Servant Leadership

I found this article off of Andrew Jones' blog. I thought I would share some quotes from the blog Andrew linked to here as well. The words are beautiful:

Sevant Leadership

The joy of salvation binds us as a community. We accept each other like brothers and sisters. The church is like Noah’s ark: you won’t be able to stand the smell inside, but there is a judgment outside!...
When you look at a Christian community, you can criticize the members and say: ‘You must do this and this…’ It is important to give instructions, but more basic is the joy of salvation, the heart of Christian community...

Ephesians 4 stresses the importance of unity within the body of Christ. Paul writes: ‘As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.’ (Ephesians 4:1,2).

The way we behave is essential – it is all about community, holiness. We need to be gentle people. When you realize that salvation is a gift of God, you have to be humble. Today the world says to us: ‘How dare you say that Christ is the only way!? You are so arrogant!’ But the heart of the Gospel is against arrogance. We are thrilled by our salvation and we are focused on gratitude!
A true Christian says: ‘Look what God has done. In spite of all my weaknesses He has saved me!’ ‘I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.’ (Ephesians 3:13) We find joy in our weaknesses and we bear with one another. Paul says: ‘Bear with one another as the Lord has forgiven you.’

We have committed the greatest sin: treason. God has forgiven us of this greatest sin. That is why we are a joyous and forgiving community. With patience comes kindness. Often these qualities are mentioned together in the Bible: ‘But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness...’ (Gal. 5:22). ‘Love is patient, love is kind’ (1 Cor. 13). So patience and kindness are connected.

We need to be kind to one another. So as a leader, foster joy and foster patience! We also have to work together with people who don’t know Christ. Leaders are people who help others. Joy is a feature of a leader.

These are just some of what the article says. They are just quotes from different parts of the article. I encourage everyone to read it. Its beautiful and so challanging! I hope we all take something awesome from that article.

Intergrity

My dad has taught me alot about having intergrity. I want to always have it and walk with it. Sometimes I find I struggle with it, because intergrity means you sit in silence sometimes and other times intergrity means you stand up at the hardest. In the book "How Good Do I Have To Be?" by Harold Kushner he talks a bit about intergrity, intergrity in guilt and forgiveness. Alot of his words ring through my head today. The back of his book states:

"No one is perfect. Yet many people measure themselves-and others-agianst impossibly high standards. The result: guilt, anger, depression, and disappiontment.
In this inspiring bestseller, the author of When Bad Things Happen To Good People puts humans shortcomings in perspective-and teaches us how we can learn to accept ourselves and others even when we and they are less than perfect. Drawing on the Bible, modern literature, psychology, theology, and his own thrity years as a congregational rabbi, Kushner shows how acceptance and forgiveness can change oru relationships with the most important people in our lives and help us meet challange of being human

Wow! Alot said in the backcover!

And the intergrity issue sits square in my face. It tilts it's eyes squarely into mine and then grabs me by the wrist and takes me to a place I don't want to go. I want to stand before God and feel right, and God says "No, child" I look at Him and I scream, "FATHER, I STOOD IN INTERGRITY! I STOOD FOR WHAT YOU HAVE TAUGHT ME" and He smiles from His thrown, lays His hand upon me, I shudder at the touch, and He says, "Then stand some more." I fall to my kness and say with tears and lips trembling, "I can't Father. I'm tired. Please, I can't do it, you do it for me, please Father I beg! I need you to do it!". He laughs, pulls me and says, "My sweet girl. I have been trying to. But you keep getting ahead. You have always been that way, but remember when you stood accused of gossip and you wanted so badly to do what you always do, jump in head first, what did I do for you then?" I can't even look in His eyes, the memory of that time just flows, "You, Lord, slowed me. You told me to walk in quiet intergrity. I didn't see the result for along time, until one day the accuser came to me crying..." "and what happened?" I wipe a tear from my eye, "You became real that day and justice didn't matter any more." He smiles and wipes the tears," You do remember, then trust in me again. Stop looking for the loud intergrity, go to the quiet place and I will carry you through the rest." I walk away, scared, scared of myself, scared of others. But knowing some how He will do the rest.

Oh, YUMMY!

A great gal and fellow Sisterhood friend,Karen shared these words with me. They are yummy. Sounds weird to say that about a song, but that is the word that comes to mind:

Which Jesus do you follow?
Which Jesus do you serve?
If Ephesians says to imitate Christ
Why do you look so much like the world?

Cuz my Jesus bled and died
He spent his time with thieves and liars
He loved the poor and accosted the arrogant
so which one do you want to be?

Blessed are the poor in spirit
Or do we pray to be blessed with the wealth of this land?
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness
Or do we ache for another taste of this world of shifting sand?

Cuz my Jesus bled and died for my sins
He spent his time with thieves and sluts and liars
He loved the poor and accosted the rich
So which one do you want to be?

Who is this that you follow?
This picture of the American Dream
If Jesus was here would you walk right by on the other side?
Or fall down and worship at his holy feet? Holy, yeah

Pretty blue eyes and curly brown hair and a clear complexion
is how you see him as he dies for your sins.
But the Word says He was battered and scarred or did you miss that part?
Sometimes I doubt we'd recognize Him.

Cuz my Jesus bled and died.
He spent His time with thieves and the least of these
He loved the poor and accosted the comfortable
so which one do you want to be?

Cuz my Jesus would never be accepted in my church
the blood and dirt on His feet might stain the carpet
but He reaches for the hurting and despises the proud
and I think He'd prefer Beale street to the stained glass crowd
and I know that He can hear me if I cry out loud

I wanna be like my Jesus,
I wanna be like my Jesus,
I wanna be like my Jesus,
I wanna be like my Jesus.

Not a poster child for American Prosperity
But like my Jesus
You see I'm tired of living for success and popularity
I wanna be like my Jesus

But I'm not sure what that means
to be like you Jesus
cuz you said to live like you, love like you,
but then you died for me
Can I be like you Jesus?

I wanna be like you Jesus.
I wanna be like my Jesus.

My Confession

I have a guilty pleasure. I confess. Its something I don't like to admit to, but the problem with my sinful pleasure I can't hide it. I guess I could hide it from friends and family. That would be easy to do, but I can't hide it when I need my fix. And soon I will need even a bigger fix. Wednesday to be exact. So in the vain of being transparent and open with my buddies here I'm going to admit my guilty pleasure.

I am a faithful member of the Sisterhood. What Sisterhood, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants! *big smile* I started reading them two summers ago and I'm reading the third installment now. These books are really good. I enjoy them a lot. Although they are far from being a book meant for adult reading, I enjoy them. I cannot deny it!



I enjoy Tibby, Bridget, Lana, and Carmen. They are neat and unique characters and I have enjoyed following their stories as told by Ann Brashares.

But right now I'm in major waiting for the movie! I cannot wait! To add to my excitement two of my favorite young actors is in this movie, Alexis Bledel (Gilmore Girls) and America Ferrera (Real Women Have Curves).

I know y'all might be disappointed in me, but alas we must all have our guilty pleasure and this is mine. :)

Intellectualism?

*edit* I have taken the comments off this entry and the other one as well. I want my things here to be a discussion and I never want to hear anyone who reads my blog to think they need to debate! This was never for debate purpose or to prove a point. I was about talking about the themes I shared in those post. I regrett that did not happen. My apolgies to the people who read my blog. I pray you forgive my actions of today! Blessings- Jewels!
*edit 2* I have put the comments back on this entry. Rick shared some thouhts on Blake's blog and I thought that voice needed to be added. I have deleted everything else, with exception of Karen's and my reply to her. I will delete anything mentioning Shawn and his web site. You can feel free to e-mail any thoughts about the web site (you will find my e-mail in my profile), but my blog is not or will be a place for Shawn Cuthill stuff. The reason I posted my replies from that web site was to have a discussion on the body of Christ, not to discuss what has happened there. Thank you! Jewels

I want to post this here as to answer some questions. again, posted from shawncuthill.com:

What's Intellectualism?
from dictionary.com and says it was better then me:
in·tel·lec·tu·al·ism ( P ) Pronunciation Key (ntl-kch--lzm)
n.
Exercise or application of the intellect.
Devotion to exercise or development of the intellect.
and
an·ti-in·tel·lec·tu·al (nt-ntl-kch-l, nt-)
adj.
Opposed or hostile to intellectuals or intellectual views.

it was said I said this board was anti-intellectual, I did not. I do say there is alot here and I do believe the admin to support it as such as his post states here. if my comments looked as though I was claiming a whole board to be I am sorry, I didn't mean to pull out my wide brush.

I will say this, why is that we are opposed to intellects in our churches? If I came into a room and said to you: "I'm going to be doing your lung transplant today" and you knowing me know I am not a doctor so you ask, "Oh, when did you become a docter?" and I answered, "well I read about it, so I feel knowledgable about the process. I'm really hyped you will be my first one" would you not dismiss me and ask for a real doctor? what about your car? you see we accept professionals or professional intellects (for lack of a better way of putting it I fear) into our lives dialy, we accept them, but in the churches we do not. I find this interesting in the light of we are to be a body of Christ. how can the hand tell the foot what to do? is the hand the foot? no, we are to work together. God gave us men with talents and passion for knowing him, intellects, God knew we would need them. These men are mostly pastors (elders), teachers,ect. Heck He even gives us women with those talents as well. So, He uses them for the edification and the EDUCATION of the body. How can me, who is a singer and an exhorter tell a pastor, teacher what a greek word is? That isn't my talent! How can a pastor who has been blessed with a passion and the gift of being an intellect tell me how to exhort or to sing? He can't that might not be his talent! Church, wake up! Hear Him! YOUR ARE THE BODY!!! Being an intellect is no more biblical than being a ditch digger. But using your talents and gifts for God is! Why do we refuse this in the body of Christ?
I leave with these words from Casting Crowns:
If We Are The Body
It's crowded in worship today
As she slips in trying to fade into the faces
The girls teasing laughter is carrying farther than they know
Farther than they know

Chorus:
But if we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?
And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them there is a way?
There is a way

A traveler is far away from home
He sheds his coat and quietly sinks into the back row
The weight of their judgmental glances
Tells him that his chances are better out on the road

Jesus paid much too high a price
For us to pick and choose who should come
And we are the body of Christ

Jesus is the way

(c) 2003 Club Zoo Music / SWEC Music (Admin. by Club Zoo Music) / BMI. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Blake has felt like that latter man here and in Brethren churches. He is a testimony that anti-intellectualism is in the Brethren churches and here.

guys we all have our part! we MUST learn to use our talents and gifts to walk together, in tanduem! if we do not we are unuseable. when we tell ourselves, our youth, to not listen to a certian part of the body we are losing! you cannot tell someone how to post or talk or how to be. you can correct thier bad behavior, but sharing the talent God gave them is not. We again, need to learn to ask questions, research yourself after that, ask more questions, crack open the word again, ask more questions again! Church this is too important! We must learn this! anyway, read the song and ask yourself, if we are the body, why....

When will we start discussing our arrogance agianst God in the form of being against each other in the body? People are watching daily. God is watching. I picture Him on His thrown watching in anticapation, wanting His body, His representation to start working as a moving unit. Accepting each other's gifts and talents. When will we church? We won't be perfect, but when church?

My Answer

in honor of TheRussian
Recently at shawncuthill.com something interesting has happened there. It has been the open showing of anti-intellectualism and dumbing down of youth and growing Christians. To that end I made a reply and this is the reply:

I wanted to say something to you Sarah and maybe to everyone at large.

I was reading what you were saying Sarah and I think you hit on something. One of my fears with the Brethren is this fear of intellect. I actually fear it with all churches really. we think words have to be simple any more. which has turned into this sub-culture language we know use called Christianese. which at the end of the day does not help anyone. I have found most Christians don't know what they mean by alot of it. I'm at another website and this was discussed. I found it interesting how some really struggled to be able to define what some words meant.

Anyway, so with this we have dumbed our youth down, our young people down, and ourseleves down. we have decided that if someone uses big words we don't understand the person is being a know-it-all and should use words and people we know. we have also made ourselves weak so weak in fact that we cannot allow ourselves to ask questions. so we sit in the corners and complain about the intellects and how they are know it alls. I find this worse in teaching youth. we tell them things in baby form and when they get older they can't accept any other language. they aren't taught to ask questions.

which leads me to here and some comments as of late. Sarah, you made a very good point. Blake uses people we may not know and words we may not know for clarity, but also to be very upfront. also, he uses them to refute heresy and with that you must be as clear as possible. what I have found here is the worst anti-intellectualism possible, but also pandering to people and not allowing them to grow. as responsible adults and responsible leaders we need to mentor the younger or weaker in asking questions, researching themselves! I found our youth at GBC grew by leaps and bounds with a balance of Blake breaking down a scripture not dumbing down words, allowing them to ask questions, the next week me coming in and exhorting. I think because of that we gave those kids a stronger foundation to walk on, but we also let it be their walk, their foundation. I learned through the death of one of my youth back home this lesson and I promised myself I would not do that again. this needs to happen here! it needs to be encouraged! we need to stop telling our youth, telling people who don't know large words or aren't as smart as someone to stuff their ears with cotton until someone dumbs their words down. this is not acceptable and the world will not have it either! there are some very smart "lost" people out there and we need to be ready for an intelligent and up front answer or we will fall with them. the more we try to dumb down people like Blake, the more we try to hush them, the more we hurt our kids, our young adults, people growing in the Lord, and we hurt people like Sarah who are looking for more than a catch phrase sugar coated with Christian ghetto speak. we must accept these people in our communties because they are needed. we must teach ourselves how to communicate to one another as well knowing our skills, our gifts, ect. again, let us not dumb ourselves down any longer. let us strive to know God in His fullest. let us strive and push ourselves to learn. let us ask questions and not be scared or intimidated by someone who uses things we don't understand. trust me, Blake nor anyone like him would mind explaining himself, they would rather do that, than to be told to put "the cookies on the bottom shelf". how frightening, how sad! may my children (if I have any) or anyone I work with ever ask to be catered to, may they be passionette about understanding and wanting to reach up and instead of being handed down to. may my teaching help them to do that as they grow, but I pray whatever communtiy I'm in that they also do this. may this place learn to do this, because right now it has handicapped its community more by gagging one of their most helpful tools here.

Sarah, I praise God for example here. it encouraged me so much. also, thank you for the kind e-mail. I feel for me it is best to just lurk, because I don't understand some actions that have happened here, such as with Blake and Drew. Sarah you are always welcomed in our home. you are also welcome to come to my blog if you want to hear some non-canned, pre-fab made brethren stuff.

Blessings on all of you! may God grant us peace and knowledge in Him more and more!

Jules

Although the themes are directed at a message board, I think they are apropos for things I would say to the church community at large.

Thoughts?

Not Here, But Not There Either, Some Where Between

picture bydeviant art

Sometimes reading blogs on the Emergent people and reading various other people's things about their journey I start feeling very lonely. I sometimes feel that there just aren't that many people on the same journey and its devastating at times. You realize that to be apart of one camp or the other you have to give up something. To be honest what both sides would ask me to give up is too great. Although I think both sides have positives there are things that give me such great pause. Right now I just can't compromise. Maybe that is bad of me. Maybe that is hard of me, but every time I think of "selling out" to either side I get a knot in my chest and in my throat.

I can't go fully into the Emerging Church deal. Why?

1. Becoming more and more marketed
2. The elitist attitude that is more there. They don't realize it is there.
3. Increasing acceptance of bad or heretical theology just to save face and be in protest against fundamentalism or any thing that "stinks" of it.
4. The militant to Conservative Christians. So bad that slurs are used against them.

I realize that if someone who is heavily influenced by the EC must get hot under the collar when reading this. But if one moment you stepped back you would see this so clearly.

I can't go fully into institutional Church deal or Conservative Church deal. Why?

1. Becoming more and more marketed. It is becoming worse actually. It makes me sick
2. The elitist attitude. Its always been there, the sad thing is, for the most part they realize it.
3. Increasing acceptance of bad theology, even heretical, just to save face and stay in tradition.
4. The militant attitude towards any change or any thing outside of their tradition.

I realize that if anyone who considers themselves apart of the IC or of a Conservative Church might be getting hot under the collar as well. But again, if you stepped back you would see the same thing clearly.

I guess you can see by now the things that bother me the most about each group are about the same. I cannot in good conscience deny the character of God either because its cool to be liberal or its cool to be Conservative. Both sides want to compromise the word of God and His character for gain. I cannot be apart of that. Although I maybe guilty of the same, confusion and anger come over me when I even so slightly have interest in accepting one or the other.

I know I'm not fully alone. I know of other's like me. Its just those others are far away and sometimes it would be nice to have that face to face interaction. Sometimes it would be nice to know that in one camp or the other that someone is pushing to something better, something more coming close to the cross instead of something more of the our self made cross.

I'm not sure if this makes any sense to anyone, but myself and maybe that is all it is suppose to be. Just something I needed to say today outside of myself.

Spiritual Somme

Blake and I have set up a new blog for the two of us. This blog will feature us talking about D.A. Carson's book Becoming Conversant With The Emerging Church. We hope this blog will be informative but also look at the implications of this book. Is the things he shares correct? Are his thoughts wrong? What can we gleam from it? That is what we hope to find. This also might turn into a look of Brian McLaren's book as well since Mr. Carson seems to use McLaren's A Generous Orthodoxy a lot, so because of that we may need to decide to a look at it as well.
Anyway, I will have the link on the "tool bar" on the right hand side,but you can also click on the title of this thread to access our new blog. :)

WoW!

I really love having the blogsphere on my blog! LOL I just noticed what Brian McLaren says about the churches of Christ, Disciples of Christ and the Christian Church. Here is what he said:

What do Stone-Campbell churches (Churches of Christ, Christian Churches, Disciples of Christ) add to the discussion of the emerging church?
Answer: In “A Generous Orthodoxy,” I offer a few comments about Restorationist movements in church history – I think they would generally be relevant to the Stone-Campbell movement. Most Restorationist churches have wonderful high ideals, and often related to the need for generosity in avoiding sectarianism. Sadly, there is often a fine line between “we accept people of all denominations” and ‘we accept people who leave all denominations.” Even so, the courage to go back to the New Testament and be willing to change anything that gets in the way of living the gospel is, to me, a heroic feature of all restorationist churches.

Interesting, uh? I about fell out of my chair when I read this. I wonder sometimes being apart of that world we forget the postives. I know I did for a long time, but I know have been able to see the postives and would love to see our family come up to a place to be apart of this culture.

And The Winner IS.........

Miss Carrie Underwood. :)
Although I was sad for Bo I don't think it will be the last time we see him.

My Mood Is...

I love picking my mood for the day here. Today though I was caught by this one. Although I would almost pick this one because the look of the fork feels the way I feel today, but I decided not to pick it because I don't have a clue what it means. Does anyone know what this means and if you do, how would you use this in a sentence? Every way I come with sounds, well a little sexual. ;) LOL

In A Few Moments:
We will know who the next American Idol is. I have to admit I'm excited about it. I'm also mixed about it. I honestly think either way Bo will be fine. I bet there are already labels checking him out.

A New Addition:
Blake and I now have a new addition to our family. We have now added a Bala shark! He/She is yet to be named. I will let y'all know what happens with that. If you have never seen a bala shark here is a pic of one:



Ok, so sorry I have not had any deep thoughts lately. I have been pretty busy and stretched out at work. I have only had one day off and that was Sunday, so I'm tired! Friday will not get here soon enough!

Blessings everyone!

What I'm Up To

I have been practicing for a benefit concert coming up in two weeks. The concert is for Mission Avation Fund. I'm excited but very nervous. If God lays it on your heart I ask that you pray for us. Us being Steve, Lee-Ann and I. We would greatly appreciate them!
I will be singing a couple of solos one being "Holy Roar" by Christy Nockels. This is nerve racking because its a tough song! It also carries alot of emotion for me. The song has been my "theme song" for a long time and to finally be able to sing it for a group of people is exciting.
Anyway, if any of y'all are in the area please feel free to come on by! I would love to have any of you there!
Click Here for details! :)

On Another Note


I'm really excited American Idol tomorrow! For once, well I guess I can't be too pushy about that since this is the first time I have watched a full season, the two end people are truely talented. Either one I'm happy with. They aren't your typical teeny bop singers. I'm really excited at their potential. :) So who will win Bo or Carrie? We shall know tomorrow!!!


Bo OR Carrie??

Say That Again

I found this quote from another blogger who quoted this from a blogger. So I decided to blog it again. The only reason I decided to do so was because it fits along the lines of what I have been sharing the last couple of days.

The church isn’t an organization to be marketed – it is the congregation of the people of God – people who have responded to the inner call of the Holy Spirit to come and worship Jesus Christ as King. You don’t market that – you don’t manufacture that – you simply live it.

That said, I think it equally wrong that we ignore design and intentionality. God gave us a multiplicity of gifts, talents and skills. God called us together as a people, and God intends to use us for the advancement of his kingdom. Therefore we have to listen to one another, encourage one another’s gifts, and help one another be used by God. Some will have an eye for great design, and God will be most glorified in their using those gifts to create an environment where He is truly praised. We need to expand our thinking on how God is glorified in our activity. When we realize that any activity that is not sinful can be used as an instrument of praise, then we’re close.

by:RB Smith

I See Your True Colours Shining....

This was fun! Thought I would share here. :)

YELLOW You are very perceptive and smart. You are clear and to the point and have a great sense of humor. You are always learning and searching for understanding. Find out your color at Quiz Me!

Freakn' Cool!

I always seem to find the coolest things from a net friend's brother's blog! LOL And yet again I found something really darn cool. This babel fish will translate my blog! How cool is that? Now all I need is to get people who read Chinese and other languages to read. ;) At least I will be ready when they do come! *big smile*

By the way, hope all my Canadian peeps are enjoying thier extended weekend! Happy Victoria Day! I'm having to work, but I will be off by 6 PM and will hopefully be enjoying the company of my father-in-law and mother-in-law!

Promoting The Myth

.

Blake has an entry on his blog called "Church Futures", you can link to it by pressing the title of this entry. In his comments someone said this:

Blake,

I have sometimes heard people make disparaging remarks about my wife. I use the word disparaging because they are not always completely false, but they still are not encouraging. Thankfully, I was the one who heard them and not my wife. But every time something like that happens, I can't begin to tell you how it makes me feel. Both angry (because they don't see who my wife really is) and sad (because they don't see who my wife really is).

Now I'm not saying there aren't things that are wrong about the assemblies (the ones you attend or anyone's). But how do you think it makes Jesus feel to hear the words you spoke about His wife...?

This comment sent chills down my spin. It even made phyisically ill. The reason it did was because it furthered the myth. It furthered lies, it furthered mistrust!

Here is the deal, Christ was always truthful with His bride and still is. I cannot think of a time in the bible where Jesus over looked a sin or wrong doing by His bride. Why is that we think we must be the "see no evil, hear no evil,speak no evil"? Why is that we must protect bad behavior at all costs just because we think it isn't WWJD?

I wonder if the prophets of old were treated the same way? The Israelites not wanting to hear the bad, stuffed their ears, put blindfolds on, and covered their mouths, they lived in a perfect myth and condemned the prophets for ever speaking a word.

Listen, the church is in danger. The buildings and the business of church no longer works and I'm not sure it ever did. It has hurt people, it has destroyed people, and it has left people like Blake and I on a fringe. The growing amount of people like us are not small. They are large. People like the person who left this comment can continue to be in their own world, but soon our numbers will grow into their world and there will not be any hiding behind a false God and a false character of Christ.

I hope this entry makes sense. I'm finding myself having problems expressing the words of the angry, disillusionment, and utter physical sickness I feel from those comments.

Anger and Bitterness Pt. 5

I was reading Radical Congruency and he shared an interesting site that allows you to edit prayers. I found the Serenity Prayer. I was going to edit but for me it says it all:

Serenity Prayer
From UrbanMonastery
God, grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardship as the pathway to peace.
Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it.
Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life,
and supremely happy with Him forever in the next.
Amen

Retrieved from urbanmonastery

If you want to check this site out just click on the link above. :)

Anyway, its remembering daily that it is a journey and to be patient in Him for the peace. I long for the day that I won't walk in with heavy chain of bitterness and anger. Although today the burden is lighter there are days the sting of the pain comes back and its nice to find prayers such as this to help during those times.

Pod Casts Emergence

I am really enjoying Aaron Klinefelter's vlogs and blogs from the Emergent Convention in Nashville. His last blog I saw today had this emotion behind it and what he shared actually expressed some of my other fear about the EC. You will see where he talks about the Cool Kids, Almost Cool Kids, and Average Kids. I think expressed this really well.

So check out his entery on emergent convention reflections and ponderings.


conversatio is where you can find the vlogs and audio blogs.

Enjoy. Hopefully I will give some orginal thought soon. :P

Bunkering IN!

Ok, everyone put your 'ard 'at and safetyvest on and if I catch you with them off you take 'ur lunch, you come to the truck with me and I take you home! The misles will start coming in harder soon and very soon, so those of us who are in the trenches need to take causion!

What am I warning you about? DA Carson's book has come out, I have heard the bell, and the announcer dude saying "let's get ready to RRRRUUUUMMMMBBBBLLLLEEEE!!!" *music starts to fade in* "Are y'all ready for this......"

Well, I can say for one I am! I am ready for this. I have put sand bags around my lil' hole, I have my 'ard 'at and safety vest on and I'm ready for the proverbial $&!* to hit the fan! I just read an excerpt from the book:

In separate chapters McLaren explains (to use the subtitle of the book) ?Why I am a missional + evangelical + post/protestant + liberal/conservative + mystical/poetic + biblical + charismatic/contemplative + fundamentalist/calvinist + anabaptist/anglican + methodist + catholic + green + incarnational + depressed-yet-hopeful + emergent + unfinished Christian. I have read these chapters with considerable care, and I must try to explain a little of why this is an attractive + manipulative + funny + sad + informed + ignorant + winsome + outrageous + penetrating + resoundingly false + stimulating + silly book. And I have used each of these words with more precision than McLaren has used with his. (p. 162)

*KABOOM* And the Emergent soldiers gathered around, said "Amen" and now the blog bombs have started firing away.

Here is the deal and I mean this as nicely as possible, HONEST, I have seen some "EC" people say some similar things, if not worse about their "Modern" friends and I as I sit in my bunker I wonder, how many of us in the trenches are just going to get caught in the cross fire and how many of us will pay the cost? I think a lot of us will. So hunker down everyone, I thinks its going to be a long an bumpy ride.

And by the way, our copy will be in Monday. I may start a new blog of sorts for Blake and I to document our thoughts.

In The Blogsphere

I found this picture and thought it was funny. :P Anyway, I have added the blogsphere to my listings on the right hand side. If you click on any of the titles it will take you to posts of other bloggers. I have found some really good stuff on that! So thanks to Malcom Hawker for powering this to connect people with what is happening on the blogsphere!

Also, just to let you know, if you want to add this to your blog you can. Go to Malcom's blog which you can link to from "blog listings" and let him know you are interested. He will then send you the template for it. :)

Hey See My Fist?

I'm so ticked off with the people I have to work with at night! I wonder how they live outside of here. Honestly, I'm so ticked off at them right now that I could show them a real close up of my fist.
I asked one of my workers to call a member because we needed to verify his location. The tower said the address wasn't right and we needed to confirm it. He then proceeds to tell me that I didn't give all the information. I then said again, 'please call the member and confirm the address". At this point I would think since I added 'please' he would have gladly done so, but no, he then tells me the same thing again. We went in the same circle a couple of more times until I raised my voice and said, "PLEASE, just call the member!" Only then did he call. I couldn't beleive it and still can't. Heck I'm so miffed about it I'm blogging about it! Sorry to such crap with you! LOL


Moving On

Y'all need to check out tallskinnykiwi's blog! There is an interesting entery about Fundementalist and Liberals. So check it out.

Make Poverty History Prayer

My friend John shared this with me and I thought I would post it here as well:

Prayer

Loving God, look with mercy

upon the human race you have created.

Instil in our hearts a vision of your kingdom

in which the destructive poverty of our world

is destroyed and consigned to history.

May we all live together in peace, truth, justice and love,

sharing the resources of the earth.

And grant, gentle Father, that the Holy Spirit may give us

the will and the courage to act to make a difference,

in order to make real your kingdom among us.

This we ask through Christ our Lord, Amen.

If you want to know more about Make Poverty History please just press the banner on the upper right hand corner of my blog!

My Fear

Picture from Spirituality And Health

Here is my fear with Postmodernism and the Emerging Church, that too many people are letting go of their faith. Some like to think they have entered the question, but I see something else. I see deception. What do I mean by that? I mean that they have adopted Postmodernism in the sense that it neglects the essence of the bible and of God's character.
I have noticed a lot of discussion happening where instead of reading God's word, thinking upon it, looking outside for God's character that it has become about, "well, I read that the bible says this, but MY opinion is......" Then on top of that dismiss scholars if it does not align with their opinion. And what they see as a "faith crisis" is actually a spiritual crisis. You see I believe fully in spiritual warfare. I believe it is all around us. I believe that just like modernism, that satan can use postmodernism and the EC to lead people down another path. The path may look like God's path, but it is not. And satan has done a wonderful job of masking something that looks like a "crisis in faith" but at the end of the day it was something far more deeper. We fall for it because it looks like God and in our opinion this is how God would be.

But let me also speak on the other hand. On the other hand I have seen that people who are truly entering a mystery, truly entering into something they never knew, taking God with them and allowing faith to get them through what cannot be explained in human thought. I am more comfortable around people who don't rely on history of "this is biblical", but that rely on what "I don't know, let's find out". I am more comfortable with people opening their eyes and seeing the Postmodern environment that is slowly moving closer to us and letting God reveal himself through that environment. This to me is a "crisis in faith". It takes more faith to rely on the character of God than to readjust him to what we cannot handle.

I hope that as the growth in the EC and in the Postmodern environment we find ourselves more having a true "crisis in faith" instead of finding ourselves in a spiritual deception or a "spiritual crisis". And with that we tread lightly on the things we do not know and let faith truly be in the places where God can define us instead of us defining him.

New Look

Howdy!

I decided I needed a new look. I have been adding some stuff to my blog and the old setting wasn't letting me do some changes I wanted to do to make things look better. So I moved to another look and I hope y'all like it! :)

Blake has bought us D.A. Carson's new book on the Emergent Church, I'm not sure when that will be in, but when it is he and I will have stuff to say. Let's see how much we differ! LOL


The Spoiling Of Angelus

Today Blake and I continued the spoiling of our first child. ;) He is now in a nice 10 gallon tank, with cool new plants, cool new filter, heater, and cool bell to hide in and play with. Our 3 gallon tank turned into a stink tank. It was not a fun experience for us and I'm sure it was not fun for Angelus either. So off we went to Petcetra to exchange his tank and out we walked with a better tank at a better price than the first tank. SWEET! Right now from what I know he is trying to get used to his new environment with all its new bells and whistles. Blake told me the new filter is making life a little hard for Angelus, it causes a larger current and can't seem to swim around as well. I guess I will see when I get home what happened to our lil' fella.
I have to admit I'm really enjoying our fish. He has a cute chacarter. He also loves us and when he sees us will come striaght up to the tank to look at us. I thought it was just me, but I found out from a betta expert that they do learn who you are and endear themselves to you. :) So I'm not some crazy fish owner, well not yet at least! ;) LOL

Poem

An OOZIE kindof gal shared this with at, yes, The OOZE! ;) Thanks Anne! I hope y'all enjoy this as much as I did.

A poem by Ruth Burgess.

The 'Emerging Church' threat

Charles Wear posted an article by Jordan Cooper on next-wave. Its a really good article and I hope y'all find it as interesting and as thoughtful as I did.
The 'Emerging Church' threat By Jordan Cooper

Headcovering And "Emerging" Worship Pt. 2

Does the headcovering make for a more intimate worship experience? I ask this question alot. I have a hard time going with the logic, "it doesn't matter, its biblical". Not everything that is the word is for every believer, I think we can agree on that. I personally, still don't think the headcovering is for all believers, but I do see it as a practice of the early church and since being the EC/PoMo person I am ;) I find myself interested in the acient practice.
So back to the question at hand. I have found I have to be in a certain focus for the headcovering to have a more "intimate worship experience". I don't know if it is because so far my experience thus far has been one that hasn't put it in the "mystery" or made it a "scared" thing. The context that I wear the headcovering now is out of respect for the fellowship I attend. They believe it is "biblical" for women to wear it. And again, me being a good lil' EC/PoMo my rebel side comes out and soon I become uncomfortable with the headcovering.
BUT I have had moments where the symbolim of the headcovering was so beautiful that it almost brought me to tears. I think there is beauty in the body of Christ, I think there is beauty in the thought of angels wondering and trying to understand why we worship, we mere humans, isn't that inspiring? Isn't it amazing that we can show them through symbolism the body of Christ? See that excites me. It changes this thinking of "its biblical" to there is this example of Christians gathering in worship and what that meant to them. How does this settle?

Headcovering And "Emerging" Worship

Something I have thought a lot about is the headcovering. I have struggled with it because I tend to think about my "exposure" to it which was the "anni-churches of Christ". There are some that still wear the headcovering and everything I had learned about them is just very oppressive to women. So I'm well aware that there are women who might be reading this and getting their backs up. I want to say up front that I understand and that, but also say that I'm not 100% sold on this either. Its something I want to investigate and discuss.
I also want to say up front, I'm not apart of an Emerging Church nor an Emerging group. Although sometimes I wonder if I'm headed to one of these groups in some way.
With that said I want to post the scripture and then share my thoughts. I'm not going to do any exegesis, that is not my strength, my strength is exhortation so I'm going to come from that end. Although I may ask Blake to post something here about headcovering if the need is there.

Head Coverings

1 Corn. 11:2-16

2Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you. 3But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. 4Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head. 5But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for that is one and the same as if her head were shaved. 6For if a woman is not covered, let her also be shorn. But if it is shameful for a woman to be shorn or shaved, let her be covered. 7For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. 8For man is not from woman, but woman from man. 9Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man. 10For this reason the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. 11Nevertheless, neither is man independent of woman, nor woman independent of man, in the Lord. 12For as woman came from man, even so man also comes through woman; but all things are from God. 13Judge among yourselves. Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? 14Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him? 15But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her; for her hair is given to her[a] for a covering. 16But if anyone seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God.

Here is my thoughts up front. The headcovering to me is shown more out of symbolism. The one part of the scripture I cannot dismiss is the "because of the angels." I can't understand why we need to wear it because of them, I guess its a mystery. ;) Anyway, I wonder though the concept of the headcovering in a scared worship would be a wonderful thing to add. I don't know about it as a weekly thing, maybe, but I wonder if its an aceint practice we have dismissed because of hundreds of years of added meaning brought to it. I wonder if we stripped the concept of those years of meaning and what we would find. Maybe that is not possible, but when looking at the scripture and "dancing" with it I can see that this might be a neglected practice and it might even be something we need to consider.
Is this something we could embrace? Is this something we could see in the future? Any upfront thoughts so far? I know this isn't detailed. Its more to share just my thinking pattern right now, because I'm still mixed on this, but I'm wanting to hear other's thoughts as well. I will say this, I would rather this talk, which I hope happens, doesn't get into negative talk, I want this to push us to think outside of our box. I hope we can do that.

Grubbing Mood

Oh, doesn't that look YUMMY! I'm am in a grubbing mood today. Not that y'all care to know this, but yet I find myself not caring! ;) Its rare that I get moods like this, but I find myself not being able to feel satisfied. I was amazed at how many tacos I ate today. :P I guess we are allowed these moods every once in awhile and I for one am dealing with it right now!

Also, Andrew just to let you know you are on my mind lately. The MSN OOZIE church needs you around brother! ;)

Your Linguistic Profile

This was fun! I found it to be fairly true. Someone shared this on The OOZE and I couldn't but share it here as well. :) I'm proud to say that Yankee was at least second to last. Can't get too close to those Yankees. Dad are you proud? ;)

Your Linguistic Profile:

60% General American English

20% Dixie

10% Upper Midwestern

10% Yankee

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Anxiety

picture from John McFarlen

I deal with anxiety. This picture best shows what it feels like to me. The walls start to close in, my heart starts beating crazy, and I have a whole wave emotions that I can't control. Today has been one of those days. My chest hurts, the walls around me seem so close that I'm going to cave and a stream of heavy emotions keep falling on me. I hate days like this, it makes it so hard to work and be at work. Blake can normally help me by just staying calm and helping me breathe, but today he is sacked out in bed. :P Not too many people understand what it is like to have anxiety attacks, but in my life they are real. Sometimes I can figure out the trigger and avoid it so it doesn't happen again, unfortunately today I don't know why its so hard to just calm myself.
I wish I could be home today, lay in bed, watch Angelus play in his world, wonder what he is thinking and have Blake there with me sharing in the fun. That seems like such a calm place to be. Instead of being here and trying to deal with all these waves that keep flowing over me.

Ok, so on a happy note:

Today I watched Oprah. I normally don't watch that show a lot but today was a good to watch. Today's show was about making Wildest Dreams Come True. I was inspired by a family she featured. The story of this family was based around twin sisters. Apparently, they had a learning disablilty that plagued them for years, all the way up to their last years in Junior High. They were failing and were realizing their dream of attending Baylor University was about to slip through their fingers. The summer before they were to enter High School the girls sat down with their mom to turn it all around. They worked hard around the clock to pull up their grades and that they did. By their Senior year they were in the top 20% of their class and were accepted to Baylor. Then another wrench was thrown into their way. Their Dad had been having problems holding a job, through no fault of his own. He could always provide for the family but there was no money to pay for Baylor. The family decided to help make their dream come true they would just sell their house to support the girls while going to Baylor. ENTER OPRAH! ;) Although Oprah helped them in a major way, what really was amazing to see was what the twin's siblings did for them. Without the twins knowing the brother and sister had been working over time and working odd jobs to raise money for their sister's to go to Baylor. They were able to raise $!0,000 for them. I was so amazed by the commitment of that family. In a world today that has a "me" attitude this family showed that strong families are still alive and wanting to see what is best for each other. Oh, by the way, Oprah was able to get sponership for the girl's and their full 4 years at Baylor is now paid for and the family does not have to sell their house! So on a rough day I did have one thing that gave me a smile. Thanks Oprah! ;)

God Is A Lil' Kitty

I have decided I'm not comfortable with God. The God that people would have you beleive in is too harsh and I just don't like it. I mean just doesn't sit with me. So I did alot of research and decided its best for me to decide what God I'm comfortable with.
You see I decided God is a cute furry kitty cat. You know it does say:

5Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals."

So Jesus is The Lion of Judah and I have decided to still believe in the Trinity, to me this is logical and I like it, so this logically would mean that God would also be referred to the Lion of Judah. And since a lion is a cousin to the cat this makes sense to me. It should to you.
So, now I'm going to explain why I prefer to think of God as a cat. See a cat is cuddely, its warm and it can sit on my lap and as I stroke it it purrs and that makes me feel good. I can handle a God better that can purr at my whim, that will sit on my lap and make me feel warm. This is logical to me. It feels so warm and nice. I don't like dealing with a God who is mean and can't fit into my world. I want to stroke God the way I want to handle Him. Matter of fact I want to control Him because to be honest the other stuff in the "bible" just doesn't fit what I think God should be. So I have done what any logical person should do and make him fit.

So, Jewels have you gone off your nut? No I haven't. I have just given you an example of the rape of scriputre. I have watched people actually do what I have just said. I have even watched them go further. Such as finding people who support their idea and because so and so from Big U University with a PHD says so I will believe it. I'm actually frusterated today because I have watched someone spew similar stuff every where without any care for scriputre or any care for who God is. It makes me so angry to watch someone rape the scripture just so they can digest who God is and to also use it for away to justify their lifestyle. Now, I can say I'm a caught person as well. I may not rape the scripture, but I can still twist and turn what I want God to be. I have to wonder, when in community do we stand for heresy and say "no more! shut up and start listening and if you cannot leave. when you are ready come back." To be quite honest I believe we as a community have the right to do so. And just to be sure, I'm not so far off my nut by suggesting such a thought, there are examples of this the bible.

Anyway, today you got a rant. :P I hope your day is going better than mine.

Announcement!

Blake and I have an announcement! We have an addition to our family!

Announcing:

Angelus Kennedy!!!!

He is our betta fish! :) and he looks kindof like this:

Oh, Happy Day!!!

To all the mom's who read this, I wish you a happy Mother's day! I hope its a blessed and awesome day for you! If any thing I hope your family took time out on this "alloted" day to tell let them know they appreciate you!

So to my mom! Mom, I love you very much! You are a wonderful mom and although you and I have had our ups and downs you are the greatest Mom I could ask for! I love you! Thank you for taking care of Gram so well. You are a good daughter to her and I'm proud of you! Take today to at least take care of yourself!

"A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavour by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts." - Washington Irving (1783-1859)

Grace?

Well, to start, the wedding I was at was nice. It was one of the first weddings I actually saw a care for God in the relationship, that showed the understanding of what marriage was. Anyway, it was good, the bride was radient and the groom was goofy, so all in all it was a HIT! :)

Tonight I was reading through my blog and something I wrote struck me. I missed in saying something. I said:

So what about not understanding grace is a "false gospel"? This I don't understand. I don't know that I ever will.

The thing is, who really understands grace? I mean honestly understands it. I don't. To me its something so far beyond my thinking. How could a God that really at the end of the day say "To hell with them" (literally) decide that we deserve unmerrited favor, a gift such as looking passed our dirty stains? You see even the best of us cannot understand the borders of grace. They are so far reaching that we can't even begin to see it. Its almost like a sunset or even a sunrise, you can see the light at the end but you know its too far to begin to reach. I personally sometimes struggle to understand grace. I feel so undeserving. I know myself in the dark and how could God, this perfect being, look upon me and say,"well, done. come be with me." WOW! And we find the awe of God in that moment and in that moment we "know" grace.
In a the venture of trying to find a picture I found this and I will end here because it says what I want to say:

Grace is a gift of God. Because it comes to us at God's initiative, there are some things we can't do about grace. We can't earn it. We can't control it. We don't have to deserve it.

If grace is out of your hands, so to speak, how do you engage in the spiritual practice of grace? Accept that you are accepted. Practice receiving. Receive objects, love, help. Notice when presents and presence come to you without your effort.

Quote and Picture from here.

Common Sense

My dad has a saying, I'm not sure where he got it, but he says, "Common sense, it just isn't common enough."
I have been thinking about this saying or words "common sense" lately. Blake has been sharing with me how people have told him that to have "common sense" is unbiblical. Now, I tend to not give humans a lot of credit. I tend to think we are a stunted people, but is it not logical that God gave us our brain and although "common sense" isn't common enough we should know to use the brain we were given?
This leads me to my last question, why does everything have to be proven in the Bible? I mean isn't it enough that God gave us the bible to show us His character, His overall heart for us and others. Why is it in the grey matter of what is not written we have to "read between" the lines and put something there that was never there in the first place? To me that would mean we need to use some "common sense", well I guess my dad was right again! ;)

Need To Write

I feel the pressure to say something today. I have some things that are at the tip of my tongue, but I don't know if they are worthy to share yet.

I'm thinking about sharing some thoughts I have on the headcovering. Since I am now visiting a more conservative Brethren fellowship I have been tossing this issue. I will more than likely post about that next week. Just to give you a running start I have been thinking about it has a part of a symbolic worship in the Emerging Church. Don't freak on me yet, I will share more later.
I'm also will be revisiting my ideas on the "false gospel". Blake and I have discussed this some more and he had some thoughts I thought he was going to post on his blog but now he is some deep theological debate *yawn* ;) . Anyway, I will be getting back to that soon as well.

This weekend will be.......

WEDDING BELLS!!!

Congrats To Matt and Danalyn!

I will be singing at their wedding this weekend and Blake will be an usher. Since my camera broke I don't know if I will have pics of us, but I'm going to see what I can do for sure. :) Anyway, it will be an eventful weekend for sure!

I'm COMING OUT, I'm Coming......

Its time to come clean. I think y'all are very dirty, please go forward....
and be dirty no more! ;)

Building Boundaries

I think there comes a time in our lives when we have to decide what boundaries we are going to have. Its hard sometimes because you don't know which are the good ones and which are the bad. Blake and I have had to do a lot growing up the last couple of days or week really. We have had to see who is toxic in our lives, who is creating drama in our lives and what we are going to do with it. Its hard to look at someone and say to yourself,"they are toxic, they are drama, hold your boundaries". I tend to open my arms to people, I love to do that, but I have had to learn the great lesson once again of boundaries. So Blake and I sat down today and decided what we needed to do with certain toxic people in our lives. If felt good for once, together, deciding who were going to let in our world and who we were not. Yet to also say, some of these toxic people we can't avoid, what do we do in this case. I don't know if we will handle it right the first time, but I guess we are on the road to boundaries as a couple. I think this has been the hardest thing as being married and learning to be one. As well, learning to trust each other in this as well.
I say all this to ask, as a couple (married if possible) how have you learned this lesson? What is your advice. I will tell you what Blake and I working, we are working together (purposefully) to have a quiet life. Meaning, learning to filter drama and learning to filter toxic people. So knowing I have some experienced readers here I ask for your advise. It is gladly welcome.

Warning FALSE Gospel Ahead!

I have heard this a lot lately. Danger! Alert, Alert!!! Watch OUT! What I have found interesting is what is labeled as a "false gospel". This leaves me with questions. What is a false gospel? What I have decided is that these two words have been manipulated in such away as to strike fear into certain sheep. I love the article that I found that talks about certain sheep trying to become the Shepherd and telling weaker sheep what to do. I think this is what has happened with the "false gospel" mentality. We have a sheep who wants to be able to control what sheep they have under them and what better way than to start throwing around words that would strike them into submission. Makes sense? I think it does.
So, I have seen these self-proclaimed shepherds labeling a lot of things a "false gospel". I want to list some of those:

1. Arminians. Now a part of being an Arminian is the belief that you can lose your salvation. Now being raised in a church that taught this I have a fairly good understanding of this concept. Arminians to my knowledge do not deny the virgin birth of Christ, they do not deny Christ was the Son of God, nor do they deny the trinity, they do not deny Christ death and bodily resurrection. So, this is not a false gospel. At the very least it is a very bad understanding of grace. Which I know is slowly starting to apprear more and more in a lot of these circles. So what about not understanding grace is a "false gospel"? This I don't understand. I don't know that I ever will.
2. Calvinism. Ok, again we can go through the list just as I did with Arminians: Calvinist to my knowledge do not deny the virgin birth of Christ, they do not deny Christ was the Son of God, nor do they deny the trinity, they do not deny Christ death and bodily resurrection. They only try to better define God's character, who He will save and why or why not, why God saved us, ect. Now what about this is a "false gospel"? I'm not a 5 Point Calvinist by any means, but having a husband who is I hear about it a lot. When talking to him I have yet to hear a "false gospel". Where exactly is the "false gospel"? Where is the big ole' buggie man?
3. Postmodernism. Now this is a little different, but I want to address this just a little bit. postmodern is a philosophy, its the environment we are in. So a "false gospel" can and even will come out of this. Just as it would with modernism. But is a Postmodern Christian or an EC person preaching a "false gospel", I guess this would depend on the person and what they are preaching. You see on this notion you can't label an environment a "false gospel", but yet I have seen it done.

So, we are back to what is a "false gospel", to me and I guess I'm wrong with all the screaming I have heard lately, a "false gospel" is anything that teaches outside of 1. The virgin birth, 2. Jesus walked this earth, he was man,but fully God, 3. The Holy Trinity, 4. The Death, Burial, Resurrection of Jesus Christ, 5. The belief upon Him you will be saved. Now, I'm dense here, I'm not as smart as my husband, but I'm wondering is this a "false gospel"? And to end those who are so quick to label what is and what is not a "false gospel" can they not in turn be suspect themselves? Things that make you go "hhhmmm"

Blessings!

Extreme Crying

Every Sunday I cry! I can't help it. I watch Extreme Makeover: Home Edition! I think it is awesome that this show comes on Sundays. Its yet another reminder durning the day of living the life of Christ. There is always some reminder, either of a community coming together for a family or a bunch of strangers just helping because they know its the right thing to do. What I also love is the families. This week was one of the most moving. This week was about a man, James Dolan, who lost his sight to a shooter. The man came in shot James and 2 others. James survived. What I found so beautiful about this story was his relationship with his family, but the realtionship with his wife. She is so faithful to him. But he did something I think I will not forget for along time. He bought her, her faveorite flowers and had them ready for her in their new bedroom. Sometimes tragic situations drive couples apart, but this situation drove this couple closer together. I appreciated their story so much. I truely suggest that if you have not watched this show to watch and watch what God teaches your through it!