My Mind And My Heart

Recent Mood:

EXCITED.

This last Wednesday I went to my youth group and so far I was very encouraged by all that I am seeing. For starters, both "Priscilla and Aquila" (not their real names, just a geeky Bible nickname)
both seem like really nice people. Funny too! We had an activity and Aquila sort of innocently ruined it. But he redeemed himself at the end. (this has got to be the first time I have ever compared my life to weather conditions, well except when I was reading Castway*. Does that mean that I will make terrible predictions for the weekend. But you said I was gonna be SUNNY!!!)

Aquila opened up to us about a really difficult aspect of his life. The way he spoke conveyed such a transparency and and peace about the whole thing.

They both went over the agenda and plans. One of them is knowing who Jesus is and who we are in him. I hear they plan on opening their house to us. Cool! I wonder what doing life (Christianese, haha) will look like. I would like to chime in on the topics/subjects and approaches. I would like to bring a Gospel centered approach and be open to what the Spirit can and does do in our community.

I do imagine their will be some challenges for me mainly because there are younger kids and sometimes they think whatever they say is super funny (really, you're British...uh-huh and everyone in England walks around with tea and says "I'm British, I'm British. Sure) Really I don't think I should be that harsh.

We played a trivia game, mostly super easy .At first I was annoyed at what our team name was because I'm not sure about making fun of that person. Though most thought it was funny and I didn't know if I was being uptight. Too bad we didn't win... because that's totally what Jesus cares about. (Guilt trip? Maybe its because we lost) Though I did take issue with some of the "right answers" like Genesis not being poetry and God creating the world in 6 days ( I wonder if I could bring up John Walton in this conversation, I mean, its not like I don't care what the texts say, but I want to understand them better) There were some funny wrong answers. Like Donald Trump. (Imagine, "I am a tremendous Samaritan, the best Samaritan there is, everyone loves me" and MAKE COMPASSION GREAT AGAIN).

After we men stacked up the chairs (ok, I guess... but I am egalitarian) and Me, My Barnabas, and Aquila stayed talking. We talked about his experience in the Church growing up (from our particular denomination) and how they were really strict regarding what he could wear (see, see, men should be modest not just women, you know that verse about not wearing short sleeves...right) There was sadly, an awkward I-have-to-state-my-singleness moment, but I wasn't that bad. Mostly they just joked around it. But what I did like (while My Barnabas had his own positive feed back) was how he took interest in us, how there would be time for us to take part and do stuff (what ever "small" thing that would entail for me- though I have entertained thoughts of preaching and singing-I am somewhat reluctant about it) I told him that him sharing that part of his life made it safe for others to share other parts of their lives.

I still would not want to share mine. ( Where a shirt that says: "I Have Been Battling With Pornography" -oh and by the way, what's your name New Girl? ) Just the thought of it seems scary (And yet I write about it in many styles, including a poem that got published, what am I, some weird paradox?)

So I'm excited about that and that LD is coming this Sunday. Also I might visit Mountain View next Sunday.

(Note: this has got to be one of the longest post I have ever published)
* A poem by William Cowper.
**A footnote of obscure reference? Is this a Chick Tract? HAW HAW

My Mind And My Heart

Friday, August 5, 2016

Recent Mood

Tuesday, August 2, 2016