Thanking God

I like to surf the blogosphere. That means "read other blogs" for those of you who don't engage in this past-time! Anyways, I often find myself reading post after post and comment after comment on the gender debate going on in many christian circles. Reading those blogs often leads me to some interesting new blogs...but I digress.

I recently read about a preacher in a Southern Baptist church who said that one of the responses men have for women who try to usurp their authority is abuse. Many have said that he doesn't mean that women cause their own abuse, but it's kinda hard to read anything ELSE into that.

When I first read about that (and later, when I was reading through the 814 responses to one bloggers post about it), I just sat with my mouth open in that "is this for real?" way some of us have.

My physical response was also common: I could feel my blood pressure rise. I could feel my heart speed up. My teeth clenched. I leaned in until my breath was fogging up my monitor.

And then, God blessed me with a memory: I attend a church that is outside this dogfight. I attend a church that has been ordaining women since they begain 100 years ago. Maybe there aren't many women pastors, but they do exist. In my church, I am able to exercise my gifts and talents without regard to my gender. I'm able to teach adults (women AND men, often more of the latter). I lead worship. And occasionally, when things get mucked up as sometimes they do, I have had the responsibility of handling the service. All that matters is my ability to do so, not my plumbing.

So I was able to push back from the screen and excersize my ability to click on that little red "X" in the upper right corner of the screen and remove all that stress from my mind.