Belief

I am reading a very interesting book that has wonderful ideas about love. The author quotes from the Bible. I have heard the author speak from a CD and she is very engaging. However, I am concerned about words like "higher consciousness" and "enlightenment".

I checked out the church the author attends. The website has the belief statement and the articles of faith for the church.

The church is located in Sedona, AZ. which I know is considered a "spiritual" place, but not necessarily Christian.

I wonder if how I am feeling about this church and the book I am reading is like Nicodemus felt when he met Jesus.

The book is supposedly about the conversations the author actually had with Jesus while she painted his portrait. I like the portrait. It is simple and Jesus looks strong and caring. I like what Jesus says to the author:
"True creativity is the presence of God within..."
"There are three enduring certainties around which all positive belief develops. The first is your connection to God. The second is an honest knowing of yourself. The third is that you shall receive as you have been given."
"When you seek and pursue that which is not truly yours, you will develop a kind of hunger that cannot be appeased, and a deep sense of "neediness", which distorts your life and creates dis-ease"."
I have underlined and underlined so much that makes sense. What do you think?
The Book is "The Keys of Jeshua". The church is called Spiritis Church. Seems new age-ish to me, but I think Jesus was new age-ish for Nicodemus.

Unconditional Love

Just finished "Redeeming Love" by Francine Rivers. Great book that follows the idea behind the book of Hosea in the Old Testament of the Bible. It is fiction. And - there are wonderful discussion questions at the end of the book that would be interesting to talk through with a group. The concept of unconditional love is difficult when someone completely turns their back on kindness.
I find most people don't understand the concept of love. I taught a 4th and 5th grade Sunday school class about the love between Jonathan and David (in the Bible). I thought one of the young men in the class was going to get sick when I told him that loving his neighbor meant loving the people in his Sunday school class. "Oh that is so gross" was his comment. The sad thing is that many never get past the 4th and 5th grade level of emotional maturity. Sometimes I find that I regress to that level!
I frequently think, "What would love do in this situation?" I don't want to enable someone to take advantage of anyone (especially if that someone is me). There is such a fine line between letting something go and then settling the situation at a later time. I can let things go, but I am not good about bringing it up later so it can be discussed. I don't like reopening a "can of worms" if it is going to blow up. Sometimes that means there are lots of "worms" crawling around just waiting for the right moment to escape and make a big mess.
How about you? When love is difficult, how do you keep loving?
In the meantime - I still love you!

Dog on Bed

Hank the beagle got in trouble at our "pet friendly" hotel, so we are both being confined to the room. It seems although the hotel is pet friendly, some of the guests are not. Of course that could be because the pup was not happy being left in the room while his room mates went to breakfast, so he raised quite a rucus with his barking. Beagle barking can be quite irritating, so I don't blame the guests. I must say I was surprised the guests were mad at me. I had no idea the dog would go ballistic - and I didn't leave the room until 7:45, so it wasn't that early. Oh well.

Fortunately I have my Nook with me and I had downloaded "Water for Elephants". Very good book. Then, just for fun, went to look up "The Help" and read the two chapter preview.

Now I would like to go for a walk, but it is way too hot outside. So nice to have time to read just for fun.

Living History Lessons

I wish I had lived in Virginia when I was taking United States history! From the settler's at Jamestown, to the Yorktown Victory Center which talks about the Revolutionary War, to New Port News to look at Civil War battlegrounds, and the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space museum at Dulles Airport, I think I have learned more than I ever remember learning in school. And that's just 4 days of breezing through exhibits and archaeological museums.

The most fascinating information was about how the Frenchman named Rochambeau was a key adviser to George Washington and the siege at Yorktown, which lead to Cornwallis surrendering. The French helped us gain our freedom from being just another colonial outpost.

Which comes to the irony of the tension between the French and the Americans. After returning from France and revisiting Normandy, the whole western world might be speaking German if the US and Great Britain had not come to the aid of the French in WWII. Why aren't the French and Americans better friends?

Besides learning about Rochambeau, the most interesting things so far to me:

• The aircraft in WWII that Germany manufactured was fascinating.
• Learning how 5000 - 8000 soldiers were fed during the Revolutionary war AND what they ate.
• The poor women who followed the soldiers during the wars and did their laundry and mending, and how families left at home survived until their menfolk returned from war.
• Ship battles and the importance of ruining the sails.

People seemed to have worked harder for so much less. I don't think I would have made a good soldier (6 to 8 people per tent, and no running water!). Good lessons for all of us...

Book on thie trip: A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron. It's a story about a dog's many lives. Nice light entertainment!

Germany and France - Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Just returned from a quick trip with my husband's company. They had business in Germany and then we all took a side trip to France. There were 4 guys and me in the little car you see Waddy standing by (notice how full the back of the car is!). 2 of the guys had never been to Normandy or Paris.

We flew KLM to Amsterdam, and then Air France to Hamburg, Germany. I love the individual screens for movie and entertainment options. I am preaching to 5th and 6th graders for district camp in July, and the theme for district camp is "Like a Lion", all about courage, so naturally I thought of the C.S. Lewis Narnia series, and grabbed "Voyage of the Dawn Treader" to take with me to read on the plane. Imagine my surprise when looking over the entertainment options and finding Narnia 3 was one of the movies (Voyage of the Dawn Treader!). So I watched it AND read it.

Wish we could have stayed a day in Hamburg, but the meeting was in Bielefeld, Germany. I had fun shopping while the guys had their meeting.

Also read some more in the "Leader's Journey". Now watching Francis Chan and his DVD series on courage. It has some great video examples for youth.

Lost my jean jacket somewhere between the airport and the house, so today I am tracking it down. More to come!

New Books!

I received a Nook for Christmas and I have downloaded several books on it, but to me there is nothing like holding a book in my hand. Now TRAVELING with books is a whole different story because I am usually reading more than one book at a time, and that can cause me to want to drag my carry on through the airport (because my carry on does NOT have wheels). So I went to Cokesbury and spent $165 last week (don't mention this to my husband - he'll find out soon enough). Now one of those books was a new commentary on Romans that includes a CD with all kinds of images, so that was a hefty chunk of change. I am going to encourage our library at the church to start purchasing them. I may even donate mine to them. Stephanie at Cokesbury suggested I get the new controversial book by Rob Bell called "Love Wins". It is good! "Jesus talked about a reality he called the kingdom of God...He spoke of oneness with God...Jesus lived and spoke as if the whole world was a thin place for him , with endless dimensions of the divine infinitesimally close, with every moment, and every location simply another experience of the divine that is all around us, through us, under and above us all the time." (We act)"as if we're trying to play the piano wearing oven mitts. We can make a noise, sometimes even hit the notes well enough to bang out a melody, but it doesn't sound like it could or should." Nursing a sprained ankle, so will start another new book..."Unleashing the Power of Rubber Bands:Lessons in Non-Linear Leadership" by Nancy Ortberg. Will quote from it later this week. (Don't you just love that word "infinitessmally"?)

Snow Boots

There is nothing about traveling light when it comes to snow boots. I finally traded my "performance boots" in for just "regular person" boots and it made a huge difference. I am definitely not a performer when it comes to skiing! The snow is fantastic, so I don't want to take it too easy.

A "pre-ski" weekend definitely helps when planning a full week of skiing, and we missed that this year.

Have enjoyed spending time with family.

I have two books with me. One is Missional Small Groups:Becoming a Community That Makes a Difference in the World by Scott Boren. Scott compares being in mission to learning how to play music, particularly improvisational jazz; "Most people play their life rhythms without even thinking about the music their life makes...They must learn how to work together, how to read each other, and how to complement each other's strengths and weaknesses" (pg. 9). At the end of the book is an Appendix that walks small groups through a 12 to 15 weeks of learning "missional rhythms". There are even teaching segments that can be downloaded as video files! Sounds like something that would be very exciting for small groups to challenge themselves and grow in their understanding of what it means to follow Christ out into the world.

Learning to play a musical instrument is challenging. It isn't easy. Just like snow skiing. Some have natural ability, and some have to keep working at it. Some are dare devils (like helicopter skiiers) and some prefer to float down the green slopes and enjoy the scenery (that would be me!). Either way there is preparation that must be done - just in getting dressed!

The other book I have is a fiction book. Fiction is hard for me because I want to read something with purpose. However, so many people read fiction, and I want to understand why, so I will read something if it comes highly recommended. "If I Gained the World" by Linda Nichols is what I am working on. Today I am on chapter 10 and there are a total of 57 chapters. So far it is keeping my interest!