Apparently it's a Guy Thing

I wouldn't say that I'm completely against male friendships of all sorts, but I don't tend to seek them out.

I've always been a fan of the ladies. On any given day I'd prefer to hang out with them. I'm not a real threat, and they don't seem to burp quite as much as fellows do.

See, with any collection of males even somewhat approximating my age, the conversation seems to drop to a level that just isn't my style. Unless we're talking comics or movies, I just don't have anything to say to them. I have pretty close to no interest in sports. I don't care about beer. And no, I don't want to discuss which females I'd like to see naked.

So imagine my surprise when the guys I go to church with seem to be rather decent fellows. Last week at a church retreat I ended up chatting with quite a few guys, and not once did the issue of "hotness" come up. I even managed to talk with some guys who had the same background as me. Y'know, no great crisis of faith, just a happy and normal childhood.

In church yesterday I happened to be in a group where everyone was a runner, one man was thinking about his daughter going off to college, and one guy was getting ready to go on a missionary trip to Guatemala to provide medical assistance. Nice men, kind guys, males not obsessed with things that I consider base or menial. A pleasant surprise to be sure.

I've always had men in my church who were good people. But people my own age? Craziness. Who are actually people I'd be okay with my sister going out with? (Y'know, if she weren't already married) Well, that just takes me aback.

File it under happy surprises.

Buckle Up, Kids

This evening, I will be off to Yelm. With 3 strangers in my car.

...to my way of thinking, that last phrase just sounds like some low-budget horror flick. (Okay, it might be a comedy, but either way, somebody's gettin' left at the side of the road in some dark wilderness area. Complete with low-laying fog and wolves. And coyotes.)

Yet, it is untrue. At least I hope so. In theory it will all be a jovial church-sponsored romp down to a retreat.

What can I say? The five minutes of greeting time at church doesn't really enable close, lifelong bonds to be established. Plus people always have somewhere to go after church. But a retreat? Yeah, you're stuck there. You paid to be stuck there. Get comfy.

There you have it. The story of an introvert trying to chat it up with some fellow Quest-ers. If it were indoors, I'd bail. This is happily not the case. I like being outdoors. I wear flannel for a reason.

Plus I get to ride a horse. Which I haven't done this millenia. That'll be nice. As for the rest of it? God only knows, right?

Outnumbered isn't entirely bad...

I admit it, I ain't perfect.

A notion which I am sure you were all aware of, but should you need an incident of proof to warrant such a bold statement? I'm pretty sure I fell asleep in church on Sunday. (I maintain that it is not entirely reasonable to work a double, sleep a little, go running, and then be groggy in church.) Regardless, it happened and I was either alseep or just plain zoned out for the message. Whoops.

However, I was encouraged to hear that we were being prayed for. The week before the church had gone all Quakerly and didn't actually have a message. Gasp! We sat and prayed and sung hymns and just let it be all loosey-goosey. Gasp gasp! As a part of that, they stuck some post-its inside each bulletin and encouraged us to write down any prayer requests and stick 'em to the walls on the sides of the sanctuary.

I'm not a huge fan of standing in front of church and having the congregation pray for me. (I like any attention paid to me to be under my control. Y'know, dressing up like Batman, speaking Spanish, just plain being goofy.) Writing down a few little lines on a postit and slapping it up on a wall? I can do that. I went the "subtle" route and blended with the communion line.

Well, the next week (Sunday), Eugene told us we were being prayed for and that the pastors would walk through the room during the weekedays and he read some prayers in the service and ya get the idea. Made me feel a little better. I reckon its mostly because I'm slowly learning more and more to let go of things and let God take control.

Including my sleep schedule apparently...

Social Upgrading

Both my churches are big fans of global justice. We want the world to become a better place, and we'd like to think that we can help in some small matter.

Not surprisingly, the "cooler" of the two churches focuses most of their efforts on Asia. The congregation is largely Korean, so I don't see any reason why they wouldn't focus on Korean and island nations.

"Quakerville" is a little more old-fashioned. We stick to good ol' Africa. (You can always find plenty of poor and hungry folks in Africa. Always.)

Still, with all our care and concern for missions, it surprises me how often we're taken aback. I wasn't aware that human trafficking was more popular now than ever. Still, given the amount of dirt-cheap products being cranked out, I can't say that I was horribly shocked.

Yesterday the congregation of my home church was told that 4 million people had died in the Congo wars and that 100,000 women had been raped with very little judicial action against such a heinous crime. I'm not sure which is worse; the number of people who didn't have any clue and were completely shocked, or the fact that I wasn't surprised at all.

Plenty of people in the world to care about. But with 6.5 billion people and limited time, there are many that slip through the cracks and out of our scope of knowledge.

The day wasn't a complete somber-fest. I had probably the best hand-holder next to me in church. (Hand-holding/shaking is a lost art...)