm 33

Good people, cheer God! Right-living people sound best when praising.
Use guitars to reinforce your Hallelujahs!
Play his praise on a grand piano!
Invent your own new song to him;
give him a trumpet fanfare.

For God's Word is solid to the core;
everything he makes is sound inside and out.
He loves it when everything fits,
when his world is in plumb-line true.
Earth is drenched
in God's affectionate satisfaction.

The skies were made by God's command;
he breathed the word and the stars popped out.
He scooped Sea into his jug,
put Ocean in his keg.

Earth-creatures, bow before God;
world-dwellers—down on your knees!
Here's why: he spoke and there it was,
in place the moment he said so.

God takes the wind out of Babel pretense,
he shoots down the world's power-schemes.
God's plan for the world stands up,
all his designs are made to last.
Blessed is the country with God for God;
blessed are the people he's put in his will.

From high in the skies God looks around,
he sees all Adam's brood.
From where he sits
he overlooks all us earth-dwellers.
He has shaped each person in turn;
now he watches everything we do.

No king succeeds with a big army alone,
no warrior wins by brute strength.
Horsepower is not the answer;
no one gets by on muscle alone.

Watch this: God's eye is on those who respect him,
the ones who are looking for his love.
He's ready to come to their rescue in bad times;
in lean times he keeps body and soul together.

We're depending on God;
he's everything we need.
What's more, our hearts brim with joy
since we've taken for our own his holy name.
Love us, God, with all you've got—
that's what we're depending on.

There are a few things about this one that I like. I like the fact that God's plans are made to last. He doesn't change them from one generation to another. God kept his promise to Abraham after he willingly left everything to go with Him, and thousands of years later, we can share in that same promise and inheiritance. I also like the part where it says that we can't get by on muscle alone. I struggle a lot with trying to do things myself, instead of waiting for God.

The last three verses are good, too. I think I like the NIV version better, though. It's a little more poetical like :)

We wait in hope for the LORD;
he is our help and our shield.

In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.

May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD,
even as we put our hope in you.

I've been repeating that last verse to myself all day long, and it has been a real comfort to me. I like the idea of God's unfailing love resting on us, like maybe a blanket or a cozy sweater. Darren had a good day today and was very encouraged, which was one of the things I prayed specifically about at 4 or so this morning. God really is good all the time.

Thank you, Lynda K.

A number of years ago when my kids were very small, a woman at my young moms' Wednesday morning bible study gave me some very good advice, and I have never forgotten it. The first thing Lynda told me was to only have one TV in the house; the idea being that we would watch TV as a family, rather than everyone wandering off to watch their own shows. She also told me not to wait until my kids were teenagers before I got a book on parenting adolescents. She told me to start reading up on it when they were about 9. The most significant thing she told me was how important it was for my kids to own their faith.

I'm sure as I sat there listening, absently pulling a chewed up kleenex out of Emma's mouth and trying to keep the other two from leaping over the furniture, the reality of what she was saying didn't really sink in. But it's something I have thought a lot about in the years since then. I really want my kids to know why they believe what they believe. I didn't, growing up. I had attended church since I was 2 weeks old, and I knew all the dos and don'ts, but it didn't really mean anything to me until a lot later in my life. Darren and I want our kids to have a better understanding of God than we did growing up. We want them to know Him.

So tonight when I was putting them to bed and we were getting ready to pray, I told them about Nate and Tricia. I explained what Cystic Fibrosis was, and that Tricia needed a lung transplant, or she would die. I also told them about their beautiful little baby, Gwyneth; that she was the miracle baby that Tricia had prayed for secretly. I told them that today was Nate's birthday, and when I said "and what do you think his birthday wish probably was today?", Will said "new lungs for his wife!". And I got to tell them that that was exactly what God gave him today.

I told them about Nate and Tricia for a few reasons. Firstly, I wanted us to pray along with the thousands of other people around the world who are praying for Tricia tonight. I also wanted to tell my kids how much God cares about the details of our lives. I don't think it was a coincidence that Tricia got her lungs today, on her husband's birthday. I think that's God showing us that he even cares about the "small" things. And I wanted my kids to know that God loves and cares for each of us the way He loves and cares for Tricia and Nate. As Emma said, "He loves us all the same".

I remember reading somewhere that as parents, we should pray for our kids the way Paul prayed for the church, and this is something that I have tried to do. When we gave the kids bibles for Christmas a few years ago, we wrote this passage in the front cover for each of them.


For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:14-19)


I only started reading Nate's blog this week, after a friend had mentioned it to me, and I am amazed at how God has used it to speak to me. The job-related problems we're dealing with at the moment pale in comparison to what this couple is going through, and yet God holds me just as carefully in His hands. What an awesome God!

Here's the rest of that chapter:

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.