Walking A Fine Line

I am a very devout and conservative religious person.  I think Calvin and Edwards had it right, and I wish I could be more like the Puritans were.  As a literature teacher, I often get to teach literature that has a religious connotation.  Friday I taught "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" by John Edwards.  This is pretty great stuff in my opinion, but I have to be careful that I don't go too far and lose my job.  I have to be constantly on guard that I say things like,"They believed." or "That is the Christian philosophy." instead of saying, "I believe." or saying that anything is truth when it comes to religious beliefs and theology. It is a fine line.

I love that I am able to share the gospel under the guise of teaching literature.  I mean, it is in the literature book, so no one can complain about teaching a sermon from a Puritan minister. I may not be able to say it is truth, but the message still gets put out there, and for a lot of these kids, it is the only time they hear it.

This year I had a girl say that she thought Edwards was crazy for thinking about people going to hell, and that she thought he had it totally wrong.  This really disturbed me for two reasons: 1. her family says they are Christians because they attend the (fairly liberal) Methodist church once or twice a year, and 2. she is the superintendent's daughter (so I have to be even more careful with what I say). I really thought about how to respond to that; I wanted her and the rest of the class to see that you can't say someone is crazy for trying to save someone from hell if that person TRULY believes the other person is going to hell...regardless if you think hell exists or not.

This video was my solution...

My Superiority

Okay, so maybe I'm not actually a superior being, but...

I am one of those people that has very specific views and opinions. But it's worse than that. I find myself thinking that anyone who disagrees with me on most subjects is either stupid or ignorant.

I'm sure that's a really bad way to think, but I can't really help it. I chalk it up to that fact that my opinions and beliefs are so strong. AND that it's a family trait. Bad genes I guess (or good, depends on how you look at it).

Let me give you some examples:

• Politics - although, to be fair, most people who have strong political feelings think that people who don't think as they do are stupid.
• How to raise children - Yes...I KNOW I don't have kids, but that doesn't mean that I don't have to deal with the fall-out of terrible parenting on a daily basis as a teacher.
• Religious beliefs - I believe what I believe because I believe it's right...so there!

Those are some big ones, but basically any opinionated topic, I believe I'm 100% right and everyone else is stupid or ignorant. Sorry.

What a Relaxing Week

I had a wonderfully relaxing week. It feels good to not be going 90 to nothing the whole week long with papers to grade (and by papers, I mean essays, etc., not worksheets) and a million other things to get done.

A shot of my parents' house. Mom, the Sil and I spent some time sitting in the yard on Saturday, just enjoying the day and watching the kids play.

Here was my week:

Monday (Memorial Day)

• Really didn't do much that I can remember. This may sound boring, but I love to sit around and do nothing. By 'nothing', I mean: watch TV/Movies, surf the interweb, read and take naps.
  
• The power went off for awhile and that sucked, but came back in an hour.
• Took a nap at some point.
  

Tuesday

• Went to work for a teachers' meeting that only lasted until noon.
• Went out to church camp to take pictures, and got to visit with people I haven't seen since camp last year (I love going out to church camp).
• Can't remember if there was a nap or not...
  

Wednesday

• Went to work for another teachers' meeting...this one lasted less than an hour. We were contracted to work that day, so we had to come in, even though we could have gotten that done Tuesday afternoon instead of going home after lunch. Really it was a waste.
  
• Made a few copies in preparation for Summer School.
• Went to town to get camp pictures printed.
• Took a Nap.
• Sorted through yard sale stuff and priced clothes for the yard sale.

Thursday

• Helped Mom tile the kitchen most of the day. It was actually fun. See pictures here and here.
• Took a break around noon to go out to camp to deliver pictures and check kids out.
• No nap.

Friday

• Went to discount grocery store mid morning, and got some good buys. I love that place, although they were out of the jalapeno poppers I like (stuffed with cheese! mmm...).
• Did some weed eating...broke weed eater.
• Did some spraying of weeds...ran out of spray.
• Went to Mom's to hang out with the kids. This included going with Mom to do chores because both boys went to go and someone had to hold NJ during the two-hour adventure that included moving cattle.
• It was a really fun and relaxing day just hanging out on the farm.
  
• No nap.

Saturday

• Played on the internet most of the morning before going to Mom's to hang out with the family again.
• Got the air-conditioner in my car fixed.
  
• Took a nap.
  
• Taught my niece how to suck on honeysuckles.
• Picked a tick out of NJ's ear.
• Played on the internet some more.
• Finished watching season one of 24. Didn't see it coming...

Sunday

• Went to church no.1, where I run the sound booth. Was, unfortunately, unimpressed with today's service...
• Went to church no. 2. This is my brother's church. Enjoyed the sermon, even though I had to spend a lot of time keeping my niece from getting too wound up (her mom had to stay home with NL because he was sick).
• Took nap.
• Spent some time discussing (arguing?) the finer points of stuff like women wearing head coverings and eating "Kosher" with my friend Ben...through texting! Go to his blog for some great religious discussions.
• Now I'm doing this...
  

Overall, I woke up at a decent hour every morning. No sleeping in until late in the morning (except on Saturday, when I woke up after 8am). This meant I had plenty of time to do what I wanted, but at the same time, I was able to wake up on my own without that pesky alarm clock.

I hope I get some more weeks like this before summer is over. For the next 2 1/2 weeks, I'll be teaching summer school (much lower stress levels than regular school days). One of those weeks I will spend every day from the time I leave work until after 10pm at church camp for high school week (my favorite...wish it wasn't during summer school). I should have a few weeks without having to be at camp every day (not that I HAVE to be there, but I like to lend a hand), or having to work every day on one thing or another. I'm looking forward to those. Then my bff comes home sometime in July. I'm really looking forward to getting to spend time with her. She hasn't been home since January.

All-in-all it should be a good summer.