go tell it on the mountain

one night hanging out at the ranch upstairs in grandma and grandpa's bedroom turned the east room turned mine, i heard my soon-to-be aunt head up to their room formerly the south room formerly my uncles' bedroom. where i imagined still to be the streak under the light switch from their nightly tossing of dirty clothes attempting to hook and pull it down to the off setting from their once was twin beds. i was nine or ten and in love with my dad's remaining younger brother. i had yet to really connect with my soon-to-be aunt.

i knew she didn't go to church. i decided guiding her to her Christianity would be an in-road. recently returning from church camp where carman's 'the champion' was a theme song, i played my audio cassette copy on the little boombox i'd brought with me. every few seconds turning it up a little louder. and then repeating the 6 minute long piece that was mostly spoken word about Jesus boxing the devil with an 80's opera-etic rock vibe again. i've no idea what i thought was going to happen, but i sat alert for some-something. and when some-something didn't, i would re-figure the thickness of our old wood doors and up would go the volume until i played an entire round at max. (which would have been heard downstairs had my grandfather not kept three tv's on at once, and all at their own unsafe-for-your-grandkids'-hearing level.) i imagined my soon-to-be aunt sitting on the bed with the Word of God floating around her. that she was either breathing it in to be transformed into a loving will-be-aunt who would bake cookies with me and take me shopping or was scowling at the air blowing it away.

after whatever time a nine or ten year old imagines to be a lot, with no-nothing from her room, i went downstairs leaving my soon-to-be aunt with her thoughts. certain whatever the outcome, i had done something good. i had just learned at church camp we were all called to spread the Good News. and Good News is what i, my little boombox and carman had spread through the air. loudly.

i clearly recall my grandfather greeting me "you want to dish up some ice cream for us? penny already went to bed with a bad headache, not feeling well."

and that's the only time i've ever gone up to the mountain top to proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord. sparked by want for personal gain. "and they'll know we are Christians by our love" is more my tune. not that defines me, but to which i aspire. and no doubt - for personal gain. i really suck whenever i try to take the wheel.

then. i saw this on the news and for the first time ever felt the missionary-bug, which for me, is saying an awful lot:

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=7613395&page=1

i cried. seeing children brutalized by a man wearing a picture of Jesus. the desire to scoop those children up and introduce them to Love was huge.

by chance that very night i ran across a blog about american idol with good news that "One of my college friends told me her mom and Kris' mom are friends and that he had told his mom before he got to the final that he needed one more week there because he had been witnessing to Adam and felt like he needed just a little more time with him." say what?

and over 100 comments under that i scanned through further praising kris for being a contestant we could all admire and what good work the Lord was doing through him and no wonder he won as he had God's Word on his side and... huh?

i don't watch american idol. i couldn't tell by the post or comments if adam is a declared atheist or what for everyone to be so united in their praise for his fellow contestant witnessing to him. i know he wears eye-liner thanks to my yahoo and the today show, but that's about it. also thanks to my yahoo and the first fifteen seconds of the view, i'm guessing the 'or what' is adam may be gay.

children in the congo accused of being witches and tortured in the name of Jesus. an american idol shoulda-been-winner gay. yeah. while there are some parallels i feel compelled to draw, i'll not. i am gonna stand on my mountain-high soap box that all mothers have over their own though and say: kids,

a) if you're like your uncle and feel a call to share your faith with someone you think is lost, keep that exchange sacred. sacred is not the blogosphere twittering away in prayer, praise and back-handed judgement because you opened your mouth and gossiped about your 'good works'. mothers will gossip regardless, esp if you win whatever form of american idol is around, but know in yourself to keep that type of thing between you, your friend and God. it's your friend's business to share and no one else's.

b) any faith, religion, can be perverted and abused and used as a weapon of discrimination, hatred, negligence or manipulation. when you think you know what a muslim, hindu or jew thinks, really consider your sources and dig a little deeper. keep in mind how some children have been introduced to Christianity. with hot wax and an image of Jesus on the offender's robe.

c) don't just go blaring your boombox around.