Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Thoughts on Worship

I've vented about this a while ago. But a couple of really interesting entries on my friend Morty's blog got me going/thinking again. Stop on over to his site, www.joshmorton.com, and read the January 19 "Spring Summit" entry, then check out his latest thoughts, "On Worship." To entice you, here's a provocative excerpt:

"He counted six themes we both consider critical in our salvation, and here are the number of times specific words mentioned these themes: sin: 1 (and the word sin wasn't even the word); Jesus: 6; justification/salvation: 1; Heaven: 0; grace: 2; cross: 4 (the words "died upon that tree" four times, never actually the word "cross"); glory: 10.
Other common words:love: 27 (always in the "I love you"/Jesus is my boyfriend way, never in the 'God loves us' way); worship: 21.
Now here's the kicker. We sang the words "I," "me," or "my" 181 times."

(If you're interested in more of my perspective--though Josh sums it up quite nicely--you can read my thoughts here.)

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

Titus 2 Women

During my four years at college, I was surrounded by women my age--maybe a couple of years older or younger, but for the most part, all at the same stage of life. These were wonderful challengers and encouragers on my faith journey.

This season of my life is much different--full of a wide age range of women, and I love it. Of the women I work with at Project Respect, two are old enough to be my mom, and they're so wonderful to work with. My Bible study at church has introduced me to some more godly women, also significantly older than me--I'm the youngest there by at least 15 years.

And then there's my Wednesday night Bible study. Composed generally of Steve's female relatives, and their relatives (it's kind of complicated so I won't try to explain), these ladies are exemplifying Titus 2 in my life: "Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be selfcontrolled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God."

The oldest woman there is Steve's granny, who's probably in her 70s; the youngest is his 18-year-old cousin. And despite these huge generation gaps, we sit around a kitchen table together for two hours or more every week. We laugh like crazy; we discuss family and church and the state of the world; we dig into Christian living books and God's Word--and we sharpen each other. And I love it.

Being surrounded by women your age is a wonderful blessing, for sure. But there is just nothing like sharing a cup of hot chocolate with a group of women of all ages. You can learn so much and be so blessed by the faith journeys of women significantly older than you (though they probably wouldn't appreciate me labeling them as such!) who have walked this road many years before. It must be exactly what Paul had in mind.

Monday, January 10, 2005

Extreme Home Cryfest

I can't help it, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition makes me cry every time. What a cool job that would be.

Sunday, January 09, 2005

Scaredy Dog

My family has an extremely cute 10-year-old cocker spaniel. Molly has more personality than any dog I have ever seen. But she's also really goofy sometimes. For some reason, she is deathly afraid of our George Foreman grill--I am not kidding. I don't know if it emits some kind of high frequency that we can't hear, or what. But as soon as it beeps saying that it's heated up, she runs out of the kitchen, preferably into my dad's lap, and starts shaking until it's over. Part of you feels bad for her, and the other part of you just has to laugh because she's so weird :)

Saturday, January 08, 2005

Like Father, Like Daughter

I will freely admit to being a daddy's girl. One hundred percent. But I've also inherited this trait from my dad that's probably not the best thing I could have gotten from him: Competitiveness.

To be brutally honest, neither of us is a good sport about losing or failing. Even at something like a card game--one that requires no skill, only luck of the draw. We pout when we lose, and we gloat when we win. It's a terrible trait. So ridiculous to see him all bent out of shape because he's losing...only to realize I do the exact same things!

Monday, January 03, 2005

Let the River Flow

Today, as part of one of my New Year's resolutions, I drank a full two liters of water. Nice and healthy for me, right? Except that I have to go to the bathroom every ten minutes. This is a drag considering I usually have a really big bladder. If I have to get up in the middle of the night to pee, I am going to be really annoyed.

FYI

No, Steve and I do not know where we are going to live after we are married. Yes, we realize the wedding is in six months (actually less now--not that I'm counting).

I will be sure to let you all know as soon as we figure it out. Until then, thank you and good night.