A series of unfortunate events:

Not the movie, but my past 2 days...

I made it to work on Wednesday. It took me almost an hour due to the severe snow storm. I can usually make it in 25 minutes. Anyway, after making to work, it became more obvious that my co-workers are not as loyal (or poor) as I am. People were calling off left and right. By the end of the night, all of the staff members for 3rd shift had called off. Since I wasn't looking forward to driving home at night in the snow, I made the decision to stay and work the extra shift. By the time the morning shift started to approach, all of it's staff members had called stating that they might not be able to make it in. I was looking at working 3 shifts in a row. Which is not only dangerous, but illegal. Finally another staff member strolled through the doors. I was ready to kiss him. I so badly wanted to go to sleep. It took me nearly an hour and a half to get home, at which point my car got stuck in my cul-de-sac. The plows were nowhere to be seen in my neighborhood.

I left the car where it was, went to bed for a few hours and awoke knowing that I had not finished battling Mother Nature today. I bundled up and went to shoveling. I don't mind shoveling, seriously. it is tiresome, and somewhat agonizing, but I like to be witness to God's awesome power and glory. I see it all around me when I look at 24 inches of frozen water in my drive and in my neighborhood. I could only work in shifts of 20 minutes or so, due to the fatigue I was feeling. I could barely catch my breath before I would head back out.

I saw a good majority of my neighbors shoveling. I waved to one man across the street. Michelle and I have lived here for over a year and I had never spoken to him. He waved back and smiled as he cheerfully shoveled his lot. I was returning from a rest break, when I saw him using a snow blower on his next door neighbor's drive. I continued to shovel, secretly hoping he would have pity on my and my meager attempts to move mounds of God's glory. Then it happened. He came over and in 20 minutes he moved more snow than I could have shoveled in 3 hours. We exchanged names. His name is Joe. I offered him a little cash for helping me, but he politely refused saying, "Happy holidays."

By the time I made it inside, Michelle had a big pot of homemade vegetable-beef stew made. I enjoyed it as it warmed my entire body. Will and Alicia and their son, Aiden came over to share our meal. We laughed and enjoyed each other for an hour or so and then they went home.

I am mentally and physically exhausted. This has been the longest 36 hours in my life.
One other good thing did come out of all this: I was able to spend some time writing my book last night. I wrote nearly 20 pages.
And I might have come up with a title for the project: Outside the Box, Christianity in a Changing Culture.
It is a working title anyway.

I hope we don't have more snow overnight.

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And so this is Christmas...

I am not one of those "holly jolly Christmas" types...i never have been. I know that it should be one of the most important times of the year because I follow Christ, but seriously, I am not all that excited when December rolls around. Some of it has to do with memories of my mother and how much Christmas meant in my family. After she passed away, everything changed for me. So the holidays are pretty tough for me.

I went to Starbucks with Anthony tonight. We had a good time. We talked about all kinds of things, from school, church, religion, college. It was a nice break form my everyday. We saw some friends there and share some time with them. Coffee and friends: what more do you need?

So I started the first chapter of my book. As of right now, it looks like it will be somewhat autobiographical, but with a twist when i get to my current state of spirituality. I don't know where it will go, but it should be an experience.

3rd Place is the one thing that keeps me sane lately. I get so charged and energized when i think about all the potential there is. God is blessing me so much with the opportunity to act as a guide for that group. We will start a series on "A New Kind of Christian" in January. I look forward to it with much anticipation.

So there it is, a snapshot of my day.

I would like to ask for your prayers. Like I said earlier, the holidays are pretty rough for me, which means they tend to be unpleasant for those around me. Add to it the depression that I already bring to the table and it's a formula for disaster. Pray for me, but please pray for those around me as well. I appreciate it.

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So I have been thinking about writing a book...

There, now I have actually said it. I have always wanted to be a writer. In high school, I dreamed of landing that perfect job: writer for Rolling Stone Magazine. I know, dream on, but I was serious. I was the editor of my yearbook, and an editor for the newspaper. I was accepted to a respected journalism department at a decent university. I had won several awards and scholarships. and then....dum, duh dum. God tapped me on the shoulder.

I felt called into ministry. At 17 feeling called is pretty close to the same feeling as being kicked in the groin. It hurt, was a little confusing, and very shocking. It got my attention. Now, I don't really know if God was leading me to ministry, or maybe the fact that I looked up to and admired the youth minister in my church, but I completely changed directions.

I applied to and was accepted to Kentucky Christian College (now Kentucky Christian University). For the most part things were good there. I learned a lot and made great friends, but long story short: I dropped out after 3 years. I got married and went into the world of "real" work. I say "real" work, because most people feel that ministry isn't that difficult. Truth be told, it is a 24-7 job. And a mostly thankless one at that.

Now, almost 7 years later, I am being led back towards ministry. I am part of a growing community called 3rd Place, where I serve as the facilitator. I have been given an awesome opportunity and responsibility to lead this group closer to each other, and closer to God. All the while, my passion for writing has been increasing.

I started this blog over a year ago, and have been sharpening my skills, my technique, my wit. I have made connections with several well respected writers. I have developed a sense of purpose.

So there it is. My confession. I want to be a writer. Who knows, maybe it will happen someday.

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3rd Place Update

At 3rd Place tonight we talked about the concept of story and how God has written us into his story. We had a great time. The discussion was productive, everyone sharing in the conversation. Doug shared a few songs with us tonight. And I might add, he did an awesome job on "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus."

We had our biggest crowd to date: 9
Which doesn't seem like much, but when we officially started as 3rd Place just 3 weeks ago, we had 6... I am encouraged anyway.

The group is taking off, really opening up and sharing. Will & Alicia hosted tonight. They live just 2 doors down from me, so it was convenient for everyone. Jessica & Adam are such a great part of the group. And Jess's co-worker, Kate and her husband, Nate were here tonight. We missed Jamie & Aaron. They couldn't make it tonight. We really had a great time of sharing and being real with each other.

After the closing prayer, Doug had to take off and Kate & Nate left. But the rest of us played Trivial Pursuit - 90's edition.
We played guys vs. gals. I have to say, in all honesty. We stomped them. Seriously, we had all of our pieces in less than a half an hour. I can't say much more about that.

I really love this group of people. We are growing and trusting each other more and more. Many of them have told me that this is the highlight of their week. I am just so happy and encouraged that God has given me the opportunity to facilitate such a thing.

Keep praying for 3rd Place. We have big things coming up at the first of the year. I can feel it!

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What is Faith?

While at work tonight, a co-worker started asking me about faith. Ben knows that I am a follower of Christ and that I serve at my local church community. He didn't really want to know about Christianity. He wanted to know about faith. Ben is in the middle of a self-described "crisis of faith." He explained that he believes in God. But not because he feels God, but because he feels like he is supposed to believe in God. He explained that he grew up in a Christian family. In fact his mother had been a minister at one point. The unmentioned expectations that he grew up with had to be impacting him. Ben is a logical person. Which is often an obstacle to faith. God is not something that can be explained or even fully understood. If that was the case then what kind of God would He be? I don't want a God that fits into a nice little box. Ben explained that in his logic, he cannot justify how a loving, gracious, merciful God could, if we chose not to follow him, banish us from his presence to an eternal Hell. Then he went on to explain that he struggles with the concept of a "relationship with God." To Ben, God is not a person. He is a being, or a force, or something bigger, unexplainable. To Ben, God is more heavenly and less earthly. So it is difficult for him to wrap his logical brain around the idea of having a relationship with God. I explained to him that I think that phrase: "a relationship with God" is a cheesy cliche that some Christian thought up to oversimplify what it means to follow Christ and live in God's grace. I think that phrase is used when it is more difficult to say what we really mean. To have a relationship with God is like having a relationship with anyone. You talk, you listen, you spend time together, you learn about each other, you cry together, you laugh together. Pretty hard to do with a concept, isn't it? But God isn't a concept. I feel for Ben, because I have been where he is. That dark moment of the soul when you realize that at that point you could take one of two paths. One path leads to life in God. Living Kingdom Life, loving God and loving people. The other path leads to self-gratification, self fulfillment, and eventually self loathing. Because we hate to be alone. We were never meant to be alone. God created us to be relational creatures. This was rough, because I didn't have any real answers for him. But then again, when I was in that place, I didn't want answers I just wanted someone to listen, to give validity to my doubts and struggles. I told Ben that we could pick up this conversation on our next shift together. I pray that God gives me the words to comfort Ben and steer him to the path towards God.

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What is evangelism?

That was the main question tonight at 3rd Place.

I don't personally think that evangelism is about catchy cliches and cheesy sayings. It's not about tracts and pamphlets with the "roman road" on them. It not about t-shirts and bumper stickers. I dare say that no one has ever given their life to Christ after reading a bumper sticker.

Evangelism is about relationships. It's about investing time and energy into another person's life. It's about being concerned and it's about caring. It's about listening more and talking less.

I have been dedicating my time to spending a few hours a day actually evangelizing. Building relationships with people. Honestly, people want to share their stories. I have listened to so many people in the past few weeks that I could write a book. But I won't. The point is that we get scared to "witness" to people. We say that we aren't gifted in speaking, or we are too shy, or we don't know enough Bible. Then I say stop "witnessing," start listening. When we show people that we care enough to listen to them, we show them that we care, period. People respect that and are more willing to hear your story. I am learning to take the ordinary, simple moments of my day and use them as a chance to build new relationships. When we stop looking at Christianity as a conquest, as a competition, we will start to see changes in people's lives. The emphasis is not on conversion, it's on conversation. People want to share their stories. Go listen.

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3rd Place

3rd Place met on Monday night and it was a great time!!!
Check it out at 3rdPlace

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