the day a monk went to the wittenberg door...

It's reformation day! Sometimes we forget what things happened so long ago and how God used people within history to shape His church. Today is not only Halloween but it's also the day that Martin Luther a German monk went to the church doors with something to say. Here is a snippet on what this day is about: On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted a proposal at the doors of a church in Wittenberg, Germany to debate the doctrine and practice of indulgences. This proposal is popularly known as the 95 Theses, which he nailed to the Castle Church doors. This was not an act of defiance or provocation as is sometimes thought. Since the Castle Church faced Wittenberg's main thoroughfare, the church door functioned as a public bulletin board and was therefore the logical place for posting important notices. Also, the theses were written in Latin, the language of the church, and not in the vernacular. Nonetheless, the event created a controversy between Luther and those allied with the Pope over a variety of doctrines and practices. When Luther and his supporters were excommunicated in 1520, the Lutheran tradition was born. This in turn would later ease the creation of the Reformed and Anabaptist traditions as well which then would also eventually lead to baptist tradition. His translation of the Bible into the vernacular of the people made the Scriptures more accessible to them, and had a tremendous political impact on the church and on German culture. It furthered the development of a standard version of the German language, added several principles to the art of translation, and influenced the translation of the English King James Bible. His hymns inspired the development of congregational singing within Christianity. Brian Coates is so excited that congregational singing happened because he loves him some hymns. :)

Lifegroup pix

Call me sentimental but I wanted to snap some pix of some amazing
senior girls before they go off and graduate.
( cue sappy graduation songs now like
Power of a moment or take it way back with Wayne Watson's watercolored
ponies).

Sleepy saturdays

Today was a much needed Saturday to just rest. Apparently it was
needed for diesel as well since he has napped all day too.

Just a Saturday of cleaning and an evening of chillaxing

excited to visit the ceral bowl restaurant

I love planning vacation. Among seeing friends, visiting churches, and spending time with family I get excited about little things like restaurants that only serve cereal. I have heard about places like this...and I bet there is something like this in Nashville but not exactly like this one. Go check out the website. I've already told Darrel that we are definitely having breakfast here one morning when we are visiting in Miami. YAY! And there is one getting ready to come to Birmingham soon. Darrel and I got hungry just looking at the website.

Look at what one of our Senior girls did with a pumpkin carving!

Ooooh mufasa! Say it again....mufasa!
Doesn't this pumpkin look amazing? Yeah. Laura Anne haywood did this.
I am continually amazed at how gifted the students I know here at
Brentwood are. Sorry the pic quality is so weak. I had to take a
picture of my iPhone screen to get a pic sent in a text MSG.

Still at inbox zero

Still enjoying the habit of inbox zero-ness as you can see by my
iPhone inbox snapshot. And now that does not mean people have stopped
emailing me. It means I have my inbox under control. Yay!

Patience...BEING VS DOING

I just realized that I am extremely impatient. I was getting frustrated that I hadn't received some information that had me in a holding pattern. And it led me on a journey of how impatient I can be with most things.

• I am impatient with healing. I want to be able to run like now! And I get even more impatient to be "whole" when some well-intentioned person calls attention to my slipping into a limp when my foot is hurting or tired. I just want to move forward.
• I am impatient with information. I want to know things on my time schedule. If I am working on a project and I am getting things done and I have to stop and shoot out an email and wait for weeks for a response---I get impatient. I have no idea where that email is on that person's to-do list. Obviously it's lost in the midst of their inbox and they probably have a PC which is why they don't want to be on their computer because it just isn't as fun as a mac. Just jokes--I'm typing this on a PC so settle down all you "I'm a PC" ad fanatics.
• I'm impatient with God If we're being honest, I sometimes get impatient with God. I want to go---I want to move forward. Why are we here God? What were you thinking God when you did this...when you made them...etc. Let's go---there's things to be done. Why am I still in this place emotionally---physically----spiritually---let's move forward.

And maybe that's the problem. I am constantly trying to move forward that I forget to be still and stop striving. There's something to this whole "being still" thing because when you cease striving, you recognize that someone else is directing the story. You recognize that you are not God. You recognize that the world does not need you to do one more email...does not need you to answer one more phone call...does not need you to "DO" anything to keep it spinning. And when you do stop "DOING" and start "BEING", that is when I find that God starts calling us to move in new directions. And maybe He had wanted us to move before but we were so BENT towards moving forward that we were pulling away and didn't see where He was wanting us to move. This is why it is important to take days or weeks if you can, to just designate them as "BE" moments where you recognize that you are not God and He is. Where you lay down the projects, the appointments, the everything that can't wait...and lay it down before Him.

I am thankful I work for a church that allows such time like that for me. I am going on a 5 week sabbatical and 2 week vacation at the end of November. I am excited to get to just "BE" and see what God is doing when I'm not so busy trying to do it for Him. I can't go into all the details of where I am going as some of the places I mention could put people in harm's way if I were to list them. But I will be going international for 14 days. Then I will be visiting churches in Seattle, and Miami. Darrel and I will be resting and enjoying some vacation in San Diego. And we will also be spending some time with family in Virginia.

Pray for me as I prepare to stop DOING...as that is something that will be a challenge for me.

I wonder for you today if you are needing a "BEING" moment. Try to find a time this week where you claim an hour or a day to be your time to declare He is God and You are not. Let me know how it went.

I

Working on a Missions Broadcast to our lifegroup leaders...

This is me doing a "Missions webcast" to our lifegroup leaders. It's still being edited but I wanted to talk to our lifegroup leaders about the missions component of Lifegroups. We're trying to be intentional to help our students know that missions is not just going but it's also praying, giving and knowing where God's story of mission has been and how we fit into it. Knowing that HE came up with the idea for missions and HE is the one who sends us and calls us to GO. But apparently I like to talk about missions alot because I have about 15 minutes of footage that I need to cut down to 2 minutes before I will ever let this webcast out the door. So it may never become reality but I thought I would try a different means of communication. Hope I can get this done.
Alright...enough talk. I'm going to edit some video.

Bob will be proud...

Bob (and others)...I just wanted you to know that on Saturday I started running again.  I haven't even been able to watch Biggest Loser this season because I knew I wasn't ready to run yet. BUT I ran 2.77 miles on Saturday with 3 screws in my foot and it only hurt AMAZINGLY MUCH...but the point is---I'm back out there now Bob.  And Jackie says she's going to start back tomorrow. I am glad to be back among the two legged people again.  So thanks for your support and cheer me on as I get ready to go back to bootcamp soon and very soon.  It won't be until January but I am back in the YMCA and hopefully starting back my early morning running this week.  

What I'm listening to...

"Shadowfeet" by Brooke Fraser

Walking,stumbling on these shadowfeet
toward home,a land that i've never seen
I am changing: less and less asleep
made of different stuff than when i began
and i have sensed it all along
fast approaching is the day

[CHORUS]
when the world has fallen out from under me
I'll be found in you, still standing
when the sky rolls up and mountains fall on their knees
when time and space are through
I'll be found in you

There's distraction buzzing in my head
saying in the shadows it's easier to stay
but I've heard rumours of true reality
whispers of a well-lit way

[CHORUS]

You make all things new

Lola's dorm room

A spanish lesson...

Fun with the video equivalent of twitter...twelve seconds.

our first 12 second video with darrel and amy-jo on 12seconds.tv

This is me mad at the pc. It's screen turned red. Jerky pc!

FUNNY GT FACE: I wondered when this would find it's way online...

Well it's been 2 months since Guatemala. And when you travel with a group of 25ish people (we had people come and go during the trip)
then you end up doing some funny things. This was funny face night. We were all loopy. Some were being pressured to make a funny face. Others were trying to withold and took a vow of unphotography. For them, a quick photo on the bus in bad lighting is just not worth it. What a fun night! Thanks Kaylee for sharing. :) Mine's not that bad.

Customs of the Kingdom: Find your open "Kates"

I have found myself in conversations with staff members at church, with people like Thom Wolf, and with my best friend and husband over the last few months...and it's about how we as citizens of God's Kingdom have lost the art of conversation. We have forgotten what our customs are. As citizens of the U.S---we have customs. Our customs are to use forks and knives when we eat (some people in the U.S choose to ignore these customs or create their own customs but for the most part...this is how we eat.) We drink beverages during our meals as opposed to some areas of the world where the beverage is served at the conclusion of the dining experience. (Literally a hard custom to swallow in some places as I need my palatte cleansed immediately) And then there is the custom of the steering wheel wave in the midwest...you know the one. Where you are driving on the road and see the car coming towards you and you do the fingers raised off the wheel to acknowledge the driver. There is also the custom of saying "How are you?" with the anticipated response of "I'm fine, and you?". And the customary, "Have a nice day" as you leave any place of service. There are tons of customs. There are the customs of shooting off loud noises on the 4th of July. There is the custom of eating turkey until you doze off into a coma on Thanksgiving. There is the custom of painting your face and wearing large foam fingers to root for guys that wear tight pants and throw a skinned ball around a grassy lawn. We may not understand all the customs but they are ours.

Well if we are citizens of the Kingdom of God, we have customs. Thom Wolf on Thursday night said these words that got me thinking: "When you pray around the world, it is okay as long as you state that it is your custom. Just begin by explaining what you do and that it is your custom to thank God." I loved how he put that, because it should be our custom to thank God. It also should be our custom to find out as much as we can about a person in order to love them well. It also should be our custom to bring Hope into the conversation. That is what we as "Jesus people" should be known for.

Today I saw a man standing on Main Street in Franklin and he was holding a political sign. I looked to see which candidate he was supporting and saw the words: "I'm campaigning for Jesus" on the sign. I drove away and thought...seemingly nice man with good intentions, but what was his purpose? He's just having a one way conversation and that's not a campaign for the Jesus I know, love, and follow. My Jesus asks questions. My Jesus gets to know you and loves you for who He made. My Jesus changes hearts from the presidential office to the prison. He is not confined to a political system but can choose to work through it. My Jesus uses you and me to be his message and if we only hold a sign or only sit in a pew then we are missing the adventure of being a Kingdom of Christ-izen. We have customs but we've forgotten them.
Or maybe it's just me.

I have been asking God to remind me to look for people to share the customs of my citizenship with so that the King I serve is made known to those around me just like someone took the time to do for me so long ago. All they need is an introduction to Him, and then it's their choice whether to get to know My King. I am not campaigning. I am not selling Jesus. I am simply an ambassador...a citizen rep if you will.

For some reason, the people that God usually puts in my path to share my customs with are named Kate. I don't know why but today was the third Kate I have begun an on-going---cross my path regularly--kind of friendship with. The two Kates that lived next to me were the first Kates. And now my coffee barista that I see on an all-to-often schedule is named Kate. I found that out today. We've talked about hair. We've talked about weather. Now I know her name and she knows mine. The journey continues.

Well I've talked enough. I am trying to share my thoughts with you as I journey through life being a Christ-izen (It's christian mashed up with citizen--clever or annoying I'm using it in this blog) I'd love to hear your thoughts on customs of the Kingdom.

Fellowship,free food,and great discussion with Scott Harris's Lifegroup and friends

History on a page with Thom Wolf

Adiós boot. I wear sneaks now!