community...

my head is filled with thoughts... my cool friend erin got a call from lifeway today... she'll be on the jenness park team... she's wanted to work cfuge for years... she's incredibly excited... she came over tonight and we actually went to work out and then she wanted to know all about camp...

as i shared things with her about camp, i was reminded of so many memories... some very pleasant, some not-so-pleasant... but i was more reminded of significant people in my life... significant ministry experiences... and then some people i had almost forgotten about...

moving on...

i am currently working on two stories for the paper this month... with my already hectic work schedule and trying to pack up the pieces of my life for my upcoming move, it's going to be a busy month... i'm sure the stress will set in soon and the emotional breakdowns will follow... hopefully i'm wrong... luckily i get to go to seattle this weekend - i'll be working on a story, but i'll get to take a couple of days to just be... and i love seattle... it will be my last chance to be there for a while... honestly, i have no idea when i'll get to go to seattle again...

i'm straying from the point... the last few hours, i've been bombarded with ideas of community... the main story i'm working about is singles' ministry in the nw (and the lack of)... a big chunk of it will be 1st person - i've decided to write it that way so that it won't be so accusatory... more of a real-life example... and a big chunk of it will deal with community... i really honestly believe that i would have made it in the nw a lot longer if i had community... i have quasi-community and imitation community on some levels... but i haven't found the intimacy that comes with community... i have a few really good friends, but i need groups of people - even small groups... and so far, i haven't really found what i'm looking for... seminary was really close, but it was different with us only going to school 2 days a week and everyone living in different places...

i hate it when i get tired... my thoughts start making less sense than they would normally...

and a random side note... i realized on sunday that everyone in my immediate family is single... which is weird... i don't know anyone else who can say that... grandma, mom, dad, sister, brother... and in my extended family, there are only 3 people married of the 11 represented on my mom's side... it just seems weird... but at the same time, we represent this large demographic of people... i mean, singles are not only post-college-not-married-yets... the term also includes those who have been single for a long time (lifers), divorcees, and widows/widowers... and it spreads through all different types of people - all kinds of economic and geographic differences... political opinions, races, ages, gender... there is nothing that defines a single person aside from the fact that they aren't immediately in a marital relationship...

and right now, in sbc life in the nw, there is not really anything going on to reach them, specifically...

i'll move away from the fact that it is heartbreaking... and move to something else for a while... it might actually be as heartbreaking, if not more so...

right now i'm stuck on the irritation i have that politics enter religious life too much... i can see how political issues and the mishandling of them by many believers have squelched community... a few days ago i was overwhelmed by the gospel... it's hard for me to even hear one of my students talk about how frustrated she is that a club working to educate other students on homosexuality is trying to get started in her school...

i want to scream... "you've missed it..." jesus christ came to earth, took on my sin; died in my place, rose from the dead and offers eternal life... and it breaks His heart more that one doesn't know Him as Lord than the fact that they have a different sexual orientation from the cultural norm. Yes, I do believe homosexuality is wrong/a sin for believers... but the point is not that they are gay, but that they don't know the love of the Lord.

i'm exhausted and craving junk food... i'll go to bed and solve both problems... i'm sure this post doesn't make sense, but i have a lot of stuff floating around in my head and wanted to get it out on paper. i haven't started writing either story and i have to have one done on friday before i leave town... aaggghhh!!!