Okay, I am unashamedly a big fan of Sarah Palin, so I’ve chosen her for this week’s woman of wow.  One of the things that makes her a special woman is her love for and commitment to her family.  And I’m so happy for her to have been in the right place at the right time, for her quick rise in power, so to speak.  She is a woman with conviction and courage, and I’m thinking she reminds me a bit of Esther.  You know,  “And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” And no matter what you think of her policies, I think you have to admit she is a pretty interesting woman - athletic, beautiful, smart, and caring.

Some of my close friends are big Obama fans, and there is a lot to like about that guy and what he stands for.  But for me, Governor Palin has renewed my excitement for the McCain campaign.  One thing is for sure, we live in an amazing country.  I just kept thinking that as I watched both the democratic and the republican conventions.  Where else in the world do people have such freedom of expression and speech?  Where else can two opponents fight it out fairly  (well, usually it is done fairly), and then on November 5th, we’ll accept what the people have decided and unite behind our new president?

No matter how strong your feelings and opinions are about either candidate, it remains important that we do not hate the other.  Neither McCain nor Obama are evil men.   It will not solve every problem in our world if the “right” one (whoever that is to you) is elected.  So, let’s rally around our favorite, and support whoever the winner is!

I’ve gotten a kick out of this bumper sticker, which I purchased during Palin’s speech last week and proudly display on my trailblazer. (I was so stoked, I got online to see what I could find while she was still talking.)  If you’re a fan, it’s a fun one to display.  Meanwhile, no matter who the winner of this year’s election is, it is an exciting time to be alive and to be a woman.

In the past few years I have come to question some things that I have been taught all my life in the “conservative” churches of which I’ve been a part.  I have not been silent about thinking some of these issues through.  A big one for me is the idea of God’s ideal for men and women.  I wrote a bit about it here.  Frankly, I no longer hold to a strict patriarchal view of Scripture and the Church.

Several months ago, someone who was a bit disturbed by the afore-mentioned post wrote to me and told me basically that this was a clear-cut issue in Scripture.  She went on to say that Scripture gives complete freedom for a woman to lead and to hold authority over men in the public arena, but that it would be unbiblical for a woman to hold authority or leadership within the Church.  (If you’re reading this, sister, I’m not upset with you, just insist on the freedom to think this through.)

I see several problems with this point of view, which is widely held in my small-town in the Bible belt.  First of all, it is totally inconsistent with what we say we believe.  Let me illustrate.  I come from a reformed background, at least for the last 20 years or so.  There have been many rich truths I have learned and been taught through the reformed churches which I have attended.  One of the most freeing and important of these is God’s involvement in every arena of our lives.  There is no area of our lives in which God is not involved.

This has been important for me personally, because I used to struggle with feeling as though I had more value when I was doing something “spiritual” that when I was not.  For example, I struggled for years thinking I should pray and read and share my faith more, but the motivation was out of guilt.  I have found this truth that God is involved in all the areas of our lives and that he sees life and the world wholistically to be an extremely freeing one.  The person who works a “secular” job has no less value than the person who is a missionary or preacher.  We cannot teach this truth that all of life is holy and present this wholistic view of the world and at that same time say that a woman can lead a man in the secular world but not within the church.  It is an obvious inconsistency.

Look at Deborah the judge of Israel.  I wrote a short post about her here. She was God’s appointed ruler of the nation of Israel - see Judges 4 and 5.  If we take the argument of many mainline conservative Christians that a woman can do anything she wants in the secular world, but she may not be allowed to have any real leadership over men within the church, then we have to explain away large parts of this portion of Scripture.  Deborah was the leader God raised up to lead Israel at a time when they were doing wickedly.  He could have just as easily raised up a man, but for his good purposes, he chose Deborah.

Judges 4:4 says, “Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time.”  The chapter goes on to document how she held court under the palm trees, and men and women came to her to settle disputes.  You cannot honestly tell me that these disputes were merely “secular” disputes, or that she somehow told the people that she could not answer questions that pertained to spiritual matters because she was a woman.  Also, we have the same problem with inconsistency here if we try to separate these matters.  If we are reformed, we believe that God rules over all the affairs of men.  Finally, she is called a prophetess, which is one who speaks truth.  Truth is about as spiritual as you can get.  And she clearly tells the leader of the army of Israel that God told him to attack the king of the Canaanites.

So, where is the consistency here?  We say that God sees all of life the same, that it is just as holy to change a diaper as it is to preach a sermon, that it is just as pleasing to God when we serve him in a coal mine as when we serve him on the foreign mission field.  But out of the other side of our mouths we say that Scripture allows women to be anything they want to be, except a preacher or an elder within the church.  Hmmm.  Do you seen any problems with this type of reasoning?  I do.  It cannot be both ways.  God is wise and intelligent and consistent.  His Word makes sense for all of life.

Could it be that his ideal for men and women relationships is seen more clearly (if we are able to look at it unbiasedly, which is almost impossible for us to do) in the description of life in the Garden of Eden before the fall of man?  When both man and woman were given the command to rule the earth and subdue it.  Could it be that the portions of Scripture which forbid a woman to lead a man, when studied in the context of social history (in other words as we think them through in the context of the real world in which they were written), righty place the advancement of the gospel over the “rights” of a woman?

This is easy for us to see when we look at the case of slavery.  We know that God’s ideal for people made in his image is NOT to be owned as slaves.  Yet, when we read the Old Testament, we see Scriptures written 2000 years ago that urge slaves to obey their masters.  God was telling those slaves who were owned by other human beings to be faithful to God in the world and station in which they lived.  But when the time came, it was right to fight for the end of slavery.  Thank God that slavery is largely abolished in the world of the 21st century.  I do not know of a single Christian leader who would try to say that slavery is Biblical.  Yet, before this great social revolution which brought about freedom from slavery, many many Christians used Scripture to support this idea.

In the same way, is it possible that the issue with women is similar?  Is is possible that God told women to live faithfully in the culture in which they existed at that time, and to give us some of the rights that they could have fought for, some rights that he originally wanted them to have and that he would one day restore to them?  About a year ago, I read a highly provocative book called Finally Feminist by John Stackhouse, which deeply investigates these questions.  While the book is not a once and for all answer to this debate between egalitarians and complementarians, it does a great job of looking at these issues in a meaningful way historically and a faithful way Scripturally.  I cannot recommend this book highly enough if this is an important or troubling issue to you.  The author does an excellent job of being frank and honest, and he presents a new paradigm with which to look at this issue in Scripture, with the humility of inviting discussion and ongoing scrutiny.  He does not claim to have “the” answer, but he has written an important work to help bridge the divide between these two camps of Christians.  I certainly still have questions Scripturally about this issue, but he got me thinking.  And I believe that is exactly what he wanted to do.

Whatever we do with this issue, we gotta be consistent.

Today’s women of wow are all of the female Olympians in the Beijing games. My hats of to each of them. I love the swimming, diving, track, gymnastics, all of it!  I honestly cannot imagine the dedication and determination and sheer discipline it takes to get to that point.

I especially want to highlight one athlete, Dara Torres. She is a 41 year old swimmer, and this summer was her fifth Olympics. I am utterly amazed that she has continued to train her body and continues to swim competitively in her 40’s and as a mother. Amazed.

I never have been a super swimmer, but even if I had been, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t still be in that great shape at my age, and I’m only 38. Nor would I be able to balance all that with the joys and responsibilities of motherhood. I think we are all inspired by her presence in the Beijing Olympics and her wonderful sportsmanship as well. You can read more about Dara Torres on her official website here.

Amelia Earhart came perhaps before her time,…the smiling, confident, capable, yet compassionate human being, is one of which we can all be proud.”
– Walter J. Boyne

Today’s woman of wow is Amelia Mary Earhart. This likable, spunky young woman made a huge mark on history and on the airline industry. Her brave and adventurous life no doubt has inspired many young women with the confidence to follow their dream to fly, or even go to space. She was born on July 24, 1897 in Atchison, Kansas. When she saw her first plane at age 10, she was not at all impressed, saying, “It was a thing of rusty wire and wood and looked not at all interesting.” However, her first time to go up in a plane, about 10 years later was an entirely different matter. On December 28, 1920, pilot Frank Hawks gave her a ride that would forever change her life. “By the time I had got two or three hundred feet off the ground,” she said, “I knew I had to fly.”

Here are just a few of her achievements. She was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic. She broke the women’s world record in altitude and speed. She was the first person to fly solo from Honolulu to Oakland, California, first woman to fly solo nonstop across the continental United States, and the first person to fly solo from Los Angeles to Mexico City and from Mexico City to Newark.

In June 1937 she began a flight around the world with her navigator Fred Noonan. She made all but 7,000 of the 29,000 miles and then became lost at sea. The exact details of what happened to her may never be known. The United States spent $4 million on a rescue and search attempt, but were never able to locate her or her plane.

“My ambition is to have this wonderful gift produce practical results for the future of commercial flying and for the women who may want to fly tomorrow’s planes.” Amelia without a doubt achieved this ambitious dream of hers.

Much of this information and more can be found at this website.

This month I’ve enjoyed reading a captivating story about the 16th century Mughal Empire’s empress Nur Jahan, also known as Mehrunnisa or “Sun of women.” Our book club read The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan. The novel is captivating, and it tells the historically accurate account of this woman’s life in ancient Persia/ Pakistan. She was the twentieth and favorite wife of Emporer Jahangir. She grew to great influence, eventually ruling the empire through trusted men, due to her husband’s Jahangir’s incapacitating addiction to opium and alcohol. (Don’t forget she lived under a veil and behind a silk screen when she was anywhere around men.) She also ran her husband’s zenana, or his large establishment of wives, concubines, and servants. After her husband’s death, she was isolated in a palace in Lahore by the new emperor, Jahangir’s son Kurrham, the builder of the Tah Majal. I’m hoping to soon read the sequel The Feast of Roses.
To learn more about this fascinating woman, read a bit more here.

Anne Lamott is today’s woman of wow. I absolutely love how funny and honest she is! She is the mother of a pre-teen boy and an elder in a Presbyterian church in San Francisco. She has written inspiring non-fiction and several novels. I you haven’t read any of her work, you’ve got to read Traveling Mercies. She was raised to be an atheist, and she lost her alcoholic father to cancer. When she ended up an alcoholic and drug-user, she stumbled upon Someone who cared. If you’d like to read more about her amazing story, check out this site.

I first learned about Amy Carmichael in college. And ever since then, she has been one of my favorite women of all time. Her biography A Chance to Die by Elisabeth Elliot tells many wonderful detailed stories about her life. Basically, she was an Irish-born young woman from a wealthy family who gave her life to loving the poor of India. She is best known for rescuing young girls from temple prostitution. My favorite story of her is told often. As a little girl, she prayed and prayed for her brown eyes to turn blue. Her prayer was not answered. Years later, when she would disguise herself as an Indian woman to rescue girls, making her skin darker with tea leaves, she thought about what a dead giveaway blue eyes would have been. She was able to thank God for making her the way he knew would be best for the life work he had for her. If you’d like to read a bit more about her life, check out this link. She has written extensively as well, and my personal favorite is a devotional called His Thoughts Said, His Father Said.

Today’s woman of wow is Mary Groves Muller, wife of George Muller, who founded orphanages in Bristol, England in the early 1800’s. It took a remarkable woman to be the wife of this man of faith. First of all, he almost did not marry her because of his fear that marriage would slow him down in his ministry. When he found himself in love with her, he was suprised because she was eight years older than he, and because she had a very large nose and wasn’t pretty like an earlier girlfriend George had. But what Mary Groves did have was a sincere faith, a willingness to give up everything for the work they wanted to do, and a maturity and smart mind that became a huge comfort and support to George.

In the book George Muller The Guardian of Bristol’s Orphans, a story is told which illustrates just what an incredible woman Mary was. When they were first wed, Mary and George loaded up her things on a stagecoach to their new home. George was surprised at how many things Mary had, four trunks full of household items. (Doesn’t really sound like too much to our American ears, does it?) After Mary had taken a week to get everything settled and arranged beautifully into George’s small home, he came home one evening disheartened by all the worldly possessions they had. He told her that every unnecessary thing had to go, all the silver, china, and tapestries. She was shocked and probably a little hurt because she had worked so hard to make their home lovely. But the next evening when George came home, all of the extra things were gone, and in their place there was a stack of pound notes, which she told him to use as he thought best. “And may God help us both,” she said.

I love that it was her love of George and her faith in her heavenly Father that allowed her to do what he requested. I probably would have pitched a fit and said “No way.” Or dutifully but angrily done the right thing. Mary sincerely surrendered to this and jumped in wholeheartedly with George’s way of life.

Mary and George went through many trials together, including the death of their young son, the death of Mary’s father, serious bouts of illness for George, and a very simple life bordering on poverty. They always took everything to God in prayer, and Mary worked tirelessly by George’s side to serve hundreds of unloved orphans, giving them a place to live, bread to eat, and a God to love. Bravo to you, good woman! I wish I could know you and I want to be a bit more like you.

Today I decided to recommend a look at this photo gallery of interesting women by Chris Michel. It is fascinating to look at the wide variety of women of different ages, cultures, and stations in life. Each one reflects the image of God in a different way!

I have always been drawn to Impressionism.  I love the use of paint strokes and the way light is reflected, but the clincher for me is the way these French artists painted the beauty of everyday real life.  Little redhead and I once took a trip to Paris to explore and admire the art and history there.  The apartment we rented had a balcony and a tiny winding black staircase to a rooftop terrace with a view of the city!  We made our own French press coffee, bought fresh bread and cheese, explored the side streets and famous museums, and even did our own performace of Les Miserables late one evening on the Champs Elysees after a bottle of wine.

But, in spite of my history with French art, I didn’t know about a remarkable woman who was one of the leading impressionists.  Berthe Morisot lived from 1841-1895, and was born in  Bourges, France.  Her father was a high-ranking civil servant there.  She began formal art lessons at age 16 and eventually became a student of Corot.  When she married the brother of artist Edward Manet, the two of them built a home in Paris.  This house became the weekly meeting place of many famous French impressionists, including Degas, Monet, Pissaro, and Renoir.  Can you just imagine the creativity flickering and flowing?  Oh, to be a fly on the wall!

Berthe Morisot painted loving, joyful pictures of a contented, happy life at home.  Her impressions are often paintings of family life, including motherhood and the enjoyment of nature with loved ones.

Two of my favorites are On the Balcony and The Cradle.  Applause to you, Berthe, for finding your gift and for painting right along with a group of amazing male painters.