in defense of Christianity

After recently ranting against extremism in Christianity, I'm now going to take up the cause of Christianity because, well, I have things to say. And this is my blog, so I'm going to say them.
I am so deeply grateful to be a Christian, to know the love of Jesus Christ. With tears in my eyes writing this, I can sincerely say that I'm constantly overwhelmed by joy from the blessings in my life directly from His hand. After years of living in a truly awful marriage (and covering up that fact to the outside world), I was delivered from it with clear finality and was surrounded by angels in human form who bore me up with such grace and love, I could feel through them the strength of Jesus. My parents, my sisters, my best girlfriends, all joined my huddle and the fight to build my life again. With a shattered heart and a confused faith, I approached the throne of God with a simple plea, Help me through this, help me make it to the other side, wherever that is, and help me know who You really are. In fact, I even tried for awhile to completely throw off my faith, to see if it was another illusion with which I'd been living for so long. And you know what? It didn't work. I couldn't fling it away. Because you see, my faith is part of me. It's my identity and it's my very soul. My whole life I have felt the beautiful presence of God, and I've always known Him from the way my parents lived their lives and brought Him to every dinner table and every bedtime prayer. God's blessing was solicited for traveling, for healing, for peace at family functions, and even for math tests. And in the midst of the worst crisis of my life, God made His presence known to me, again and again. He was there with love and forgiveness and understanding and help and hope. God saved my eternal soul a long time ago, but He saved my earthly life, too. He was there as I picked up each little piece of Becky and glued her back together. And He was there when I met my husband. Some might say that Marty and I met by chance, but we both know differently. It was a connection guided by the most loving hands, the hands of our Creator and Redeemer. Marty and I give God all the credit for bringing us to each other and bestowing upon us the greatest human blessing of all, the gift of a soulmate.
I say all of this for a reason. My faith in Christ is the best thing I have to offer to this world, because the love of Christ inspires love in me. Without Him, I could very well be a bitter, angry, useless shell of a person right now, and this is no exaggeration, because I was tempted toward that path several times. Because Jesus loves me, I am proud to bear the title of Christian. And I am proud to be all the things that define Christians, and further, that define conservatism. I believe in the sanctity of life and the holiness of marriage. Of course that means I believe abortion to be murder and marriage to be between a man and a woman only. I believe what the Bible teaches me about these things. And you know what? This makes me incredibly uncool. Oh the pitying looks and the withering remarks I've had. And not just uncool...it makes me dumb, ill-informed, and worse, stupid. I consider myself to be a very bright, well-educated woman with a love for learning and knowledge. I can speak with a certain confidence on many, many subjects because I'm self-taught in many, many areas. But none of this matters when you also happen to be a Christian and a conservative. All of your education and hard-earned life wisdom fly out the window if you express adherence to the Christian faith. For some reason, this boils me down to a mere simpleton in the eyes of others who have it "really" figured out. To some people, being a Christian doesn't make you someone of another opinion, it makes you stupid.
I've never felt this more keenly than in the last few hours, with the result of this election. I watched a few minutes of The View this morning, and when Elizabeth Hasselbeck, the die-hard Christian conservative, spoke, her words brought me to tears. She accepted the defeat of her team with grace and beauty, and she said, "I'm going to get behind the new president, because that's what Americans do." Of course, the ladies surrounding her looked at her with the same brand of pity I've seen in the eyes of people I know, like "oh poor thing, she didn't know any better to vote for the RIGHT guy."
So I've realized something. Christians will always be uncool. We'll always be labeled anti-progressive, hateful, and ignorant. Why? Because we believe in certain black-and-whites, like the truth of sin. We believe in a different kind of love, the kind that doesn't say, Anything goes, but the kind that says, You're a sinner but I love you anyway, and I came to give you freedom from your sin.
So I'll never fit in with the cool kids. I can accept that. Because Jesus told me I wouldn't fit in, that I shouldn't fit in. He told me not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of my mind to a higher love that humans can't attain outside of His power. He told me I'm just a traveler, passing through this place on my way to my heavenly home. He told me I might even be persecuted for taking His name and identifying myself with Him.
But you know what? I'd rather be on His side, because of all the beautiful things He's done for me. I've seen His hand so clearly in my life, and really, standing up for Him and for the truth is the least I can do in return. There are people who might read this and write me off as ridiculous, and I can't do anything about that. Because I have to be true to my soul, which belongs to Jesus.

Sarah Palin, you had me at hello

As I watched Governor Sarah Palin give her acceptance speech on Wednesday night for the nomination of Vice President, I felt something stir within me that I've never felt in the context of politics before. What I felt was pure and sincere admiration for a strong, capable woman who stands on the verge of greatness. I've felt this feeling of awe before, but this feeling has been reserved for the likes of Queen Esther of the Bible and Queen Elizabeth I of England, even Charlotte Bronte and Agatha Christie and Elizabeth Glaser, all of whom faced a struggle or challenge of some kind and didn't shy away from it, but faced it with strength and resolve and the elegance that only women are capable of, and in doing so, accomplished something wonderful, something unexpected, something great. These women are among my personal heroes, and it is with a bit of wonderment that I confess that Sarah Palin has now taken her place among the ranks of these women. So you may ask, what has she done to deserve this ranking? I admit with total honesty, it's not what she's done (yet), but rather, who she is. And a random conversation with my sister Sarah helped me understand even more clearly just who Sarah Palin is, and why I admire her so much.

In this conversation, I asked my sister to give me her "Sarah on Sarah" thoughts. Just so you know, my sister Sarah is a woman of 33 years and a mother of 4 children (separated from Sarah Palin by only 11 years of age and 1 child). Without missing a beat, Sarah said, "Oh, she's awesome; I love her." Then she went on to give me the reason why she thinks Sarah Palin is so awesome, and her reason surprised me. Before I go any further, though, I should tell you a couple more things about my sister Sarah...

First, she is no lover of John McCain. While I (and our little sister Katie) have been hoping for and endorsing a McCain ticket since since he first campaigned for the presidency in 2000, Sarah has had problems with him from the get-go, which include his voting record on certain issues. Furthermore, despite my liking of McCain, I would characterize all 3 of us (me and my sisters) as rather reluctant Republicans when it comes time to vote. We are conservative in nature and ideals, but we've often been jaded by the doings of the Republican party and speaking for myself, I've often wanted to put miles of distance between me and the GOP! And frankly, this hasn't been easy for us, since our grandfather was elected to serve on our hometown's county council a few times, our uncle Charlie is the current mayor of that same hometown, and our cousin Brent is an Indiana state senator...and all dyed-in-the-wool Republicans! (But I digress...) My point is, there was no party loyalty going on with my sister, no need to ally with John McCain's pick for VP just for the sake of following the Republican crowd.

Second, my sister is the proud mother of a special-needs child. My sweet nephew Ethan is 6 years old, and suffers from autism. My sister has been and continues to be a true lioness in her efforts to give Ethan the best possible opportunities in education and healthcare. She has single-handedly taken on the public school system in her community, having sat several times in front of an education board assigned to Ethan's case to argue with them that he deserves the chance to learn and grow and stretch his little mind, and not simply be baby-sat for 6-7 hours a day. You can probably guess that my sister has indeed earned him the classroom and curriculum that she chose, that she knows as his mother is the best thing for him.

I knew that Sarah Palin's running mate might be the dealbreaker in my sister's opinion of her, but I was thinking that the commonality of having a special-needs child would be the salvation. It turns out, however, that neither of these things (bad or good) is the predictor or basis for Sarah's opinion of the running-for-office Sarah. As my sister said to me, "I think she's awesome because she's so normal." Indeed, if "normal" means you have problems, but you get up each day and struggle through, and attempt anew to solve those problems and make your life and the lives of your loved ones better, then Sarah Palin is as normal as the sky is blue. As the mother of a young man on his way to serve in Iraq (Track), a 17-year-old unwed mother-to-be (Bristol), another teenage daughter (Willow), a sweet bright-eyed little girl (Piper), and a baby boy with Down syndrome (Trig), this woman is intimately familiar with the everyday struggles of motherhood (and an amazing baby-namer, it must be said!). As Sarah Palin herself said in her speech, "Our family has the same ups and downs as any other ... the same challenges and the same joys." Of course I know that her statement was intended to appeal to women like me, to help me identify with her. Well, sometimes the truth still has the power to appeal all on its own. Sometimes a candidate's statements don't require the manipulation of pretty words and a charismatic performance to seal the deal with a voter. Sometimes, all it takes is a simple statement of fact, and this one worked for me! It worked for my sister and it worked for me, because I do identify with her. I'm not yet a mother myself, but I hope to be one some day. I am also a member of a family that has always had its share of ups and downs. Most importantly, though, I'm a woman, and in a day and age where women like Jennifer Lopez and Angelina Jolie are supposed to be role models for me, their extreme wealth (and therefore, distance from reality) prevent them from taking that role with a girl like me. Women like me do need role models who are fine examples of wifehood, motherhood, and womanhood, and a woman like Sarah Palin definitely stands out from the crowd. If you think she's on a pedestal with me, you think right. But you know why? Because she's not on a pedestal with herself (unlike the presidential candidate from the opposing party). She doesn't claim to be perfect; she's already shown her imperfections to us and asked us to see her for who she is despite those imperfections -- a woman who's just trying to make a better America for herself and her family. Essentially, this is a normal girl, a girl I'd love to sit and chat with over a cup of coffee. More than that, she's a girl who's got her stuff together, who can run a home and a family and a state, all while looking absolutely fabulous in designer eyeglasses and gorgeous jackets and skirts. I want to be like this woman!

Sarah Palin, you're a normal chick but you're also on a pedestal with me. I'm going to pray for you, that you stay there by doing all you've been called to achieve with your amazing energy. I'm going to vote for you and stand back and watch you accomplish great things.

Sarah Palin, you had me at hello.