Wednesday, December 30, 2009

The Blind Side. Sandra Bullock. Haiti.Jerry.


I knew when I stepped in the Pioneer Theater in downtown Manteo tonight that I would be watching a very well done movie about a rich white family and a poor black kid. I knew I would cry. I did not know that I would prehaps be crying for a different reason than all of the other people in the sold out seats around me. I did not know that I would be crying for the orphaned and abandoned children of Haiti.
When I was in high school I wrote an essay about adoption and how I wanted to adopt 6kids from all different backgrounds and races and raise them as a color blind family. I did not realize that dream in my life.
The day that I first saw Nico's photo which was taken in an orphanage in Haiti,I bonded with him. I feel in love with him on the spot just as much as if he had been born to my daughter. What I didn't know was that this was just a beginning. My dream for a color blind family would become a reality after all.
The movie The Blind Side beautifully illustrated the power of family. Family is not just mother,father, brother, sister. Family is a God given calling on our lives to be bonded together with others in a safe and loving atmosphere where we know we belong and are loved.
Families have traditions and stories, songs and activities and faith that define them as family. These things create bonds that knit us together in a way that organizations and social groups can not. Families create a place for us to vent our emotions weather good or bad.We can be silly.We test the water with people who will still love us at the end of the day even if we have been a jerk. Family will look for us when we run away/turn away/fade away and will always want us back. Families have our "blind side". We protect each other from the things that would try to hurt us and are ready to defend each other even if it means we will be hurt in the process.
I remember as a child being angry with my uncle for taking my brother's bebe gun away after he SHOT ME! And when he SHOT ME with a hunting arrow I covered for him so he would not get in trouble. (I know..I took it a little far :)
Big Mike (Michael Oars) in the movie was not motivated by anything his high school coach had to say to him. He was motivated by the words of the woman who loved him with a mother's love. This unlikely realationship created by not only a woman who allowed herself to love and trust this young man but also by a young man who allowed himself to trust and love her. At one point in the movie a friend says something to the effect of "You are changing this boy's life so much." to which Sandra Bullock says "No, he is changing my life so much."
Many, many times I have heard people say to me how wonderful my daughter is to give up everything and move to Haiti to run an orphanage. While it is true even to me that it is a pretty amazing thing to do, Gwenn is the first to say with sincerity that she is getting far more than she gives up.
Tonight as I watched this movie I thought of Jerry. I wish like "Big Mike" that Jerry would have been able to "close his eyes" when bad things were happening so as not to see them. He could not close his eyes and he as well as his Haitian brothers and sisters have seen far to much for their tender years. But there is redemption and his story does not have to end sadly. In time and with God's grace and with the love of a family that will be there, in time, in time this 9 yr. old child will know that someone has his back and his "blind side". For now the stripes on his back from the cruel whip that taught him to distrust are still too fresh. But as those scars fade and as he learns to trust that the hand that feeds him is also the hand that tucks him in at night, in time..in time he will not only know whose got his back and in time he will learn that he in fact is home.Home with a family who loves him.
To read more about Jerry and his family go to mangine.org

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Magi came from the East


1After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi[a] from the east came to Jerusalem 2and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east[b] and have come to worship him."
3When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ[c] was to be born. 5"In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:
6" 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'[d]"

7Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."

9After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east[e] went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

so they hurried off...


16So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Let us go and see...


15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Good Tidings of great joy!


I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ[a] the Lord. 12This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Do not be afraid.


"Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

Friday, December 11, 2009

They were terrified!


the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ[a] the Lord.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

The Angel of the Lord


An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them,

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Keeping Watch


8And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Her firstborn, A son


6While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

In Those Days



1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to his own town to register. 4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Joseph, being a righteous man...



18This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. 19Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,[c] because he will save his people from their sins."

22All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"[d]—which means, "God with us."