huh?

How do I fix the time on this thing? It's 10:22, not 8 something. . . .

why isn't it as obvious to everyone else as it is to us?

So this past Saturday night I discovered just how much my mom doesn't get the whole "church" thing. Not even a little bit. I guess it's just so ingrained in her for so long that she is shutting down in those conversations, tuning it out? I don't know, but it was really sad, and to be honest I was a little shocked at how far back there she is. Saturday Barry called and wanted her to be in the nursery since she wasn't scheduled to sing. None of us were planning to go because she wasn't scheduled to sing, and I hadn't gotten to spend any time with Dad the whole weekend, so we were going to have some family time before I had to leave that afternoon (like 12).Well, Barry was rather p-oed, so Mom had to go around repeating it to everyone all day (really just Dad and like one other person who called, but that's a lot of times to tell a story that has nothing to do with anything, but you all know how my mom is. . .she likes to do that sort of thing). Well, anyway, she was talking to Dad on the phone while Mom and I were at Swanky Taco (mmmm), and she was telling him the Barry story and then she said, "it's not like we're skipping church, we'll go do house church tomorrow night" (emphasis mine). Wow. That makes me sad. I knew she didn't get it totally, but this shows she doesn't get it at all. . . . So this brings up my my title, "why is this so obvious to us, but some people just don't get it?" It's not like we haven't explained it thoroughly. How many weeks have we spent on "what is a church?" I don't know what more we can do. I really want her to understand; not just understand on an intellectual level, but to embrace it and live it on all levels, holistically. I didn't say anything on Saturday because it just wasn't the time or place; it wouldn't have gone over well and it wouldn't have done any good. It's frustrating.

don't hold me to it...

but, I really liked the "Church" diagram and "Religion Box" from Friday night, so I am planning to remake it and either scan it in or take a picture and put that on here so everyone can see. Very cool idea all of you. We were a little high off those markers towards the end, weren't we...haha.

Don Miller is amazing.

I want to get back to talking about what Don Miller said last Wednesday. It was such a powerful talk. I wish I had a digital voice recorder (David...) so I could transcribe it here for you, but I will just have to rely on my memory and the notes I took (yeah, I'm cool like that). Um...I just got up and looked for my notes, and now I can't find them, so that is unfortunate. Hopefully I will be able to get the main idea conveyed to you.

In chapel Wednesday morning, Don spoke about the cause of conflict in the world. He says it's due to our fallen nature (as I think everyone agrees on), but he had a very interesting take on the fall and the traditional Adam and Eve story. He *jokingly* said that he grew up Southern Baptist and they taught that Adam and Eve ate the fruit and became sinful and then got together and formed the Democratic Party (hahaha). He says that in the Garden, Adam and Eve were completely focused on loving God and being loved by God. They didn't NOTICE they were naked. They were all wrapped up in God--He met their every need. He says that all humans need someone outside of themselves to tell them who they are (I agree). God was constantly telling Adam and Eve who they were and that He loved them. When they ate from the fruit, they disobeyed God and caused separation--God stopped telling them who they were. Because they were no longer being told who they were and they weren't hearing God speak to them, they became focused on themselves--they became aware of their nakedness. As a result of this, humans ever since have been focused on hearing who they were and caring what other people think of them. Don told a story about how he was riding with a friend to the post office and someone cut them off on the road, and his friend just got enraged. So Don was like, "We were 8 seconds later getting to the post office, so we should turn around and follow the guy home and kill him." Then he said that what made his friend angry wasn't the 8 seconds, but the fact that the guy who cut him off was telling him who he was--that he didn't matter--the guy who cut him off was more important than Don's friend. Then he talked a little about the Lifeboat Principle (if you've read Searching for God Knows What, you know what I mean). If you haven't read Searching, then there is something seriously wrong with you and you need to get up from the computer right now, go to the store, buy it, and read it. Anyway, the Lifeboat Principle, in short, is this scenario where there are a bunch of people in the life boat--too many--and you have to pick someone to throw out so that the boat doesn't sink and kill everyone. Pretty morbid, if you ask me. But the Lifeboat Principle comes into play ALL THE TIME in our culture. This all stems from the Fall and our separation from God. I will post his talk from Wednesday night later. I am getting sleepy.

I have much more to say on many more topics, but I am running on 3 hours sleep. I wouldn't make a bit of sense at this point. More to come. . .

I'm here at the Andersons' house. We have been having a really awesome discussion about evangelism and what is the church and everything. Is America's definition of "church"--a building where people meet to worship God--a valid one? Are there real followers of Christ there? Why isn't it working? Why is there a heirarchy? The form dictates the function. That is the problem. It's a paradigm shift. We are so outside the box here. . .there isn't a model for what we're doing, and that's the point. We are experiencing Christ and letting Him be seen through us, not worrying about how many people are attending our services and programs and how we are or aren't following the budget and whatnot. So silly. We are at a crossroads. Church as it is currently defined, will be a thing of the past in a a few decades. God is moving mightily. Don Miller and I had a short talk Wednesday night about this. We see the problems with "church," but what can we do to change it? Are enough people seeing these problems that something will happen to change it? His answer was that it's a matter of percentages. Every generation improves upon the last, and there is a shift. You have to seek justice. Try not to be bitter and hate the "church."

My friend and I were studying for our American Fictions midterm (it's tomorrow), and we had a coffee break. She eats pickles when she drinks coffee. I was disturbed. Wouldn't you be? Ew!

The way I see it.

Call me crazy, but I just have a feeling that God doesn't take sides in our political issues. I also have a feeling that he doesn't like it much when we claim that He does. It makes me sad when I see how we as Christians in America have used Scripture to judge and condemn others. We are called to LOVE people, not tell them how sinful they are. God is the judge of a man's heart--the only rightful judge. Don't we all sin? I know I do. What is the difference? God condemns all sin, and there is nothing that we do that makes us any better than all the other sinners in the world. None of us is righteous--we all deserve death and an eternity in hell. But that doesn't have to be our end. God gives us GRACE. We are FORGIVEN for the sins we commit. Does God not extend that grace freely to all people? Doesn't He WANT everyone to accept his grace? Didn't Jesus die for EVERYONE? Anyway, this is just the way I see it.

Well, isn't this lovely? I suppose with a name like "Grammar Patrol," I shall have to proofread everything before posting. I don't know how often I will use this, but it's good to have. Unfortunately, I have nothing of any great merit to leave you with at the moment. C'est la vie (that is such a cliche, but a fitting one). Adieu, mes amies.