Christmas decor

Tonight I heard a great sermon about how we need to celebrate Christmas because of Jesus' birth.  That it is his birthday so let's celebrate.  I do not usually enjoy the Christmas season all that much but the sermon inspired me.  So, I dragged out my meager decorations, bought a 4 foot tree (the little place I call home isn't big enough for much more) and enjoyed an hour or so of decorating.  Here is the outcome...

A lazy weekend...

I feel as though this weekend has gone on forever - in a good way. I spent time with a good friend, saw a good movie, read a good book, heard a great sermon (with my post grad school ADD that is quite a feat), and enjoyed the company of many of the people I love. I love it when the weekends seem to be relaxed and long. Now, on to the craft projects I bought today and trying to watch and delete the increasingly long list of options on my DVR.

Habakkuk

My church has been going through the book of Habakkuk. It is in interesting book and I have been enjoying the messages. This morning I decided to read the little book myself. Our pastor talks about Habakkuk and the dips that we go through. Those ups and downs in our spiritual lives. The crisis of faith that often accompanies that valley we walk through. He asked us to make a mark where we are on the graph. Are we still on the initial upswing of a newbeliever? Are we headed into the valley? At the very bottom? It was an interesting question to me. Then we talked about how to climb out of the valley. Habakkuk remembered who God was. That it is importanta to remember who God is and what he has done in the past when we are in the valleys. To remember the yesturdays so that we can live and trust Him for the tomorrows. I thought that was important, I began to think of the things that I can remember God for and that I need to do a better job of this. Then my prayer is to live out these final verses...

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The Sovereign Lord is my strength;

he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,

he enables me to go on the heights.

Update from Romania

My Boss just got back from Romania, I put together an update about the curriculum project we have been working on. Since I had to e-mail it as a picture, I thought I would post it here as well. Enjoy!

(click on it to enlarge it)

Hoping to hope

In February it will be a year of trying to "live" in the Temecula valley. It has been a struggle to give up the everyday things of life in Orange county. My church, friends, cake night, watching Grey's Anatomy with my roomates, watching How I Met Your Mother with my brother, babysitting and hanging out with kids whenever I would want to (and sometimes more than I wanted too). There was the possibility of running into a kid that I loved. Levi at costco, ella and sophie at the movie theatre. I think that is what I miss the most. Anyway. Tonight I was able to be a part of a meeting at my new church. I have now brought up the amount of people who know me by name there to at least 6. I also have two facebook friends from the church. I figure it's a start. Beyond that I feel like I have a place there, which is very exciting for me. They are full of ideas, passion, and excitement. They are ready to run. I am excited to be a part or what is happening in their children's department. In other words, I am beginning to hope that as I get more involved, the Temecula valley will begin to feel even more like home.

A crazy day at Dland

On Saturday I went to Disneyland to enjoy the day with some of my family, a couple friends, and two of my favorite kids in the world. It was a special day for disneyland. They were filming their Christmas parade, which is why we were going and bringing the kids. Their special guests were the Jonas brothers, some guy named Jose something, and then at the end of the parade, Corbin Bleu from HSM sang a song.

We had amazing spots for the Jonas brothers which was cool because one of the kids got to tough each of them. Major bragging rights when you are in first grade. The kids thought they wer in heaven. Here are some pics, just so you too can enjoy...

The oldest, Kevin

Next comes Joe, for those of you who don't know, he seems to be the most popular.

Nick is the youngest, also popular among the younger females.

My sis and our friend, Rebecca you can see how close we were to the stage...

Why Church?

Why do you go to church? When you wake up on a Sunday morning and make that decision to get ready, get in your car, and go to church, what motivates you to do that?

This is the question I have been pondering. I think that one of the saddest things about the modern church is that we have reduced it to showing up on Sunday morning, singing some worship songs, shaking a few strangers hands, and then listening to a sermon. Then many believers leave for the week, feeling as though somehow they have accomplished their biggest "Christian duty" for the week.

I do believe that the Sunday morning experience is an important if not strategic part of a believer's spiritual life, but it is not by any means the end all of "church." There is just something in my gut that twists a bit when I hear about believers go to a church service because they feel as though they need to. I just had a friend who is in between churchs. A hard place to be (I know). They went to a church last week that they knew they did not want to attend. Mainly because they had been there before, they knew how to get in and out and it accomplished the task of "going to church." I just thought it was kind of silly, admirable, but silly.

I began wondering how Paul would have thought about the church. I think he would have defined it as a group of people who gathered for worship, teaching and prayer BUT that also lived within community. I think that it is that last part that we so easily give up on in today's church. We don't push into our churches, we expect them to cater to our needs. We don't reach out and serve readily, then we wonder why we feel disconnected and our not growing spiritually.

I recently "jumped in" at my new church - Life Church. I may live to regret that. No church is perfect. I decided though that I had a decision to make. I could either jump in now, or wait around for what? You can't learn most things about a church from its sidelines. So I jumped.

Anyway, all that to say, think about it this weekend - why are you waking up to go to church? Is it a part of your holistic spiritual diet, or is it your only meal the whole week through? How can we influence those around us to view church in the holistic, communal way?