Together or Separate?

Yesterday, I enjoyed my first day off in 14 days.  I can’t say I was very productive, but I can say it was relaxing and fun.  Scotty had the day off too, so we decided to go out to lunch.  The first place we drove to was closed.  Very closed.  The sign on the door informed us it had been closed since March 23rd.  Bummer.  We were already near LSU, so we decided to stay in that area.  We chose one of my Dad’s favorite places to eat in BR.  It took an unusually long time to get two burgers, but what did I care?  I had the day off!  We enjoyed both the food and our time together.  We were laughing and talking the whole time.  Imagine my surprise when the waitress came to clear the table and asked if we would like separate checks!  (Were we having too much fun to appear be married to each other?) 

The Invitation

When I was in the fifth grade, a new friend changed the course of my life.  Seriously.  My entire life from the fifth grade until now.  She began by inviting me to retreats and youth group functions over the next three years.  When we were in the 8th grade, she invited me to camp.  When camp was over, I started to attend SBRCC on a regular basis. 

Over time, this friend stopped coming to church.  I still call her and I still invite her.  I know what a difference her invitation to me made.  Yesterday, she and her family came to church.  It wasn’t the first time in years, but it was the first time in years I was able to sit by her.  As I sat there with her I thought about all of the people that I love and have great friendships with as a result of her invitation. 

• I met and married my husband there
• We are raising a child there
• Our child was baptized a year ago there
• My sister met and married her husband there
• They are raising two children there
• I met my best friends there – these are true, life long friends

The list goes on and on.  As a result of her invitation, I have a relationship with the Lord that has allowed me to grow and love in a way that I might never have experienced. 

Share your faith.  It just might change the course of someones entire life.

Thank you for the invitation Chantell, I love you. 

What is it really about ?

I’m still here.  I’m still reading other people’s blogs everyday, I just have not taken the time to write my own.  Jr High is finally feeling like a routine.  Soccer is finally feeling like a routine.  I have dishes in my sink and that seems to be routine these days too! 

I had an interesting weekend.  I saw this guy and found out he is a proud soccer Dad now.  I’m so happy for him.  He also mentioned that I did not blog a lot anymore.  Thought I would pester him with a few links today.  Now, on to what I want to say …

This has been rattling around in my brain for a couple of days.  Chelsea, Scotty and I “prepared” communion on Saturday night.  Chelsea loves to do this!  I could take it or leave it, but since I said I would do it I fulfilled my commitment to do it.  How is serving by preparing communion any different than serving it?  Are the people passing the trays serving me?  Am I serving them by filling the trays?  Are the people standing in the front (or the back) leading me in something?  Or are they just facilitating the passing of the tray the same way Chelsea does when I hand it to her to hand it to the next person? 

 I am quite sure I would never  make an issue of this because I respect people that it does make a difference to, but in all honesty, it just doesn’t make a difference to me.  After all, it’s not about who passes the tray; it’s about the reason why we participate in communion in the first place.

Been A Little Busy

It has been a long time between blogs for me.  The junior high schedule has been an adjustment for all of us.  Things are going smoother now, but it has taken an entire month.

In August, Chelsea started school and soccer practice.  Both of these “events” were positive but they did come with a new set of challenges.  We received the first progress report and have played in the first tournament.   Chelsea likes her soccer coach this year, so that has been a huge plus !  Chelsea’s favorite subject right now is Life Science.  The guy who teaches it has his degree in sports medicine specializing in the sciences.  Chelsea finds his teaching style fun and easy to understand.  Algebra is at the other end of that spectrum.  She is struggling through and we have called in some help.  The good thing is, when it is explained by someone other than her teacher, she understands it.  The bad thing is the teacher, not the tutor, is the one teaching the class. 

Chelsea taught her first Bible Class this week.  She practiced at home and I am guessing she did a good job.  She had a tough passage to teach.  There was not a lot to work with and she could not really expand because all of the girls in the class were working in the same area.  She worked on it and went to school prepared.  I was very proud of her.

That’s it for the update.  I hope to get back to more frequent posts soon.

He’s been converted … now what?

Why do people leave the church?  And abandon the very thing they embraced with such enthusiasm?  Are we so busy trying to add conversions to our numbers that we forget about keeping the people we converted?  Do we put so much time and energy into evangelism that we neglect giving new Christians a foundation?  Is there a happy medium?

 I talked with two people this weekend who used to attend our church.  Is it more important to convert new Christians than it is to extend a “welcome back” to those who have left?  Why did they leave?  I don’t know.  Why do I stay?  I do know that.  It has to do with relationships.  A relationship with Christ and relationships with the people I love as my church family.  Why didn’t these two people feel the same love?  When my relationship with Christ wasn’t what it should be (and isn’t what it should be), I have the support of my church family.  And when my love for them isn’t what it should be, I have strength in a relationship with Christ. 

 While it seems everyone else is scrambling to increase numbers, is it OK that I feel I need to scramble to keep the people we have ?

Full Circle Moments

Some things are falling in to place for me now and I am having more and more “full circle moments”.   As these little moments happen, I realize I am an adult now.  Sometimes that hits me out of the blue.  I really don’t spend a lot of time thinking about my age or the age I was when my parents were the age I am now.  (follow that?)  But, when the full circle moments of life happen, I am reminded that I am defintely getting older.  And I like it.  I am in a good place now with memories of good things and good things to look forward to. 

The best full circle moment I have had lately was out at camp during our week.  (surprised?)  On Sunday morning, the staff comes together for worship and the purpose of entering the week with the right mind set.  This year, as the communion tray was passed and I looked around at the faces of the staff members that I was in the youth group with and the staff members I have known since they were campers (some even since they were born!), I was not prepared for the emotional impact I felt when I saw my daughter and Christi’s daughter sitting side by side sharing communion as Christi and I have done so many times.  Full Circle Moments – some are more joyous than others.

Birthday, iPod, Hurricane Katrina

Well, I have been absent from this blog for a while.  Last week I spent two and half days in bed sick, celebrated my birthday and drove back and forth to Lafayette for a soccer tournament.  I also spent one and a half days trying to get my stupid cell phone to work.  All of these things combined kept me from sitting down for a long block of time to blog.  As a result, I have a ton of things to say today!

My sister and her husband gave me an iPod for my birthday.  I mentioned to her that I would like to have one and use it while walking on my treadmill.  I already had a list of favorite songs in my mind and was eager to begin.  You should note here that I was eager to begin downloading songs, not walking on the treadmill. 

I consider myself to be pretty quick when it comes to computers, electronics and such.  I saw on the Today Show this morning that Mom’s who are technologically savvy and work and do the whole soccer mom thing are now called “Alpha Moms”.  Well, until last week I would have told you that I was surely and “Alpha Mom”.  After the cell phone, blue tooth, iPod week I had, I must admit that my technology “skills” are lacking in a few areas. 

Many friends told me I would love, love, love my iPod.  And I do.  Now.  The whole download iTunes and sync but don’t disconnect the iPod from the computer while it’s blinking orange.  WHEW!  OK – got the iPod all in sync and started to download.  And what did I download you might ask – sermons!  That’s right people.  I have yet to download any music.  If you know me very well, you might read this and check my temperature.  Enough of the blah, blah, blah and on to the sermons -

I downloaded a few of Jeff’s sermons, Rick Atchley’s series on marriage and John Dobb’s Hurricane message from Tulsa.  Let me tell you I have been tremendously uplifted by all of them.  Jeff’s and Rick’s were great reminders for me and I even learned a few things   John’s was the one that made the most impact though.  His thoughts on Jesus and Hurricane Katrina really affected my thinking on the whole Katrina issue.  I have not blogged about the hurricane very much because I have some very strong opinions about it.  I feel bad about some of those opinions because I was inconvenienced by Hurricane Katrina, but I wasn’t devastated by it like so many others were.  I will write more about Hurricane Katrina and John’s message in my next post.  What I learned from it will take a lot of words.  This post is already too long and I could not do it justice or expect you to keep reading this wordy post today.

I leave you with this.  Jan keeps a book list writes a book review on her post every now and then.  I have decided to start a “recommended listening” list.  So here are the first ones I encourage you to enjoy:  How to Chase and Overtake the Lions I & II , Lord of the Rings , and Jesus Came to My Town in a Hurricane .

And, I recommend this hilarious iPod post by Antique Mommy because I could really relate when I read it.  When you’re done with that one, read this one.

 Have a great weekend!

Thyme In A Bottle

So many things have happened since the last time I sat still to post.  I am going to try to catch up one day this week and include some things about a two week visit from my Dad, George’s resurrection sermon, Camp Smiling Acres and a little soccer.  But for now I will share the story of Chelsea getting her belongings searched at school last week.

On Wednesday, all of the 5th and 6th graders were taken out of class one at a time and their book-sacks and lockers were searched.  It just so happened that this happened on the same day that Chelsea brought dried spices to school for a mummification project demonstration.  The administrators spend extra ”thyme” in her locker sniffing the Spice Blend by McCormick.  Several of the adults passed it around making comments about the spices.  A little background on this:  I cooked something using fresh thyme the week before and Scotty did not like it.  The taste was too strong.  Chelsea needed spices for the project and I had an entire bottle of dried thyme, parsley and some seed combination.  Knowing I would not use it, we tore the label off and she took it to school.  After having to explain her whole project and the process of mummification and what spices were used for, she was sent back to class.  She told me she didn’t know why all of those people were sniffing that stuff so long because it really stinks!

The following day some more things came to light.   (this part is not funny) A fifth grade student was taken from campus because the administration found marijuana in his gym bag.  Apparently there are several issues this kid is dealing with that stem from the parents’ divorce and battle over the child.  No matter which story you hear, it sounds like a sad situation for the kid.

This part is funny.  Chelsea called to tell me a 5th grader was removed from school because he had “wheat” in his locker.  It occurred to me she did not know what weed is.  I told her I was pretty sure he was taken away because he had weed.  This left her confused.  I had then explain that weed was another name for marijuana.  Then, I had to explain what marijuana was – oh brother.  I finally got her to understand that no matter what you call it (weed, pot, mary jane), it’s marijuana and it’s illegal. 

Now I know why her “spices” were cause for concern.  Little did the adults know, Chelsea had no clue why they were so concerned and she was somewhat annoyed that her “search” took longer than some of the others.

32nd Anniversary

Yesterday during church we looked back at 32 years and then we looked forward.  I really enjoyed it.  It was neat to see all of the people who were at South on the first Sunday and it was neat to see how the church has grown and the different ministries that people have been involved in. 

My favorite part was hearing Mr Ray talk about the youth ministry.  The “young people” are so important to him and you can hear it in his voice.  I remember a special time following Scotty’s dad’s funeral when Miss Sam came to our house and talked about the youth ministry and it’s importance in the beginning of South. 

The service yesterday led to a lot of discussion in our house.  We talked about fond memories, youth ministry, tradition, out-of-the box thinking ….

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I have written and deleted many times while trying to compose this post.  I cannot seem to adequetly express my love for this congregation of people.  Thanks for the memories, thank you for helping (sometimes pushing) me to grow, thank you for loving me.  Thank you for 32 (25 in my case) great years! 

A Major Minor Emergency

I have been out of the blogging routine for the past week.  Scotty hurt himself on Tuesday evening and I have spent the week in a blur.  First things first; he’s going to be OK.  He pinned himself against a building with his commercial mower.  He almost lost his little finger on his left hand.  The good news is after 5 days of 3 different antibiotics, 2 different pain medicines, 2 or 3 cleanings a day and countless prayers, his hand is finally looking “normal”.  Late last night (or early this morning) the swelling finally went down.  The stitches have looked good (if stitches can look good) for the past couple of days.  I suspect he will be out of work for a couple of more days, but I am so thankful that his injury was not much worse.