Is it all just one big reality show?

I don't often comment on pop culture here on Kpinion. It's not that I don't have an opinion on pop culture, I've just never really taken the time to write about it. Oh but I take the time to make myself aware of it. I get the highlights from the internet (although tmz is not on my list of must reads), I watch E!, and I have been known to purchase a People and US every once in a while.

Why is it that the life of celebrities, celebutantes, and then just the infamous intrigue us? Oh a few of them are doing things of worth but for the most part the press goes to those who make the most screw-ups. We're entranced by Alec Baldwin's voice mail to his daughter, Paris's impending jail time, and now Lindsay's run-in with the law (followed by her second stint in rehab).

Mix all this pop-culture with the onset of the reality show and you have the best of the worst of our culture. Survivor, Amazing Race, The Bachelor, The Real Wedding Crashers, even the ground breaking Real World. All set up this idea of "reality" for you to watch from the comfort of your living room couch when in fact they really just promote backstabbing, bed jumping, and all those other things that we see played out in the tabloids.

So I wonder if Hollywood is really just one big reality show. A little bit reality and a lot more entertainment, all mixed up into a package that we can't seem to turn our eyes from.

What the HECK?

LOST

Season Finale

WOW.

Such great television, such great actors, such a great story. Just when you think you know where the story is leading you come around a corner and everything changes. Beatings, Smackdowns, Hurley in his own Mystery Machine (all hail scooby doo), Charlie making a huge sacrifice, and a glimpse at the future (or is it the present or is it a possible future or present). AMAZING.

I'm addicted and now I have to bide my time until January.

So are you a LOST addict like me? Do you have other shows that are "never-missers"?

Discuss.

In response to the last post

Interesting, I've realized that the topic of marriage gets lots of emotional responses from readers. I will admit I was a bit shocked by the comment highlighted in the last post that was made to my friend, but mostly I found humor in it for the audacity of her conclusion.


Like Spaghettipie said, this can be such a divisive topic when it shouldn't be. If we can find unity in denominations, in races, in wealth, in so many other things why should marital status divide us? We are, in fact, all one body in Christ, the married and the single. And while marriage does not equal a higher status in life or in Christianity, it is something that God created to give us pleasure and such an amazing picture of His love for us.

Can I still know the love of the Savior without being married? Of course.

Might I have a different understanding upon being married? Of course.

But does one trump the other? No.

After going to check out what Piper said (thanks Jimmy) I related so much to the foundational message that our relationship with Christ is first and foremost. I think that many married couples would agree with this, and go on to say that without the foundation of Christ many a marriage will fail because we are looking to another person to fulfill our needs and worth. Piper also goes on to say that it is from our relationship with Christ that other relationships are built and more importantly held together.

I hope that the heart of my post came across in my words. I desire to be married, it is a hope I have set my heart upon, but I rest in the sovereignty of God and seek His will for my life above my own. So if this means I will marry than I rejoice in that, if it means I won't then I rejoice in that too. Either way I realize that my most precious relationship, the one from which all others flow, the one that will last beyond this life into eternity is set and firm. No, Jesus in not my boyfriend or my husband, He is my Lord and my Savior and so much more.

My words in the last post were not to show bitterness or snarkiness toward marrieds, more they were to bring to light a situation that so many of us (singles, marrieds without kids, jobless, you name a situation that carries with it expectations) fall into when we are expected to fit into a mold that was never created by God but by other expectations of what a "Christian" should look like.

"I guess that's just not your thing"

I was talking with a friend the other day on the ever present subject of "Singleness". Did anyone else just hear the song from Star Wars where Darth Vadar makes his entrance (daa dum da dum dum da dum da dum da dummmm)? My friend told me about attending a baby shower and seeing a woman whom she has known from childhood. Their conversation went a little like this:

"So is there a special man in your life?"

"No, not really, it's just me"

"Oh, I guess that's just not your thing, huh?" (I assume that the sympathetic head tilt with bobbing movement was part of this show.)

My friend looked at her dumbfounded not quite knowing how to respond to a question/statement like that. But in relating the story to me she had some good responses with my favorite being:

"Nope, I'm just a sad single woman. In fact, let me pull my hair back in a bun, parting it down the middle of course, and live all by my lonesome with tons of cats." (ok I might have added just a little bit but the bun comment was all her's)

Why is it that at a certain age being single is a no win situation. If you're single and wanting to be married the rebuke is "CONTENTMENT". And yet, is you're single and content you are charged with the battle cry of "GET OUT THERE, MAKE YOURSELF AVAILABLE."

So which is it?

Someone explain to me how this works. I'm supposed to not be looking (because of course "it" comes to you when you're not looking) and yet I'm also supposed to be available, approachable, and strategically placed (like a well placed commercial for ice cream in the middle of a Hallmark made for TV movie).

Personally, I'm pretty well adjusted to my singleness and yet still holding on pretty tightly to the hope that I will be married one day. So if I'm ok with it, why does everyone else feel the need to weigh in with pressure from both sides?

That said, I burst out laughing in shock and awe when my friend told me that woman's response. In fact I think I will borrow that nugget from her as my new answer to the every present question.

"So Katie, are you dating anyone?"

"Nope, it's just not my thing."

I have a feeling that will stop that conversation in its tracks.

Now that would be funny

Saturday night I went to the wedding of a life-long friend. We've known each other since elementary school, grew up together, worked at summer camp together, lived together, and have memories to fill pages upon pages. It was a beautiful evening filled with tons of friends from different parts of her life (which just happen to be different parts of my life too - lucky).

At her reception she had this amazing indoor tent made of fabric with a crystal chandelier hanging from the center. As the bride and groom took their first dance inside the tent one of my friends sitting with me commented how beautiful it was and I replied that I especially liked the chandelier.

At this moment my dear friend Roger (husband of one Jes of Chirky) exhibited his ability to execute perfect timing coupled with the perfect statement by making this comment:

"Yes, Katie but at your wedding it will be a crystal encrusted saddle hanging over you for your first dance."

At that point we all lost it and Roger sat with a simple grin on his face.

Shalom

I'm finishing up a study on the book of Romans. Just some light reading of course, nothing major in that book (sarcasm inserted here).

In fact, part of the text we were looking at is this:

I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, so that by God's will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company. May the God of peace be with you all. Amen. Romans 15: 30-33

One of our questions related to Paul's use of the phrase "God of peace" in many of his letters and why we thought he focused on that characteristic of God so often. It also strikes me that Paul often begins and ends his letters wishing God's grace and peace upon the reader.

As I thought through my answer two things stuck out to me. Paul, the Jew of all Jews (save for Christ that is) probably never experienced a moment of peace in his Jewish faith. When your entire hope of salvation is built upon your ability to keep the law, perform ceremonies and sacrifices, and attain a standard of perfection, peace must be an unreachable dream. And yet, when you are fully aware of your inability to earn God's favor and are at the same time at rest in Christ, peace abounds. So you can reason that law = no peace, while grace = full peace.

And then a more specific answer jumped out to me on this question. Paul is asking for prayers from the church at Rome, specifically for his future trip to Jerusalem where he will face capture and torture.

And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. Acts 20: 22-24:

Facing the unknown is one thing, facing a possible angry mob is something else, but knowing with assurance that you will be imprisoned and afflicted and walking into that willfully takes a peace that is without measure. This is the peace that characterizes Paul's life. This is the peace he has found in the midst of grace. This is the peace that he finds in His Lord. And this is the peace that he speaks of to all who will listen.

I want that peace. I know I have it. I know it is a product of the grace that covers me. I want to take hold of that peace and let it overwhelm my life in such a way that I willfully walk through life fearing nothing, rejoicing in everything, and praising God through all things.

The Wedding Album

So a few weeks ago I left for the west coast on my tour of weddings. Here is a little peek at Caron's wedding with this awesome photo montage or collage or whatever you choose to call it.

The one where I remind you how much I am addicted to LOST

Ok folks, I know that many people have jumped off the LOST train and headed for the hills. Something about the slow start to the year and that horrendous break there in the middle, the focus on The Others and away from our beloved set of plane-wreck castaways, and even the joke that was Nikki and Paulo (although being buried alive was an amazing solution to this hiccup) has caused many a person to bemoan the show or stop watching all the same.

I am not that person.

Oh yes, there are episodes that leave me wanting something more, but I keep coming back all the same. In fact, some of my favorite scenes are action-less and don't really develop the story. For instance, I love in the episode about Hurley where he finds that van, gets it running, and all the guys pile in for a little joyride in the dirt. A simple scene, no mystery involved, no big action or drama, just four guys tooling around in an old VW van. But that simplicity it what makes it so perfect. I couldn't help but think of them as young boys, taking their parent's car without permission, and just having some innocent fun. It was one of those moments where you remember that these characters are supposed to be real people, not just chess pieces in this great island mystery.

Now, I read all the theories out there, and let me say it is a trip down literary lane with memories of high school and college as people try to deconstruct the story line in an attempt to predict it and dare I say claim some control over it. But that's what i like so much about this show, there is a grand scheme but we don't know it, and as much as we think we have it figured out we are thrown for a loop each time. But one things stays the same in all of this and that is the characters and the development of their individual stories.

There is something about seeing people and what we assume of them being turned upside down as we see them live through unexpected and crazy situations. We get a glimpse into who they were before they had to adapt to this new reality they now live in. We also get to see they aren't exactly who we assumed them to be. They have stories, they have baggage (literally and figuratively).

In fact, think about that one, throughout the series there has been a focus on baggage in one way or another. People wanted to find their own when they crashed because it reminded them of who they are, or maybe now who they were. Nikki and Paulo (whose names are spoken with hissing in the background) spent their entire time on the island looking for their baggage because it held the one thing the thought most dear, their past. Too bad that obsession lead to a pretty awesome death.

So with all the mystery and theories and action that fill this show, it's the people that I love to watch, the development of their stories (past, present, and future), and how those stories intermix both before and now.