The Intensives...

Wow - did i really agree to do Theological German in a three week intensive July class? What was I thinking? I'll tell ya - short term pain for long term gain. I was jittery about three precious units to add to my "summer blockbuster" term. That's right people - I am cranking out 8 units over this steaming nightmare they call summer in the bluegrass .... yikes

Okay - all joking aside - or atleast as much as I can muster... intensive classes are amazing. It really is a condensed semester complete with the optimistic beginnings, frustrating middle, tormenting final lap and quiet calm of being done.... all in a month. Craziness


So here's to hot summers, good times and short short classes :)

Smiles,
ames

Swingers

"No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead..." Phil. 3:13 (NLT)

This was a favorite verse of my first Christian mentor, a young charismatic pastor in La Habra, CA. He use to say this all the time and it permeated almost every aspect of his ministry.

It is also a favorite I am sure of the "Set Free" ministry which caters to the prison and drug addicted population.

So what do we do with it? Forgetting the past....

The other day I was watching Swingers in the common room of Orlean's third floor. It was on TBS so I thought it would be okay... otherwise I would have watched in my room, far from the ears of my dormmates. It made me uneasy as my old roomie came in, but I was soon put at ease as she pulled out a book and didn't seem to pay that much attention. Swingers - gosh, I love this movie. With it's memorable scenes and cool catch phrases, an inside view of the life of a group of guys trying to make it in LA...

About a week ago I was having dinner with a guy from campus and he brought up The Big Lebowski, another great flick. In the course of our conversation he said, "You know, you are the only person I could watch that with." I found this very odd, especially since I knew the group he ran with and there were plenty of people that shared our "pre-saved" lifestyle. Yet, as he went on to share - the rest of them had jumped ship completely from the life. Completely I tell you - I call this the "Set Free" mindset where everything you did before you were saved was labeled sinful. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the effort - and I get the concept.... but, come on... do you really think that being that extreme is the answer. I remember in boarding school this whole suite broke their CDs and used the pieces to decorate their rooms. They wanted my old CDs... let me tell ya - nobody is getting my meatloaf - but I digress...

I am priveledged to be a little sister to two wonderful christian men. All three of us are saved - and yet so very, very different. Maybe the differences are what keep our parents too confused to come to church - or maybe the oddity is all that keeps them interested - I don't know. Anyway, both my brothers and I are different on practically every issue - a shade of conservativism bleeds through us all however. I think it is most prevalent in my own walk, but the chaos to calm pendulum swings for us all. Wow - that sounded stupid, sorry... Okay, anyway, what I want to say is: My eldest brother had a more extreme lifestyle and I think he puts much more effort into radically changing his outside duties now that he is a believer. My middle brother didn't stray too far from the norm and seemingly has no problem integreting what is and what is not appropriate from his old life. I try to focus more on the internal movtivations, not as much concerned with outside actions. Either way - I still think we could all sit down and watch Swingers together, or the Big Lebowski, or Blazing Saddles, or Stripes....

time will tell if we let our kids do it though....

Follow Up on Fellowship

In my most recent post I addressed the issue of fellowship within my church. My dear brother Ray made comment and frankly, it sharply corrected the path I was going down. Today in service we had a couple new to the seminary join us for Sunday School. I found it interesting to describe our congregation to them. They are a younger couple and I am not sure they found all that they were looking for at Brookside Baptist but, it was great to meet them all the same.
This last week we had VBS, and it was both exciting and exhausting. It was interesting to see all the "parts" of the body come together to get something done. I was surprised by how many volunteers we had. Most of my experience has been 15% doing 90% of the work - this was not the case here. We had almost our entire congregation in attendance on various duties. One of the things I enjoy at my current church is the obvious roles and rigid lines of duties. The women cook, clean and take care of the children while the men do the lawn, work outside and so forth. Both groups are always happy to serve at a moments notice. And lastly, there was no complaining - none - no complaining. Glory! We had a group up from Arkansas helping us do our VBS, and I am happy to say that our church was welcoming as well as dutiful servants to these people.
In short, I am where I need to be. God has provided a great community for me to flourish in the ways I need the most - the ways of community.

"Christians in consort are an abridgment of heaven, shining like a firmament of bright stars...Surely, of all fellowships, this is the only good fellowship. Next to communion with God, there is no communion like the communion of saints."
~George Swinnock