Whatever happened to this guy?

Looks like one of the girls found him a cowboy hat. Only in Texas. I tried so hard too...

I'm liberated!

Boy have I been absent from blogging!
I'd like to say I have some unusually interesting changes to share but not so. Instead of watching more 'phillums', I've gotten sidetracked by Chinese study, screenwriting/production, and actually reading...books...on paper. *gasp!*

Until this evening, nothing's been of enough interest for me to bother writing about.
This weekend, my church hosted a regional conference for Exodus International. Exodus is basically a clearinghouse of information for churches (and synagogues for that matter) who minister to people leaving a homosexual lifestyle.

This conference was my second Exodus event and I'm glad I was there. There's something so amazing about being surrounded by people who are chasing after what God has for them. Praise and worship is always super intense because for a lot of folks who come to the conferences, it's not only a 'safe place' but the first time they've realized wholeness in Christ doesn't equate with stereotypical gender norms. I love what one of the leaders said, "The opposite of homosexuality isn't heterosexuality---it's holiness." Word.

I met a guy at the annual conference I went to who was a post-operative MtF transsexual who worked as a stripper for a few years to save up for his surgeries. I met him a few months after he'd had his breasts removed so he wouldn't be called "ma'am" quite so often. On first sight, I thought, "That guy's really gay" but after having shared a meal with him and being priviledged to hear the circumstances of his life and his transformation process, I'm thoroughly convinced he's one of God's great showpieces. After spending all of his young adulthood living as a woman, (and a fairly cute one--I saw photos!), he decided to call it quits. His transformation was a long arduous process, still yet to be completed, but his hunger for God's truth despite the trappings of his physical body is an inspiration to me time and time again.

I was thinking about all of this driving home this evening when the song Liberator by my friend Jason Eskridge came up on my mp3 player. I couldn't help but think how absolutely perfect a theme song it is for some of the folks I've met through Exodus and what a theme song it's been for my life.



[*If you like the song, you can download it from Jason's MySpace for free. Just drop him a message and let him know I sent you! :)]
your hand of freedom
reached into my situation
breaking my binding chains
and granting me liberation

‘cause I once was bound to myself
the worst of penalties
I couldn’t escape from my sin
until you rescued me

you are my liberator
your love set me free
you are my emancipator
with your blood you bought me
now I am free
free

and I’m not going back
to that place again
where my mind and body
are enslaved to sin

through your life and your death
and your life again
you’ve taken this dead man
made me breathe again

you are my liberator
your love set me free
you are my emancipator
with your blood you bought me

you are my liberator
your love set me free
you are my emancipator
with your blood you bought me
now I am free

I’m set free
I’m set free

This is scary

Prisons Purging Books on Faith from Libraries

I don't even have the energy to write a proper response.

Why are people afraid to admit that radical Islam is dangerous rather than dumping on every belief system under the sun?

*sigh*

How we get down

WTH?!

I absolutely could NOT hold in my laughter when I saw this image!
It seems a church in Chandler, Arizona is "Bringing Sexy Back" for the next three weeks.

In truth, I have no problem with the church at large addressing sex BUT it does give me tramatic flashbacks to every half-hearted attempt I've had to sit through in the past. Even more frightenting, I'm reminded of my high school sex ed teacher insisting that she should demonstrate how to use a condom with a banana as the model. [NONE of us were up for that level of excitement during the school day.] Oh the trauma!!!

Read the story here or just visit the series website: HowSexyAmI.com.
[There's a 'sexy quiz' on there. You know you want to!]