Why I don’t like roller coasters…

A lot of people love roller coasters. I am not one of those people. A lot of people hate roller coaters, I am not one of those people either. But I definitely do not like them and this is why:

1. Long lines: I don’t like waiting an hour to go on a ride for 3 minutes and get off to go wait in another line for an hour for another 3 minute ride. I just don’t get it…

2.  The heights: I don’t like going high without a railing to protect me. Going up in a car where you don’t have the security of seeing a railing keeping you safe is not fun. What keeps coaster cars from falling off the edge anyway…

3. The drops: Directly related to number 2 the reason I don’t like the drops has less to do with the stomach issues (which I have never experienced, thankfully) and more with the height issue. As you go over the edge and drop down you lift off the seat for a second before regaining your seat. Now I know that there is a bar in place to keep me safely in the car, but I DO NOT LIKE the feeling of flying so high up. Perhaps if it was an enclosed area I would feel better about this…doubtful

4. Going upside down: again directly related to number 2, I don’t like going upside down because it feels like I am just hanging in the middle of nowhere way too high above the ground

5. They hurt: this is not true for all roller coasters, but many of them hurt either legs or arms as you fling around the tracks. People seriously enjoy a ride that hurts this much? (I’m thinking specifically of ones where you are secured by the arms)

So yesterday was not my favorite day ever. We went to an amusement park and ride after ride was a roller coaster, at the end of the day I was hot, sore, and I am now vowing to never ride another roller coaster again. (At least not until next summer when I doubtless will be dragged around once again). Who’s up for bumper cars?

Pulling at the Leash

I walk a dog several times a week and today as we walked around the block I was getting very frustrated. Buckley kept pulling on the leash fighting me the entire way! We would walk a few steps and there was a garbage truck and she would be pulling as hard as she could the opposite direction because of the garbage truck, then a dog was barking up the street so she tried to pull me forward, pretty soon she smelled something she liked and took off toward a house, and then back again anxious to get home she had me practically running and I still couldn’t keep her in check. Now, I have been walking Buckley for a few weeks but today I was just really annoyed because I had someplace to be and things to do and the walk was not going well at all. As I frustratingly put her back in her cage and left I was struck by how much like her I can be. I am a dog and God is holding the leash. He gives me slack when I am following the right path but when I try to detour or move ahead too fast he holds tight and in love tries to guide me correctly. But being bullheaded I ignore the tightening of the leash and continue on my path until at last I realize I don’t really like where I am going that much and decide to follow the path he has already made. Now this analogy gets close to being heretical in ways, but in the most basic way it’s true of us all. God has a plan for us, a path set out for us to follow, but he doesn’t force us to stay on it, he keeps his hand (or leash) always on us while we try our other ways of going about living and he’s still there ready to celebrate when we come back to his way. In the end no matter what detours we take our end is where God intended us to go all along. I take comfort in knowing that despite my wandering off the path God is still there and he knows where we are going. It is so much less painful to follow the correct path, pulling at the leash hurts, but that’s a good thing because if it didn’t we would have no reason to return to the correct path. Today I am only pulling a little, tomorrow I pray I am walking comfortably with slack in the leash, but if I am pulling a lot I pray that the pain will be there to remind me where I should be at.

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Lonely in a Crowd

This past week I have been increasingly aware of how superficial we often are. By we I mean my general age group. I am often surrounded by several people, and we often have a great time together. But I have been feeling increasingly lonely, and I think I know why. We get together and “hang out”. This usually involves some sort of activity with very little conversation, in fact, the other day when I went to dinner with a couple friends much of the conversation seemed forced. As I left the restaurant I began thinking about how much I miss the late night discussions from my college days, and wondering why we choose to talk about things like the weather and sports when there are so many more meaningful things we can talk about. I am tired of being lonely in a crowd, I want the depth and meaning of my regular college chats back. I want to feel like my friends aren’t just people I kill time with, but people who I share life with. So I am making a concious decision to refuse to be superficial. I will refuse to allow my conversations to remain tepid and instead I will plunge forward into the stuff I want to talk about- questions of theology, my struggles with current events around the world, and yes- occassionally some discussion about my favorite sports teams. Will you join me in refusing to allow your conversation to remain superficial?

Money

I was talking with a friend of mine who has spent the last year working for Americorps. She has gotten paid about $5000 for a year of working, and she plans to spend another year doing this. My nearly instant response was that I would love to do what she is doing, and I wouldn’t mind not making much money, but I have so much debt to pay off before I will even think about that. I was caught off guard when she asked why I was so worried about money. I have never considered myself someone who is concerned about money, but really, I am. I was desperate to find a job after college to start paying off student loans, when I could have been looking for volunteer opportunities to do what I love. I decide whether I can afford to go on a mission trip based on whether I can afford to pay for it, rather than trusting God to supply for my needs. I am rich, and I believe that having money makes faith more difficult, makes trusting more difficult, makes living the Christian life more difficult. Having money affords me two things that get in the way of my faith-the feeling of being self-sufficient, and the knowledge of what I may lose if I don’t make enough money. When Jesus sends out the twelve to go to the “lost sheep of Israel” he tells them to take nothing, no gold, no silver, no copper, no extra bag. They are to be completely relient on the generosity of the people they are going to. Can you imagine the faith this would take? To give up everything and travel across the country with one other person, trusting that God will take care of all your needs- that you will have a place to sleep, enough food to eat, and clothes to wear. There is no opportunity in this situation for you to fool yourself into believing that you are the one taking care of your needs. How difficult was it for the disciples to give up everything they had to go and serve? I’m not going to lie- part of me desperately wants to be free from money, free from the hold I have allowed it over me, and another part of me loves the comfort and sense of security I find in having money. What’s the balance? Is there a balance, or is it all or nothing? I definitely can relate to the rich young ruler who wanted to follow Christ without having to give up what he already had. Which master am I choosing? How can I learn to serve only one? How do you work to loosen the hold of money in your life?

Rules, rules, rules

Why is it that we (Christians) are constantly worrying about following all the right rules. You can’t swear, you can’t drink, don’t listen to certain music or watch certain tv shows. You can’t be homosexual, you can’t have sex outside of marriage, don’t be seen hanging around the wrong people. Don’t lie, don’t cheat, don’t murder, don’t steal. Give money to the poor, take care of the sick, give money/time to the church. All of these rules, and many, many more seem to be the basis of Amercian Christianity. The general point being that you should live a good life, avoid sin, never give in to temptation, don’t allow yourself to be put in situations where you will be tempted, etc. I am not saying these things are bad, but come on, I know plenty of non-Christians who are doing all of these things, sometimes even better than me. So, why am I a Christian if this is what Christianity is all about?

If you believe this is why Jesus came to earth- to teach us how to obey the “rules”, then you really have no reason to be a Christian. The good news is that Jesus DIDN’T come to earth to help us follow rules better, he came to have a relationship with us. And yes, part of that relationship means we avoid certain things and make concious efforts to do other things, but that is NOT what it means to be a Christian. As a 25 year old Christian woman many of my acquaintances and friends don’t see the point of being part of the church or being a Christian. Wake up American Christians- to be Christian means to be a Christ-follower. Forget about the rules and focus on what it truly means to be Christian- build up your relationship with Christ. Spend time getting to know him, loving him, worshipping him. Everything else will follow.

I wonder what American churches would look like if all we did was gather together with the purpose of growing in our relationship with the Triune God. I for one would love to be a part of a community like that.

Pray Continually…

I have to admit, prayer is definitely at the bottom of my strengths. I want to do a better job of praying, but I always end up with my mind wandering all over the place. I have tried many different ways of praying, and to this day my best way to pray is by journaling. Recently our pastor preached a series of sermons about prayer-and after each sermon I was like, aha that is what I need to do to make my prayer life stronger. And a week later I was still frustrated by the lack of communication between me and God. As I got to really thinking about why this might be two things struck me. First-am I prarying continually or am I setting aside times for prayer? And second, am I using my stronger areas to help with my prayer life? I think there is a reason we are told to pray continually-actually, I am sure there are several reasons to pray continually, but one thing that I have realized is that it is easy to pray if my mind is consistently focused on that. I get an email from someone, I say a prayer for them. I notice a beautiful flower, I praise God for it, when I am waiting in  line or sitting in traffic I pray for whatever comes to mind at the time. Perhaps this seems like a lot of remembering to pray, but I find it comes quite naturally. If I’m thinking about the person or thing anyway it seems only natural to pray for them. And what I have found is when I sit down for a time of prayer/meditation it is easier for me to stay focused, and it is easier for me to recall things I had prayed for earlier. It also helps me keep my mind focused on the right things throughout the day. What are some things you do? Have you found anything to be especially beneficial for you as you strengthen your prayer life?

Pornography World

No, I’m not talking about the prevelance of what we traditionally call pornography. I am talking about our culture’s obsession with sex in more general terms. I am guilty of consuming more television than I probably should, and I have recently become more aware of the sex-saturated culture. When did overtly sexual advertising become acceptable? Who decided that in teen-focused magazines full page ads for deodarant should be about having sex? I was talking with a friend a little while ago about his struggles with pornography and he said that one of the biggest struggles for him now is as he stands in line at the grocery store seeing cover after cover of women wearing bikini’s and other revealing clothing. The next time I went to the grocery store I studied the magazines on the racks. I was deeply disturbed by the fact that one magazine in particular had a woman in a suggestive pose on the cover with headlines talking about how to get more sex, sex positions, and more!

How do we live as Christians in a world that is constantly pushing at us from all sides to fall into the trap of adultery? How do we guide and equip our youth to live in a world so full of sexually suggestive things that teens today, even those who have spent their entire life in the church, are willing to accept sexual experimentation outside of marriage as the norm, and even worse, as not going against biblical teachings?

How can we reclaim the beauty of sex?

“Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you by the gazelles and by the does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.” Song of Songs 2:7

Fellowship

The church today seems to have failed to live up to one of the most basic purposes of the New Testament church- fellowship. I hear a lot of churches talk about fellowship, but genuine fellowship seems to have gone out the window. Whatever happened to breaking bread together? The church does not exist for people to come once a week, hear a sermon, sing some songs, pray, and put their money in the collection plate as penance. But as I look at the majority of churches today this is what I see. I want to break bread! We crave intimacy. It is human nature to desire to have strong bonds with other people. Why has sex become such a large part of our culture? Because it is one of the few ways we are still able to feel the intimacy we crave, even when it doesn’t achieve this genuine feeling, it at least provides a short-term euphoria. Sex has become the drug of intimacy. And what is the church doing to create fellowship? Little if anything. What happened to the days of church potlucks, Bible studies, and other church social events? When the New Testament church gathered they didn’t get together to sing and hear one person teach, they gathered to share with one another, to care for each other.  There wasn’t a minister standing up talking, there was a group of people taking turns sharing. They didn’t pass a collection basket, they shared with one another what they had- if one had an extra cloak they gave it to someone in need. If someone had extra food they shared with the hungry. The church cannot continue to operate as it is. We cannot force fellowship. We need to take the time to build the relationships, to share with one another, and to provide for one anothers needs. Until the church does this, we are not fulfilling our role in Christianity or the world. Let’s start with a Bible study that isn’t lead by one person and share a meal while studying the book of Acts.