A Voice of Hope

Why Nashville Hasn't Gotten Much Rain

I've figured out why Nashville hasn't gotten a whole lot of rain the last few months. It came to me this morning at some ungodly-a.m.-dark-hour when I heard the rain slapping against the roof and heard the rumbling thunder. It hasn't rained because I haven't washed my car.

But praise be to God! I washed it yesterday and lo-and-behold: Rain this morning!

Sorry Nashville! Didn't realize our weather was so dependent on my car being clean.

Oh, the weather outside is...

...delightful! I woke this morning to snow, just a light dusting and nothing close to what we had a couple of weeks ago. Its continued to fall all day, but the ground is too warm so it's not accumulating on anything but porches, cars and woodpiles. It's so beautiful! I was so fascinated and excited, I spent most of my day, not doing my research for my paper, as I planned (and should have been)... no, instead I was either staring out the windows watching it fall, or running around outside trying to take pictures of it, trying to capture it's beauty in digital format.

Do you know how hard it is to get a decent picture of falling snow?? To actually capture those little, or sometimes big flakes falling from the sky in a way that truly represents the way it looks with your eyes? Nearly impossible, I tell you. But I got a few.
:) See, look!

Here are some pictures I took from two weeks ago when I got "snowed in". Seriously. I got a call from my boss about 7am-ish that morning and he said I didn't have to go into work. He and our other boss still remember the nightmare of unexpected snow that Nashville got about four years ago, where six or seven inches fell in a very short time. They both spent between 5 and 8 hours trying to get home that day and aren't interested in doing that again any time soon. They'd rather stay at home and miss a day of work; which means those of us who work for them got to stay home too. Yippee!

Nashville just isn't made for snow. We aren't equipped to handle it, and we usually have a layer of ice hidden beneath the snow --which is treacherous on our windy, hilly, narrow roads. Its just not a place made for this white stuff. --- Anyway, I got a long weekend out of it, so I didn't complain.

The view from the front.

My landlord's back porch

View from my front porch

Little Sassy!

I always take a picture of this woodpile... I don't know why

Tuft of grass in the front yard.

I know, I know. It was just last week I was whining about the cold weather, and begging for 80 degree temperatures. But I can't help it. I'm such a kid when it comes to snow. I love it!!

Summer Dreamin'

Okay, I'm done. I'm over the fascination with cold weather and "seasons". I want my California weather back, please.

I am so stinkin' cold it ain't even funny. It hasn't gotten above about 40 degrees in weeks. Weeks, people! How do people in the north do it??? How do they take the cold??

I am so not made for this. My feet are freezing. My hands are freezing. My whole body's cold. And I'm inside, people! Inside!! Where the temperature is a balmy 68 degrees. While outside its freaking 31 29 degrees and dropping. But, oooo, we're supposed to get a "great warm up" tomorrow, say the weather people. All the way up to 40 degrees. Woohoo.

Look, I don't mean to sound like a whiner, but, well, I guess I got completely, perhaps even too acclimated when I lived in India. Because ever since, anything under 75 degrees is not comfortable to me. And anything under 68 is just plain cold. Anything below 55 is inhumane and unlivable.

Yeah, so India was six years ago... so what's your point? I can't help it if I never re-adjusted to American weather. And I did live in the Med for a year. That didn't help the weather re-adjustment, either.

Speaking of the Med, I want to be here, in this picture (perhaps even with this man...hmmm, yum!)!! Right here on this beach. I can't believe that I actually long for a Cyprus beach, but I guess that's what desperation does to me. Makes me long for places that I have very little happy memories of. Just so I can get out of the stinkin' cold and finally feel warm.

Here's another spot I'd love to be. Hawaii. Oh, please, God, send me to Hawaii!! I can't take the cold of Middle Tennessee anymore. I want to live on a warm sunny beach and play in the sand. All year long. I want 80 degree temperatures and the smell of summer rain. I want thunderstorms and warm breezes. I want summer, people! Summer!

But instead, I get to go out to the movies tonight in 20-something weather and cold, cold wind. I have to put on so many layers and wrap up so much just to be comfortable that I feel like Ralphie's little brother in A Christmas Story: "I can't put my arms down!"

I am so ready for summer.

Sometimes Life is Perfect

Or at least as close as you can get on this earth. Right now is one of those times.

I got off work early, so I'm already home, and in my favorite comfy clothes; curled up on my wonderful sofa under my favorite blanket, a mug of hot chai nearby, watching Oprah on the set of "Grey's Anatomy". Outside its a brisk, cloudy fall evening, with a carpet of leaves and the smells of wood burning in fireplaces all over the neighborhood.  I can see the amazing reds, blues and purples of the sunset through my living room window. I don't have any homework to do over the weekend, and no big plans to interrupt a perfect couple of days of rest.  I don't think it gets much better than this.

I Don't Get It

There are a couple of things about the recent elections that truly puzzle me. Perhaps someone out there can enlighten me, or at least give me a little insight.

• How is it that a state that overwhelmingly re-elected a rather liberal Democrat governor, and just as overwhelmingly rejected his conservative Republican opponent, and nearly elected -- with only about a 3% margin -- a very liberal Democrat senator, turn around and seriously overwhelmingly approve, with an 80% majority, an amendment to the state constitution that is so incredibly ultra-conservative? I don't get it. Who are these people?? Is there a whole block of voters out there who only voted for Amendment 1 but not for any of the candidates or any other issues? Or are the people of Tennessee that double-minded; center-to-left leaning in candidates but far-right on issues... Too weird.

• How did Nancy Pelosi become Speaker of the House just by being re-elected as Congresswoman, and without a vote of the new House? I thought one had to be elected by peers into that office, but she's de facto Speaker. When was that decided??  Don't get me wrong, I think its great that a woman is now Speaker of the House, third in line to the White House (though I'd rather it be someone not so liberal-minded as Pelosi, but whatever). I just can't figure out how she got the gig.

Anyone...? Anyone...? Bueller...?

Why I'm Voting No on 1

Just about the time I get all calmed down and peaceful like, I pick up another paper, or watch yet another news story on how James Dobson, Dick Land or Jerry Sutton want me to be sure to "keep my Christian values in mind" when I go to the polls this November (or this week...). It happened again today.

I sat down at Crest Honda to wait on my baby's first oil change (that's "ohl" to you Tennesseans) and as I'm flipping through the latest version of The Scene, I come across an article about Monday night's dueling rallies for Amendment One. The language quoted from the Two Rivers rally both angered and saddened me.

I realize I am an anomaly in Tennessee. Even more so considering I am, what most statisticians and pollsters would classify an "evangelical/born again/fundamentalist Christian." (why do they lump us all together like that????) --Truthfully, I'm evangelical and born again, but I doubt I'm really a true fundamentalist. But I still end up lumped in with them. Anyway --Current polls show this amendment will pass with between 60% to 70% of the vote. So why am I swimming upstream against my "fellow" born-againer fundies? Well, let me tell you.

First, for those of you outside Tennessee -- and those inside who have been living in a cave lo this past year -- "1" (or "One"... whatever...) is an amendment to Tennessee's constitution. Officially called "Tennessee Marriage Amendment", it would limit any recognized marriages in Tennessee to those between a man and a woman. Even if a gay couple has been legally married in another state, Tennessee will not, cannot, recognize it.

I can already hear my some of my friends gasping, exclaiming, "why on earth would you vote no on such a thing, Lu? Don't you believe in the sanctity of marriage? Don't you know that God sees same-sex marriage as sin?"

Yes, I do. And, No, I don't -- at least not any more so than same-sex sex/relationship outside of marriage.

Look, I could write a whole post just on my deep conviction that homosexuality is sin, with all the Scriptural references to back it up. It would include my own understanding of how sin, from Adam on, has impacted every aspect and element of creation; including genetics, which can strongly influence a person's proclivity for same-sex attraction.

But that's not the point here. And its not the reason why I'm voting NO on this amendment.

There are a couple of facts that need to be stated. First, this amendment is wholly unnecessary. In 1996, a proposition was put on the Tennessee ballot and passed, which effectively banned same-sex marriage in this state. The amendment was proposed after the Massachusetts Supreme Court, in 2003, struck down a similar proposition passed in that state. It is a way of ensuring that '96 proposition will not be set aside as "unconstitutional".

Second, and obviously connected to the first, the failure of Amendment One would not open wide Tennessee's doors to the possibility of gay marriage becoming legal in the state. For reasons clearly stated above (1996).

Those are the facts. This amendment is unnecessary. This amendment is redundant.

Here's the Truth.  Passing this amendment will not "save", "protect" or in any way salvage the "sanctity" or "purity" of marriage. It cannot. It is powerless to effect the heart changes necessary to do such a thing. It is not the homosexual community who has ravaged the purity and sanctity, the set-apartness, of marriage. It is the heterosexual community, and dare I say, the "Christian" community, who has done the most damage to the institution of marriage and could ultimately destroy the ideal of it in our culture. It is those who choose mediocrity in their relationship with their spouse over sacrifice and passion, who change marriage partners as often as they change their wardrobe, who value their own comfort and their own needs above those of their spouses and children who destroy its sanctity. And it is those who wield marriage and family as weapons in a "values war" who destroy the purity of the marriage commitment and the sanctity of the marriage vow.

Jerry Sutton, pastor of Two Rivers Baptist Church, claimed at Monday night's rally that we Christians are at "war against homosexual militants" and "debauchery". How can a pastor of such a large church be so incredibly clueless? No wonder we're vilified in television shows and ridiculed in comedy clubs. No wonder we're disliked by so many. We have idiots preaching from our "pulpits".

Even a cursory glance at the Bible brings abundant clarity that Jerry Sutton is flat-out wrong. Perhaps he is waging a personal war against "homosexual militants", but God certainly is not. He never has and He never will.

Paul makes it very clear that our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of evil in this world and against every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. (Eph 6:12, 2 Cor 10:4-5). The Message puts it this way:

The tools of our trade aren't for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ.

Jerry Sutton, rather than demolishing corruption, instead erected a barrier against the truth of God with his statements Monday night. Many others have done the same, all in the name of "preserving," and "protecting" marriage. Jerry Sutton has a warped philosophy and its time we as his sisters and brothers stood up and said, "no more."

Jesus did not rage against homosexuals or "sinners" when He walked this earth. To the contrary, He openly embraced and loved them, fellowshipped with them, and made it clear it was for them that He came, for them He died and for them He conquered death and lives today. So that they may have Life.

Nor did Jesus ever demand that the sinners He fellowshipped with ever live up to laws of Moses given to God's people. Rather, He loved them just as they were, accepted them just as they were and invited them to follow Him and learn a new, more abundant way to live. He never forced His will or His rules upon them.  He is the same today. He does not force His will or His law upon anyone.

The religious zealots, on the other hand, like those of Jerry Sutton, Dick Land and James Dobson, those are the people that Jesus raged against. Them He declared "war" against -- overturning tables, calling them hypocrites and snakes. For they were the ones that kept writing more and more rules for everyone to follow, more and more laws for everyone to obey, more and more hoops for a person to jump through in order to be found acceptable to God.

Amendment One will not protect marriage. All it will do is create yet another barrier between those Jesus loves and those of us who claim to follow Him. The gay community is already denied legal rights regarding the care of their own children, their own partners and their own loved ones that even an unmarried heterosexual couple enjoy under the law. Why kick them in the stomach when they're already down?

I have said it before, the United States is not a "Christian" nation, nor was it ever meant to be. It was created as a safe haven for people of all religions. However, it is a Christianized nation, with a brand of Christianity that is more cultural than Biblical. If we are going to perpetrate Christianity on our country, let it at least be Biblical, with all the love and grace and respect God reveals in His Word.

Forcing nonbelievers to live like they are believers may seem "morally righteous" but, in truth, it's cruel. They have neither the understanding nor the power of the Holy Spirit with which to overcome the enemy and live in freedom under the standards God sets for us, His followers. God never forces nonbelievers to live by the same standards as His people. Rather, He calls His people to live by standards that would cause the world around us to stand up and take notice, in order that HE might have the glory and honor when His people are able to point to Him as the source of the ability to live by such freedom, grace, hope and love.

That is why I'm voting NO on One.

In Rebellion

We've had 90+ degree weather for weeks on end now. -- Well, okay we've had a few one to two day breaks now and then, but then the temps soar back up into the mid-90s and the humidity soars with it.

I'm so sick of the hot weather I could puke.

So tonight I'm in rebellion. My a/c is set on 69 and I'm wearing a sweatshirt. I just want to experience cooler weather! Just for tonight. Yes, if there is a major power outage in Tennessee tonight, you can blame it on me. I don't care. I'm just sick of the heat. Tomorrow morning I'll put the thermostat back up to the cost-saving temp where it usually is.

But for tonight it's Fall at Lu's house.

Night Sounds

Rain showers rolled through today. Much need rain danced and drenched everything around here. I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of the flowers on my trees dripping in beauty. I'll post them whenever I get my film developed.

The rain and clouds cooled the earth and brought temperatures down to a welcome comfortable level. Finally I am able to turn off the a/c and leave my window open to bring in fresh night air.

I love the sounds of Tennessee summer nights. Crickets and bull frogs and other critters create an amazing symphony that soothes my soul more than I can explain.

Is it possible to be born for a particular place? If so, I was born for Tennessee.

Walking in Memphis

I spent last weekend (30th-2nd) in Memphis with a couple of friends from LA. We had such a blast! Not so much because we were in Memphis as that we were finally together again after six-odd years. I had not seen one friend in that long - she moved from LA in 2000. And the other I'd not seen in three years.

We spent most of the weekend talking and laughing and crying together. Catching up on each others lives and dreaming of the future, both near and far.

But we also got in a little tourist time. Memphis is such an interesting city. It's got a rich history and incredible rhythm. I highly recommend taking a horse-drawn carriage ride through downtown. The guide we had was very knowledgeable of the city as well as just a wonderful person to get to know.

I also highly recommend eating at Cafe 61. BEST food I've had from a restaurant in quite a while. And while you're downtown, definitely stop by The Peabody Hotel and wander through their lobby a while. They've got several areas where they tell of the history of the hotel and Memphis.

Lastly, you can't go to Memphis without a little trip down Beale Street. Talk about a wild street party! Three blocks of nothing but club after club after club. Some are just dance and drinkin' places but most are music clubs -- kind of like Nashville's many honky-tonks, except these are jazz and blues and a little rock. Great music. Cuh-razy vibe on the street. We didn't go in any place. I'm not a big fan of clubs like that. It's nice for about 5 minutes and then I get tired of having to text-message the people I'm with because no one can hear a thing. Loud music is one thing, but, yikes, club music is in a whole different decibel category.

The best part of our time, in my opinion, was spent at the wonderful Bed & Breakfast we stayed at, Magnolia Grove in Hernando, Mississippi. Tom, the owner, and his wife are wonderful people and cook up an incredibly tasty breakfast. They are also warm, welcoming people who treat you like royal guests in their home. There's no standing on ceremony or legalistic sticking to the "rules". Just a smile and a "turn off the lights when you're done." I will definitely stay there again.

They seemed to get a kick out of these three 40-ish (okay, Conna's not there yet, but you will be soon...!) women talking and crying and laughing and carrying on like three teenage girls at a sleep over.

What a blast! Good times with good friends. God is indeed good to me.

Missed Me By That Much

I survived nature's latest temper tantrum in Middle Tennessee, and it was a doozy. Well, for everyone but my neighborhood. We seem to have some sort of bubble over Forest Hills. I watched with rapt attention to all the news reports on all the local -- even some nationwide -- stations and kept hearing about how bad it was all over Nashville and to our north and south. Then I'd look out the window and see sunshine with scattered clouds. I'd step outside and feel an occasional raindrop, hear an occasional peel of thunder, but otherwise all was still, quiet, peaceful even. Birds singing and everything you'd expect from a beautiful but cloudy day.

At one point WKRN's city-cam showed an impending super-cell fast approaching. The weather-casters warned us a tornado had been spotted and those of us in Forest Hills needed to take cover immediately because it was headed straight for us. I stood and watched from my back porch as the tail end of that huge super-cell passed over us, darkening the sky to the north and east as far as I could see. Newscasters on every channel were reporting golf ball sized hail falling outside their studios and throughout Nashville. But sunshine was the only thing that poured over me.

Later, when the tornadoes had done their best in Gallatin, Hendersonville, Goodlettesville, Columbia and beyond, and all the newscasters were reporting that the worst had past and all was calm in Nashville, that's when all hell seemed to break loose around my home. The wind blew hard against my walls, causing the hard rain to sound like huge bb pellets smacking into my windows, lightning flashed and thunder rolled. The lightning and thunder faded after about an hour and all that was left was the wind and the rain.

I'm so grateful to God I "missed out" on all the crazy weather earlier! My heart aches and grieves for the all those who lost property or loved ones. It was all so unexpected, and so fast. We knew there'd be "severe weather", but all the models I'd seen put the worst of it to the south of us. Certainly I didn't expect it to slam those in the northern part so terribly. I'm sure they didn't expect it either.

It did amaze me, however, that as I left my office -- a little before 2pm -- that everyone around me seemed oblivious to the danger at hand. Everyone seemed out for a Sunday drive, going lazily down the street with not a care in the world. Meanwhile, the am radio station I was listening to was broadcasting constant tornado warnings for Davidson county (our county) and saying a tornado had been spotted on the ground right near the 65. I'm yelling and honking and begging people to move so I can get home before it gets worse.

Yes, I know the warnings were for northern Davidson county, and yes, I know the tornado hit the 65 far north of where I was, but still. It wasn't that far.

I've decided. I like earthquakes far better than tornadoes. There's no warning with earthquakes. There's none of this crazy "its coming right for you, take cover now!" weather-caster-driven anxiety that leaves a person in near panic for hours at a time and then exhausted for days afterward. Earthquakes just hit, bang!, and it's done. No warning. No sirens. No intense newscasters. No changing your daily routine to rush home in time to get to a safe spot. No pre-storm runs on the grocery store as all of Middle Tennessee rushes to buy milk and bread ----what the... is that about anyway???---- You just go about your daily life till it hits.

Yep, you gotta be prepared. You gotta already have your supplies (are you listening Nashville?). You've got to already have a plan for meeting up, for getting home, for taking care of business until things normalize a bit. 

And I say, all of that beats this crazy "severe weather alert" weather caster-driven insanity Nashville calls "storm watch". Give me a surprise 6.7 (or 7.1 depending on who's in power) Northridge quake over an anxiety-ridden tornado-waiting afternoon any day.

For great pictures of the devastation, go here: