Password Protected

While sitting here dripping sweat after my workout (don't laugh, it's beginning to show), I realized that much of what we do in our lives becomes, for better or worse, an open book.

I remember reading on the Yahoo Answers last night the question of a sincere young girl who wanted to know how to avoid sin.

As I answered her question with the answers I have learned over the years, I felt like I was going through the process myself.

How much simpler would it be if our lives could be password protected against sin?

It dawned on me this morning as the early light streamed through the window that we CAN and ARE password protected.

Just by calling upon our Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ during our moments of weakness and temptation, sorrow and distress, we CAN be password protected from the evil influences of the world we are compelled to live in.

I know that may sound simplistic, but sometimes getting all complicated and full of the technicalities of daily life is what puts us on the edge anyway. So why not back away from what we know caused our problems and instead do what we did when we were little and scared and just say a prayer?

Last night, I was having some issues trouble me. Some things had happened through the course of Sunday that just set me on edge and gave me not only pause to think but some serious reflection over my own past. I can't change what has already transpired! I don't know why that became a sleep preventing understanding, but it did.

And with my heart pounding as if I was about to die, I began to pray. Nothing fancy, no ornate words or phrases that would impress, just talking to My Father. Asking for what to do to make the scary feelings of inadequacy and shame of where I have failed go away for at least a while.

As if I was listening to a radio with an unseen hand adjusting the tuning towards various stations, music flooded my soul and as the different pieces came through my head, the thought came again and again "No, this is not the right one."

Finally, the overture to Handel's Messiah began to play. It was an instant calm in the storm of my emotions. Then another beautiful piece was brought to my mind and the new installment of peace was added on the previous layer of peace until sleep came.

I wish now that I could go back and tell that young girl that we can all learn to password protect ourselves from the influences of the world around us. That we can insulate ourselves from the cold and harsh treatment that is the worldly show of power and strength. And that we have the ability to rise above mere circumstance to find another place of spirit that cannot be touched by the stain of mortality.

Perhaps the Spirit will tell her these things from what I wrote to her from the beginning.

I don't know. But I do hope so.

We all need to feel like we are safe from the onslaught of the world. And only through our Father and His Son can that safety be brought to pass. Though we are not guaranteed safety of the body, we are offered a guarantee of safety of the spirit if we will just follow in Their Footsteps.

I hope that you find a place within your life that you can indeed come to a protection that defies the hackers who would destroy and that offers a level of encryption far surpassing the 126 bit rate that can be overcome.

Jesus Christ can heal the breaches, restore the lives and reclaim that which is lost in a way that makes beautiful that which had become darkened and corroded through the effects of sin.

How wonderful to know that I am protected and safe from the world that is evil by the security and safety offered by the Good Shepherd.

Friday Night at home

Back in the day, it was considered the height of sorrow if you got to Friday night without a date.

Today it seems more like a relief.

I know who I will be spending my time with and whether we are home watching a movie or just spending time hanging out reading or playing computer games, we can have fun without going somewhere to do it.

I remember the days when it was unfashionable to sit at home on the weekend. It was like being branded as some sort of social pariah to have an empty date book and no man to pick you up for so much as an ice cream.

While I miss some of the excitement of the dating scene, I definitely do not miss the agony of hoping someone, anyone would ask you out. Thankfully, when we decide to leave our cocoon for an actual evening out, I am happy to be on the arm of my husband. Sometimes we go to dinner and a movie and sometimes we just walk around window shopping in the mall while eating jelly beans.

One time, after a particularly trying week, our family opted to bankrupt our budget and actually go to the movies during the evening hours to see a new release of some fantasy/sci-fi/epic. Though I am appreciative of the opportunity to go out with my husband and family, there are times that other concerns outweigh the entertainment being offered.


My husband is still incredulous that I could fall asleep during the battle scenes and have no remembrance of the movie that he was so excited to see. I was there in body if not in spirit. Surely that checks off at least one little box on the to do list?

Just so no misconceptions develop, when I drag my husband to some 'chick movie' and anticipate a wonderful evening, I am generally rewarded with a deer in the headlights expression that gradually fades into a dull, glazed, slack-jawed appearance that solidifies into a totally blank slate before the snoring begins. And the snoring can be while his eyes are still open.

For the record, that is somewhat disconcerting.

To be fair, since I snore myself, I can't say much about the snoring, but I draw the line at doing so with my eyes open. That is just not decent.

So here we sit watching one of the war movies we own on DVD and recalling how much we need to do tomorrow providing that we are not snowed in by the predicted Alabama blizzard.

It's not likely.

When they scream about the snow too much, it simply goes somewhere else.

I'm just glad I am stocked up on bread, eggs and milk - just in case. It could make for a very interesting Saturday should we truly be snowed or iced in.

American Idol Redux

Well, the girls made all of the guys but one look historically bad.

Rocker chick totally ruled tonight on a Joan Jett cover that just happens to be one of my favorites: I HATE MYSELF FOR LOVIN' YOU.

Those in your face songs are always good.

And the take on Pat Benatar's LOVE IS A BATTLEFIELD for Brooke was a great change on a great tune.

Tomorrow's votes show should be an eye opener.

If there was a way for FOUR BOYS to leave, it would be best. They brought nothing to the table last night. The girls served a 7 course banquet. And tomorrow, someone will be eating crow.

American Idol

is there anything more dismal than listening to people murder songs that weren't done all that well by the original artists over 20 years ago?

tonight's American Idol was a complete exercise in how to make NO ONE want to watch ever again.

i don't know if i'll watch the girls tomorrow or not. if their choices also come from the glorious '80 music and they can't manage to do anything but ballads, i'll seriously be ill.

and that one rocker chick is totally one dimensional. can she please show us something that resembles anyone besides janis joplin?

perhaps i am just angry that my friend's daughter got cut in the final tally. she was 25th out of 24. literally.

ouch.

but in all candor, there is no way she could have done that much worse than the people that were picked to do this show. whatever skills they may have had during auditions have melted away like an ice cream cone on a car seat in august.

the only bright spot has been the kid from utah who sings so nicely. but he is also all bubble gum and sweetness. so that may keep him from being commercially viable and that is what idol is allegedly about.

thusfar, we have had major moneymaking success from only a few of the idols and idol runners up.

and since the show started 7 seasons ago (1 season in dog television), we only have two really BIG names: Kelly Clarkson & Carrie Underwood.

while i totally realize that everyone can't be a winner and somebody goes home in tears, that is a pretty crappy track record for a program that is alleged to bring the best and brightest to the forefront.

there are many others who have experienced measured success from this program. but there are hundreds of others over the course of these auditions who didn't make it due to a bad day, a sore throat or life in general who might have been 'the one' on any other day.

sadly, life doesn't seem to be very forgiving when it comes to a persons' moment to shine. you are either on target or miss the mark completely and there are seldom redo opportunities.

it's like daddy always told me growing up, 'you never get a second chance to make a first impression'. i have to believe that unless you could rewind and erase what they previously catalogued as what you had to offer, then a second chance would always be weighed unfavorably when added to the first fiasco.

so to all those Idol wannabe's and all of us who are simply content to sing in the shower, remember the only reason they are there and we are home lathering up is because it was their day.

tomorrow may be mine. or yours.

either way, something tells me that there will still be people who must learn to content themselves with Supreme's hits in the shower, or singing their baby to sleep or making the high notes ring from the rafters in their church choir.

and what is more American than that?