Author: lauracrosby (Page 32 of 45)

Life Without the Olympics

August 16, 2012 /

What are we going to do now that the Olympics are over?!  Watch Bachelorette reruns?  Complain about political ads?  Wonder what celebrity is heading for rehab?

The great thing about the Olympics is that it raises our eyes and gives us a vision above the mundane, above our lowest selves.  It inspires us with stories of courage and determination and high ideals.

I read this Monday morning in USA Today:

This was the Olympics in which the Queen said hello, and Michael Phelps said goodbye.  This was the Olympics where a man from South Africa ran with no legs and a woman from Poland played table tennis with one arm.  This was the Olympics that reminded us what it does best – nurturingevery dream. – Mike Lopresti

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Gold Cards, Security Lines, and Jesus

August 13, 2012 /

Do you know what your airline status is?

You know…the color that tells everyone how special (or not) you are?

I’m Silver in the eyes of Delta…just about to cross that magic threshold to Gold, but not quite there yet.  And I can’t even see the Promised Land of Platinum from where I sit in coach.

Yes, I’m Silver.  But John?  John is Gold.  All this usually means is that he gets bumped up to 1st class if it’s a 45 minute flight to Dubuque in non-rush-hour.

The other day, however, it meant more.

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Ilegal Bible Reading?

August 10, 2012 /

Here’s the rest of the post from Wednesday.  We’re talking about avoiding Bible Boredom…

When we were little, my cousin Karl had some weird ideas about road signs.  And one of them was that this was the only place deer could cross the road legally.

Somehow he thought deer would understand (maybe because of the picture of themselves that they’d recognize) and line up to cross only where they saw that sign.

Over the years I’ve had some weird ideas about what was “legal” Bible reading…you know…what “counted” on the cosmic scoreboard of spirituality.

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Six ways to Avoid Bible Boredom and One Secret

August 8, 2012 /

This morning I sat down to read my Bible and…wait for it…I just didn’t feel like it.

Now half of you may be thinking, “Well, duh!  I never feel like it!”  And half of you may be gasping, “Well, you probably aren’t a real Christian.  Are you sure you ‘prayed the prayer’?  The RIGHT prayer?”

Jim Rayburn, who established Young Life, was famous for saying “It’s a sin to bore a kid with the gospel.”  But what about the Bible?  The whole Bible?

Remember back in High School when you had to read ___________(insert book title you dreaded, that was thick and long and had words you didn’t understand).

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How to Live a Greener Life When You’re Really Comfy with Brown

August 6, 2012 /

“Does ‘creation’ have anything to do with God whom I call ‘Creator’?  Oh, pish posh.  Surely God isn’t worried about how we handle His creation that He created.  His main concern is making His followers happy and prosperous, yes?…”  Jen Hatmaker

Maybe not.

“I’m beginning to wonder if the unprecedented consumption of the earth’s resources and the cavalier destruction of its natural assets is a spiritual issue as much as environmental.”  J.H.

Ok, so those of you who visit this blog often know that a group of us have been trying this experimental mutiny against excess this summer, using Jen Hatmaker’s mess-up-your-life book, 7...

The whole purpose is to try some changes that we hope will give us a better perspective on a kingdom lifestyle and help us move in that direction.   Even a tiny bit.

If you’ve read any of the posts, you know that we’ve laughed a lot and had great fun doing this together.

But we met last Monday and agreed that it feels like the party’s over.

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Olympic Parents and God

August 3, 2012 /

Watching the Olympics this week I’ve been struck by the parents of the athletes.  Invested, hopeful, prayerful, committed, passionate are just a few of the words that come to mind.

What a contrast to the image of God I think many of us carry around – the distant, more concerned-with-global-chaos or, out-of-touch-with-what-it’s-really-like “Being” who kind of nods or frowns or raises His eyebrows from afar.

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Auto-Incorrect

August 1, 2012 /

Ever had the experience of writing a text and having the auto-correct communicate something you definitely did NOT mean?

Yep, me too.

It can be downright dangerous.

I love the Ellen Degeneres segment titled Clumsy Thumbsy.  Viewers send in their funniest auto-corrected texts and she shares them with the world.  Here are a couple of my favorites…

In our family we have an acronym that the phone just doesn’t understand.

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The Bad Anniversary When we Gave Up and What it Has to do With You

July 30, 2012 /

This is a story about me.  But it’s also about you.  Whether you’re married or single.

Today is our 29th wedding anniversary.  And 28 years ago today was a bad day.

Our one year anniversary.

We were with family and friends at a cabin, high on a pine-filled shore overlooking a pristine lake in northern Wisconsin.

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Out of Control and Canceling my Day

July 27, 2012 /

The other day I wanted to throw something.  Or have a pity party that would involve eating lots of Patticake (from YUM!) with Cookie Dough ice cream.

And I couldn’t figure out why!

Until the late afternoon when it hit me.  I was cranky because I felt out of control.

Can you relate?  Maybe just a little bit?

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How to Write a Better Marriage Story than TomKat

July 25, 2012 /

Dear Max and Emily,

What a picture of joy!  It was a hot Minnesota summer afternoon and there was laughter and dancing and prayers and great hopes for your future together.  You were surrounded by people who love you.

So…right.

You did a lot of hard work to get to this place.  You did the pre-marital counseling thing and the financial seminar thing, and you really tried to honor God in every way as you walked towards marriage.

And now you’re here.  You’re married.

But the news these days is filled with stories of TomKat and John Edwards and Kim Kardashian, and Arnold Swarzenager.  And a thousand  million more examples of infidelity and “irreconcilable differences” and custody battles.  Disheartening, eh?

Why do you think you’ll be different than Kim and Arnold and whoever?  What will give you an edge so you won’t be another bad statistic in a few years.  Or 15?

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