In and of itself I think very little is inherently evil, rather, it is our actions and intent that are either positive or negative. With that said, there are certain tools available to us that are more difficult to use well – in my opinion TV is one of them.

Our family during my growing years had a on and off again relationship with TV. I'm told there was a long stretch of time when we didn't have one, but honestly, I don't remember that. I do remember getting REALLY old school TV's second (or probably third or fourth) hand that boasted the fact that they had color, the ones with the two turny knobs and the rabbit ears that we covered with tin foil to get better reception. I remember having limited channels (limited as in 2-5) and we only had cable when I was in high school, and then only for a few months at a time when they offered limited time discounts. Yet, with all of these limitations I remember watching quite a bit of TV – go figure.

Throughout high school and college I knew all about pop culture and could talk intelligently about the happenings and lives of characters on various shows, I watched all of the latest movies and knew all of the names of actors. I wasn't obsessed with TV or Hollywood, I was simply your average teen. Shortly after moving to Connecticut, when I was 23, we decided to get rid of the only TV in the house. We all had slightly different reasons, but the over arching theme was that we wasted too much time watching shows that weren't worth any. Sure, there were educational shows, sports, or harmless entertainment shows we would miss out on, but we decided it was worth the sacrifice.

It was a rough transition at first, kind of like a addiction detox, but now, 5 years later, I find myself blissfully disconnected from most media outlets. I've still followed a few shows that I really liked on the internet, most of which have now ended, but for the most part I don't have a clue what's going on in TV character's lives and I couldn't care less.

As "my" shows have gone off the air one by one I've struggled with whether or not to give new series a try. It's not that I think it's morally wrong to watch any TV, but it has become increasingly difficult to find shows that consistently match my worldview – so much so that I've begun to question the wisdom of even trying.

Here's the problem, shows start out well, get you hooked, then go to pot from there. A few months ago I gave a new series a try and I loved it, so cute and funny. Not that I agreed with everything, but it seemed harmless. Then a few weeks ago the digression started. A new character was introduced and he absolutely ruined it for me. You see, he was being portrayed as a christian minister – only he didn't portray any of the characteristics of a true follower of Christ. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't expect people who aren't Christians to act like them. I understand that there isn't a Christian alive who is perfect and never makes mistakes, says or does stupid or even wrong things. I even get that there are many aspects of Christianity that are confusing and even laughable to the world at large. I'm not the kind of person who can't take a joke, even when it's about myself. But there's a joke and then there's ridicule, and they are very different.

I wasn't going to say anything, I thought, "Maybe I'm just being silly about this." Then out of the blue a friend, who I also wouldn't consider to be the super sensitive sort, messaged me about the same thing. I felt a little more justified in my assessment. But then what? What do you do when the very core of what you believe is mocked and made the butt of jokes?

At first I found myself soldiering through, thinking, "Well, I take the good and leave the bad." But then it struck me, what's so important about this show that I need to subject myself to its judgmental tirades? Why should I support this show when it loudly declares itself to be against what I believe? So I stopped. And that's it.

I think we forget that we have control over what we expose ourselves to. Watching TV that always supports what I believe is not a right that I'm entitled to, nor is it one that I feel I need to rally to protect. I'm not going to name the show because I don't feel it necessary to put you on your guard. If it offends you, don't watch it. If it doesn't offend you, then watch it – either way I'm not affected.

It seems like such a simple thing, but I felt oddly freed after I decided that I didn't care to know what happened to these characters in future story lines, they aren't real. I don't need to know how it ends – and it's a nice feeling.

I understand that the core of most comedy is laughing at someone or something – and in many ways that's ok, even when that someone or something is me. It's important to be able to laugh at ourselves. However, sometimes even a good joke can go too far. When it does we need to be ready with our response. Sometimes it means letting it go, sometimes it means simply parting ways, and sometimes it means making a statement and setting things right.

So, this show and I are parting ways, and while there is a part of me that will miss that 1/2 hour of entertainment, I'm pretty sure I'll live – and be better off for the sacrifice.

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MAC

There's a difference between knowing what to do and doing it. There's a difference between knowing truth and living like we know truth. There's a difference even between knowing and believing. It's often said that the difference is between having that knowledge in our head vs in our heart. While I understand what's being said there, I think practically speaking that statement still leaves the hearer perhaps feeling a little more emotion but without any helpful solution.

Physically speaking information does not, and never will, reside in the organ we call the heart. Our heart pumps blood, and while that in and of itself is an important and beautiful task, that's all it does. Our minds however are capable of both hearing, understanding and applying knowledge. Those are the tasks that need to be done and it happens entirely in our brains.

So, then, if we don't have to transplant information into our "hearts" to get it into our lives, what do we have to do?

This has been something I've been thinking about recently, and apparently I'm not alone as just in the past 2 days 3 separate people have had the same conversation with me independent of one another. This thought of doing what we know, applying what we've learned, and holding on to truth we've been given seems like a pretty common struggle.

Over the past few weeks I've been feeling as if I've found some missing puzzle pieces that are starting to give me a fuller picture of what's going on in my life, clearing up things that have happened and giving me some direction for what to do now. In this, I've hit a few ups and downs. It's like I see so clearly, make a decision, and move on only to be faced with the same decision the very next day… and the next… and the next. At first this was really frustrating to me. I kept thinking, "Why am I yet again struggling with this? I gave up control of this just yesterday, why is it back?" But slowly I've begun to see that I can't give up control over things once and for all, it's a daily and sometimes moment by moment occurrence. And I think this is the key to getting what's in our head to play out in our lives (aka. get it into our hearts.)

The proof is in the pudding. We can talk all we want about how we've given God control over our lives, how we've forgiven someone, or how we've chosen a new and improved lifestyle – but we know this has happened when we walk it out and we walk it out by taking a single step and making a choice with every step that we take to continue in the right direction.

It's ok that we are hurt when people say hurtful things to us, that's totally natural. But when that happens we must hold on to what we know and choose to believe the truth of what God says about us. It's completely natural to prefer cookies over broccoli. But if we truly believe what we eat impacts our health and our life when faced with those choices on a daily basis we must hold to our resolve and choose (at least the majority of the time) what we know to be fueling to our bodies over comforting to our minds. When finances are tight, when the future is uncertain, when we don't know where we're going to live or what we'll eat, in the times of uncertainty and fear we have two choices: take it on ourselves or offer it to God. The two are diametrically opposed, so you can't do both, it's one or the other.

If you choose to take care of it yourself, well, you're on your own then. If you choose to let God take care of it, then it's in His hands and you need to take yours off. This is much easier said than done, it requires holding tightly to your decision and trusting that God will bring out good in the end. Sometimes this is a one time decision, but I think much more often it requires a constant reminding that the situation has been given to God and leaving it there. And that's where the peace is. Leaving whatever it is with God and refusing to pick it back up again. It's an exercise of will, but as with all exercises, the more it's practiced the easier it becomes.

I'm so thankful that we not only have theory, but we also have truth. This truth that we've been given is a Rock to stand on, a safe haven to run to, and peace that passes understanding. So hold on! But not to your problems and your temporal solutions. No, hold on to the Truth that God has handed you today – His in sovereign, He is in control.

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MAC

It's not rare that I say something like,"Oh man, it's Friday but it feels like Thursday." For whatever reason, sometimes the days don't feel like what they are. It's much rarer though for me to truly think it's a different day than it actually is. Yesterday, being Tuesday and all, I taught lessons then got several things done that needed doing, and ended up over my sister's house. While there I was talking with my brother-in-law about plans for Thursday, which in my head was the next day.

Then on my way home and into the house I noticed the recycling bin was really full, "Good", I thought, "tomorrow (Thursday) the recycling truck is coming." I went on to plan out my next few days, I would go into the office, teach my lessons after work…all normal things I do on Thursday. This morning, upon waking, I was planning in my head what I'd wear and wondering if by any chance the air conditioners had been put in at work yet… All Thursday things. Lastly I was a little disappointed because I realized, being Thursday and all, that I totally forgot to let Amie (at His Harvest Group) know what produce I wanted for this coming week, as Wednesday is the cut off day for ordering.

It was so strange, it felt like my week had gone by so fast! Too fast even! Then I realized, it had… it wasn't Thursday, but rather Wednesday. It blew my morning mind.

It was an equally strange feeling to get back a day. I had so much I wanted/needed to do today (the real Wednesday) that if it had truly been Thursday things would have been off. Not that it would have caused any serious problems, but it would have made a few things quite inconvenient. Acting on false information, no matter how true it feels, can cause some major issues.

It's amazing how, through various reasonings and circumstances something that is false can feel so true. But no matter how much I believed it was Thursday, it was still Wednesday. My believing otherwise didn't change that fact. With this in mind I think of the other areas in our life that we apply this false logic.

There is an ever increasing community of thinkers who say that truth is relative, that if you believe something to be true then it is. However nice that would be, that theory simply doesn't hold weight in our everyday lives. Unfortunately, there are many who hold this theory and are being damaged by its results.

Absolute truth isn't something to be feared or hated, in fact, there is freedom in truth. Truth shows us how things really are. Truth gives us direction and clears up confusion. The existence of absolute truth needs not be something we avoid as politically incorrect, but rather something we embrace.

Yes, truth in some cases can be exclusionary, but only to those who choose to believe a lie when truth is available to them. Unfortunately our society isn't one that values absolute truth and often calls those who do bigoted, cliquey and closed minded. But if I had gone about my day today (Wednesday) as if it were Thursday I'm sure some people would have something to say to me about it. For one, my students for today would be inconvenienced when I didn't show up for lessons. The people at the office would be confused at my arrival and I would be told I wasn't needed there today. Events that I thought I had missed would simply go on without me and plans for tomorrow would not be happening if I arrived for them today. Truth – correct truth – is very important.

I could go about my day raging at those I meet when they contradict me. I may be the most passionate about my truth but that doesn't change the fact that they'd be right and I'd be wrong.

So this morning I'm thankful for the realization of truth and reminded at how important it is to take the time to get the facts straight.

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MAC

It all started almost 4 years ago when I got fed up with high priced beauty products that just didn't seem to work. While I never had horrible acne, like some of my friends, I also never had great skin either. I knew there had to be a better, more natural way of taking care of my body – I mean, people have been washing their faces for centuries before there were drug stores to sell them beauty products. This personal quest to break free of the beauty industry started with a simple discovery: the OCM (oil cleansing method) and has snowballed (in a good way) from there.

This is an update, on my new and improved OCM find. Two years ago I wrote a post detailing what I used to do and a brief summery of the thought behind this method which can be found HERE. If you're interested in trying this out I highly recommend starting there first.

Up until just recently I would have told you that I had no desire or need to update my system, it had been working wonderfully for almost 4 years and since it wasn't broke I wasn't interested in fixing it. However, seemingly out of the blue something "broke"… or maybe "broke out" would be a more accurate term.

It all started with the scourge of the free market economy: Walmart. I can count on 2 hands how many times I've been in a Walmart over the last 5 years, and 90% of those visits were directly work related. I don't like Walmart, I think the company is bad for the economy, bad for communities, and offers cheap, crappy products. With all of that said, sometimes price does win over ideology, and I cave into their inexpensiveness. A few months ago I happened to be there picking up things for work and I also happened to have just run out of my caster oil for my face wash. So I quickly passed through the pharmacy section and picked up the bottle. I remember thinking, "Wow, almost double the size for less than the price of my regular grocery store bottle." And I stuck it in the cart without another thought.

That night, when I went to do my 50/50 mix of the caster oil and olive oil, I noticed that the Walmart caster oil looked and smelled different than my usual brand. It was thick and cloudy looking with a much stronger smell, but I sighed and said, "Oh well, that's Walmart for you!", and moved on.

Fast forward two months: My skin was going on strike! I was breaking out like crazy, my skin felt oily in places and was dry and flaky in other spots. I couldn't figure out what was wrong! I was eating well and hadn't changed anything in my skin or food routine. In fact, I started pulling out known allergy foods thinking I might be having a food sensitivity reaction, but to no avail. I was so upset, my skin was as bad or worse than it had been in high school. I was seriously considering breaking down and purchasing some new face wash when I remembered that I did in fact change something – I bought my caster oil at Wally-World.

I stopped using the mix immediately and instead replaced it with straight coconut oil, which I happened to have in my medicine cabinet anyway for other uses and had just recently heard can also be used in the OCM. Within two days my face cleared up dramatically, so much so that I had several people comment on how good my skin looked. I've noticed that I've needed significantly less makeup and the dry/oily patches have evened out almost entirely.

I did end up buying a replacement caster oil last time I was at the store, however since the straight coconut oil is working so well I've decided to return it and just go with the coconut for now. An added bonus is ease of traveling, since I keep it in a glass jar with a screw on lid the coconut oil is much more transportable than my other more liquid mix. So one less thing to buy and mix together and one less things to worry about! Ahhh, how I love simplicity.

So there's my update, basically I've switched my face wash from a 50/50 caster/olive oil mix to straight coconut oil. It's been just about a month now and I'm loving the results. I personally didn't notice any transition detox (though I have been using the OCM for 4 years with other oils and my skin started off in such a messed up state that it couldn't have really gotten much worse) which can happen when switching oils. Cost wise coconut oil may be slightly more expensive than the caster/olive mix, but not significantly so – and in the end, it's still much less than anything you'd buy at the grocery or department store.

So there it is, if you have any questions about the OCM (either original method or my new updated version) please let me know. I'm not an expert, but I have tried a bunch of different methods and have learned a lot through trial and error over the past 4 years.

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MAC

I don't like taking pictures of myself. I don't like having pictures of me taken. I do however, try not to be to belligerence at people with cameras, they don't need to be made to feel bad because I don't think I'm photogenic. Part of this is due to the fact that when I see pictures of myself I start to analyze them, breaking down every spot and lump and bump until all I see is how bad I look – when if you asked me before I would have said I looked pretty good that day. I think this is pretty common. Someone mentioned something in passing recently that I've found very interesting: When we look at other people we tend to take them in as a whole but when we look at ourselves we tend to focus in on minute details of our appearance.

The result is that what we see and what others see of us is different. When other's look at us, by taking us in as a whole, our features are blended making things softer and less pronounced. On the other side, when we look at ourselves and focus in on our large nose, weak or pronounced chin, extra pounds around the middle or lacking in some place, that one aspect of our person becomes pronounced in our view – making in seem to overwhelm our view until, often, our least attractive parts become what we see most.

This isn't good for us.

I was thinking about this in regard to life in general. When it comes to projects or life I have the tendency to be a big picture person rather than overly detailed – that is with everything but myself. With myself I look at my whole participation in any given thing, pick out where I messed up and that one moment becomes what I remember from the whole event. I think the other way is better.

For example, on Sunday I filled in for music at a church while their regular music guy was away. Really, it went great, except for one literal minute at the very end where I missed a cue from the pastor and it was slightly less smooth than it could have been. Really, that was the extent of it. Yet, all day I was thinking about that one minute and playing it through in my head, how I could have done it better or different. I was giving it much more thought than it required.

But I think this is pretty common, we dissect our lives down and examine the negatives under a microscope. Now, I think it's important to learn from our mistakes, but that doesn't mean we need to let them shadow all of the events of our lives. It's good to see both the good and the bad, but also important to keep them both in their rightful place.

So, that's what I"m working on today, keeping my eyes where they belong.

But having just written that, it reminds me, my eyes don't really belong on me at all! Rather they belong on my Jesus. Looking on the one who is fairest of all, there I find perfect beauty and rightness in everything He does. When that's where I'm looking at, it doesn't matter nearly as much how I look to myself or anyone else around me.

Yup, that's the best of both worlds.

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MAC

I think about communication a lot, partly because I think "miscommunication" is at the core of most of our day to day issues. But what I've been learning recently is that it's not even miscommunication that's the problem, but what those misunderstood words or feelings trigger inside of us.

A humorous example:

A few weeks ago my sister sent me this text…

Her: "Ps. We are out tonight and I bought a wrap "

So, that probably doesn't mean much to you, but this was my response: "Haha, for shame! Just kidding, hope it was everything you hoped and dreamed it would be…"

Now you're probably even more confused, as she and I were when she replied: "Yes, got the wrap from Ebay… love the material."

You see, I was juicing at the time and had moments before seen a commercial for a new McDonald's wrap that looked amazing, but I'm sure tastes absolutely disgusting, like the rest of their stuff. So she said she was out and had bought a wrap, I knew that in general she was trying and succeeding in eating well and the thought of her eating a wrap seemed like such a weird thing.

However, when I got the next text it cleared things up significantly, you see, she had been researching woven wraps – the kind you carry older babies around in on your back…not the kind you eat. The kind you find for less expensive on Ebay, not the kind you get for cheap at McDonald's.

Well, that was embarrassing. Thankfully my sister is awesome and wasn't offended in the least at my reply. In fact, she thought it was hilarious - because she's awesome. I easily explained that I had food on my mind and misunderstood, we both laughed and moved on.

Why was it so easy to get over it? Because she knows and trusts my heart, she gave me the benefit of the doubt. As I've thought about it more, I don't think that it's so much misunderstanding what people say that's the problem, but rather, that misunderstanding triggers something within us – a feeling most likely stronger than warranted in the situation, and that feeling makes us doubt the good heart and intentions of the other person. It's that lack of trust and accompanying insecurity that makes us respond defensively and with hurtful responses.

Is this accurate? Think about it. If I said "shame on you" to you for something you did and were excited about, how would you respond? Probably not as well as she did. If you said that to me… I don't think I'd respond as well as she did.

It seems to me that it's much less what is said then it is how what's said is taken. But what would happen if we decided to give people in general the benefit of the doubt? What if people were innocent until proven guilty? What if mean people had to correct us when we take what they say better than they intended it? I think we'd have happier happy people and confused mean people.

Reminds me of, "heaping hot coals on their head", or some modern day equivalent. It's something to think about at very least.

Happy Thursday!

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MAC

What an interesting day. Weird even. Ok, so it wasn’t even so much that strange things happened, but I felt weird about it. Work was ordinary, but all day I’ve been trying to process through some pretty weighty things. It feels like I’ve been working on a puzzle and bit by bit it’s come together. It’s like I can see the shapes and color patterns, but I’m still missing some very important pieces. I know what the puzzle’s going to be, I just haven’t finished it yet.

After work I had a list of mundane things to do, like the bank for work and myself, get gas, etc. I made the first few stops but held off on the gas because I had a specific station I wanted to go to. The evening progressed, had dinner, stopped at my sister’s (who as it turned out wasn’t even there), decided I wanted some coffee, which I grabbed, and I headed over to my appointment for the evening. On the way I knew I had to stop for gas, only, I missed the exit – no worries, I had another station that generally had pretty good prices that I would hit up on the way.

*Now, for clarification on the next part of this: I mind my own business in public. I'm a focused, project orientated person – so much so that I've been known to walk right past people I know without even realizing it. When I go to a gas station it is for the sole purpose of pumping gas into my car. I don't go to meet guys, I don't go to make friends, I don't go to have conversations. Regardless of this fact, strangers like to talk to me. I don't know why. Let's continue.

Pulling into the station, I saw a person in a car, stopped near the door of the building like they were waiting for a pump, then a few moments later, they pulled around to the other side of the pump that I was on. She seemed confused or flustered, having to turn the car around because she wasn’t sure which side the gas tank was on. I just vaguely caught these details because like I said, I mind my own business, I’m introverted like that and I had plenty on my mind to occupy myself.

Just as I was getting out of my car, the young woman walked tentatively up to me and said, "Do you have a dollar or two I can have? I only have change to put into my tank and I need to get to Bristol." (Which is about 20-30 minutes away) I have to say, I was completely caught off guard and almost brushed her off. But she really seemed distraught – not crying, but like she was just in a really rough situation.

Now, lest I come off looking good in this, let's just say I tend to think the worst of strangers who walk up to me and ask for money. I don't know, I've just heard enough to put doubts about their sincerity and/or my safety in these situations. In a moment's flash I thought, "What if that car's stolen, which is why she didn't know which side the tank was on and why she seems so nervous and by giving her money I'm enabling her to get away!" Dramatic? Yes. But hey, it could happen. Generally speaking when people ask me for money I keep walking. But in this case, I wasn't walking to begin with and, I don't know, she just seemed different. For a second I thought, "What if she tries to mug me and take all of my money?" But if she tried something I think I could have taken her, so, totally uncharacteristically of me I said, "Sure." Which seemed to shock both of us.

So I got back in my car to pull out a "few bucks" when I realized that while I generally don't carry any cash, I just so happened to have stopped at the bank a few hours before and had a wad of 20′s in my wallet, but that was it, 20′s. No 1′s, no 5′s, not even 10′s, but 20′s. Now this whole generosity thing started to hurt a little bit.

But then I stopped and listened for just a second and Jesus said, "You can be stingy, or you can really make her day." So I smiled, and handed her a 20 dollar bill. Now we were both really shocked. She offered to go inside and get me change, but at that point I was enjoying it too much. "No worries, keep it." I said. I wanted her to know it was God and not me, so I lamely said, "Well, God bless you." Which is totally not something I generally say and as such probably sounded a bit awkward, it's a little too churchy for me, but given the situation I was glad I was pulled together enough to even get that out.

I don't know if she really needed the money, but I think she did. I don't know where she was going or what was going on in her life. She seemed really grateful, which made me feel a bit embarrassed, but all in all, I'm glad I was there to help. And, while I wish I was a little more pulled together through the whole thing, I trust that God can use even my awkward, "God bless you" for some sort of good.

So, that was my day.

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MAC

Ps. Reminds me of that old Smash Mouth songs that says:

"Somebody once asked could I spare some change for gas
I need to get myself away from this place
I said yep, what a concept
I could use a little fuel myself
And we could all use a little change"