The Changes That Fall Brings

Yes, I know. It's been a while. (I'm actually mildly shocked that my Dad has yet to e-mail/message/Facebook me about my lack of information) What can I say, my search has settled and I've been using my free time at work to watch tv shows that I fell asleep too early to watch. Ya gotta love streaming videos (with less commercials!).

My main area of uncertainity used to be how many more churches I was going to cruise through. For the time being? The answer is zilch. Look, because the twisty road from A to B, it takes me about 40 minutes to get to Quest. If I choose to go to NSFC after that, then we're adding on another two hours. I think 4 hours of God time is a reasonable chunk out of one's morning. And that comes with certainty. I want to keep going to Quest, have time to pop in at NSFC... and adding a 3rd church? A fill in the blank visit church here and there? Uh, no. Don't have the energy. Besides, I've got my food in the door, people are friendly enough, why should I have to extend the effort to yet another church?

The real reason? I'm lazy. The other real reason? As I've argued before, if you start chatting with a cute girl and she wants to go out with you, thinks you're worth her time; ya don't go and start chatting up some other girl that same night! I'm not greedy. I've got two churches that work for me. That's fine. I might eek out here and there to explore other possibilities, but I was never much for the "because it's there!" sense of exploration. Not my thing. I'm content, I like content, content is better than where I was 2-3 months ago.

In addition, I have a new pastor to get used to. I'll admit to a small amount of concern when I started attending. First off, there's the whole introducing myself to a group of people who are complete strangers to me. But the pastor wasn't even in attendance! The main poo-bah was on sabbatical! How'm I supposed to get a feel for folks if their guy ain't around to chat with? Well, problem solved. He returned last Sunday.

Now, oddly enough, his name popped up on my Facebook on Saturday. Some of my favorite people (and solid Christians in their own right) are already friends with him. I had seen his name pop up before, but didn't realize he was pastor of -that- church. That was comforting when I put two and two together. Then I heard him speak on Sunday. He's quite relatable for me. Recovering extreme-introvert. Nerdy. Has to take breaks from e-mail/technology. And is on Facebook. (As evidenced by the fact that he friended me about two hours after I first e-mailed him. But one wonders about the sincerity of some with over fourteen hundred friends. Sheesh! Still, nice to have a well-liked pastor) ;)

Starting this next week? C-Groups. Yes, in their desire to fit in with Seattle culture around them, they took a perfectly good word, community, and shortened it to make it cooler. (To be fair, I knew going to their church that they run the Q-Cafe... so it isn't like I went into this unknowingly) They acknowledge that it is hard to get to know people, so they have groups that meet during the week at people's homes. I signed up for two. One in Queen Anne, and one for newbies. We'll see how it all goes. (Already it's easier and cheaper than -shudder- Equally Yoked. There's a way -not- to meet people. Yikes. Topic for another time...)

Clearly I'm alive. Enjoying church(es). Trying new things. Just in my own, timid, baby-step kinda way. ;) (Bring a camera to my IMAX movies, then you'll see me non-timid)