Dear Friend,
Go ahead, see if you can guess! No, never mind. You'll never get it in a million years. I didn't post last night because ...I WAS ASLEEP!! Now, that's a first! It was 10:10 and I was in bed when all of a sudden I realized I was so tired that I didn't think I could stay up to do a single thing. So, I turned off my light and was asleep within ten minutes. Isn't that amazing? Then I slept twelve hours so, I don't know what was up, but I apparently really needed some rest.
I am so frustrated with myself right now, I've worked and worked on placing a big grocery delivery order. But I've only done it once before so I didn't realize how important nabbing one of the delivery times was. You sign up for a time slot and, when I finally had my list right, I went to place the order and ALL of the time slots were filled up!it had crossed my mind to send in a partial order, those things that I knew I absolutely had to have. If I had done that I would have had a time slot and could have just added additional items to my order. I am especially bummed because I was ordering special sides from the company so I would only have to make the entree and not the sides or desserts. I really do not have the energy to put a big meal on the table. I was going to make a crown roast pork, too. Now I have no idea what to do! It's too late to get a honey-baked ham, if they even have those here, and I already know that their sides are awful! I called them right away and was in hold forever until they closed. So I sent in an email asking if there was anyway, please, please!, that they could deliver it anytime on Wednesday. If I have to do a big grocery shopping trip and bring it in the house and unload the groceries and put them away it will exhaust me.
On the other hand, maybe a very simple Christmas dinner would be nice. Pork chops baked in a dressing, maybe? Since I'm not allergic to pork now I was hoping to serve it to my family instead of the usual turkey.
Okay, I'm going to think with my fingers for a minute ... Do people bake pork chops in dressing? I could do that and have green beans and ... baked sweet potatoes and rolls. Have a mango chutney maybe to go with the pork chops? And for dessert I could do baked apples with vanilla ice cream. That doesn't sound too terrible. For breakfast I'll have those jarred citrus fruits, bacon, oj, and blueberry buckwheat pancakes. So, it won't be anything special, but hopefully it won't lay me out, either.
I got started on my article yesterday! I know that's a huge thing to ask you to believe, but it's true. I like the way I open it, and that's the hardest part. It's going to be about dealing with a sociopath in the church. Today I've been out a lot, but I did get some more research done. But I'm finding the psychopath really interesting. Because part of what I'm looking at is what does repentance look like for someone who has no internal moral code? Someone who has no empathy and deliberately manipulates people for their own advantage. Can they repent? Can they be forgiven by God? Can a believer forgive them when they have been wronged by someone who seriously couldn't care less.
I found an amazing blog by a person who is a psychopath who says there's not enough people who have been diagnosed or understand their diagnosis. So this person (they don't even reveal their gender) is writing about it from a first person perspective. See, just because someone is a psychopath doesn't mean that they do evil things. They are no more inherently evil than I am. They do tend to be more violent than non-psychopaths ... but they aren't crazy or psychotic.
So, if you have a run-in with a socio-path (screwed up moral compass, no empathy) or a psychopath (no moral compass, no empathy) and they wrong you ... how do you forgive them if there is no repentance on their part? And what goes on between God and the psychopath? Repentance is acknowledgement of wrongdoing and a turning away from it. This doesn't have to be emotional, but it does need to be resolute.
Turns out the both sociopaths and psychopaths are likely to be drawn to CEO positions and it is postulated that some of the unbelievable acts of greed that have taken place in American corporations may be because they have a high number of psychopaths running them who have no conscience. Corporations have started taking steps into finding ways to spot a socio/psychopath so that they don't hire them, because it only takes one or two to bring down a corporation... or a church!
One article I read was by a pastor who says that he has found that a socio/psychopath lies behind most church splits. He was saying that this is why the church really needs to follow the Biblical model for dealing with a person who will not repent of their sin. They are to out them out of the fellowship and have nothing to do with them. That sound so harsh until you think of it in this way. But when you recognize the damage that a sociopath can do, you can see the wisdom in not letting them hide in the church any longer acting like they are "good folks."
So, I guess that's it for me today. I saw my psychologist today, but other than that didn't do anything for my health at all. I am all kinds of swollen, and I realize I haven't been peeing much. So I guess I need to go ahead and make an appointment with that nephrologist I was told about
My son comes in tomorrow! I can't wait to see him! I'm really looking forward to him being home for a few days.
I haven't wrapped a single present. Aargh!! Is it ok to sat that you love Jesus, but you hate Christmas??
Lisa
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