who says i don't blog...
do quotes count?
"The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one's 'own', or 'real' life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one's real life-the life God is sending one day by day: what one calls one's 'real life' is a phantom of one's own imagination. This at least is what I see at moments of insight: but it's hard to remember it all the time." --The letters of C.S.Lewis to Arthur Greeves
I'm it...
I got tagged today. For those of you not in the blogging world, it's just like a game of tag from when you're a kid: someone tags you and you're 'it.' Being 'it' means I'm supposed to answer a series of questions that the person who tagged me had to answer, or whatever. Now I tend to follow the motherly rule of "just because so and so jumped off a cliff doesn't mean you have to follow," but in this one case, I don't want to spoil the fun. I like the person who tagged me, and it's only one question with five answers. That DOES NOT give people the freedom to tag me in the future! I don't like forwards in email, and I won't play these tag games on a normal basis. I have much more interesting things (normally) to blog about than tag games. But as I said, I like Nik, and I liked her tag game. So here I go.
Nikki tagged me to answer What are 5 Weirdities about Myself. (Yall who know me know there are certainly more than 5!)
1. I close my eyes when I brush my teeth.
2. I count my steps.
3. I like ketchup & tomato sauce, but I hate tomatoes.
4. I've been known to fall down in public for no apparent reason (other than to embarrass those around me).
5. The dreams I dream (vivid, telling, bizarre)
Now I tag JellyStonePhilosopher and LateNightThinker
the other 27
My friend made her list of 27 things she's looking forward to about the states. I find it interesting that when comparing our lists, food and people are the commonalities...
27 Things…
1. Not hearing the call to prayer five times a day.
2. Not hearing incessant honking on the street below my balcony and bedroom.
3. Temperatures lower than 90 degrees.
4. Any kind of weather besides perfectly clear skies and blinding sunshine.
5. Watching Katie Couric at 7am instead of 3pm.
6. Soft towels.
7. People obeying traffic laws.
8. Sitting in front of the fireplace everyday.
9. Watching the entire Lord of the Rings Trilogy with my brother.
10. Playing cards with the fam.
11. Seeing Lo-Ren.
12. Route 66 Strawberry Limeaid.
13. Good pizza with real pepperoni.
14. Not worrying about the shower flooding every time I take it.
15. Weekends being the days of the week that I learned growing up (instead of on Thursday and Friday).
16. Bath and Body Works Sweet Pea lotion.
17. Electric ovens.
18. Orange juice and bagels.
19. Ready made pie crusts.
20. Libraries.
21. Drinking coffee again. (Happiness)
22. Seeing my dad laugh and not just hearing it over the phone.
23. Talking with mom for hours and hours on end.
24. Purchasing the CD’s that I cannot download off the internet.
25. Playing with my cousins.
26. Maybe some new clothes?
27. I seriously had to think hard to come up with 26, so I just want to re-emphasize the stronger ones: #1, 2, 4, 6, 13 and all the family ones.
ending/beginning
I went to the knee doctor yesterday. He gave me a good report and said that I was free to do whatever I did before I injured my knee (including skiing and basketball). I was way excited. I don't ever have to go back to him, either (unless something starts hurting, which I'm hoping won't happen). I realized what a big ordeal the whole knee thing was and how God used it in my life to teach me many things and how hopefully I've learned how to deal better with things that come into my life unexpectedly. We'll see what happens next time. But it helped so much to have closure to it all and to realize that I can begin again the whole living life with abandon. Pretty freeing, really. I'm so thankful...
much needed
Verse of the day:
But you, man of God, flee from all this, and
pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith.
Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the sight of
God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 1 Timothy 6:11-14 NIV
in October, really?
It's snowing outside. Not litlle flurries here and there, but really snowing. It was snowing when I got up this morning. Hasn't quit, yet. We're supposed to get 5-7 inches. I think it's gonna be more. Power's out at work, so I got to leave cause there wasn't much I could do in the dark. I had some filing to do, but I had an eye appointment this morning and my eyes were dilated so I couldn't see the papers to file. Oops.
So now I'm in Panera, thoroughly enjoying myself. Catching up on some e-mails, drinking some tea, and chatting with a few friends.
I've decided to stay (until maybe August) at the transitional home for single moms. I told the family I lived with prior to this and they were quite supportive. The dad of the family told me that when I moved in he told his wife that he didn't think I'd stay with them long...that I'd be gone by Christmas. Interesting to say the least.
I'm pretty excited about it now that I've let myself decide and have been affirmed by everyone I've told. God's pretty amazing at timing and all.
and some more
23. AUBURN (canoeing, Guthrie's, the campus, Niffer's, football, college street the way it used to be)
24. Lakes, lots of lakes: to go fishing, water skiing, out on the boat
25. Everything fried
26. traditions in general (family, in particular)
27. accents (sometimes)
the rest of the reasons
18. brick buildings
19. small town main streets with antique stores (I know this isn't only a Southern thing, but that's where I first experienced it, so I'll always relate it)
20. more history than the West
21. the whole Sunday thing: church, lunch out (or roast and potatoes and carrots), nap (again, I know this probably happens elsewhere, but it's a Southern thing to me)
22. pine trees galore
five more to go...
27 reasons
My friend Nikki is making a list of 27 reasons she's looking forward to being back in the states (after being overseas for a couple of years) so I told her I would make a list of 27 reasons I miss the South at times. I get to go back for almost a week for my sister's wedding and then I'll be back there for two weeks for Christmas (longest time spent there in about four years).
in no particular order (really, except for #1 and #14)
1. SWEET TEA
2. Rush's (fast food joint)
3. Groucho's Junior STP
4. college football
5. Five Points (this is specific to Columbia; cool part of town)
6. southern hospitality
7. Grandmother
8. Granddaddy
9. no snow
10. the few friends I still have there
11. my bed (in my mom's place)
12. extended (real) Fall
13. summer afternoon thunderstorms
14. did I mention Sweet Tea?
15. hanging out with my mom
16. my sister and her soon-to-be-husband (the best thing to happen to our family since I was born)
17. lots of trees (especially magnolias)
that's as far as I can get so far...I'll get to 27, though, I promise...
deciding
I'm trying to be wise in my decision making. I told the director of the Treasure House that I would tell her in two weeks if I were going to stay for good. This morning, however, the thought popped into my head, 'i'm staying'. I don't know why or if that's it. I've been praying tons about it. The thing is, though, that I haven't had a chance to talk with the family with whom I was living prior to moving into the Treasure House about the whole idea of moving out for good, etc, etc. I'm to have dinner with them tomorrow night, but the wife will not be there. I'm kind of bummed about that. And how do I break the news to the kids. I miss them already, and it's only been a week. Decisions, decisions...
what my boss/professor/pastor has to say
More Time with Fewer People
Our denomination, both internationally and domestically, is currently grappling with ecclesiology and methodology of being and doing church. Lots of questions are being asked about structures, methodological models, and definitions of words. The answers to those questions have been addressed by the “Ecclesiological Guidelines.” This document provides “riverbanks” for the methodological and structural question of "what is a church?" Our energies can be given to the task of fulfilling the commission given to us by Jesus. The commission from Matthew 28 says to “Go . . . and make disciples of all the nations,” but often our strategies still seem to focus on doing attractional events rather than living and being missional every day of our lives.
In my own life, I have recently been asking myself how I can make disciples in such a way that the new leaders that are emerging from the harvest are passionate followers of Jesus, living lives that are missional 24/7. I recently asked my oldest son (17) and my oldest daughter (15) what were the spiritual mileposts of their journey with Christ. Both of them cited the times when people in our church had mentored them one on one. They reflected that the time spent with them by someone who was modeling a life of being a follower of Christ was one of the events that made the most impact in their spiritual development. Upon reflection, that is true in my own experience as well.
Consequently, I want to share where I am in my journey of answering the above question.
1. All of my adult ministry life, I have been focused on “church growth” with the strategy being that if we connect with large numbers of people in church or in a seminary class that we will make more disciples. In my experience, that hasn’t been the case. Many of our churches are full of people who have been passive listeners of sermons for years and are still not missional leaders in their everyday lives. I am discovering that we make a greater impact in the kingdom of God by spending more time with fewer people. This principle was lived and modeled by Jesus, and the disciples who made the greatest impact in the kingdom later in their lives were the ones with whom He spent the most time. Even though Jesus didn’t mentor Paul, Paul was invested in and he himself invested in others.
2. I fully believe that most of the commands of Jesus are more fully obeyed when we are the church “scattered” in our everyday lives. For example, Jesus taught in order to love our neighbors, we have to leave church and encounter them in everyday lives, meeting their needs if necessary. That being the case, the purpose of our gatherings together as the body of Christ is to get us edified, encouraged, and equipped to go back into the community. That is why I think Jesus sent out His 70 disciples two by two in Luke 10, with instructions to be relational. Again, we make a greater impact in the kingdom of God by spending more time with fewer people.
3. The action plan for this is twofold. First, we must pray that God would change us so that we can see His principles and be aware of our assignments. In other words, who has God assigned to you to invest your life in? Then we invest in them first by praying for them all the time. Second, we prioritize our lives so that everything that we think is more important than investing in a few is moved down the list of our priorities.
We have a commission as our assignment. Jesus modeled it for us. In our lives, we make a greater impact in the kingdom of God by spending more time with fewer people.
Alan Karr, Nehemiah Center Professor, Goldengate Seminary (Denver, Colo.)
After all, I was an English major...
A friend sent me this a while back. I found it quite amusing.
Reasons why the English language is so hard to learn
Reasons why the English language is so hard to learn:
1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture.
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13) They were too close to the door to close it.
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18) After a number of injections my jaw got number.
19) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
20) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
21) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
Let's face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat.
We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?
If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes, I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people: Recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?
You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on. English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.
PS: Why doesn't "buick" rhyme with "quick"?
