Ramblings Swirling and Twirling

My head has been so full lately. What I would give to sit and be able to just not think for a moment. This is a fault of mine...the struggle to just be silent and still. It is so valuable when I do it, and yet I don't very often. So here I am with a full head again of thoughts. I need a pensieve, like in the Harry Potter books where I can take my thoughts or memories out and stick them aside until later.
I read an interesting book lately. It was "The Year of Living Biblically" by AJ Jacobs. It was interesting, some parts were very funny and some were very thought-provoking. If you haven't read or heard of it, it was written by a man who tried to follow the Bible as literally as possible during the course of just over a year (he had to extend it due to the birth of his twins and not being able to accomplish some of the things he had been hoping to by that time.) He wears clothes that don't have mixed fibers, eats only certain foods, at one point he even attempts to stone an adulterer (that was a very funny part actually as he ends up tossing small pebbles at the guy's chest after the guy egged him on and taunted him.)
What was most interesting to me is that AJ Jacobs is Jewish and agnostic. There were so many parts in the book where you see him so close to accepting the Lord for everything He is...and then he would remember himself and let his "practical" side win. He ends his year agnostic still, but with more understanding and appreciation for certain things.
There is much in the book concerning the different "types" of Christians. There are some who do try to follow the Bible as literally as possible, there are some who are the Pat Robertson types, and there are others who we'll say are more like the Rob Bell types. He writes about how the majority of Christians just kind of pick and choose what parts of the Bible they want to follow. I think this is obvious to some extent when you look at it. There are some who say that when Jesus came to die for our sins he wiped out all the Old Testament laws and regulations. Does that mean we don't need to follow the Ten Commandments anymore?
Tim and I were discussing baptism last night. We have both been baptized. I was ten years old and there have been times where I wish I could do it again now that I have lived longer, through more hardships and can truly appreciate and be thankful for my salvation, for what God means to me, for what my faith in Him means to my life. I didn't know these things when I was ten. I just thought it was the next thing to do in the Christian life.
So we were talking about baptism and the importance of it, yet how some churches can go too far, in my opinion, with it. For example, let's say you have been baptized at a church - not by immersion (the dunking) but maybe by sprinkling. Later in life, if you attend a different church, I don't think you have to be baptized again if they do it by immersion. Baptism, in my belief, is an outward expression of an inward decision. It is a public declaration that says, "This is my decision and the journey I am choosing to take, to follow Christ." But I don't think baptism determines whether or not we go to Heaven and so I don't think the way you do it is what is important. I'm sure some of you might not agree and that's ok. Not even Tim and I agree on every Biblical issue, we just agree to not talk about it since they aren't the truly important issues.
I have listened to a couple days of "Family Life" on the radio this week. Since it is on during our lunch time here, I usually have it on while making and eating lunch with Noah. I really enjoy most broadcasts and have come across great resources and information while listening to it. This week they have been discussing contraceptives and forms of birth control. I was interested for two reasons: (1) Tim and I discussed this recently and (2) I don't want any more kids so contraceptives are often on my mind.
We don't use "the pill." We don't for a variety of reasons: (1) I don't like how it makes me feel (2) Tim and I don't like that I become quite mean while on it (3) We believe that life begins at the time the egg and sperm meet, not the time it is implanted. Based on this belief, the pill could be looked at as, at times, providing an abortive method since it is creating an environment that doesn't allow the fertilized egg to implant, thus causing a life to end - if you choose, like we do, to look at that fertilization moment as the time life begins. Even this causes division within Christians because not all believers believe the same details on this topic.
So then you start wondering what to use. Condoms? Natural Family Planning? Nothing? After a couple more months of regular cycles for me, we'll go back into the Natural Family Planning (I like to make sure I have about 4 months of regularity after pregnancy and delivery.) When done right, this is a very effective way. Many people just don't take the time to learn the correct way to do it and when they find themselves pregnant, they're confused as to what happened. Tim and I became pregnant all three times the first time we "tried."
Tim is on music team this week and picked out the songs. When I first saw his list, my comment was "You only have one upbeat song." He tried to argue that "Come Thou Fount", when sung in the way of David Crowder, could pass as upbeat, which would give him two songs. Later, though, I started thinking about my comment to him. Why did it matter? Are there rules and regulations in church that say how many of our songs should be upbeat, slow, loud or jazzy? No. Well, there shouldn't be. We should be soaking in and reflecting the lyrics, the heart of the songs. God doesn't care how we are singing them, but what we are saying in them, how we are worshipping Him. Sometimes I think He's just happy that we're worshipping.
So it looks like my head has been mostly full of religious, spiritual thoughts recently. As I journey along this Christian walk I am constantly growing, being stretched by the Lord, stumbling across new passages that question old ways of thinking. All I can do is pray and search the Word.