Howdy,
I hate to admit it, but Facebook makes connecting with fellow Christians easier. Sigh.
After the church retreat I went to a few weeks ago, it was a piece of cake to find people online and add them as friends. Thanks to FB, I know who is having a tough week, who's scrambling to find a place to live, and who will get a nice little weekend vacation.
Also, I find myself working on what I hope will be a fun little video project. I'll be interviewing couples and finding out how they got to be where they are. And how did I broach the awkwardness of "Hey, you mind if I grill you about your personal lives and question you about your relationship?" Via e-mail. (Easier to reject me that way, that's what I reckon.)
Then there's the gal who had a mini-chat with me over Yahoo Messenger about my belief in God and if I'd ever had God speak directly to me...
Yeah, I now know more about people I sit next to in church by hopping online. And after that starting point... I can now have actual converstations with them. Madness.
I guess that means technology is our friend. Or will help us make friends. Perhaps both...
Showing posts with label pew. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pew. Show all posts
Monday, July 6, 2009
Saturday, December 20, 2008
The lengths to which I'll go (and drive)
Howdy,
Well, I'm now listed on blogged.com. And I told them I updated this weekly. Sigh. Guess I'd better stick to my word, huh? ;)
To any of you outside my county, I'll just tell ya that we got plenty of snow this week. (And those of you around know that our definition of "plenty" is 4-6 inches. Midwesterners, we ain't.) I will also let you in on a secret that no one in Seattle will actually admit to: We can't drive in the snow. It rains in the majority of the year, and we can't even handle that action. So when ya toss snow into the mix... well, the city pretty much shuts down. In fact, I often comment that there are two kinds of people in Seattle. Those that don't know how to drive in snow, and those that think they knew how to drive in the snow. I'm in the first category. Ten years of driving and I have yet to chain up. I know to use 2nd to drive up hills, but other than that, I'm a twerp. I give people as much wiggle room as possible.
Now, a smart person would stay home on a Sunday morning instead of venturing out into the snow. ....so I ventured out into the snow. Happily, everyone is chicken and afraid of damaging their precious car. I am above such material concerns and figure God will take me whatever way God chooses (i.e., that "stupid" element). I think my car skidded once in forty-five minutes. I did just fine. Drove to Ballard, went to church, and not surprisingly, the attendance was about 1/3-1/4 what it normally would be. A shame, because there was actually a pretty good sermon on marriage. I don't think it was quite the eye opener he wanted it to be (he definitely was feeilng the time resetraint), but there were some good points made. My noggin' will retain, "Sleep together, eat together, pray together, talk together". I know! It's like it makes sense to spend time with your spouse! Go figure.
Then along came Monday and small groups. The snow had basically been cleared off, the steep hill I drove on was mostly bare (yay!), and I think everyone who planned to attend showed. So kudos to our mighty group. (I really like my Monday night group. An eclectic mix of folks, ages, and backgrounds, but they're all good people in my book.)
Then came Wednesday night. Heh. I want to say it snowed in between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, but I'm not one of those people who will stare out the window and watch it snow. I tend to take it as it comes. And unbeknownst to me, who doesn't have e-mail at home, an e-mail was sent out saying that the meeting was cancelled due to snow. So I take my little car, sit in stop/crawl traffic, get through the ice in my city, hit the city that the meeting is held in? It's like I walked through the wardrobe opposite C.S. Lewis's. In two minutes it went from snow and ice patches to completely dry. There was nothing. Nada. No flakes, no moisture, goose egg. I parked my car, walked up to the door stop, and had a sense of dread when I saw that they only had on about half the lights they normally do. Rang the doorbell, and on the third try, they came down and told me about the e-mail and that it wasn't gonna happen.
And here's the kicker... when I finally did check my e-mail at work? There was no e-mail from them! I'd been left off the list! So I would have driven out there regardless. ;) God enjoys humor. I've decided.
There ya have it, I am a stubborn guy who was raised not to miss church. Will I allow myself a mental health day now and then? Sure. But I'm wary about skipping church too much and getting in the habit of finding excuses not to go.
Two blogs ago "anonymous" and I had quite the little chat. I'm going to guess it was a she, but we'll just call them "anon" for short. (It has nothing to do with their position! Their sentence structure strikes me as feminine! Sue me. [Side note. Please don't sue me. I like what little comic books I own.]) Anon feels called to go out and preach to other countries. I don't. But I do feel called to drag my sorry bum out of my apartment and make the effort get to church, even if it is a little "messier" than normal.
So yes, I'm a fan of exerting oneself and making sure the pews are filled. But yes, Seattleites are weather wimps. And we all know it. What can I say, God made some of us more "special" than others. ;)
Well, I'm now listed on blogged.com. And I told them I updated this weekly. Sigh. Guess I'd better stick to my word, huh? ;)
To any of you outside my county, I'll just tell ya that we got plenty of snow this week. (And those of you around know that our definition of "plenty" is 4-6 inches. Midwesterners, we ain't.) I will also let you in on a secret that no one in Seattle will actually admit to: We can't drive in the snow. It rains in the majority of the year, and we can't even handle that action. So when ya toss snow into the mix... well, the city pretty much shuts down. In fact, I often comment that there are two kinds of people in Seattle. Those that don't know how to drive in snow, and those that think they knew how to drive in the snow. I'm in the first category. Ten years of driving and I have yet to chain up. I know to use 2nd to drive up hills, but other than that, I'm a twerp. I give people as much wiggle room as possible.
Now, a smart person would stay home on a Sunday morning instead of venturing out into the snow. ....so I ventured out into the snow. Happily, everyone is chicken and afraid of damaging their precious car. I am above such material concerns and figure God will take me whatever way God chooses (i.e., that "stupid" element). I think my car skidded once in forty-five minutes. I did just fine. Drove to Ballard, went to church, and not surprisingly, the attendance was about 1/3-1/4 what it normally would be. A shame, because there was actually a pretty good sermon on marriage. I don't think it was quite the eye opener he wanted it to be (he definitely was feeilng the time resetraint), but there were some good points made. My noggin' will retain, "Sleep together, eat together, pray together, talk together". I know! It's like it makes sense to spend time with your spouse! Go figure.
Then along came Monday and small groups. The snow had basically been cleared off, the steep hill I drove on was mostly bare (yay!), and I think everyone who planned to attend showed. So kudos to our mighty group. (I really like my Monday night group. An eclectic mix of folks, ages, and backgrounds, but they're all good people in my book.)
Then came Wednesday night. Heh. I want to say it snowed in between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, but I'm not one of those people who will stare out the window and watch it snow. I tend to take it as it comes. And unbeknownst to me, who doesn't have e-mail at home, an e-mail was sent out saying that the meeting was cancelled due to snow. So I take my little car, sit in stop/crawl traffic, get through the ice in my city, hit the city that the meeting is held in? It's like I walked through the wardrobe opposite C.S. Lewis's. In two minutes it went from snow and ice patches to completely dry. There was nothing. Nada. No flakes, no moisture, goose egg. I parked my car, walked up to the door stop, and had a sense of dread when I saw that they only had on about half the lights they normally do. Rang the doorbell, and on the third try, they came down and told me about the e-mail and that it wasn't gonna happen.
And here's the kicker... when I finally did check my e-mail at work? There was no e-mail from them! I'd been left off the list! So I would have driven out there regardless. ;) God enjoys humor. I've decided.
There ya have it, I am a stubborn guy who was raised not to miss church. Will I allow myself a mental health day now and then? Sure. But I'm wary about skipping church too much and getting in the habit of finding excuses not to go.
Two blogs ago "anonymous" and I had quite the little chat. I'm going to guess it was a she, but we'll just call them "anon" for short. (It has nothing to do with their position! Their sentence structure strikes me as feminine! Sue me. [Side note. Please don't sue me. I like what little comic books I own.]) Anon feels called to go out and preach to other countries. I don't. But I do feel called to drag my sorry bum out of my apartment and make the effort get to church, even if it is a little "messier" than normal.
So yes, I'm a fan of exerting oneself and making sure the pews are filled. But yes, Seattleites are weather wimps. And we all know it. What can I say, God made some of us more "special" than others. ;)
Monday, December 8, 2008
An Introvert. When not in church.
Howdy,
I like being by myself. I like sitting around thinking. I refuse to move to the city, instead opting to live 12 miles from my work because I don't like the hectic surroundings. I haven't had anyone over to my apartment in about a year, I don't frequent bars, and nine times out of ten I go to movies by myself. I have a fairly regular jogging buddy, but I was say about one fourth of all the laps I log are done alone. I get two to three phone calls a week and I would love a three day weekend where I didn't have to talk to anyone.
I think it is pretty safe to say that I have my introvert side. Probably a large part of why I'm eeking up on thirty and am still quite single. Still, there's one notable exception to this.
Church.
When I'm in the sound booth at my home church, I don't think it really counts. It is hard to focus on God's presence while wondering who is going to want the wireless microphone next. (Not impossible though. God's presence can be rather loud/rude/pushy.) However, upon visiting church as an attendant? Not just a sound volunteer? It's a different experience.
I enter church alone and expect to leave church alone. But in the between, I like a little pew company. (Happens to me on the bus too, but I like it the reverse. Somehow I seem to scare off people so that I'm one of the last people with an extra seat beside me. Comes in handy when my legs are crampted, but I wonder what it is.) The seats are arranged in rows of six or seven, and I plop myself down right in the middle. The LCD projector tells me too! "Slide in to make room by the aisle!" Honest!
I guess the "outsider" part of me wants to know that I'm not -that- scary and that people are okay sitting by me. The "stand and greet your neighbor part" is half awkward/half delightful to me. I don't do small talk well. I'm quite content to jump into your mom's heart attack while you're losing your job. Let me at it. But we only have a minute or two until the pastor wants to talk. So there's that...
Then there's the holding hands after church. Honestly? Unless you're in a leper colony? I think every church session should end with holding hands. Temples too. Social gatherings, the whole thing. (Come to think of it, if we're in a leper colony, they're already sick too. Go ahead, hold hands!)
I have yet to encounter slimy, sweaty hands. And you give a little squeeze at the "amen". It's good times.
Yes, I've found myself looking forward to it. So much that I was getting a little distracted when singing and just closed my eyes and let it be. I laughed to myself that I was hear for God, not for some seatwarmers who happened to be around. Yeah... focus on God. That's the ticket. When I foucs on God then I'm doing what I'm here to do. If God wants it to happen it'll... and then somebody started singing right beside me.
;)
God knows what I need. Can't always get what ya want, as they say. Still, ya trust God, and whether you get what you want or not, it all seems to work quite nicely.
Focus on God. While at church. It is the simple concepts that throw me off. Maybe if I got that tatoo I was pondering... nah.
Toodles
I like being by myself. I like sitting around thinking. I refuse to move to the city, instead opting to live 12 miles from my work because I don't like the hectic surroundings. I haven't had anyone over to my apartment in about a year, I don't frequent bars, and nine times out of ten I go to movies by myself. I have a fairly regular jogging buddy, but I was say about one fourth of all the laps I log are done alone. I get two to three phone calls a week and I would love a three day weekend where I didn't have to talk to anyone.
I think it is pretty safe to say that I have my introvert side. Probably a large part of why I'm eeking up on thirty and am still quite single. Still, there's one notable exception to this.
Church.
When I'm in the sound booth at my home church, I don't think it really counts. It is hard to focus on God's presence while wondering who is going to want the wireless microphone next. (Not impossible though. God's presence can be rather loud/rude/pushy.) However, upon visiting church as an attendant? Not just a sound volunteer? It's a different experience.
I enter church alone and expect to leave church alone. But in the between, I like a little pew company. (Happens to me on the bus too, but I like it the reverse. Somehow I seem to scare off people so that I'm one of the last people with an extra seat beside me. Comes in handy when my legs are crampted, but I wonder what it is.) The seats are arranged in rows of six or seven, and I plop myself down right in the middle. The LCD projector tells me too! "Slide in to make room by the aisle!" Honest!
I guess the "outsider" part of me wants to know that I'm not -that- scary and that people are okay sitting by me. The "stand and greet your neighbor part" is half awkward/half delightful to me. I don't do small talk well. I'm quite content to jump into your mom's heart attack while you're losing your job. Let me at it. But we only have a minute or two until the pastor wants to talk. So there's that...
Then there's the holding hands after church. Honestly? Unless you're in a leper colony? I think every church session should end with holding hands. Temples too. Social gatherings, the whole thing. (Come to think of it, if we're in a leper colony, they're already sick too. Go ahead, hold hands!)
I have yet to encounter slimy, sweaty hands. And you give a little squeeze at the "amen". It's good times.
Yes, I've found myself looking forward to it. So much that I was getting a little distracted when singing and just closed my eyes and let it be. I laughed to myself that I was hear for God, not for some seatwarmers who happened to be around. Yeah... focus on God. That's the ticket. When I foucs on God then I'm doing what I'm here to do. If God wants it to happen it'll... and then somebody started singing right beside me.
;)
God knows what I need. Can't always get what ya want, as they say. Still, ya trust God, and whether you get what you want or not, it all seems to work quite nicely.
Focus on God. While at church. It is the simple concepts that throw me off. Maybe if I got that tatoo I was pondering... nah.
Toodles
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