That day, I skipped my "Folk and Squaire Dancing" class. The thought of doing the "Teton Mountain Stomp" with a migraine still makes me shudder. But the pain was gone in time for me to attend my poetry writing class. Unfortunately, the loopiness that the medicine caused hadn't quite worn off yet. You see, there was this girl in my class, named Karen Krause, who was quite attractive. She had an amazing sense of humor (probably a side-effect of being the only sister of three brothers) and I had come to look at her as "one of the guys." But, for whatever reason, the medicine took the "one of the guys" thing away and I found myself asking her all sorts of stupid, personal questions. She politely answered them without missing a beat, which is one of the few things that has helped me to keep my dignity to this day. It wasn't until much later that evening that I realized what an incredible idiot I had made of myself. Not only had I asked some rather personal questions, but I was already dating Sarah, who is now my wife.
At the very next meeting of the poetry class, I told Karen that I wanted to introduce her to a dear friend of mine from back home. To make a long story short (and get on with the point of this essay), my friend, Evan Griffiths, married Karen Krause in October of 1998. I was the Best Man.
So, this past weekend, Sarah, Kaitlyn, Sarah's younger brother and I were visiting Evan and Karen in Springfield, MO, when I had the opportunity to visit with Karen's father. The man is simply amazing. Though he has jokingly told me that it was my "fault" that someone took his baby girl from him, I can tell that he really likes Evan. And Evan obviously likes him, too.
I find Bob Krause's grasp of Scripture to be amazing. I am so happy that Evan married into a family of Believers. Bob takes his role of Spritual Head of the Household very seriously. We had an occasion to discuss the proposed amendment to the Missouri constitution that will definitely outlaw homosexual marriage in my great state (I am DEFINITELY voting for this amendment, by the way). Bob said something that intrigued me.
He said, "I want my word back."
That is a very powerful statement, when one really thinks about it. As he pointed out, he is old enough to remember when he could truly say that he had a "gay marriage," because he and his wife are happy in their relationship. He can remember that the song that we now call "The Merry Minstrel" was once called "The Gay Minstrel."
I decided to do a little research on how this word came to have its current, less Godly meaning.. The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins tells us that the word was first used for same-sex attitudes in the 1950s, when the word "gaycat" was sometimes used to refer to a homosexual boy.
Brewer's Dictionary of Modern Phrase & Fable, on the other hand, says that the French word gai came to be known for feminine characters in the Elizabethan theaters, as women were not allowed on stage in England or France. Thus, men even had to play the female roles.
Whatever the reason, the Bible doesn't use the word "gay" for homosexuality. Rather, it mentions the sinful act itself. Romans 1:27 says, "In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion"(NIV). So, regardless of what you name it . . . Regardless of how many godless preachers say otherwise, to God, homosexuality is a perversion.
July 28, 2004
