Ordinarily Extraordinary

Excuse me while I get up on my soap box.

I've had this blog post in my head for a few days. I decided to let it sit awhile before I sat down to write it.  If you wish to comment please do it with respect. It is my blog and I do reserve the right to delete comments if necessary.

John 8:7 says "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." 

The tabloids seem to be fascinated with Jon & Kate Gosselin these days and their alleged problems.  You can also find comments on various social sites about them as well. And that's what brought me to writing this post.

I've read comments where people were saying that they wanted to physically hurt Kate. I was at first shocked, but then saddened.

But what's worse? One of the commenters claims to be a Christian.

It all saddens me. I feel for each of them and for their children. I know they signed up for their show and yes, there are things like being in the media spotlight that go along with that.  Marriage is hard; being a parent is hard. And it can't be any easier in the media spotlight.

But who gave these commenters the right to condemn her in this way?

Now I know the commenters would never actually harm her, but if one claims to be a Christian how does that portray Christians to others?

I personally feel that the fascination our culture has with celebrities from reality stars to movie stars has gone too far.  Yes, it may be a part of being a celebrity, but in the end it's just their job. That does not give us the right to any other part of their lives unless we are invited and especially to the point where it puts them in harms way.

I do watch the show. It's not one I have the Tivo set for, but I do usually catch the replays of it at some point. I may not always agree with things that Jon or Kate may do or say, but it is not my place to condemn either one of them for their actions. I do not know them personally so who I am to judge what each of them does or says? Especially when there is editing being done to the footage on television and the photos in the tabloids.

There's a fine line between judging a person's character and condemning them. It is not our place to condemn a person. I once had a situation where I had to learn the hard way that although I might not condone a person's actions it wasn't my place to condemn that person.

I am thankful that God hasn't condemned me for every wrong thing I've ever done or said.

Traveling Encounters - V. 1

Our flight to New York was pretty much uneventful except for a couple of experiences along the way.  Of course I'm going to share them here. Beware, though. It may get wordy, but I hope you will get a laugh out of it as I did. I've learned over the past several years that you can decide to either cry about the situation or laugh. So keep reading and laugh along with me. Oh and you'll have to wait until the end to see one  (or two ) of the photos from today.

First let me back up to the beginning. I hate flying.  For some reason God decided to bless me with more than my fair share of motion sickness. It doesn't take much to make me motion sick when my feet are on the ground much less on a plane. But I brave it in order to travel once in a blue moon. I did take some Bonine before we left, but I missed the direction that said it was chewable and instead I swallowed it. I did feel pretty naucious on the first two legs of our flight, but managed not to get sick.

Once we landed in Greensboro, NC for a layover I just wanted to sit for a bit.  My sister walked down a bit to see what was in the airport since we had 90 to minutes to burn. She came back and said there was a Dunkin Donuts with a Pizza Hut express in the same area.

While we're sitting there an employee of the airport brings an older lady in a wheel chair up to the waiting area where we are. She then asks the guy to go back and get her a coffee and muffin. (Not sure why she didn't just ask to stop on the way, but...) So he comes back with her muffin and coffee and gives it to her then goes along his way. Now I don't want this next part to sound mean hearted at all, but please remember that I was very naucious after getting off the plane. She starts eating her muffin and slurping her coffee. Suddenly she starts choking on the muffin and starts coughing this horrible, smoked for years, sounding cough. Seriously I'm not trying to be mean, but it was not what my unsettled stomach needed to hear. It almost put me over the edge. If she had been truly choking and needed the heimlech my sister or I would have helped, but it wasn't to that point.  I wasn't looking fearing losing all the groceries I had consumed in the past 24 hours, but my sister said it wasn't a pretty site. I'll spare you all the gorey details. Thankfully the woman was okay and once we knew all was well we decided to do a bit of walking around.

This type of experience would have once left me frustrated, but I've learned to just laugh things off. And in my head I was thinking, "at least I have something to blog about."

Check back tomorrow for the next installment.  And since I can't post without a photo here are a couple from today that I edited. I have so many more to share though. :)

This first one is from Rockefeller Center. I love how I caught the flag blowing and how the building in the background reflects the Rockefeller Building.

 

This last one is of the T-Rex at the American Museum of Natural History. I mean I had to go to it after how much we loved the movie "Night at the Museum." Learned some interesting facts while there. You could spend 2 days exploring this museum. So many dioramas and things to read. I'm too ADD to have read all of it, but I really enjoyed visiting it. I'll have to share more later.  We're off to eat at Bobby Flay's Bar American restaurant.