diving deeper

here i am, once again. have you ever had those mornings when you wake up and have some of your deepest thoughts? some of you are probably thinking i'm crazy right now, that the groggiest time is obviously in the morning... but for reals, after that first hump over i'm-so-tired-i-can't-believe-i-must-get-up, do you have really thought-filled moments? the past two mornings have been like that for me-- and believe me, i've been really tired and not wanting to get up at first!

i was really bothered by our whole reaction to the death of saddam hussein. it saddens me that we chear someone has died. "well he was evil" is not a good enough reason. he was a person, no matter what we know about what he did-- deep down he could have been you or i. Romans 3 tells us "there is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith." As Christ followers, we are to see through the evil in people, love them, and preach the good news. i think this is why the death penalty still bothers me. sure, we can try to inflict punishment to bring order, but to condemn people to death-- what gives us that authority? what gives us the authority to say they no longer have a chance to be saved by God's divine grace? In "The Shack" by William Young, the God-figure gives the main character a chance to give ultimate judgement on a man and the main character finds, despite all he desires to do so, he cannot. Such a powerful moment, pick up the book if you haven't yet.

which brings me to another point- people's interpretation on things. Even though the Shack was published under the genre of fiction, i am not afraid to admit i think it actually happened. it could have been placed in the fiction sector so that people were more apt to read it and be challenged by it. This is my take on it. on the other hand, i do not believe the da vinci code has truth and is truly a work fiction as it is classified as. but as i see, some people's take on it could be like my take on the Shack (not per se the same, the story is obviously a novel, but the facts/thoughts/theories woven into it). interesting how that happens, how we can contradict ourselves with our take on things (but we do nonetheless).

one last stance. i am really bothered by the new marshall's ads. Marshall's is a clothing retail store that proclaims designer clothes for cheap prices. their recent tv campaign ads end with "so affordable, you can still shop and not go hungry" -- or something like that. As a person who works with the homeless, I am offended. this nonchalant phrase was obviously written by someone who has NO understanding of what it means to go hungry and be homeless.

and on a pittsburgh news ring, this story happened right after i left giant eagle the other day::
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11137/1147204-100.stm?cmpid=latest.xml&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter