Where do we go from here?

I’m arriving unusually late to the bakery today. On days that I plan to write I try to get here early because my mind turns to Jell-O later in the day, but Jennifer had to take Hutch to his tutorial this morning and I offered to stay home with Sadie for a while. I’m usually out the door by nine, even though I don’t have an official office to go to. It’s a routine both my doctor and my painter friend David recommended. David’s studio is just off of his back deck, about twenty feet from his kitchen, but he still gets up and puts on a dress shirt and tie to go to “work”. My doctor says that this kind of schedule will help with my depression. On top of all that, Jennifer says that homeschooling doesn’t work with me in the house, so I have to get out. I’d leave earlier if I had the choice. My most productive time is 6am-12pm, which puts me on a very grandpa-like schedule, which includes an early lunch and then supper around five. I remember eating supper with Abe and Mable (my Dad’s grandparents) as early as 4:30pm some nights. Then they’d sit around the table and drink coffee and talk about the world was coming to.

This past Sunday we had a dinner party with some friends at the Breen’s house in Brentwood. We’ve known Shelly and her husband David for almost as long as we’ve lived here, but we became close when we went on tour with her and the rest of Point of Grace. We shared a manager back then and were always bumping into each other. Now our kids take lessons at the same music school, and when see each other there we feel old. Rob, our worship pastor (and my boss), and his wife Kirstin, were there too, and we all enjoyed freshly smoked ribs and chicken while our kids, all six of them, practiced an after-dinner performance for us. Rob is an aspiring chef so the meal was exceptional, and we all sat around afterwards grumbling about how full we were and talking about life and technology and “What the world is coming to.” So this is what that feels like.

This morning an NPR program discussed the topic of tablet computers replacing text books in public schools. It’s already happening and most experts agree that it’s inevitable that within the next few years schools nationwide will be replacing textbooks with iPads (or something like them). I hadn’t thought much about it until Shelly mentioned it on Sunday night. Now I can’t stop playing the scenario out in my head: kids cutting and pasting their notes and emailing their homework, research on the Cloud and Google searches instead of encyclopedias, and the control of “factual” information by whomever is writing and constantly amending this content. And what happens to those of us who like to write instead of type? When these kids graduate we’re going to have to adjust our culture to the new age of typed communication and abbreviated language. “What is the world coming to?”

Yesterday Chris Fabry, who has been having some extremely relevant and controversial shows lately, was discussing the topic of abortion. I’m embarrassed to say that I hadn’t remembered that this Sunday is Anti-Abortion Sunday. I got on the Internet to check the latest statistics and was crushed by where we’ve come. Last year, 42 million (42,000,000) unborn babies were legally aborted in America. Of those women who had abortions, 37% identified themselves as Protestant and 31% identified themselves at Catholic, proving that self-admitting followers of Jesus are responsible for over 60% of all abortions. Interestingly enough, only 23% percent of women who had abortions claimed to not have any religion at all. Furthermore, more than a third (38%) of all abortions were performed on women whose household income was between 30K-60K per year. Another 13% were performed on women who come from a household with an annual income above 60,000k per year. The most stunning statistic, in my opinion, is that 43% of all women will have at least one abortion before the age of 45.

I don’t feel compelled to release the total readership of this blog, but as I write I’m calculating in my head the percentage of my readers who are possibly battling with this issue right now, and I’m a little stunned. For goodness sake, any of you who are considering abortion, please know that a child will be a blessing to you, probably the biggest you will ever know, not the baggage that you might be dreading. This may seem like a dark tunnel with no end, but there will be light again and you can do this.

I hate to end such a serious letter so abruptly, but I’ve got to go pick up our dumb dog from the groomer and get to a meeting. I didn’t mean for this to be depressing, but we are responsible for knowing the truth, and the truth, even hard truth, will set us free… free from fear, free to fight, free to vote, free to finally take a stand and say “no more”.

May the Lord remind you of His presence as you walk in the tension of life in America today,

Jeromy

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

*Here’s the song I was telling you about. It’s especially pertinent for those of us who are in or who have known times of utter darkness. Those times are lonely and hard to describe, but sometimes a song can help. As always, I’d appreciate your comments. FFH@me.com comes right to my phone so email me anytime.