Just a Paragraph

So I'm working on my application for seminary (yes...it's true...grad school), and in the midst of the "general biography" section, there was a question.

Describe your salvation experience and your relationship to Jesus Christ.

Then they proceed to give me three lines in which to explain all this. My first thought: how in the wizzle do I put all that into three lines?! You can't write really, really tiny or else the old people who read the applications can't read it. And they don't give you the opportunity to attach another piece of paper (and believe me, in other places, they give PLENTY of opportunities!). This application has to look classy, refined, mature, academic. Which leaves me with one choice: to reveal all that is my spiritual experience (i.e. my whole life) in a paragraph.

What are they thinking?!

At any rate, I attempted it. Trying to verbalize an entire lifetime with the Almighty is like trying to....do...something....really, really...difficult. (Sorry, my metaphorical outlet is on vacay today.)

How would YOU answer that question in a paragraph? What are your stories?


My feeble attempt (and I still may have to write small):

I was baptized at age 6. My mother says it was because I claimed Jesus was my best friend and I was at a Billy Graham crusade, but I honestly cannot remember. I grew up attending church and all church-related functions, assuming that because I did this, God and I were alright. It was not until late into high school that I realized "church Sarah" and "not-church Sarah" were not the same person. It was then that I remember truly surrendering my life to the Lord and knowing He was the Lord of my heart. Since then my relationship with Christ has waxed and waned. There are moments when His presence is palpable; other moments I feel almost like I've never experienced Him. In spite of my feelings, however, He has remained faithful. I am ever-learning more about Him, His nature, His work in the world and He is ever-guiding me to live in the Spirit. Sometimes I listen, but more often than not, I don't. But He, as always, remains by me, shaping me to be a person who desires His heart.

And the Winner Is!!!!!!!

Using a highly sophisticated randomization technique... ------>

(let's not tell Joe Langford I stole an ACF mug... ;) )



...the winner is Emily Huser with her submission of "Ping"!!!




Thank you for all for playing! I love contests and I love prizes! Yay!!! (So many exclamation marks.)



This is the start of a beautiful friendship...

A coward. And a scalliwag.

Okay...maybe not a scalliwag. But definitely a coward.

This week has been "LifeShare" week. I signed up to be intentional and bold with my faith and my speech. We prayed together for courage and boldness and I was pumped.

Then it got personal.

The challenge was to invite a friend to church. Either the internet church or the one we attend personally.

And I chickened out. Like a little girl.

See, being bold isn't so hard when it's people I can't see face-to-face. It's not so hard when I know those of you who read this. It's not so hard when I don't have to ask you questions and face awkward moments.

It's hard when you have to ask a friend to engage in something very personal and very intimate and very inciting.

All they can say is no. I guess if they wanted to, my friends could punch me in the face for asking. But I doubt it. There is no risk on my life; all there is the potential for a little weirdness.

There is however, risk on their's if I don't speak the Truth, if I don't allow opportunities for the Lord to work.

Yesterday, my pastor said "Bravery isn't the absense of fear; it's doing something in spite of being afraid." I can't be bold or intentional in my life, in my words, in my relationships if I live in fear of what could happen.

So, please pray for me. That I'll let the Lord's braverism (yes, it's a word) work through me to be obedient to Him. And I'll be praying for you that you'll be bold and intentional in your life as well.

WebChurch...Round 2 tonight

Well, I joined up with the LifeShare crew tonight and it was amazing. People were praying for each other, people they'd never met. Someone even prayed for me and I don't know them from Adam!
So if you want to watch or join, here's the proper link, as given to me by the paster over there.
11am tomorrow morning and other times this weekend! Check it out!

Love you guys!

***So I missed last night's LifeChurch. But I'll be there tonight!

8pm, CST (that's 6pm for you West Coasters) over at LifeChurch.tv. Since I wasn't there, I don't know if my links are broken or not. Hopefully they're ok.

But check it out.


Also, today's "word of the day" - tintinnabulation. Any guess?

See ya tonight!! =)

Church on the Web? What?!

The Internet is a funny thing. It's only been around for barely a generation, yet it's become a HUGE part of life. I know that if I don't check my Facebook/blog/Gmail/Xanga on a regular basis, I get a little panicky.

So here we are. Doing an aspect of life in the binary world. Yes, there are real people on the other sides of these screens, but for all practical purposes, the web is an outlet, an extension of a culture - not who we are, but maybe what we want to be.

Which makes it difficult sometimes to live life. I'll be honest, it's MUCH easier for me to tell the internet how I feel about some situation or internal conflict than it is to tell another person. I can edit my thoughts until they come out sounding pretty decent (I think). There's little stammering and I can make whatever point I want without interruption.

But my hope for this blog (and for a community of bloggers) is to live life intentionally. There are blogs I read everyday that shout community, reality, honesty, authenticity and love from every post.

So how to do we, as a web-community, do that here? Not forsaking the community of the people we actually live with, but also having purpose and passion here. How does that work? Can it?

Well, some of the people over at LifeChurch.tv are trying something new. They want to develop authenticity and community in this space that so many of us give so much time to. For the next week, they are hosting church via the Web. Weird? A little. But it's reaching people that may not normally go to "real-life" church.

The message is Jesus Christ and Him resurrected. This is just a new way to do it.

Starting tonight @ 8pm, CST, check out LifeChurch.tv. Engage in the worship, listen to the sermons, chat with people worshipping the same God all over the world.



Is this too much? Cool? What do you think?

Contest

**UPDATE**

I will be choosing a name on Monday, Sept. 22. That means you have until then to leave me more names for me to pick from! Yay! Thanks for the submissions so far! And don't worry - the prize is awesome! =)

*************

This is my new bamboo stalk. He or she will live at my desk at work for a little while.

However, I can't come up with an awesome name for my little friend. It would be super sad if it was just called "bamboo" forever. If you win, you will get a prize. Yay!

Names that are taken: Wallace, Deuce, Edgar, Beulah.

Good luck!

(And yes, this is a shameless ploy for comments. I thought my new "edgy" ~S~ signature would draw the masses. I was wrong.)

=)

Freedom. Beauty. Truth. Love.

I hate to tell you all this, but I signed us all up for something. You didn't really get a say. I'd apologize, but I'm not really sorry.

Starting next Wednesday, September 17th through September 24th, we're doing something different.

Something big.

Something awesome.

When I find out new details, I'll let you know.

But if you want to hear the "skinny" now, visit this guy's blog.

Let's rock this interweb for the glory of the Lord.

It's gonna be cool. You won't want to miss it. I promise.

=)

~S~

The Green-Eyed Monster Strikes Again

Does anyone else ever have this experience?

Imagine, you're sitting with a friend, enjoying a nice frappucino from the 'Bucks, talking about the day, the weather, your feelings on the latest episode of American Idol, when your friend mentions something about an awesome thing they did/are going to do and SUDDENLY, without warning, you are FLOODED with feelings of jealousy and envy. (Sorry about that ridiculously long sentence.)

I have been getting those feelings a lot lately.

Recently a friend moved out to Seattle with another friend. She has a cute little apartment, with her friend, in a new neighborhood, close to her job. I cannot tell you how much I covet that little apartment.

A few months ago, a different friend called to tell me she'd bought her wedding dress. She's one of my dearest friends and the first thought, before "Congratualtions and tell me all about it!" was "Damn...why isn't that me??"

And just today, yet another friend told me about tentative plans to travel and I just want to hide in her suitcase and go with her.

I didn't know I was such a jealous person. And I hate it. I don't want to be a jealous person. I want to be someone who celebrates with other people over the good in their lives. At least do that before I allow myself to wallow in the restlessness that is my life right now.

And really, Paul doesn't help.

"Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." (Phil. 4.11-13)

Great, just great. Now I'm jealous that Paul figured out contentment, but I don't know it.

Argh....when will I learn?

Greatest Parents Ever!

This is what my parents brought back from Eastern WA today:



Oh yes...that's right! SONIC!


Route 44 Cherry Limeade with extra limes & extra cherries!


YUM!!

AND...

A ChiliCheese Coney....

Thanks Mom & Dad...you have made my Monday a day of happiness.

*sigh* So good.

You Can Take the Girl Outta the Honky-Tonk...

...but you can't take the Honky-Tonk outta the Girl.

Have you ever felt like you probably would fit in better somewhere else? Not that where you are is bad, but you are mysteriously drawn to a way of life that is not where you currently are?

I think I would be totally at home in the Deep South. Maybe it's because my parents are born and raised Tennesseeans. I cut my "musical teeth" to Johnny Cash and Dolly and Tammy Wynette and George Jones and Loretta Lynn. Country music is definitely my BFF (sorry Adina).

I love the Smokies and "hollers" and BBQ's, fireflys and cicadas, deep southern drawls that make every word about 1.8 times longer, hot days and slow evenings, big hair. And good ol' country boys who are....something else altogether. ;)

Perhaps I've just been listening to too much country music or reading too many Nicholas Sparks' books, but if I had to make a change in location, I would head to the South. Maybe not forever, but just to see. And who knows? Maybe I would die.

But maybe I'd kick off my shoes and run in barefeet, where the grass and the dirt and the gravel all meet...
=)

Yee-haw!

"I feel the need...the need for speed!"

"Maverick, your ego's writing checks your body can't cash."

Every year, I watch Top Gun on Labor Day. In college, I think we lived for the volleyball scene. And you ALL know what scene I'm talking about. =)

This year was no different. We watched, we laughed, we even cried a little. Nothing better than a classically cheesy, dog-fight crazy, film of cinema awesome to make your day off great.

Tell me... do you have any Labor Day traditions? How did you celebrate your day off? Did you get the day off? Did you loose the "lovin' feelin'...woah..."?