A Different Perspective
I am Marjorie's sister and her biggest fan. My name is Jane and I come complete with one fantabulous husband, one amazing daughter, one tiny baby who will be making a debut next winter! I am blessed with an incredible family (nuclear and extended) and I would go to the ends of the earth for them. My sister is headed to the ends of the earth where she currently does not have access to the web, hence, I am blogging tonight! I am a teacher turned domestic engineer so this whole idea of blogging is a little strange. What is the objective and how can I assess it?

What I learned about myself this week
I am not sixteen. Although it may seem obvious to the rest of the world, this came as a bit of a shock to me. I think I may be a bit depressed. I have just spent the week at Indiana Sunday School Camp in Fortville, IN. A few of my friends enticed me with girlfriend time. We all rallied at the campgrounds where our children were able to play, speed around on the golf cart, moonbounce, eat ice cream, dig in the dirt, and then have children's church every night. After children's church, we dressed the kiddos for bed, let them party till they dropped and then we started our evening conversation. I don't think any of us were blue in the face but we did a lot of talking. Our husbands will testify that the chatter didn't stop even while we were on our phones with them. This plan was great for about two days. Day three is when I began to learn my lesson. I am thirtysomething and pregnant. I just can't hang like I used too. I need sleep! By day four, I was walking into walls, literally! So our great girlfriend week ended with all of us sleeping in today, and all leaving the campgrounds before sunset. Alas, the days that are no more...

Just a simple lunch
On day four of camp week, we had a mini adventure. We took our children out to lunch at Subway, one of the two restaurants in Fortville. As illustrated in my last lesson, we were all a little groggy. After ordering, some discussion started about where we should sit. I conveniently chose the first available option. My choice was completely unsatisfactory to the children who wanted to sit at the "tall" tables. Naturally, I moved to be closer to everyone and in doing so, left my purse on chair#1. I finished my meal in chair #2. When it was time to go, I discovered no purse on chair #1 or chair #2. Some very helpful men had handed it into the manager.

Lessons in teamwork
It took an unusually long amount of time for the manager to recover my purse from the back. It would be helpful to know at this point that one of my friends is married to an Army intelligence officer and another is a news reporter turned domestic engineer. Almost at once a mission focused team developed. We discovered that my bag had been ransacked and ALL of my cash was missing. Our babysitter in residence (thank you Charity) got the kids out to the van and started a DVD. One friend got into her car and circled back through the parking lot to observe any comings or goings. The other friend began to interview the men who handed in the bag. It was very obvious that the employees had stolen the cash but were not going to admit to it. My friend in the parking lot was on the cell phone with the reporter friend and was very insistent that we call the police. Eventually a helpful officer arrived on the scene. This is when my friend, the reported really got it in gear. She kept asking if what the employees were saying was normal. Finally, the officer told them all he was going to give them each a lie detector test. To end this dreadful tale, the manager "called the owner" and said I should get money from the drawer for my trouble...Puhleeze! Regardless mission accomplished. They picked the wrong mamma's to mess with! In retrospect, it was an adventure and it was awesome to see how we all jumped to action. We may begin our own earth saving mission ala Kim Possible!

Auf Wiedersehen
This is the end of my blog. Please be kind! I have after all discovered that I am not so young, I am definitely sleep deprived, I am pregnant, I have just returned from a crime fighting spree with my friends, and for crying out loud-it's my first one ever! So until Marjorie finds another corner of the earth without internet, I bid you.... Auf Wiedersehen


Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!

I'm leavin' today...

On my way
I leave for the airport in 35 minutes! I'm really excited that the rally point is through NYC. I lived in the city for two years which is plenty of time for it to get its hooks into you!! My feelings ranged from intense love to intense hate while I was there, but the fact that they were intense always makes me feel weird when I go back. It's true that since I've been gone, I've only loved it. The realization that there is no where else like it in the world solidifies its place in my heart! There's something alive and thriving that I don't get in other cities or anywhere for that matter. People know how to be around other people. There's a deep respect for humanity. It comes through in frank honesty which I guess some people think is rude--I think it's a relief!

While I'm gone
I leave you in my sister's capable hands. Her name is Jane and she is awesome. My sister is the one who came and helped me move from NYC when I was a total emotional mess. I had nothing together and I was extremely irritable. My plan was to leave everything on the curb. She organized and packed my things and then provided comfort and assurance to me when I began the de-stressing of leaving the city and a very demanding job.

Pray that I make all my connections! I don't have my Bibles with me, so I cannot "koine" a phrase!

Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!

Thoughts on getting stoned

One more day
I leave tomorrow! Yippieee! Of course, the way I've cleverly designed my travel arrangements I'll be traveling pretty much all day tomorrow (fly out of St. Louis at 11:50am and into Islip at 5:25pm, shuttle every half hour to train station, train to Manhattan which I must get to before 7:14pm, subway to friend's house and hopefully arrive about 9:30pm). Then Friday I'll go to JFK and fly to Istanbul! Hooray!! Blogging will be sketchy over these two travel days so you just might get to hear from my sister!

Getting in the mind of Paul
I've been thinking a lot about Paul for the paper I have to write and last night I started thinking about the fact that he stood and held the cloaks for those who were stoning Stephen. Traditionally, we've believed that he held the cloaks because he was too young to be a participant; however, modern scholarship suggests that by holding the cloaks Paul was the instigator and the one giving official sanction to this action (backed up by Acts 7:60). Thinking around that, two things hit me: 1.) Paul earnestly believed he was doing God's work and 2.) God did not choose to save Stephen and shock Paul into conversion in one fell swoop.

Point One
Stoning is a gory and violent process. They are just literally throwing rocks at someone until he is dead. While they are doing this, Stephen is receiving visions from heaven and calling out that this sin not be held against those stoning him. What kind of a person do you have to be to go through with this action in these kind of circumstances? Paul gives us a semi-answer in asserting his zealousness for the law. There is no question that he loved God with a deep conviction. This conviction is what sustained him through this kind of violence. The problem was that he didn't know who God was or what God was about. Wow. That hit home with me. How many times have I zealously or earnestly gone about something that I felt was completely because of God only to have totally missed the boat and actually done harm to those who were truly serving the king of kings? Then, before I went and jumped off a cliff, I remembered the rest of Paul's story which is all about redemption. Even these sins are washed clean in the blood of Jesus.

Point Two
This was more from looking at things from Stephen's perspective. Paul is converted by a bright light and a voice. If I were Stephen, I can well imagine wondering why this bright light and voice couldn't have shone up a few chapters earlier at say, I don't know, my stoning?!? I can hear myself telling God how much more powerful it would be if the rocks bounced off like superman with bullets. I might even remind God about how He had done it this way in the past with Daniel in the lions' den or the fiery furnace. Remember that? Hey, what's more is if this super-miracle took place at the stoning--more people than just Paul could be converted! Then--STOP! How much do these questions sound like Judas claiming that money could have been better used for the poor or Saul from Kings when he claims that he did not obey so that he could make a better sacrifice? I guess the point is that we trust God even when the zealots throw stones and we give Him glory by praying for those who spitefully use us. Ouch. But there it is, Stephen is there speaking to the audience who is best suited to understanding what He has to say and they kill him. Would he do it again? I think he would because he recognizes that it's not about him. How else could he be forgiving them as they do this? What a model of compassionate love this experience would have been to Paul once he did get the revelation. Indeed, it's much more powerful than if Stephen had grown bitter and threw verbal stones back even if he would have been right in what he said.

To "koine" a phrase:
Because it's needed in so many situations let's borrow from Stephen in Acts 7:60 (kurie mai staisais autois tautain tain amart-ian). Loose translation: "Lord, do not hold this sin to them."

Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!

The day I grew chest hair

Initiation
Yesterday afternoon marked my induction into the bachelor lifestyle. My sister and niece left for church camp around noon and my brother-in-law and I decided to get some movies & wings. I thought a 35 pack of wings would be more than sufficient for two of us, but no! The grunting and banging on the chest clearly indicated that 50 wings were a must. A shout out is in order to the WingStop employee whose incredulous laughter at 30 of these being "Atomic" made us rethink and choose only to get 10 of these monsters. They are hot--like the place where the devil lives. VICIOUS! I went to get the wings, fries, cheese dip, and 2 liter while bro went to get the movies.

The Movies
The first two were billed as action/adventure but were clear misses in the category. Both ended up being about moms and their relationship to their children which made them infinitely more enjoyable to me than "the bachelor" even though I didn't really find either one particularly great. Then: "The Exorcism of Emily Rose." My sister, brother, and I stand in solidarity against scary movies because well, we all get scared (apologies to my brother for admitting this for him). This has been a hard reality for my brother-in-law to face since joining with my family. He loves horror movies but he has no ally amongst us and so he is always outvoted. Today was his day, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I did jump a few times, but the scariness had no lasting impact. It was really more interesting than anything. It relies more heavily on the courtroom drama aspect than the horror. The greatest part went as follows:
Demon girl: I come in the name of the one who dwells within.
Priest: I come in His name.
And that's pretty much why it's not so scary. We know that name. I think it would probably be infinitely more disturbing to one who was unsure if anything was out there.

The UFC
And since no bachelor day would be complete without watching some guys get their heads bashed in, we concluded with watching some UFC fights. This made me think of the Gracie-Hughes fight from last month. I wanted Royce to win so much and I was truly flabbergasted to discover that anyone was rooting for Matt Hughes. I mean where was the respect? Even during the fight when Gracie never tapped out, I was thinking where are the fighters like this? He is still awesome in defeat, but how could there be anyone rooting for his defeat? Actually rooting for it? It seems to me you should always want legends to prevail. Could anyone enlighten me as to why you would have rooted for Hughes against Gracie? I just don't get it!

To "koine" a phrase:
Let's say you want fifty dolmades and the server tries to tell you that 35 is enough. You can shut him or her down with 1 Cor. 9:4 (mai ouk ekomen exousian phagine kie pine). Loose translation: "Have we not authority to eat and drink?"

Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!

Awww shucks! I love everybody!

The Monday after Sunday high
Maybe that's all it is, but I think God is really pretty sweet! One of my favorite worship songs repeats "How great is our God?" I love it because the fact that it's a question amply illustrates my inability to answer it. How great is our God? So great!!! So, so, so great! I know that God is more than able to move in big and powerful ways, but I'm often more amazed by His work when I can see that He has simply stayed and walked the journey with someone in countless smaller steps. He desires to do a work in your life; it just may not be the way you want or how you expect. The more honest we get with Him, the more He reveals what we might really be asking and the more He works with us to generate a desire that is not motivated by fear. We may (um, better say definitely will) experience pain, but we can trust that He works nothing to our harm. How great is our God?

The coolest people award
As a whole, I've never been more impressed with the quality of person than I've found and experienced in the (drum roll) ninetyandnine readership base! Not only am I reconnecting with folks I previously knew (and deemed most excellent) through blogging this month, I've also heard from others of you that I've never met and you seem pretty excellent yourselves! All this is bringing me to the conclusion that if you are reading this, you are probably way above average in coolness! Congratulations!! We should all buy T-shirts to advertise the fact!

If you happen to be in Alaska...
Find this church! Some fellow graduates of UGST and friends went up to Anchorage last year and embarked on this journey. Since we've already established your coolness, you could probably blend here. C'mon, did you see that they have pancakes at Sunday School?!?!? You should also check out the teaching pastor's blog. AND, if you are really interested, they have a comprehensive internship program.

To "koine" a phrase:
Greet fellow travellers who sport a classy red T with sheep (indeed this is how I wish to greet all of you) from 1 Cor. 1:4-5 (euxaristo to theo mou pantote peri humoan epi tai xariti tou theou tai dothiesai humin en Xristo Yaisou hoti en panti eplouteasthaite en auto en panti laugo kie pasai gnoasie) Loose translation: "I give thanks to my God for the grace of God having been given to you in Christ Jesus that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all discourse and all knowledge."
Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!