Find Religion

I’m not Catholic, so I’m never really been fascinated with the Virgin Mary like some Christians are. However, recently, a school in Texas is reporting that the leading lady in Jesus’ life has appeared to them on a pizza pan.

The pan, pictured above, was allegedly scrubbed multiple times and the stain would not come off. The lunch ladies then noticed that it was in the shape of Mother Mary, and alerted the school principle.

Now, the pizza pan is part of a shrine to Mary, and people are many pilgrimages to this holy grease stain.

Is it real? Only you can decide. I’m more apt to think that it really is just a grease stain. That said, just because it is a grease stain doesn’t mean we can’t look at it and be reminded of God. I don’t think people should be worshiping it, or even fussing over it at all, but I do think that there are little things in this life that can cause us to smile and remember God in the every day.

The pizza pan, however? It would be put to better use making pizza for the school children.

Virgin Mary, God

Kids say the darnedest things, right? That goes for religion too! Here are some cute prayers by kids…you can read even more of them here.

One Sunday in a Midwest city a young child was “acting up” during the morning worship hour. The parents did their best to maintain
some sense of order in the pew but were losing the battle. Finally the father picked the little fellow up and walked sternly up the
aisle on his way out. Just before reaching the safety of the foyer the little one called loudly to the congregation, “Pray for me! Pray for me!”

A rabbi said to a precocious six-year-old boy: “So your mother says your prayers for you each night? Very commendable. What does she say?” The little boy replied, “Thank God he’s in bed!”

A little boy’s prayer. “Dear God, please take care of my daddy, mommy, sister, brother, my doggy and me. Oh, please take care of
yourself, God. If anything happens to you, we’re gonna be in a big mess.”

cute prayers

Warning: Spoilers below for those who didn’t see the show yet!

Last night on Grey’s Anatomy, the lead character of the show briefly died. She went to…I’m not sure…Heaven? Purgatory? In any case, she was in the empty hospital with Denny (Izzie’s dead finance), a girl they couldn’t save from an earlier episode, and the leader of the bomb squad who blew up in season 2. Later, her mom dies and shows up. You can read more about the episode on Amy’s blog.

Of course, they couldn’t very well kill off the main character, so she came back to life after almost dying, but it raises some important questions about what heaven is like. Personally, I didn’t like this episode of the show at all, because I thought their ideas about the afterlife were ridiculous.

Poor Denny, he still loves and misses Izzy and only gets to feel her presence when he’s in the exact same spot that she’s standing in. It’s like the dead hospital is another dimension, but the worlds can’t see one another. It was a cute concept and played well for the show, but consider that for a second–it would be pure torture for eternity to walk around an empty hospital, thinking about your love in the other world and being teased by her presence every once in awhile if you’re lucky.

I’m not trying to say that I know what heaven is like, but this afterlife seemed more like hell.

In any case, it made me think about heaven and what I hope it’s like. My idea of heaven is a stress-free world where I can just sit and hang out with my best friends all the time. Because really, that’s what heaven is for me now–those times when I just forget about work and responsibilities and hang out with my best friends.

What is heave like for you?

Grey’s Anatomy, heaven

Dear Lord,

You know my friend so much better than I do.

You know his sickness and his need. You also know his heart.

Lord, I ask you to be with my friend now, working in his life. Let Your will be done in my friend’s life. If there is a sin that needs to be confessed and forgiven, Lord, please help him to see his need and confess.

Lord, I pray for my friend because Your Word says I should pray for His healing. I believe You hear this earnest prayer from my heart and that it is powerful because of Your promise. I have faith in You to heal my friend, but I also trust in the plan you have for my friend’s life.

Lord, I don’t always understand Your ways, and why my friend has to suffer, but I trust You now. May You be glorified in my friend’s life and also in mine.

Amen

Forgive me, dear readers, for wanting to rant a little today. I just got one of the worst spam emails I’ve ever seen.

You all probebly know about the email scam where they tell you they’re give you whatever amount of money to deposit checks and send them to a foreign bank account because they can’t do so themselves. If you haven’t heard about this, please do NOT answer those emails. The checks are frauds and when the bank catches on you’ll be financially responsible for all of that money and possibly facing criminal charges and and your foreign friend will have disappeared.

Well usually the email asks you help help them out claiming insurance money or claiming inheritance money. Today, the email send that they are a new church starting up and that they needed me to cash American checks from donors that they couldn’t cash themselves.

Using God to scam others. That’s a different kind of low.

email scam

“I think God looks at our love. God had everything, he doe not need anything, except for our love and extended hands.” -Akiane

Those are some profound words for an 12-year-old. If you don’t know this girl yet, you should. She’s a child prodigy, painting amazing work that most artists dream of creating in their lifetime.

This painting of Jesus, created when she was 8, is just a sample. ff her work. She says of this painting:

It was God’s timing; I had been looking for a Jesus model for two years, and I could not find the right face. Then one day I asked my family to pray with me all day. We petitioned God to send the model right through our front door. The next day a tall carpenter came in. He was so humble, and I was surprised that he agreed to model for me. But a week later he called back to say that he was unworthy to represent his master.

We all prayed together again, and a few days later he called back to tell us that God wanted him to do it, but he had to cut his hair and beard in three days. So we took a few pictures and I studied his face for a long time. After dozens of sketches, I started painting. It took me 40 hours to finish the first Jesus painting –The Prince of Peace– and I still remember I lost four teeth in that time!

You can read more about her and see more of her incrediable artwork, which has been featured on Oprah, at her website.

Akiane, Jesus, Prince of Peace

Valentine’s Day may be over for one more year, but that doesn’t mean that the love has to end. I had an interesting conversation with a friend lately, about God and Love. It came to my mind that perhaps God IS Love. I won’t go into the entire conversation, but I will say this–I feel most close to God when I am in love. Some say, love is seeing God in someone else.

If you don’t have a Valentine of your own, that’s ok. You can love family and friends just as much. I think that pets are also a great source of love…their love is unconditional.

Whomever you love, I hope that you’ll remember them, even though Valentine’s Day is over. Love God and others throughout the whole year–that’s the true goal, right?

Happy Valentine’s Day, dear readers!

Today, I hope that you and your sweetheart share your love with one another–and if you dn’t have a sweetheart, remember: Valentine’s Day is about love for everyone. Call family members you haven’t seen in a while. Send cards to old friends. If you live in the north (like I do), shovel your neighbor’s sidewalk.

Have a good day everyone!

Valentine’s Day

…to the Bible.

Ok, that might sound dumb, but because tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, I wanted to bust the myth that reading the Bible is all boring, with stuffy, old stories. Tomorrow, try reading with your sweetheart the following passage for Song of Songs. If you get a more modern traslation of the Bible, they put in the speakers so that you can even read it together:

Woman: “Kiss me again and again, for your love is sweeter than wine. How fragrant your cologne, and how pleasing your name! No wonder all the young women love you! Take me with you. Come, let’s run! Bring me into your bedroom, O my king.”

Young Women of Jerusalem: “How happy we are for him! We praise his love even more than wine.”

Woman: “How right that the young women love you! I am dark and beutiful, I women of Jersalem, tanned as the dark tents of Kedar…Tell me, O my love, where are you leading your flock today? Where will you rest your cheep at noon? For why should I wander like a prostitute among the flocks of your companions?”

Man: “If you don’t know, O most beautiful woman, follow the trail of my flock to the shepards’ tents, and there feed your young goats. What a lovely filly you are, my beloved one! How lovely are your cheeks, with your earrings setting them afire! How stately is your neck, accented with a long strong of jewels. We will make earrings of gold for you and beads of silver.”

Woman:“The King is lying on his couch, enchanted by the fragrance of my perfume. My lover is like a sachet of myrrh lying between my breasts. He is like a bouquet of flowers in the gardens of En-gedi”

Man: “How beautiful you are, my beloved, how beautiful. You eyes are like doves.”

Woman: “What a lovely, pleasant sight you are, my love, as we lie here on the grass, shaded by the cedar trees and spreading firs.”

You get the idea ;-P. That’s not old or stuffy, that’d downright romantic. Happy Valentine’s Day!

the Bible, Song of Songs, Bible, Valentine’s Day

A while back, I had annouced a photography contest of sorts for your guys, encouraging submissions of beutiful church photography.

The entries are slowly trickling in–and don’t worry, you can still enter if you want!

Today, the featured photograph is by Mollie Bryan:

It was taken in Guatemala, Chichicastenango March 2006.

Mollie Bryan is a freelance photograher in Olympia, WA. Her main passion is sponateus photos of people and events while traveling. You can view more of her amazing work and learn how to contact her by visiting her website, www.myspace.com/mokedophoto

Awesome picture, Mollie!

If you have a photograph you’d like to enter into the competition, email it as a jpeg, along with your name, where and when the photograph was taken, and any bio information/links you’d like to be included if you’re selected for a feature to me, Allison, at allison.boyer@yahoo.com.

photography contest, church, photography, freelance photograher

I belong to a number of writing groups and participate in writing forums. In one of them, another writer by the name of Deb, is requesting prayers for a member of her family. Here’s her story:

Just before Christmas, my brother in law (ex, really, the only one of my ex’s family who bothered to keep in contact and check in with me occasionally to see how *I* was dealing with things) was told that without a new heart, he wouldn’t make it through January. And at 68, with his health problems, the odds of a heart going to him were extremely slim.

Since I’m not technically ‘part of the family’, I’ve been keeping up through the grace of my children (whose favorite uncle he is) and my ex-husband. By Sunday, he was sitting up and they took him off the ventilator. Tuesday he took his first walk down the hall. As of yesterday, though, he’s developed pneumonia. They’re treating it, but it’s putting a strain on the new heart. So.. I guess I’m asking for one more small miracle - prayers, please? Whatever kind and style you believe in - we’d all be deeply grateful for them.

Prayers, no matter what religion you are, are very appreciated. Deb, you guys are in our hearts!

Apparently, my post from this morning has disappeared.

Or rather, I forgot to hit the submit button. One of the two

In any case, I’ll rewrite that post later. Right now, I think “the disappearing act” is a much more interesting subject.

I’m sure you’ve all heard the Footprints in the Sand poem, in which the suthor sees his life span before him in a dream as a walk along the beach. He notices that Jesus’ footprints are beside his during the entire life except during the most difficult times, in which there are only one set of footprints.

The man is angry at Jesus, asking why he has disappeared when he needed him most. Jesus replies that during those times in life, he carried the man, which is why you only see one set of footprints.

The “moral” of the poem is that Jesus is always in your life, even when it has seemed he has disappeared.

So I guess the big question is, “Is that true?”

There have been moments in my life when I’m upset, stressed, angry, etc and I have to be honest, I didn’t feel as though there was a magical presense of Jesus or God around me. I’m not sure the Divine is intended to do that, as the poem implies.

Instead, I think that God gives us resources and it’s up to us to us them wisely when we need them. For example, say you were driving in the snow and got a flat tire while you were already late for an important and stressful meeting at work. You may grumble and wonder how God could do this to you…but take a step back. By the grace of God, you were inspired to learn how to change a tire last month, so you can help yourself get back on the road, and you make it to your meeting on time.

Another example. You’ve been dating a guy for a little over a year, when suddenly you find out that he’s been cheating on your for the past six months. He’s been your entire life, and you had hoped to marry him. After a week of nothing but tears and chocolate ice cream, you are still asking yourself how God could send you to a man who was so deceiving.

But, by the grace of God, you found out about his lies before marrying him, right?

It’s like looking at the silver lining. Bad things are going to happen in life, and they happen for a reason–to make us stronger. God hasn’t disappeared from our lives, but Jesus isn’t going to comfort your when you’re well equipped to comfort yourself. That doesn’t mean God has disappeared or does not care. On the contrary, God cares a lot. It’s like the mother bird throwing her babies out of the nest to teach them to fly. At some point, we need to learn to rely on ourselves as much as we rely on God, because that’s the way we can truly find happiness.

Footprints in the Sand, Jesus, God

Welcome to Celebrity Tuesday…errr…Wednesday. I’m a day off, sue my. It’s been a trying week already!

Anyway, today, I just wanted to talk about how much cash celebrities have been dropping in the name of God. It’s kind of cool that some are willing to spend so much money on worship. In some cases, like with Madonna, who spent a reported $30 million so far opening Kabalah centers around the world, the money is going to benefit some really great people.

In other cases, I’m simply left wondering “Couldn’t they be using the money to benefit others instead of just themslves?”

For example, Kanye West, who a celebrity that loves to talk about religion, spent $350,000 to hire an artist to paint his very own Sistine Chapple. I’m sure it’s beautiful…but is it necessary? If you really loved art and God that much, why would you paint it in your home where only you can see it instead of having it painted at a local public church for all worshippers to enjoy?

Anothe example: David Beckham and his wife Victoria (the former spice girl) spent $192,000 building their own chappel on their own land so their children could be baptised in privacy. I understand that privacy, especially for children, is important, but I’m not sure it should cost that much for an alter, a few pews, and a baptismal font. Couldn’t most of the money have gone somewhere else?

Some have priorities straight, some do not, but celebrities are at least interesting to watch and try to understand!

Madonna, Kanye West, David Beckham

The traditional “celebrity Tuesday” post is postponed until tomorrow…mainly because this morning, I’m a sleepyhead! Here’s a cute prayer that I like to remember at times like these:

Even though I clutch my blanket and growl when the alarm rings each morning, thank you, Lord, that I can hear. There are many who are deaf.

Even though I keep my eyes tightly closed against the morning light as long as possible, thank you Lord, that I can see. There are many who are blind.

Even though I huddle in my bed and put off the effort of rising, thank you, Lord that I have the strength to rise. There are many who are bedridden.

Even though the first hour of my day is hectic, when socks are lost, toast is burned, and tempers are short, thank you, Lord, for my family. There are many who are lonely.

Even though our breakfast table never looks like the pictures in magazines and the menu is at times unbalanced, thank you, Lord for the food we have. There are many who have no job.

Even though I grumble and bemoan my fate from day to day and wish my circumstances were not so modest, thank you, Lord, for the gift of life.

Author Unknown

prayer, Lord

Like almost everyone else you’ll meet, I went to a Super Bowl part last night to watch the game and the commercials in between. Good stuff.

I was impressed by the coach’s speech afterwards, in which he downplayed the fact that he was the first Afriacan American to coach a winning team and instead talked about the fact that both he and Lovie were Christian coaches.

No, I do not like it when coaches or players believe that God helped them get the win. I do, however, admire the fact that he coaches with Christian values and isn’t afraid to admit it. After this past year, in which his son committed suicide, I think that’s especially important.

In life, sometimes we are good Christians but a bit embarrassed or afraid to admit it. Don’t be afraid. By telling others you are Christian and happy to be so, you give others the strength to explore that kind of lifestyle.