a melancholy view of the world
One piece of hope I cling to is seeing God for the first time, and being taken into His arms and hearing, “Emily, I am especially fond of you. I’ve missed you. It’s sooo so good to see you.”
Put your name in there instead of mine, and picture it happening to you too.
Can you feel it?
God is especially fond of you. 
Hey all. Catalyst was off the chain. OFF THE FREAKIN’ CHAIN.
We got there and it was still dark outside, OK? It was EARLY. And RAINING. My hair was a MESS!
Like you care about my hair.
Anyhow.
We were walking from the parking lot toward the entrance and we saw this stretch hummer come by…and then it stopped. And invited us in. And that, my friends, is how our Catalyst experience began. We got dropped off by the front doors in a stretch hummer.
We were shown into a tent, where they were giving out gift bags (w/ tissues, gum, chapstick, etc.) and pancakes! FREE PANCAKES! There was also a sick jazz band playing. The atmosphere was incredible.
Once we got inside, they had 5 DJ’s spinning at 1 time. The theme is “together” this year, so almost everything was done as a team. The speakers were absolutely incredible.
I am going to give you a quick summary w/ big ideas from each speaker and a brief explanation.
Andy (Freakin’) Stanley: The confidence people have in me depends on the Alignment between creed and deed (what I say and do). He calls that your “moral authority.” In other words, discrepancy between what you say and do makes you lose influence.
Jim Collins: I can’t narrow this down to just one thing.
Steven Furtick: Between the prayer and the promise is the process. Just because you can’t see the promise being fulfilled, don’t give up! Between God revealing His will to you and the promise being fulfilled, there is always a process. STICK WITH IT. God will complete the good works he began. God is preparing you for what He’s preparing for you.
Brenda Salter McNeil: To get from here to there, God will shake things up (Acts 1:8, Acts 2)
Seth Godin: People want to know the answers to 2 questions: 1) Who else is going to be there?, and 2) Who’s going to lead us? We are all a part of a tribe. No one is seeking a safe leader.
Then, from a freaking COMMERCIAL, we get this big idea: Justice is what love looks like in public.
Craig Groeschel: Drastic is the answer. Little tweaks don’t work or you would’ve fixed it already! Pray 3 prayers: God stretch me, God heal me, God ruin me. Pray those three prayers to get the “it” factor back in your life. THERE IS MORE IN YOU. Don’t give up. When you think you are done, there is more in you.
THAT IS ONE STINKING DAY OF AWESOMENESS RIGHT THERE BLOG PEOPLE.
My head hurts.
Goodnight.
I am so tired I did not spell check this, so don’t judge me.
‘Night.
You need to read your Bible every day.
When you get busy, God will get your attention…
AND HE’S GOD, SO DON’T MAKE HIM DO STUFF LIKE THAT, K?
Cause God getting your attention is nothing like me tapping you on the shoulder for hours or saying your name over and over until you answer me or knocking pieces of paper out of your hands for no reason.
God is much more creative with WAY more resources.
Got it?
There are only two reasons for people to come to church. Only two things they can get at church that they can’t get by sitting at home listening to preaching and worship. Relationships and Experience.
Ouch ouch ouch. I can create some sort of experience. I’ve been doing it for over a year. But how am I at relationships? Not good. Horrible.
I don’t even know if this quote is true. I haven’t thought it out yet, but I know that when I read it the air in my lungs left in a whoosh. It hurt a little.
Sometimes you have to stop doing and start listening. Stop creating and start connecting.
When you are naturally an introvert, how do you learn to love people?
I’m working on it.
Ok, so here’s the thing. I have a potty mouth. I know it. I use it mostly for humor purposes, but we all know it’s not acceptable. I shouldn’t even hint at using bad words or euphemisms in blogs, in tweets, whatever.
But a week ago I would not have argued that. I have said, “I would give up anything, ANYTHING to be in leadership at RPC. Drinking, going out to dance, you name it, I’ll give it up. But I won’t give up my personality, including what I think is funny, like euphemisms, cursing, etc. etc.” Yeah, I said that. and I argued in the name of authenticity. “I want to be authentic,” I said, “I want people to know that Christians are real people, and they deal with things.” That’s what our culture needs, I thought.
And I’d get mad about it, and I’d fume and stew and argue with myself, or my friends who’ve confronted me about it.
‘Cause I am hard headed.
And Jesus, in his infinite wisdom and mercy, and perfect incredible love, and his patient, caring heart of a father, stopped my argument in its tracks the other day, with 9 simple words from a song:
I want more of You
and less of me
And I’m pretty sure there is nothing left to say after that.
So now I’m trying to remember how I need to die to myself to live for Him. ‘Cause Jesus said some controversial, authentic, culture changing stuff in His time, and he was never inappropriate.
And we are still talking about Him.
Ok, I know I said I wouldn’t post until Monday, but here it is Sunday morning, and I am up an hour before my alarm was supposed to go off and well.. We are in our house!
I don’t even know what to say to convey how wonderful everyone was that helped us. My mom (who is a saint, literally) has been here since Wednesday, cleaning things. And by cleaning things I mean, scrubbing the refrigerator out, all the bathrooms (those 3 words make it sound like nothing, but let me tell you that was a HUGE job), cleaning baseboards, dusting, vacuuming, washing the walls (i didn’t know you had to do that), and painting. I came home on lunch breaks to help her, but I wasn’t really able to sink my teeth into it until Thursday night. Mike’s dad was here on Wednesday too…he pressure washed the entire house, garage, and driveway, and he painted the inside of the garage and did some landscaping. Did I mention he just got stitches out on his back? These parents are COMMITTED. Wow. My dad was around a lot, fixing the garage door, making sure we were doing things right, and giving out daddy advice, and he bought everyone lunch while we were moving, and he helped me not have a melt down a few times. Yes, that was a run-on sentence. Mike’s mom was also very involved in us getting this house…banks don’t want to give out home loans right now and she was able to pull lots of strings and make it happen, not to mention they GAVE us their washer and dryer. OUR PARENTS ARE AWESOME, and they each helped in their own different ways, and everything worked out perfectly.
Then there are the friends who helped us move on Saturday. It took about 2 hours to load up the uHaul, and ONLY 10 MINUTES to unload it. BAM we were done. We had some awesome people helping and we would’ve been sunk without them.
We’ll spend Monday painting and touching up some stuff. I’ll post pictures later!
My quiet time today is called “Confidence in God,” which really couldn’t have come at a better moment for me.
I feel very compelled to share it with you all, and I hope that you will participate in this…
Everything in italics is from “Solo-The uncommon devotional.”
Read: Read this Psalm aloud slowly.
1-2 I look up to the mountains; does my strength come from mountains?
No, my strength comes from God,
who made heaven, and earth, and mountains.
3-4 ________, He won’t let you stumble,
your Guardian God won’t fall asleep.
Not on your life! Israel’s
Guardian will never doze or sleep.
5-6 God’s your Guardian, ________
right at your side to protect you—
Shielding you from sunstroke, _______
sheltering you from moonstroke.
7-8 God guards you, _______, from every evil,
he guards your very life.
He guards you when you leave and when you return, _______,
he guards you now, he guards you always.
Think: This psalm ranks as one of the greatest psalms of trust and confidence. As you read it aloud a second time, do something different from verse 3 on. Address yourself by name in the places where the blank appears.
Read the passage a 3rd time.
Is there a word or phrase that sticks out most to you?
Share it.
Pray. Speak with God about how much you do or don’t trust him. Tell him about your confidence level and ask him to give you grace to grow in it.
Live. Have a little fun here. Keep these ideas about confidence in mind and stand as confidently as you can. You might even want to gesture–put your hands on your hips or hold out your fists in front of you. Stay in this pose for several seconds, going over your selected phrase. Now do it in front of a mirror. Imagine God standing next to you, protecting you in some way. He might be shielding you from the side, or maybe He’s behind you with His arms wrapped around you.
The Bible can really come alive when you start putting your name in there like that.
I’ll tell you my phrase:
“God’s your Guardian, Emily, right at your side to protect you…”
So, we hope you liked our new back wall and the extended stage
I couldn’t do Sunday justice with words. So I made a video. It’s not much, but it will give you an idea.
Is it possible to lust after a house? (cue music: she’s a brick hooouuusee).
Seriously. I was walking Puma (yes folks, I closed my laptop, got off the couch, and WENT OUTSIDE) in the cute perfect little neighborhood by our apartment complex. As I walked on the perfect brand new side walk by the perfect looking houses, I couldn’t help but try to look in the windows (they should’ve named me Tom I guess) to see what it’s like to own a house. I wanted to see what their walls had on them and what kind of cool furniture they have and whether or not they have to take their shoes off before they go inside. Sometimes there were little sets of shoes by the big sets of shoes and I was jealous of the perfect little families. I just re-read all that and realize I sound bitter. Because I was until what happened next.
My friend from college lives in that neighborhood. She’s still in with her family, which is cool. I stopped by to speak to her for a minute. She was in her PJ’s and looked totally relaxed, just hanging with her parents. As I walked away I thought to myself, “Gosh, she’s so lucky to still be at home with her family. No worries. She can sit in her PJ’s at night and read books. I want to do that.”
And then I stopped walking and laughed out loud at myself.
Guess I really don’t know what I want, huh? I want all the perks of being an adult without the responsibility. I was talking to my dad about it afterward, and he listened like he always does, but no adult has an answer for that kind of thing. But that walk with Puma was kind of an eye opener for me. That neighborhood became a thin place for me. A thin place is what Vince Antonucci calls it when the spiritual world and the natural world get really close together. The veil that separates them becomes transparent and you get a glimpse into…something. Heaven, Jesus, an epiphany. It’s a thin place.
I prayed the whole way I was walking (OK, well sometimes I was telling my dog to poop, but mostly I was praying). I told God I didn’t know what I wanted. I told Him I know things get more complicated the more stuff you get, and I wasn’t sure I wanted more complications. I told him I was sorry if I made Him think I was ungrateful. I told him I wanted to start talking to Him more, because He’s a good listener. And I started thinking about all the stuff we DO have.
And I prayed the scariest bestest prayer ever:
God. I will do whatever You want. Whenever You want. Wherever You want. Just show me what to do and I’ll do it. I am Yours.
So yeah. That’s all I got. I don’t know why I felt the need to share that with you, but maybe one of you needed to hear it.
That’s the title of my quiet time today.
Job 42:7-13 if you want to look it up. Basic synopsis: God is more please with Job for being honest about being pissed than he is with Job’s friends for being indifferent about how they feel.
I think this quote from Peter Kreeft sums it up better than I could:
[Job] is in a true relationship to God, as the three friends are not: a relationship of heart and soul, life-or-death passion….God is infinite love, and the opposite of love is not hate but indifference. Job’s love for God is infected with hate, but the three friends’ love for God is infected with indifference. Job stays married to God and throws dishes at him; the three friends have a polite nonmarriage, with separate bedrooms and separate vacations. The family that fights together stays together.
God can handle your anger. He wants it. He wants an HONEST relationship with you. Job got pissed. He was angry, hurt, and maybe even bitter. But he didn’t turn his back on God and become indifferent to Him. HE TALKED TO HIM ABOUT IT.
What about you?
Are you talking to God about what He does that cheeses you off?
God can handle you.
Look who’s talking now…