Lately/Currently.

We've been busy lately. Really busy. So busy. Now that our house is on the market, though, there's not much else to do until there's a sold sign on it. Sure, there's always housework, but when you stay on top of it like you do with a house on the market there isn't actually much to do. Did you know it's actually easier to keep your house immaculate when you're on it every single day than it is to keep it regular level of tidy? I know, it's blowing my mind, too. Except if you let it slide even one night, then you're screwed.

Anyway, no one cares about super obvious house cleaning tips. Or if they do they're looking on Pinterest.

reading: Nothing good. I'm reading a book I got from the library's sale table and it's weird. I'm halfway into it and I think I'm starting to understand the plot. I thought about giving up on it, but it's less than 300 pages, and I don't know how to enter abandoned books into Goodreads. So I'm persisting. I might read a parenting book next since I'm trying to go through my bookshelves, but that's not terribly exciting either.

I'm also really enjoying the daily devotional New Morning Mercies. I started reading it in September, but have been more diligent since January. 

listening to: I just listened to Serial, am almost done S-Town, and listen regularly to Strangerville and Young House Love Has a Podcast. All of which I'm enjoying, except less so the second season of Serial. 

I listened to the audiobooks for Just Show Up and Hidden Figures. Hidden Figures made me feel like an underachiever, but I did a puzzle while listening so at least I was flexing my brain muscles. I watched the movie after and I highly recommend both. I think non-fiction is my new favourite audiobook genre.

Just Show Up  was good, and recommended to me by a friend, but I wish I'd read the book instead. I'd heard of Kara Tippetts before and was kind of familiar with her story, but it would have been helpful to be more invested in her personal story. I struggled with the person reading the book, too. She was painfully sincere about everything she said, and I couldn't wait for her to stop talking. No one talks like that in real life.

I just bought the latest Matt Maher album off iTunes. Its a fair bet that's going to be playing a lot.

watching: I'm finally getting into season two of Stranger Things. Season one was okay, but I'm loving season two. I've been watching it at naptime so I can't usually get through more than one episode at a time before Molly wakes up and I turn on something else. She doesn't watch shows with me, but she's around and sees what's on and I just feel like Stranger Things needs my undivided attention, and it's kind of creepy for a one year old. I mean 13 month old. Hold me.

I've also been watching Don't Trust the B in Apartment 23. It's so dumb that I understand why it only lasted two seasons, and it's pretty salty, bu t it's a great background show for when I'm hanging out with Molly while Parker's having his down time.

eating: Currently a breakfast cookie and finishing my morning coffee. I'm not sure where the morning went, but I'm not even done my fist cup of decaf of the day and it's practically noon. I'm usually a two cup by noon kind of person. (Well, when I started writing this it was almost noon. Now it's almost supper time and my second cup of coffee is stone cold and barely started.)

I'm giving up desserts for lent. I don't typically do lent but it starts tomorrow and I need another break from desserts. I enjoyed December and January way too much. I'm not going for 100% success on this, but I'm hoping for 90-95%. 

missing: Fresh air that isn't going to try and kill me. It's February so I'm right on track for that warmer weather craving. I don't even want super warm, I just warm enough to go for a walk without worrying about coming home with popsicle children. It's been -45 with the windchill lately, but today it's a balmy -5. Except with the wind it's -20. I'm really, really hoping that next week we can get around the lake.

loving: Brunch. We had an open house Saturday afternoon so we had brunch at a friend's house. It was awesome. I'm not sure why we never thought to do it earlier. We're going to do it again next weekend at our place and I'm so excited for mimosas and banana bread cinnamon buns and bacon. And friends, of course.

I really need to go for that walk.

wearing: Joggers. If I exercised every time I wore joggers I would be in North Korea right now winning Gold in every single event, men's and women's. I also live in sweaters, leggings, cardigans, and socks. And, on the rare occasion when I actually leave the house, I wear boots. I love boots, I really do, but after six months of winter I miss shoes. I am so excited to put on shoes, TOMS perhaps, without socks. This is my dream. I also dream of not wearing my maternity parka every time I leave the house.

Don't get me wrong, I'm going to miss wearing lounge athletic wear all the time if and when that day ever comes, but I just think my leggings would look absolutely darling with something other than my snow boots.

anticipating: All. the. pizza. Our small group is making pizza tomorrow night and Friday is date night, where we make pizza and watch a movie without our phones. It feels like a lot of (goat) cheese, but that's a cross I'm willing to bear. Life is crazy right now, but I think pizza is going to be the soothing balm to my life eczema. How's that for an appetizing metaphor?

Breaking cheese covered bread with dear friends is kind of the perfect way to spend Valentine's Day. Karl and I also desperately need an evening together, not talking about finances, housing, or the darkly impending future. And speaking of darkly impending, I'm really anticipating enjoying a dark beer with my pizza, in my joggers. 

Truly, I believe in a thing called love.

I have had a miserable last couple weeks. Miserable. Part of that has to do with adjusting to my new job, the weather turning from beautiful to disgusting and miserable over night, and the fact that my hormones have been all out of whack. I'm talking wacky out of whack. And that's why I've been neglectful.

This might be over sharing, but my doctor suggested I give skipping the sugar pills in my birth control a try to deal with my migraines. He thought the breaks in hormones might be causing them. I skipped two sugar pill breaks and about five days into my third pack, I decided I needed a break. I could feel myself being more emotional than I ought to be and blamed the obvious culprit: the pill shaped hormones. I basically tried to show my birth control who was boss, and it retaliated by making me even more emotional. 

At first I blamed the hormonalness on goat cheese. Because guess what? This girl right here can enjoy goat's dairy. And, oh, she has been.

Let me tell you, going five months without any kind of dairy and the only "cheese" I've consumed is Daiya (it's vegan, has zero nutritional value and must be melted to be enjoyable) and then having goat cheese is glorious. It's blissful. There is no worldly substitute for cheese. I've always liked goat cheese, but been more of a feta girl myself. Goat cheese can be a little... much. Well, right now I say give me goat cheese over cookies. Just right now, though. I already had a piece of cake tonight.

Goat cheese. Goat yogurt. YES, PLEASE.

Why did no one tell me goat yogurt tastes so much like greek yogurt? I made tzatziki the other night AND IT ACTUALLY TASTED LIKE TZATZIKI. FYI, tzatziki made out of coconut yogurt is the worst idea ever, and with almond yogurt it's at least edible but I do not recommend it.

Anyway, I had a couple obscenely bad mornings and I thought it might be the goat cheese. I'm pretty sure it's not and I just tried to play God with my hormones and lost. Thankfully. I just bought more goat cheese at Costco yesterday because, hello, ridiculously good deal and I've had a ROUGH couple of weeks. If that doesn't deserve a nice, soft cheese I don't know what does.

That said, I have to be careful with my goat dairy. It has to be exclusively goat. No other farm animals welcome.

You're probably wondering if I regret taking so long to try the goat dairy. The answer is no. Absence makes the cheese taste that much more heavenly.

Anyway, this blog is not for raging about stupid, hormonal stuff. Anymore. Because with obscenely and embarrassingly long intervals between posts I need to remind you why you love me and not leave you shaking your head and wondering why, like I do after every episode of Grey's Anatomy Karl makes me watch, WHYYYYYY do I even bother with this crap?

And, on that note, I have a four day week and then a four day weekend. Yes, it's Thanksgiving in Canada. Jealous? We also have free health care which you may not think you want but, trust me, you do. My goal is to post again before I go back to work. I have stuff to say but also a strong desire to get some knitting in tonight. So keep me accountable? I know you miss me.

Now, I'm going to leave you with a story of something that happened a couple weeks ago. You may be familiar with it already, but I'm sharing it anyway.

It was Friday night after another long week at my new job. It was raining and my mom was away. That meant that not did I have to walk home from work but also that I had to walk her dog as soon as I got home, too. After a long rainy week, the last thing I wanted was to walk for an hour. Outside. When we had to be at some friends' for dinner in less than an hour. That live twenty minutes away. And I needed to bring desert but didn't have time to make anything. So I had to go to the grocery store and, by golly, I was going to bring a bottle of wine to dinner, too, because that's polite, classy, almost makes up for the grocery store brownies, and yay the week is finally over.

My phone was dead and Karl got home 45 minutes late, so I borrowed his phone while mine charged and then bolted to the grocery store. It was 6:15 and we said we'd be there at 6:30. I was a little stressed.

I made it in and out of the grocery store in record time. The brownies I wanted were even on sale. Finally, things were going smoothly.

I called home on the way to the car, in the rain, but Karl didn't answer. I got in the car, still feeling stressed, and turned the key. The car and the radio turned on. And this was what I heard:

I was so grateful. This song always cheers me up. It is the most fun you'll ever have singing along to a song. And it's the kind of song you want to hear while in the car, on a rainy Friday afternoon, while you're stressed out and brining brownies home. It makes everything better.

You'd better believe I sang along.

I got home, locked the brownies in the car, said a loud, rude word, unlocked the brownies from the car, grabbed Karl's phone, and noticed something.

I was making a phone call. I had been making a phone call for the last 4 1/2 minutes. To a number I didn't recognize.

I got inside and shoved the phone in Karl's face. I told him what I did. I asked him who I'd called.

His dentist. I'd called his dentist.

His dentist's office has an answering machine.

His dentist's office heard me wailing (truly, the only accurate word to describe it) along to I Believe in a Thing Called Love.

Do I know all the words? No. Can I hit the high notes? I don't know, ask your dog.

And, that night, I had a dream. In that dream, Karl's dentist's office called to let me know I was overdue for a cleaning. Oh, and to thank me for my message.

Yep.

A smattering.

Today marks the province of BC's first ever Family Day. All I can is, YES PLEASE!

I haven't had a long weekend since Remembrance Day way back at the beginning of November, so this is terribly exciting. It also made being productive on Saturday much easier.

Now, full disclaimer, I love my friends and I love their children. Read on.

Saturday morning I got up at 8 in the am to make some two-ingredient cookies for breakfast with some lady friends. It was made justifiable by today's new-found stat holiday. Anyway, the friend that hosted has a two year old. She was actually the first friend of mine, in my general age group, to have a baby where I was there from before knocked-upedness to attending subsequent birthday parties. I reconsidered ever having children after Saturday's breakfast. The kid that once threw up on me at a wedding and I didn't care was running around like a fiend, turning the TV on, crawling on the table, shooting webs like Spider man (why not?), and being a generally whiny two year old. His mom naturally stopped the "naughty" things, and I know it's called the terrible twos for a reason, but man, it really made me reconsider any possibility of having my own. Why do people set themselves up for years of stress, exhaustion, and temper tantrums? Not to mention the boogers and poop. Children are a lot of work, and they don't seem very snuggly once they start walking and talking.

Just saying.

I went to the chiropractor later in the morning, and got some good news. Apparently I'm much more aligned (or something) than before. After the cracking and head wrenching, I even think my angry neck bone is starting to become less pronounced. And? Two days later and I'm still migraine free. Mmhmm...

After that I had a friend over for tea. It was lovely. I also cleaned our hovel before hand. Can I just say? I love me a clean living space. It makes my heart happy.

On that note, I'm going to stop recapping my life because I didn't do anything incredibly amazing. Other than today, as I watched last night's episode of Downton Abbey with Mom, I found out I'd won a pair of Hush Puppies boots. You might say I'm super lucky since this is the second time they've picked me to win something from them. Last year I got sandals and Karl got studly slip ons. I'm not really one to blog about my clothes, but I probably will when I get my boots. It's kind of the least I can do, eh?

In other news, this happened Monday and today respectively.

Haircuts for everyone!

In case you didn't know what Karl looked like yesterday:

Another favourite photo of Karl. They just keep coming!

He is also very Canadian. The beard was supposed to live longer, but accidents happen. I didn't cry, but I thought about it. I didn't think it was possible to love someone's beard so much. Doesn't that just fly in the face of all wifely logic? It was very red. Any potential future children that have survived the encounter with the terrible twos of Saturday will hopefully have hair like his beard. If not, they'll be growing cute little ginger children beards ASAP. Even the girls. You know, like dwarves.

Since I have kind of moved in the realm of movies (Lord of the Rings, fools), let's go there. Karl and I saw Jaws on Wednesday night. I'd seen it once before, but Karl never had. I didn't really remember it either. Karl actually hates old movies, but ended up really enjoying it. I did, too. The quality was really good, for something from 1975, and the storyline was good, too. I was totally surprised when (spoiler alert) the captain got eaten by the shark in the end. I mean, how mean is that? Surviving one epic shark attack only to gruesomely get eaten years later? That's low, Spielberg/whoever wrote Jaws, real low.

I feel like I've watched another movie recently, but can't remember. I might fail miserably at keeping track of the movies I see in 2013. I guess time will tell.

On that final note, I finally cracked my own password code and broke into my iTunes account. I bought the latest efforts from Leagues and, since I was there, The Gaslight Anthem. No regrets aside from budgetary ones. I'm just going to say that there has not been a single song on the The Gaslight Anthem's "Handwritten" that I haven't loved. Leagues is pretty rocking, too.

And, finally, speaking of music? My mom is in love with the first track off of the Of Monsters and Men CD. She's quoting it and everything like it's real life. She's basically a hipster.

My problems are worse than anyone else's. Ever.

Not to complain or anything, but White Christmas is ready for me to pick it up from the library. Pretty much as soon as I heard that I became emotionally done with everything and my deepest darkest need to watch Christmas movies while knitting took over. So yeah, I'm in a pretty dark place today. Because I don't want to be at my desk, memorizing Bible verses for tonight's Bible study like the procrastinator I am. I want to curl up in my sweat pants with my knitting and figure out what all the Christmas fuss is about with White Christmas.

Shame that I need to wait until at least Thursday to find time to do so.

Officially 2012 is going to be the year that I got with it and watched the Christmas movies that people always talk about but I've never seen. I grew up with Miracle on 34th Street but it was black and white so I was naturally bored by it. As many times as I sat down to watch it growing up, I couldn't tell you what happens if my life depended on it. Maybe I should add that one to my list, too.

Last year I finally saw all of A Christmas Story. I'd seen snippets of it growing up, but I think 2011 was the first time I ever watched it front to back. I know it's so terribly racist, but I laughed so hard at the "fa-ra-ra-ra-ra" part. If you haven't seen A Christmas Story I think you should really get on that, okay?

My absolute favourite Christmas movie is The Santa Clause. It was only a couple years ago that I finally realized the wit and irony in the title. Clause. Get it? Santa Claus with an "e"? Genius!

Then, of course, there's Love Actually which, for the record, I will be watching in a new light. Creepy weird guy that's in love with Keira Knightley is totally Rick from the Walking Dead. It's a good thing he's such a graceful loser to the guy that was in Serenity otherwise there would have been a serious throw down between evil government operatives and post-apocalyptic cops willing to do anything for survival. I may never be able to watch those scenes the same way again. Until, of course, she offers him banoffee pie. Um, Canada, you need to get on that banoffee pie wagon right now. I forgot all about it until just now. SO. GOOD. If Keira Knightley showed up at my door offering banoffee pie I would give her every single video I owned in exchange.

Anyway, this isn't about Christmas movies or British deserts. Or maybe it is now, I don't know. I wanted to tell you about my night last night.

Last night I felt like a university student again. A very, very busy university student. I had to do some budget reconciling, so after I bought Christmas card envelopes, pooped the dog, made dinner, and threw laundry in, it was pretty much 6:30. Because I am the definition of efficiency. I reconciled in Quicken until I made a stupid mistake I couldn't find and had to take a break to clear my head. Since I didn't have time to do that, I turned to my Bible study homework.

Every week we have to listen to an hour long sermon by John MacArthur, memorize a verse, and do some homework. I know, right? Way more work than I thought it would be. This is the third official week and I totally failed at memorizing last week's verse. I just raised the white flag an hour before Bible study and admitted that I had left everything too close to the last minute and wasn't going to get it all done.

Last night I turned on the week's sermon and got on that laundry fold train. You know, the one I've been avoiding for the past several weeks. It's a tale as old as time. Anyway, I actually found that I was really enjoying myself. Apparently I'm a million times more productive at the laundry folding when I'm not watching TV. I guess it kind of makes sense. John MacArthur is my new laundry folding buddy. He's not much help though, to tell the truth. He just talks and I do all the hard work.

By the time the hour long sermon ended I was not only surprised that I still had laundry to fold, but I was also a little disappointed in the fact that it was now 9 o'clock and I still had a bazillion things I wanted to get done. I was also in the middle of folding a pile of clothes so I figured I'd finish that load, put them away, then move on to the super fun written part of my Bible study.

I've told you before that I don't listen to music while I run, opting for podcasts instead. I do, however, listen to music sometimes while I'm cooling down and trudging back home. Because, you know, you need motivation to actually walk back up that moderate incline to get home once you've already spent your energy.

It turns out, my post-run songs make really excellent laundry folding music. For serious. I don't have a ton of music on my phone, but it's pretty much Kelly Clarkson, Matt Maher, Matthew Mayfield, and Mother Mother. There are a couple Jars of Clay songs and some Mumford and Sons thrown in there for good measure but that's about it. I know it's all a very odd mix, but I love it.

The best is when Kelly comes on and sings about how what doesn't kill me makes me stronger. Um, yeah. If that 20 minute run didn't kill me I'm definitely a stronger person. Or Mother Mother comes on and invites me to fall in love. Matthew Mayfield wants to grow old with me, Jars of Clay talk about them good monsters, and Matt Maher is breaking down prisons, rising up, and all around making me want dance in some sort of awkward fashion. (Because that's the only fashion I know how to dance around in.)

Anyway, Kelly came on right after Mr. MacArthur and basically told in no unclear way that her life would suck without me. I, um, maybe have been jumping around and doing some of my sweet sweet dance moves with the laundry. There is no shame, okay? I admit to nothing.

Then, because I knew that one more overnight reconciliation of the bank account session would drive me absolutely insane, I made time to watch Castle. It's called priorities. It was also totally worth it because it was a Christmas episode. I can't believe Christmas is three weeks away because as far as I'm concerned the Christmas spirit is right here, right now. Three more weeks just means that I have that much longer to relish in it. Hallelujah!

I now miss running and hope to get back into it on Thursday. Who have I become?

Okay, I'm done now.

A few of my favourite things.

I'm a pretty excitable person, as in, I get pretty excited about stuff. I get excited about things and I want to share them with the world. I'm not really sure the world cares too much, though. Either way, this is my blog and I'm the boss so I'm going to share some of my favourite things with you in a controlled environment.

Green cardigans. True story. I love green cardigans. I never really gave much thought to them, always gravitating towards dark grey ones as a general wardrobe staple (I've almost fully worn through my second one) but green cardigans are where it's at in the sweater world. Seriously. I have a couple and I feel like they go with pretty much everything I own. Unless I'm wearing a green shirt or dress because that's just too much green. And the best thing about green cardigans? My first solid green cardigan actually came from a clothing swap. Which means? Totally free. And my second one? Ten dollars. Green cardigans really are the best.

Fantasy Books. No joke. They are so good. Naturally, I really like A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin; it's popular for a reason. I read the first four books in 2006/2007 so I'm pretty familiar with the books. Before I read that series, though, I was totally enamoured with The Fifth Ring trilogy by Mitchell Gaham.While it has a few issues with editing and the plot is a little weak I still think it's one of the best series I've ever enjoyed. When it comes down to it, I just like a really good story so issues be damned. The Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series by Tad Williams is another one of my favourites. I haven't actually reread it yet like I have the others but I expect that someday I will. I did find it a little predictable at times, but it was written in the 80s so I'll let it slide. There are others, like The Eldarn Sequence, that I have also enjoyed but I'm not sure if it ranks quite as high on my epic fantasy series scale as the others.

Jars of Clay. Have you heard Dan Haseltine sing? Have you? What about Steve Mason? You should probably go do that right now either way. I'll wait.

The Hawk in Paris. What? I'm consistent. His voice is so magical! Actually, the Hawk in Paris is a little bit 80s for my always liking but they have a few songs that I absolutely adore ("Put Your Arms Around Me" and "The New Hello" both his and hers versions).

Audrey Assad. Talk about amazing voices. I wish I could sing half as well as she does. Not only that, I've found that she makes an excellent do anything around the house kind of music. Baking? Check. Cleaning? Check. Toilet scrubbing? Check. Tetris playing? Double Check.

Leagues. Their music makes me happy. Give them a try.

Certain songs. Matthew Mayfield's "Grow Old With You" makes me want to jump around almost as much as Kelly Clarkson does. Almost. "The Earth is Yours" by Gungor does pretty much exactly the same thing. I think these two songs were made to be played in sequence at a rather high decibel.

Healthy Indulgences. For serious. I've made quite a few recipes off this blog and that alone is a miracle. The fact that I keep coming back to it has to mean something and tt means these recipes are good.

Young House Love. This is where I got my spray paint everything idea. I'm not sure that's something they're promoting, but it inspired me nonetheless. Well, that and the fact that it kind of made me feel like I could be productive. If they can paint wood paneling then why the heck can't I organize a cupboard under the stairs. I'm not sure those two thoughts were originally tied together but just roll with it.

Polka dots. Polka dots on my phone case. Polka dots on my sheets. Polka dots on my storage boxes. Polka dots on my sugar canisters. Polka dots on my desktop. Polka dots on my wrapping paper. Polka dots on my migraine medicine bag. Polka dots on my socks, my underwear, my shirts, my skirt, my dress, my tights, my cardigan, my scarves, and on my headband. Polka dots on my blog. I just like them, okay?

And now you know.

Middle Ground.

Alright, as you are well aware, I greatly enjoy Jars of Clay. Their music, their message, everything. Dan Haseltine is their lead singer and if you've read my blog you would have heard me mention him before. In his latest blog post he discusses why the band tours and one of the key things he keeps bringing up is "middle ground." Bear with me on this; I am actually going somewhere.

First, a little background. I've known Jars of Clay pretty much since they started in one form or another; as Dan mentions that's 18 years. I've probably been aware of them for sixteen or seventeen of those year. It was nine years ago that I really became a fan. I think one of the reasons I still really appreciate the band is that they maintain their musical integrity while doing different things. Does that make sense? If you know Jars of Clay you'll probably know what I'm talking about. Who We Are Instead is vastly different from Good Monsters but I love them both. Much Afraid is my least favourite recording of their's but it still has its gems and the beauty of it all is that at varying times over the last nine years I've appreciated certain songs more than others.

I'll try not to carry on about why they are my favourite band and why you should give them a listen and will instead try to stick to what I came here to say.

Dan discusses the middle space and how Jars of Clay wants to fit in there as neither a Christian or a secular group. You're not necessarily going to know sitting down and listening to 80% of their songs that they've got God on the mind. I guess that depends on which CD you've picked up, though. Redemption Songs will leave very little doubt, especially with the tagline "save the hymnals." At the risk of making some of you uncomfortable, I love Jesus and I like listening to music that shares many of my similar beliefs. I'm not a big drinker, I don't party, and I certainly don't beat up hoes, so it's nice to listen to something I can relate to and that I know isn't going to offend anyone. Except maybe atheists.

I don't have a problem listening to music that isn't "Christian," though. I quite enjoy it. I don't listen to Christian radio stations by default although they are programmed into my car's stereo. I think middle ground is important. Living outside of a Christian bubble is kind of huge. Some of my favourite people don't have the same faith as I do and I get the feeling that if I had no middle ground interests we'd have very little to talk about. I think that's part of living in the modern world.

Dan Haseltine says a few truly excellent things. I love that he talks about the middle space being for both drug addicts and preachers. That says no judgment. I think that's one thing a lot of "religious" people struggle with. I know I do. I think most of my judging is done closer to home though.

One thing that I think Christians get a bad reputation for is hypocrisy. Okay, I don't think it, I know it. While a lot of people label themselves "Christians" I think there are a lot of ways of defining that title. Everyone has different degrees of religion or spirituality or lack thereof. I think that's something that's important to keep in mind without passing too much judgment.

I grew up going to church although I didn't come from a highly religious family. My mom was the one that got me going to church at the tender age of three and, while I don't doubt her faith, we were never a "religious" family. We would pray at dinner and bed time and talk about church but it never went much deeper than that.

I got the majority of my Christian understanding from my time at church and a tight knit group of relatively sheltered girlfriends. I remember being fifteen or so on the way to a youth conference and hearing someone say "piss" and how shocked I was that things like that weren't utterly taboo. It was a life changing moment for me.

In case you're getting the wrong impression of young me I did not grow up in a bubble, went to public school, had a harder time that a lot of my friends growing up being a socially awkward only child that couldn't reconcile a strong desire to have friends and a desire to be a "good Christian kid." Thankfully I grew out of that stage and into the lovely, socially capable young woman I am today. Seriously, it's night and day and I feel like a different person. You can debate my social skills all you'd like.

That "piss" moment helped me realize that Christians are people too. It's a sad thing for that realization to have come so late in life.

One thing Dan Haseltine said that really stuck out to me was, " Have a beer and consider the depths of love and faith." It made me smile. I know some people think alcohol is the devil and for some people that struggle with it I'm sure it certainly comes close. He's not asking people to get drunk, though. He's saying to enjoy the middle ground and do it in moderation. There's nothing wrong with alcohol. Jesus drank wine. You know it, I know it. Sure enough, though, someone commented that they were shocked that a Christian would be encouraging other Christians to drink beer. The comment may have been tongue in cheek, but it's hard to say.

I love the idea of a middle ground. It meant a lot to me when I finally realized that it was there. As "Christians" we're meant to live in the world but not be of it. Is it possible to love Jesus and not be a total prude? Absolutely! I think that there's a total balancing act involved and it can be hard to find that balance. Enter hypocrisy.

I just thought I'd share with you his post because as much as it is about Jars of Clay, it made me think about how I've viewed Christianity and its place in the world throughout my life.