H R Niebuhr suggests the following contrasts between movements and institutions with regard to the church.
INSTITUTION
Conservative
Passive and yielding to external influences
Looks to the past
Anxious
Guards boundaries
MOVEMENT
Progressive
Active, influencing rather than influenced
Looks to the future
Risk-taking
Crosses boundaries
this morning, i get an email. it reads:
Ms. Jackson,
I was wondering if you would be interested in having a butler and driver. I can also go-fer and handle administrative matters. If interested please drop me a note.
Thank you,
John
i laugh. a lot. i wonder if movies like 13 going on 30 happen in real life, that really i have become some famously wealthy person and someone actually wants to be my butler, driver, and assistant. i reply:
John,
I would totally love to have your assistance, however, I can barely afford to keep my cats fed and keep my car payments made on time…if
I ever hit the jackpot though, you will be the first person I call.
so, i continue laughing for about half an hour as i unpack. then i think, “wait…maybe i am suddenly rich and famous…” i seriously opened my front door and waited for the camera lights to flash and microphones to be shoved in my just-woke-up-and-have-been-moving-for-three-days face.
i was met by the quietness of an early sunday morning.
John writes me back and realizes that i am not the actress anne jackson, best known for her part in the movie the shining.
bummer.
chris & i are moving this weekend to live a little closer to the church. our phone & internet were supposed to be turned on thursday and we didn’t have time to check it until today. nothing. nada. but fortunately, at&t does service calls at 8 am sunday morning. although i am going to hate waking up early, i want me some internet.
needless to say, i write this from my office. i had to finish a freelance project tonight and it was just going to be easier to do it from the confines of my dimly lit office. sans whiny cats. sans stacks of boxes. sans stress.
the thing with my office, and all the offices on the third floor, is that they are freezing. when we first moved up, it would hover around 58-62 degrees. even now it’s still around 67. i plugged in my space heater and put it on my desk to have a more intense effect on defeating my goosebumps. it is now 75. and i am happy.
have you ever just looked at something, no matter how silly it is, and been given a revelation? i have been organizing files on my computer, as well as working on a design project called “getting to know jesus.” that project folder, named “jesus” is on my desktop, as well as my own folder which i emptied in order to organize its contents.
i saw this today, and it made me think…”when i am empty, jesus has plenty to give.”
corny but true, aye?
yes, i am a graphic designer…but i have a challenge out there to those of you who dabble in the arts. if you are interested in mocking up a book cover for a top secret but very valid book project, please use the contact me link on the right or email me here for the details.
hush hush.
have you ever played the fortune cookie game where you pull out the little piece of paper, read it aloud to your fellow diners, and add the phrase “in bed” to whatever it is the fortune says?
For example…“You will have great success in your journey…in bed.” Or…“Don’t give up! Follow your dreams…in bed.”
Sophomoric, I know, but it can be pretty fun.
During our trip to Kansas City, we got to spend some time with our friend Justin. Justin has spent the last 11 years leading worship at a few churches here in Kansas and in California. We talked about how when we do certain things in the church, we tend to add something similar to whatever it is we do.
The phrase being “but it’s for God.”
For example…“Yes, I spent 70 hours this week at the church getting ready for service. It was a sacrifice alright…but it’s for God.” Or…”This new building sure did cost a lot of money, and most of it we still don’t have…but it’s for God.”
The word “but” is a word that justifies. It negates the preceding statement. The dictionary describes it as “But…[is a word] implying opposition (with a possible concession). But marks an opposition or contrast, in a casual way.”
so, bad weather has finally come to a head here in kansas. wes was supposed to fly us home today but it has been storming since sometime early this morning. we’ve had about two inches of rain where we are staying, and on our way to meet a friend for coffee early this morning, it was raining so hard you couldn’t see in front of you. i honestly don’t think i have ever seen it rain so hard!
since wes didn’t think he’d be able to get up here until possibly wednesday, we booked two tickets on southwest for monday evening. it wasn’t the best fare in the world, but honestly for a last minute flight, i can’t complain. and they can fly high above all these silly storms!
our time here has been a mix of many different emotions for many different reasons. from grieving with our friends who have lost some things very dear to them to having a blast with our old friends…you can see some more pictures of our trip & our friends here.
we are in kansas city…we left around 7:30 am from the rockwall airport, i popped a klonopin and dozed off most of the flight. it got a little bumpy and we had to change which airport we landed at, but we are safe and sound. here are some photos from our trip so far!
Who’s a morning person and who’s not?
Flying High
Top Gun – I look like I’m in charge. I’m not. I’m just drugged and happy.
Taxi Ride to Rental Car Place (Long Story)
Inside our Rental Car
GO MAVS!!!!
chris and are leaving this thursday to go to kansas city to hang out with some old friends and family and former coworkers from westside family church. we have been hoping and praying that our friend and lake pointe’s media pastor, wes hartley, would be able to fly us up in his plane so we could avoid airline travel as well as avoid the dreaded 9 hour drive.
it looks like the weather will be rainy, but okay to fly in on thursday and sunday. i ask that you pray for the weather to be great flying weather, and for safety for all of us as we travel to and fro.
the cool thing is, you can actually SEE where we are when we’re flying. on thursday or sunday, just go to flightaware.com and where it says “Flight/Tail#” enter in “N7379K” and it will pull up a radar of his current flight (if we are flying) or a log of his last flight. pretty sweet huh?
anyway, we are so thankful for wes and his generosity to take time out of his busy schedule to help a couple of kids out.
and if you live in kansas city and can pick us up from (probably) the airport in lee’s summit to take us to get our rental car on thursday (not sure what time yet…maybe lunch time or a little after??), we will be thankful for you too. (hint, hint)…we’ll buy you a starbucks or something!
to see our most recent flying adventure with wes in a quick little video, you can click here. there are some cool downtown fort worth & downtown dallas skyline shots.