It's all about relationships!

The comments have been less and less which probably means that no one is truly interested in anything I have to say, or I have been replaced by facebook! Linda M., my sister's classmate from MLHS, asked me in a comment about the status of Lynx--I will tell...

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Lynx is keeping a fairly low profile ever since Joanne and I wrestled her to the ground, wrapped her in a bath towel. Joanne did the holding as I attempted to squeeze the amoxicillin into Lynx's mouth, all the while she is nipping and fighting and choking. I cannot blame her, I would do the same thing! Less than 30 seconds later, Lynx was standing next to my dresser, retching it up again onto my bedroom carpet, in effect, saying "See??? This is all your fault!"

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In the afternoon I got a call from the vet's office about Lynx, and I reported she was about the same but with less spitting up. She ate a little bit of tuna again but has not put any tootsie rolls in the cat box yet. The nice lady suggested that if Lynx does not improve by this afternoon, I should call them back because they are not in all weekend, only a half day on Saturday. I will give her until noon to show some life or I will take her back to the vet. I did manage to rub some more of the Laxatone on her paws yesterday so it is not like she is not getting any medicine into her. But, when she leaped away from me after applying the thick paste to her paws, she left a skid mark on my brand-new top. Immediately I stripped the shirt off and got it into the machine.

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The topic of yesterday's "tour" with the professor in the DVD series, shown at Victory, was about social order. Wow! It was so powerful and half the time I had tears streaking down my face. If you had come up to me and asked me what was allowing me to cry, I would have been hard pressed to answer specifically. The group who did "The Truth Project" are from Focus on the Family, and I can certainly see how they got their name! We took a Biblical walk through what God describes as being marriage, from the creation of man, when God says, "It is not good for man to be alone, I will make a helpmate for him.." to Malachi where God says, "I hate divorce"....I am with Him!

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Professor Taggett goes on to very emotionally describe the value of family in our lives, showing pictures of his own family and his grandchildren. We, in the class, can superimpose our own family's photos into the shot with the same result. It stirs something within us, our families, whether they are in the next room, or in the next country.

The 'tour' also includes 'man on the street' interviews with the same people each episode, where they were asked this time, "What is a family?" Such answers! Such varied answers! Who would have thought this would be a hard question to reply to? One man, covered head to toe in tattoos and obvious piercings described his mother as being a monster, an alcoholic, and had an absent father. "Clash" is father to a child whom he also never gets to see but claims to love to death. History repeats itself and the term "family" does not really apply. Biology, yes. Family, not so much.

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Some of the interviewees mentioned loving people in their group like family where others mention having added to their family when they got married. One interviewee and his wife are now expecting their first baby. He liked having gained a whole another family when he married his wife. Others have same sex partners making up their "family" which is, of course, certainly not in keeping with what the Lord designed. My thoughts immediately went to my family, my blood family, and then to my heart family, as I describe them. Each part is valuable, some not always in "touch-proximity" but never more than a phone call or e-mail away.

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Pastor Hoyer mentioned that this particular episode is about the best he has ever seen regarding the established order the Lord put in place. The professor demonstrated the order or picture of the Trinity, how they are together, yet separate; one, yet three; equal, yet serving each other. He also demonstrated the set up of the church with the Lord as the center and the elders and the members, all serving each other, but with an established order. Hmmm, I hope I expressed that clearly enough. Wish I had drawn the picture that was on the chalk board. Using Titus and Ephesians, the pecking order or established system for who does what in the marriage and the church. "Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord...."---how something so lovely became dirty talk by society. "Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave His life for her." "For we are all members of one body..."

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If you have a chance, read Malachi 2: 13-17 and you will see what made this a particularly prickly path yesterday. Pastor Hoyer commented afterward that the professor stops short in this lesson, not mentioning the sure and full forgiveness the Lord offers to His people, those who have been divorced. I am fairly certain he said this for my benefit, although I do not feel unforgiven or guilty, but I am probably the only person who was divorced in this class. There is a difference between feeling regret and feeling guilt. Or feeling loss without taking the blame.

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One of the church leaders is in the class and he wondered if Pastor should use this episode in his pre-marital classes. Others felt it could be shown to all the members, I suggested at the St. Valentine's Day time of year or Mother's/Father's Day events. It is not a WELS or other Lutheran DVD series, being more reformed in its nature, so certainly some more thought and discussion are needed. I wonder if our own publishing house has anything that would fit the bill the way this one touched us....I am going to look, that is for sure but we already have the perfect guidebook at our disposal, the Holy Word!