CoffeeSwirls

Lunch Dates

Sorry I haven't posted any personal updates lately. I'm busy at work, busy at home, busy at church, and busy at my newsletter. That sounds like an extremely lame excuse, doesn't it? Well, I'll backtrack just a bit and mention my Monday lunch date with Pastor Host.

We talked about a number of topics. Where I am, where I've been, and where I want to be. We discussed the progression of the church in the last three years, and I let him know of a few things I remembered from fifteen years before. We are really on the same page! One thing that was said about a church service really stands out, "If worshiping God isn't a celebration, what's the point?"

I discussed full church membership with Tina that night and she responded favorably also. It's funny, but after seeing our mutual hunger for this, I still asked her tentatively as if I was about to rock some little kayak over if I asked with too much authority. Anyway, early next year, our family will be upgraded from "Regular Attenders" to full members.

What's the difference? Membership is a way of expressing to all that we believe in the direction the church is taking and believe that God's hand is on the rudder and is supplying the wind for our ship of spiritual war. It's a way of publicly putting our name in the ledger of those in the community who will stand with this group of believers no matter what.

And how do we profit in this venture compared to our current status? From what I can tell so far, we don't. That's actually the beauty of this, though. If there were tangible profits to be gained by throwing our hats in or if we were more welcomed and loved there because of our membership, it really wouldn't mean anything, would it?

We're excited for this next step!

Today, I took a day off to unwind a bit before the turn of the year rush that I'm expecting at work and to get some progress made on my newsletter. I woke up Ben this morning and we headed to school. I made him recite the books of the New Testament on the way and was going to say them together with him when he stopped me to say them on his own. He's getting another Sparky jewel tonight! On the way to his classroom, he asked me to come back for lunch, so I did.

It was chapel day at school and I have to say that I've never seen such a group of kindergartners that were so well behaved or looked so nice! We shared pizza, a chicken salad sandwich and chocolate milk, then had an ice cream sandwich before heading back to his classroom.

The kids were well behaved, but they were kids! In that setting, the teachers have a weapon at their disposal to keep the peace: peer pressure! A few kids got a bit rowdy on the way back to class, and others told them to knock it off before they were in trouble. They weren't that bad, but their classmates helped them keep their behavior in check.

Anyway, I have to get going on my project if I'm to make any headway before I pick Ben up from school, so I'll end this post with just this:

Life! It's better with God!