Born Again Church Tour Recap

Last weekend was the Born Again Church Tour here in Denver. It was a great weekend with good conversation and lots of challenging stuff.

One of the best things about a conference like this is that it brings together people from varying backgrounds and mixes us all up a bit. We meet new people who are similar to us and others who are pretty different. This falls right in line with the tension intended from this conference. When we come face to face with "real people" rather than mere issues, the context of the conversation changes.

But, this tension is a difficult space to dwell in. And it was difficult for some in our group. I knew that going in...it's still difficult for me. We're all at varying stages in our journeys and some of these conversations are very uncomfortable...there is no "easy" button. These conversations also mess with our way of doing life and faith and that hurts, especially when a particular way of doing each of these is married to what we call "truth". It then becomes easy to dismiss experiences that lie outside our solid lines.

It seems to me that this place of discomfort, when we want sincerely to defend our process and to take away this tension that confuses us and questions our way of doing life, that we need to press in. We need to wait in that place of discomfort, to seriously consider and accept the questions, whether they are ours or others'.

I know that this time was valuable for each of us that attended. For some, this was a safe place and the ideas were life-giving and exciting. For others it was disheartening and overwhelming. For all of us, it was the start of new conversations.

Parent Teacher Conferences

If you asked me in August whether I was looking forward to our first parent teacher conferences of the year, I probably just would have cried. Honestly.

Our middle child has been diagnosed with a couple developmental delays. Nothing major but enough to keep this mama on her toes. That, combined with a bad preschool experience made for a worried me and a frustrated child. In fact, before school started, my son informed me that he worked hard enough in preschool. He was willing to go to preschool, but if they made him work, he wasn't interested. Well, there you have it. My fear increased. The thought of fighting through years of school was at the forefront of my mind.

It hasn't been that way at all. He works so hard in school, but because it's a good environment, he's fine with it. He's doing fantastic. Really...absolutely fantastic. He started reading to me about two weeks ago and is so proud of himself. I couldn't be more proud at how he has dug in. I am so impressed with how his teacher handles his classroom that makes it very safe for my child.

Ahhh...I'm sure that we will run into our speedbumps along the way as that's just the story of life. But for now, I'm basking in the good report and the happiness of my precious son!

Lord, Are You Speaking To Me or Is It Just the Baseline?

Last night my husband and I attended a concert/worship session with Paul Baloche at New Life Church in Colorado Springs. They are in the midst of a 3-day worship conference called "Enter".

The event was a bit of an odd experience for me. I grew up in churches that placed high stock in worship...that is "praise and worship". The worship services at church seemed to be the point in time everyone longed for throughout the week. It was the emotional place, the place where you sought God for that emotional high that would carry you through the following week. I remember dancing to the song "Jehovah Jireh, My Provider" and the next step of then going forward for prayer. They wouldn't stop praying until you were slain in the spirit. I remember laying on the floor a few times thinking in my head "How long do I have to stay down to make this seem real"? There was some odd stuff that happened at that church. I'm sure that God was present, because God is faithful to meet us, and yet I know that a lot of what went on was deeply influenced by stuff that is definitely theologically suspect if not in some cases downright spiritual manipulation.

When we came to our current church, it was a different denomination, but some of the same things were going on. Still seeking to feel God, both Eddie and I felt that it was a fit for us. But over the last 9 years, my understanding of faith and a relationship with Christ has changed.

Yesterday evening is the first time in about 7 or 8 years that I've been in setting where people have come for the sole purpose of a special place of worship and hearing from God. Without being totally aware of what was happening in me, my initial response was cynicism. I questioned use of group dynamics to create a particular feeling, I judged the guy in front of us who was jumping up and down with some weird head movement thing going on. Emotionally and spiritually, my arms were crossed and I began closing down in a type of fear response.


Until the song, "Praise Adonai" came on. There was a point in the song that either God broke through my initial response or I simply succumbed to the baseline heartbeat of the music. But the breakthrough wasn't a highly emotional thing for me, but a reminder of the path I've been on in my own process.

The first thing that went through my mind was that it the gentleman in front of me has every right to jump up and down and do odd head movements. It's none of my concern how he and God do business. That's between them and I can keep my grubby little hands (or in this case, thought) out of it.

Second, though, was some grappling with how faith, life and relationship with God look like for me. In my own reaction against the feelings of manipulation, both of me and of the purpose of the Holy Spirit in our lives, I pushed much in the way of emotion out of my relationship with God. That's actually a fairly easy thing for me as I tend towards being a thinker anyway. But the question that kept prodding my mind last night was whether closing that emotional door entirely was healthy for me. If not, what does the integration of intellect and emotion look like in my life, 'cause I'm pretty sure there won't be any jumping and head-bobbing for me in the near future?

So, whether it was just the baseline, or God's prodding, last night's worship ended up being much more thought-provoking than I would have originally thought.

By the way, here is an acoustic recording of Praise Adonai. It really is a beautiful song.

Blogging...

Blogging has fallen pretty low on the priority list lately. I have ideas that float through my mind on posts, but either I don't have the energy to follow up on them or they're just not that interesting or appropriate outside my own head!

That and life is pretty busy now that school is in full swing. In fact, we are now part of three separate carpools to get kids to and from their respective schools. It's a bit much to keep track of, but once I have the rythm down, it's wonderful. Especially as without these carpools, I would be spending an hour and a half to two hours a day just taking kids to and from school.

In the midst of all the craziness of our fall schedule, I have come upon a realization that is quite precious to me. For the first time in a long time, I feal a deep peace in my life. The craziness of life hasn't change, but somehow in the midst of it I am at a place of peace, comfort and happiness. I'm so thankful for this place. It's as if I know the winds are swirling around me, but I can take a deep breath and just deal with it.

Phoenix Wedding

We spent last weekend down in Phoenix for Eddie's brother's wedding. We had a great time meeting Hugo's new wife and daughter and catching up with family.

The best part of the trip for me was after the wedding, though. (First off, the wedding was outside at 5:00 in Phoenix in August and it was a long service). Anyway, there was a dance afterwards and our kids just let loose. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time! Aaron spent the evening doing the robot dance. Nate was hilarious. I didn't know he had it in him, but he went to town. And Elianna...I just couldn't capture it on the camera. She was trying to mimic the floor routines from the gymnastic competitions at the Olympics. She had all types of moves and the facial expression to go with them. By 9:30, both boys were sound asleep on couches just off the dance floor. Elianna didn't slow down all night.

Cute Kid Quote

Tonight's dinner conversation with my 4-year-old daughter:

Daughter: "I can't eat, my heart hurts."

Me: "Why does your heart hurt?"

Daughter: "Because I asked God into my heart, but now he's sitting on it."

Chuckles from me and my husband.

Daughter, pouting, "Maybe God's jumping on my heart."

About 20 minutes later as she sits on the couch with her hands clasped in front of her:

Me: "What are you doing, Sweetheart."

Daughter: "Praying that God will get off my heart."

Freedom to Fly

As some of you know, our family has become novice bird watchers (see here and here). It all started with visits to my parents when they lived in Salt Lake City. At that time, their back deck was right at the level of the fruit apple trees in their back yard. My dad set out some feeders and a heated birdbath and they had a host of feathered friends join them. When we’d take the kids to visit, a favorite activity in the morning was placing peanuts around the ledge on the deck and going back inside with faces glued to the sliding glass door as they watched the Blue Jays come to eat.

A couple years ago, Robins made a nest on the brick ledge of our house right outside the front door. Later on, Mourning Doves came to use that same nest. The boys had a bird’s eye view, literally, into the bird’s nest and got to see eggs and the development of the babies. So, this summer, for Mother’s Day, I bought myself a couple bird feeders and set them up outside. We’ve had House Finches, Chipping Sparrows, Mourning Doves, Black Headed Grosbeaks and a couple of Chikadees visiting ever since. One of our favorite things to do is sit on the little couch in our front room and watch the birds.

Just the other day, my oldest son told me that he wants to capture the birds and keep them inside with us. I had to laugh. Doesn’t it seem like human nature to want to capture those things that exhibit beauty and mystery and put it in cage? I tried to explain to him that we would loose the wonder if we bottled them up inside, besides the fact that we’d have a lot of mess to clean up on a consistent basis. I don’t think he’s convinced, though. ☺

I can’t help but wonder how many things in life we choose to put in captivity that would function so much better if given the freedom nature, and God, intended.