grace

last time i posted i mentioned that one of my new year's resolutions was to read the news more, which has been going quite well. but i've also quickly been reminded as to why i stopped reading the news, it is so damn depressing. i'll be the first to admit that i have little knowledge about this whole gaza thing, but in the past couple of weeks i've become frustrated by the turmoil there and have been struggling a lot with that situation and it is weighing quite heavily on me.

an article that i read on npr this morning included a picture of a rainbow over gaza (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99530075). absolutely beautiful. but whenever i see rainbows i think of god's covenant with noah after the flood in genesis. this image upset me, the symbol of god's grace and redemption, a promise to never destroy again. over gaza? a place teeming with violence and destruction? i know that god doesn't cause evil, he can't, that is not his character, but all i see in this situation is evil.

but the next article i read was part of the series "this i believe." beautiful. today's addition (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99478226...make sure you listen to the article too) to the series was written by a seven year old boy, part thai so automatically adorable, and what he believes. instantly my image of grace was restored. the last four things he believes are, "i believe its okay to die, but not to kill. i believe war should not have started. i believe war should stop. i believe we can make peace." this boy is beautiful and i wish that i could have his child like faith at my age.

the children's sermon this morning was about how jesus used children to teach people about god. the big kid's sermon was about how we should be in awe of god. this little boy has inspired me to be in awe of god. i love when everything just fits together and makes sense like that!

p.s. i'm still working on making links in the posts...christie i can't figure it out.