When is my magic year?

Posted August 21, 2008 By Andrea and has 2 comments.

So, I have been thinking a lot about age and when exactly my time to figure things out will be. Now, I know that I am not going to sit around waiting for something to happen, I am trying to go after my passions (one of them being writing) and find some new arenas in which to serve. I love serving, but I can tell you, if you are in the wrong place and not doing something God gifted you to do, the burnout will come a lot faster. Let’s just say I have some experience with this. I want to do something big for Jesus, and I know to do this I have to be following after and leading in the areas he has given me a passion for. That is not to say you will immediately love everything God has gifted you for, I admit I am very trepidatious to being super involved in churches, mostly because I hate the politics. But, I also admit that it makes me feel alive to be involved in the church and helping to shape it towards becoming an avenue for Christ following and not simply meandering around feeling good about ourselves because we are in church.

So, I feel like 28 might be a magic year and I am only 26. I mean, Anne Jackson’s blog blew up and she is 28, Shaun King is busy having amazing ideas for Courageous Church and he is 28. Maybe 28 will be my year. Okay, so I know it is not all about a year, but it is all about having confidence to do what God wants you to do at any age. Ten years ago it was hard to find role models in the church who were under 30, and even harder to find them being not male!! I am grateful and estatic to see that younger people are having an impact and having the COURAGE (what a word) to stand up and do what God called me to do. I have been brought to this time in my life for a reason, and while I was not this confident at 23, I might have been ready had I been listening to God a little more. So, now I am listening and I am ready and excited. No more running scared Andrea. Two and a half years ago I had a problem saying the word boyfriend, now I am about to start saying HUSBAND! So, commitment has been found, trust has begun to heal (this is a process after a lot of men issues I might later address), and most of all I feel the love and acceptance of a Savior who has been so good to me. So, I am ready God. For this life, this year, whatever your Word may bring. I mean, Anne and Shaun are both cool, but did you know that Martin Luther King led the Montgomery Bus Boycott at 26? I mean, I’m just saying….

Do not be afraid to live out God’s will in your life. No matter what your age, color, gender or situation. He has a plan so big, even you will be surprised. Don’t listen to the naysayers and the pharisees, listen to Jesus and remember that “He is with you always, even to the end of the earth.” Matthew 28:20

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Categories: Church "issues", Random, Relationships, Spiritual Reflections
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Trying to tie my head around my thoughts, or something like that

Posted July 31, 2008 By Andrea and has no comments yet.

I feel like I have writers’ block. I have been reading Jim Wallis’s Soul of Politics, also some reading of Al Jazeera and the Bible (not too odd of a pairing), has left the air in my head hollow and the prayer of a new day a faint hope at the end of a long road. Here are some of the angles I am looking at life:

  • Parents’ divorce and family’s lack of cohesion apparent in not only my parents’ life (again this is my angle) but glaringly apparent in the lives of my younger sisters, who need more prayers than my prayer life can muster
  • Weddings, nuptials, that whole white day thing means money and planning, not my strong suit, but hey, we are rich in love and I do know that all will turn out well there. It’s just…. where do I start?
  •  Bush talking about “progress in Iraq.” hehehehehe. Ok, that one was a joke. Right?!?!?! Wait a minute I peed my pants.
  • And the one I feel worst about, the whole “worry about nothing pray about everything” (I am not even going to google this to tell you where it is from in the Bible bc I just know it is NT Paul writing…I think)
  • Oh, and hey, I love theology but I hate it, because one thing I REALLY have to work on is the icky feeling I get when I look around online and find “super spiritual blog” BS that even I cannot begin to understand. And I’ve been a Christian my whole life.

AHHH!!!! Ok, rant done. But do you ever really wonder, why?

Oh, and furthermore, why NCLB ? (No Child Left Behind) It’s not helping people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Categories: Politics?, Random, Relationships, Spiritual Reflections, Weddings
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Revitalization from the Father

Posted July 10, 2008 By Andrea and has no comments yet.

Psalm 130

 1-2 HELP, GOD-the bottom has fallen out of my life! Master, hear my cry for help!
Listen hard! Open your ears!
Listen to my cries for mercy.

3-4 If you, God, kept records on wrongdoings,
who would stand a chance?
As it turns out, forgiveness is your habit,
and that’s why you’re worshiped.

5-6 I pray to God-my life a prayer-
and wait for what he’ll say and do.
My life’s on the line before God, my Lord,
waiting and watching till morning,
waiting and watching till morning.

7-8 O Israel, wait and watch for God-
with God’s arrival comes love,
with God’s arrival comes generous redemption.
No doubt about it-he’ll redeem Israel,
buy back Israel from captivity to sin.

One of my favorite prayers when I was living through rebellion was this one. This morning I read www.flowerdust.net, Anne Jackson’s blog, and I was reminded of my past and everything it has brought me to and made me, even though there are many things I have remained ashamed of. When I stop to think I cannot believe it. Where would I be if God was keeping track of all my wrong doings? If he did not redeem and restore, offering hope.

Right now is one of the happiest times in my life. All at once I feel renewed, restored, and ready to continue growing in my relationship with Christ. Then it is also one of the saddest times in my life. As my parents are divorcing I feel sadness, confusion, and disbelief washing over me when I least expect it. So I do pray, and I thank God for his love and forgiveness. Both for my past, and for my parents. It is tempting to want to believe my childhood was all a lie, a pastor and a pastor’s wife pretending to be perfect. But then I am reminded, that just like me, they cry out to God, they pray, and they need his renewal and forgiveness too. For “who would stand a chance.” Certainly not me.

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Bridezilla already?!

Posted July 9, 2008 By Andrea and has 1 comment.


 

I have been engaged for only over a week, but already ideas are swirling and I am trying to get the little things taken care of so that I won’t be so insane closer to the big day. We have, perhaps insanely, set the date for November 1st. We are both ready to be married. Neither one wanting to make the day a huge elaborate event. But here is the problem. When it comes to things that I do not have a passionate stance on, I tend to go the people pleasing route. People expect this and that, so I need to do this and that. Right? If I have a conviction about something, it doesn’t seem to be a deal. I do what needs to be done. But when I don’t, I seem to cast myself among the reeds, flittering and swaying in the breeze, sensitive to the merest touch. The big question of the day is, not what if I’m Bridezilla, because I HOPE my fiancé was joking when he called me that, but is all the hoopla surrounding weddings morally repugnant or not?

I want to keep my budget small, but the mere 250 people we may be feeding is enough to skyrocket me into the outer sections of the universe. I am fully prepared to go the Sam’s Club route, but then I have to ask, do I really want to contribute to a global company that might be morally raping the women and children of Asia while I sit all comfy on my couch? But unfortunately, just like my daddy so frequently told me, money doesn’t grow on trees. In fact, I am acutely aware of money. Possibly because every time I asked for something big as a child, i.e. a trip to Disney World or the newest of gadgets, my father also like to sing the song “Money, Money, Money, Mon-Ey.” So, that puts a “green” wedding out. We are going the recycled route for invitations, candlelight for the service, and that is about as far as our “green” budget takes us.

I care so much for all of the crazy and insane problems in this world, is a wedding just selfish? Thank God I settled against anything with tulle, because otherwise this might be the worst mind screw I have ever experienced. More thoughts to come…. Please feel free to share yours!

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Categories: Random, Relationships, Weddings
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