God's Abundance

I love this book.  I gave it to Cole several years ago because he was a new dad.  There's a chapter in it on how to be a father to girls.  It's soooooo good.  It's in some ways a condensed version of what he says in 'Wild at Heart' or 'Captivating', but in  other ways it's much more refined and applicable.


I guess I have been thinking about the heart of girls because of the whole Girls Gone Wild event in Lubbock last night.  Some friends and I decided to go out last night, and we went to Moose Magoo's.  They too were have a night focusing on boobs, but in a different manner.  They were having a concert for Breast Cancer.  Could have been an amazing event with just a bit better advertising and a lower cover charge.  $15 is expensive.  I wouldn't have paid that much to see Billy Idol or other vague yet definitely better well known artist.

Tonight, I've been listening to an audio-book by Craig Gross. Craig is on the leadership team at XXX Church.com.  Craig has written several books, which I hear are amazing and I hope to read someday.  Craig's church deals specifically with the issue of pornography and sexual addiction.
I wish I had had the time this morning to take a picture.  In the parking lot of the Buddy Holly Center, next to Bash Riprocks where the GGW event was held, this afternoon laid a single high heeled shoe, alone in the parking lot.  I feel like that summed up the night quite well.  I guess the reason I get so passionate about all this stuff is because I have felt used and abused sexually most of my life.  At least 24 of 35 years has had some effects be they overt or subvert.  (Is that the proper use of subvert?)

So I get it.  I get what happens to women when they have been violated by incest and rape.  I get it when women are convinced that their only value is in their sexual ability.  I get how pornography is addicting.  I get how once you give in to one perversion, the rest tumble down like an avalanche.  I get it.  And it makes me angry.  It's so not of God.  It is the antithesis of his heart cry.  For women and for men.  There is so much more.

I wish I had the money to make some t-shirts.  I did a quiz amongst my friends to see what kind of t-shirt they would make if they were protesting GGW.  There were some great ones.

Mia:  "Oh yeah!! Shake what your mama gave ya...cause your brother and daddy are probably watchin" :)

Michaela:  Self esteem has got me COVERED!
 
Shaun:  "Girls Gone Wild" Advertising Inevitable date rape victims since 1998!

 Melissa: real men flash a ring first

and Beth:  "my boobs look better with my shirt on".

And on a slightly different yet not to far off note, I think I have to also add to this weird ness, that I can't help but keep thinking of El Shaddai yesterday and today. Some people may be surprised to know that one of the meanings for El Shaddai is "the many breasted one" or "all sufficient one."  To quote the wikipedia article linked in the previous sentence, "It is often paraphrased in English translations as "Almighty" although this is an interpretive element. The name then refers to the pre-Mosaic patriarchal understanding of deity as "God who is sufficient." God is sufficient, that is, to supply all of one's needs, and therefore by derivation "almighty". It may also be understood as an allusion to the singularity of deity, "El", as opposed to "Elohim" (plural), being sufficient or enough for the early patriarchs of Judaism. To this was latter added the Mosaic conception of the tetragrammaton YHWH, meaning a God who is sufficient in Himself, that is, a self-determined eternal Being qua Being, for whom limited descriptive names cannot apply. This may have been the meaning the Hebrew phrase "ehyeh asher ehyeh" (which translates roughly as "I will be that which I will be") and which is how God describes himself to Moses cf. Exodus 3:13-15. This phrase can be applied to the tetragrammaton YHWH, which can be understood as an anagram for the three States of Being: past, present and future, conjoined with the conjunctive Hebrew letter.

So in Lubbock, TX on June 12th of 2010, we have both the GGW and a Breast Cancer event, and God reminds me that he is known as the many breasted one, the all sufficient one.  It is my prayer that these girls and men, would know deeply the God who has the power, grace, love and desire to supply all their needs emotionally, physically, spiritually, relationally and financially.  The mother heart of God longs to draw her children to her and cover them with her wings so that they can nurse and trust and be satiated.  

I would be completely remiss, if in this blog I didn't mention Amy Grant's song El Shaddai from the 80's.