Weekend Musings

Celebration

On Friday, Ben, Trent, and I went on one more bike ride before Ben left for school. I have written probably too much about biking in recent weeks, but just want to recap. Several weeks ago, we decided that we were going to ride 50 miles in one ride before the end of the summer. I'm pretty sure Ben came up with the goal. We met every week, starting at twenty miles, and increasing by 10 miles each week. We met our goal last week. On Friday night after a relaxing ride, we celebrated with Wooden Peel pizza, campfire, probably even a few beverages. Abby joined us for the pizza and Lois came by for the fire. In my own experience, I often forget to celebrate. It is so easy to get caught up in what is going bad or what is going wrong. Yet, when good things happen, it is so easy to take them for granted. So Friday, we celebrated... reaching a goal, a beautiful summer evening, friendship. The challenge though, is to really turn the tables and celebrate, praise in the bad times, too. I picked up a CD yesterday at the Pulsefest by Mandisa (from American Idol). She has this song, Shackles (Praise You) that includes these words,

"But as I lift my hands, I understand
That I should praise You through my circumstance."

Any circumstance.

The past month and a half have been amazing. Unfortunately, it didn't really hit me until tonight how much I should be praising God for all that has happened. Yet, the next step will be to praise God not just in the highs, but the lows, too.

Pulsefest

On Saturday, Keith, Danielle, and I met the Zimmers and Danielle's brother and sister-in-law at the Pulsefest. This is a huge concert - 50,000 people - just a few miles up the road. While strolling around the grounds, I was surprised to find two aunts and a cousin; Caleb, the Subway guy; Landon, a former co-rider of the big yellow limousine; Sharen and her two girls, family friends; Kevin and his family, co-workers. It was nice to be able to say hello and catch up a little bit. After seeing Landon when coming out of the pee station, I went back to my chair. I then noticed Kevin and his family - a mere three rows directly in front of me. Strangely, we had been there for 3 hours before I saw them. It was almost like I needed to be looking for people. What about the other49,895 people? What about every one I walk by or ride bike by? What about people at work? How many people need to be seen?

Church

I was struck by these words... (Jim, feel free to correct if they are wrong.)

"A lot of [what we call] Christianity is about beating people up."

"Jesus says cast out the Word and God's Spirit will draw people."

I was struck by these words - particularly in light of the comment posted by anonymous in regards to the previous post, "Most people want to get through the day." We "Christians" don't seem to be offering a better alternative to what people doing to get through the day. In fact, we confuse the situation by focusing on "soul-searching", "sin", "heaven and hell", decision time." I don't know about you, but the connotations associated with these words/phrases don't sound too enticing. They seem to stand in stark contrast with the Jesus of the Gospels. The phrase that stands out over and over again in the Gospels is Kingdom of God. In Jesus, we are perfect, whole, complete. What if anonymous could have written these words? What if we exuded Jesus in our words, our actions, our love in such a way that God's Spirit draws in other people. I can tell you that the much of the last 5 years - particularly at work - I have walked around like a bitter, angry person. All I could see is what other people were doing wrong and how sorry I felt for myself and this just simmered within my very soul. Hmm. I guess that was enticing.

Going Away Party

Last night, Steve and Amy and a going away party for Kevin. Kevin is heading to California for graduate school. He is taking a major step out of the boat. What would happen if more people started stepping out of the boat - not afraid to be different, to even risk sinking?

Puma Gathering

Last night, I eventually ended up at a Puma gathering. It is kind of strange how conversations seem to pick up again just like they never ended. We all seem to share this bond, this common thread.