What makes our time special – IT'S OUR ANNIVERSARY!!

It's our 8th anniversary today, and we haven't actually seen each other's face.  I was judging a highschool competition , left the house at 6:45, got home after 7, handed the kdis to Grandma, and went to worship team rehearsal….  Bryan called a few minutes ago, and says, HEY, guess what?  I don't itch anymore!! (7 year itch – its been a bit of a joke with us) I just woke up this morning, and its… GONE!

Bryan asked me tonight what I wanted to do for our anniversary ( which is today, and it is 10:45pm).  On someone else's blog, I already commented that we aren't big gift givers… we are both procrastinators, and thankfully our love language is not gifts, so that helps!!
So I am brainstorming, and pondering the things we think are special.  You know?  I want to drive around looking at prospective four-  and tri-plexes, go to a fun coffee shop and sit on a couch with specialty coffees cuddling… maybe go for a hike, or a walk through the mall holding hands and not chasing children, just missing them, spending that gift card we got for Christmas! ( we haven't been back to the mall since we shopped there in December!) –

OH and play some Cribbage or Scrabble or the 15 count Domino set we bought – I think when I bought it I used the excuse that our anniversary was coming up anyway!  Open the special port wine from Australia we've been hoarding for a special occasion, and get out the special port glasses I bought him from the Margaret River Wine Region in Australia, and eat a Tim Tam (from Australia )

Yup, those are a few of our favorite things… pretty random, nothing fancy, just time together with time to talk about the past, anazlye the present, and dream about the future.  We are a good match. 

Nobody's grass is as green as ours.

Worship Gathering March 26

SO, our service this week…
Prayer for a baptist church in town.

• Shout to the North
• Shout to the Lord

Psalm 107 (creatively read by three readers – it was very cool – thanks Martin!)

• Your Love Oh Lord (I forget which Psalm this is – it's wonderful though – a great response to previous psalm)
• My Jesus I Love Thee

Teaching on Phillipians 1:12-19
Response time –

• Made Me Glad (hillsongs)
• Blessed Be Your Name (Matt Redman)

The last two songs went better together than you would think… maybe one of those “you had to be there “moments” – there was prayer and silent reflection after Made Me Glad… I really sensed as if  the Spirit wasn't done working and it wasn't time to move on.  So we sat and waited, until I sensed it was time… and all this was confirmed by another on my team, which was very cool!

I am part of the emerging church (dare I say that)?

(First Written, March 2006)

 

I am not sure what all the controversy is… I haven’t read enough about it in the last year, which is when it seems to have become such a hot topic of discussion.

 

The name of our church is Souljourn. It is Nazarene by denomination. I don’t agree with all Church of the Nazarene doctrine, although, when it comes down to it, I think we agree but we use different terminology for the same thing.

 

We meet in house churches once a week… our home being one of them. Twice a month we all meet for a worship gathering (code for church service ) – there are lots of candles and a “sacred space” for prayer one can escape to at any time, communion set up in the back… whatever. those are surface things I happen to like and enjoy, but aren’t the core of who we are by any means!

 

I love it. For the first time in the years since I graduated from my mission school in Papua New Guinea I have felt a true sense of family and community at a church. (as opposed to a Bible Study or my room mates) There is accountability, vulnerability, deep searching in God’s Word, (not just skipping over the parts that are hard to understand or hard to swallow because it applies too much to my life / attitude / goals, ) intimatacy, joyous and passionate worship, a sense of urgency and responsibility in evangelism regarding our neighbors and family, the people whom God has brought into our lives. I could go on and on… and we’ve only just begun… I am humbled as I see how far we have come, and how far we still have to go in being a small part of THE CHURCH that God has graciously called to bring HIS KINGDOM to this hurting world.

 

I don’t know if I really want to know all the controversy, because I don’t want to get offended and defensive (yes I know I don’t have to, that would be my choice).

 

But I do know that never before have I searched the scriptures so deep, and my church HAS been a part of that.

 

Never before have I had such a heart and burden for the unsaved (or as I like to call them my ‘pre-christian’ friends), and actively pursued and prayed with a believing heart.

 

Never before have I been so aware of the Holy Spirit’s activity in my life and His role in the church and my life, so amazed at Jesus and His teachings and His love and sacrifice for me, so in wonder of my creative God, His sovereign self, His unmatched power and HOLINESS, And in spite of all that I dare to approach His throne to worship and bless Him, to delight in Him, to plead and seek solace and guidance…

 

This is obviously not an all encompassing essay. I am not a “writer” per se, I have left out many amazing facets of who God is, and the purpose of the church and the pros and cons of emerging churches, etc. I write this not to make a case for the emerging church. Merely observations about my heart’s journey, my SOULJOURN the last 2 years.

Worship Gathering March 26

SO, our service this week…
Prayer for a baptist church in town.

• Shout to the North
• Shout to the Lord

Psalm 107 (creatively read by three readers – it was very cool – thanks Martin!)

• Your Love Oh Lord (I forget which Psalm this is – it’s wonderful though – a great response to previous psalm)
• My Jesus I Love Thee

Teaching on Phillipians 1:12-19
Response time –

• Made Me Glad (hillsongs)
• Blessed Be Your Name (Matt Redman)

The last two songs went better together than you would think… maybe one of those “you had to be there “moments” – there was prayer and silent reflection after Made Me Glad… I really sensed as if  the Spirit wasn’t done working and it wasn’t time to move on.  So we sat and waited, until I sensed it was time… and all this was confirmed by another on my team, which was very cool!

Too many improvement categories for one month!!

I am overwhelmed by all the areas of improvement needed, and the plans and schedules needed, and the priorities and prayer lists needed, and the studies and books to be read, and music to be listened to, and memories to make… not to mention all the things that fall under the aforementioned plansand schedules categories!!! oh yeah, and an earlier bed time! and rise time… if I get the previous oen worked out.

is life REALLY this complicated? I mean, come on, do I need to have a schedule for everything? and am I really whining for all the world to see and read, right here on this blog?

OK, so on the PLUS side of everything, I have had a great three days, not getting everything done and meeting every goal… ok, not most of them.  BUT I had A LOT of goals, because I was going to transform into the model homeschool blogger who is organized and spiritual. Don't roll your eyes, girls, cause I know you all fall into the same trap, sometimes, right? 

I started praying scripture prayers for my fabulous husband, who is the BEST, whom I will be married to for 8 years on Tuesday, and then I tweaked them some to pray for my children as well.  FOUR days.  Consistently, before bed.  It is already changing my days.  I have a sore throat, haven't gotten to the gym, gotten less done than I usually do in the house, and cooking wise (and I am not Mrs Housework and Mrs Cook either), and it is been wonderful.  Precious Jesus is giving me HIS eyes and heart for my family.  so though my list of things to do is long, and what is crossed off is short, I am content with what God has gotten done through me this week.  Love.  Lots of it.  Still could be lots more, but even in seeing that, there's no condemnation… just love, and more where that came from.  God is GOOD!

Random News

Its funny you know, I had SO much I needed to share the last few days, when I couldn't log on, and suddenly I have nothing new to share!! LOL!! (mom – that means lots of laughs)

Keenan funnies:  reading a website address… “gobbleyou, gobbleyou,  gobbleyou” (instead of “w” – its sounds so funny!)

and I am just impressed … He pointed out the Statue of Liverty in a picture, He mentioned to me that the story must be in New York!!  WOW my smart kid!

And I made a great Halibut Chowder tonight, if I do say so myself.  I have never made a chowder I liked, so I was kind of happy!! 

Tomorrow we go talk to some realtor guy about 4-plexes… its getting time soon to move on out of here… you know, with slashed tires and new dents in our car door from our juvenile neighbors, feeling just a little antsy to move on!  SO we are starting that process, but are in no hurry.  I bet, mom, I will FINALLY find a home for everything by the time we move!!! ha!

Well, that is all, there is a lot of mumbo jumbo in my heart that isn't coherent, so it'll have to wait for another time, or maybe its just for me and the Lord… what a concept!!

OH and by the way, working out at the gym is going great.  THOUGH Bryan has had to try convincing me that just cause I don't weigh less, clothes don't fit differently, and I look exactly the same unclothes, doesn't mean I am not healthier already and it is doing me the world of good!  I did have more energy today!!! (could have been the early night though!! ) –

Pollyanna, a Dash of Hormones and a Bucket of Sugar

OK, you are wondering, what on earth do these things have in common…

Tonight!! I am laughing writing this, and since mom and dad were here recently enough, they can imagine what this would be like.  We decided to do the Family Movie night thing… which is kind of hard with a 2 1/2 yr old in the mix.  BUT no Blues Clues or Wiggles… yup, you've guessed I'm sure, it was Pollyanna (much to my delight and Bryan's chagrin!!)

OF course to keep a 2 1/2 yr old interested you have to give him something to munch while he watches.  Dinner took care of the first half… and then there was the second half of the movie…

interrupted by my tears… mixed in with laughter because Bryan could not figure out why I kept crying.  And I wasn't sure either, but if he hadn't been there I would have been sobbing from the town bazaar (when the kids were the flag singing America the Beautiful ) – through the rest of the movie, and in between all that…

a bucket of popcorn, too many chocolate covered cookies (from Australia ) and unbeknownst to me, Bryan got out the cookie dough reserves (for unexpected guests, ok, and midnight cravings)… so there is my 2 1/2 yr old ABSOLUTELY BUZZED… I know this is what a tipsy 2 yr old would look like.  when the fair music was on, he got SO excited and jittery – “I need to go get my guitar!!) and he ran and got it and started doing his Elvis moves (he has never seen Elvis by the way!!!)… then he ran around in circles giggling ( all to himself) for about 5 minutes.  I finally got his clean diaper on, and then he runs out squealing, with it off… he was absolutely on a sugar high, I've never seen anything like that.  We were laughing SO hard!!  true, you had to be there, but my word, it was a fun fun evening of loving on each other and enjoying each other's company.  He must have crashed because he didn't get out of bed again!!

ok, that is all for tonight.

the past

Ya know… I just spent the last 2 hours… ouch was it really that long? – yup, my shoulders tell me its true!!

 

Anyway, I spent the last two hours on a message board for my class mates from highschool… as in anyone who ever went there… we are a motley crew… some 20 some nearing 40… all ages… different experiences… some abused, some disillusioned with God and faith and the mission, some wanting to live in the past, some just wishing they could get rid of it… BUT we all have one thing in common…

 

We grew up in a third world country, went to a boarding school, played soccer every afternoon in the pouring rain ( and the ensueing mud), loved barefoot motorbike rides, sliding down waterfalls, have a multitude of memories – both good and bad… we are all so different and yet we have that common multi-cultural oddity about us.

 

Its amazing what we do with our experiences.  each person's journey… how God uses every circumstance, and has a plan, a purpose, for every one.  GEESH!! that sounds SO cliche! I wish there were some other way to write it, but I am not a writer!! so… I'll leave it at that.

 

Thanks God for my journey… And I pray that its path will continue to become narrower as I walk more in Your truth, knowing the narrower it becomes, the more adventures there will be!!!

Adoption

 My neighbor is taking care of a baby that is up for adoption this weekend… OH MY!! such a CUTIE!! 2 days old, and I fed him his bottle, and I thought my heart would burst.  WOW. I think I want a baby!!!

note to family: don't panic. yet!