Starting Small

Someday, Jeff and I would love to have a big garden. Over the past two years or so we have become more conscious consumers. Part of that has been trying to pay closer attention to what's in the food we eat as well as where the food is grown and by who. We by no means are perfect with this and still have SO MUCH to learn, but we are trying to be better at it little by little every day. One way to be certain bout the growing conditions of our food is to grow it ourselves, so to be able to produce our own food (at least some of it) is a goal of ours. We are excited for the day when we will no longer have to buy veggies at the grocery store. But...that's not going to be possible for a while. Living in a parsonage connected to the church means we do not have the land to have a garden (not even a small one). Thankfully a friend of ours here, Tim, was incredibly generous and made us a cedar planter for out little porch. We were able to fit two pepper and two tomato plants in it (it was too late in the season to start from seed). It's an exciting part of my day to check on the progress of our plants, and recently I found one little tomato starting to grow. Today we found a few more. I can already taste the salsa...

Quick Update

We have been crazy busy the last week or so with moving, church events, job hunting and painting. I will be updating soon...I have not forgotten goal number seven :) Until then, have a great day everyone.

proof that im not just making excuses :)

my puppy while we were packing the car...so sad :(

New Phase

Yesterday we received the official word that we are done with our schooling at Bethany! Our entire married life thus far has revolved around school. We are about to enter into our fifth year of marriage as we enter into a new phase of life. The last five years have been great, but I cannot wait to see what's in store. One week ago today, we moved to Anoka, MN which is a suburb of Minneapolis. We are working part time at Anoka Wesleyan Church with the youth and young adults. Housing is our compensation, so we are currently job hunting to pay the bills and eat.

I have been thinking quite a bit about what I want to see happen in my life over the next year here in Anoka. It can be too easy for me to slip into a very inactive, introverted daily routine. In order to avoid this, I am sharing my goals for the next year on this here blog in hopes that this will keep me accountable.

one. create a healthier lifestyle. This includes eating healthy, excercising on a regular basis, and not oversleeping. I do a fairly decent job with all of these things on occasion, but not consistently.

two. read bible more. Not out of obligation.

three. pray more. Especially with people.

four. build significant relationships. Put myself out there. Be open. Be honest. Love. Push myself out of my comfort zone of introversion.

five. pay of all non-school debt. Debt sucks.

six. read twelve books. By authors other than the usuals (McLaren, Miller, Claiborne, Wright, etc) List thus far...Freakanomics by Levitt and Dubner, Jesus Manifesto by Sweet, Why Evolution is True by Coyne, Sustainable Youth Ministry by DeVries, and Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible by van der Toorn. If you have any other suggestions, let me know!

seven. write. Most likely to be done via blog. Writing forces me to more thoroughly think through the crazy ideas in my head...and we all know those ideas need more thinking through. Writing on here gives others the opportunity to challenge those thoughts which makes me think through them even more. This includes more thoughts on the Pursuit of Rightness.

eight. create a space of hospitality. I always want our home to be warm and inviting...and for people to always feel welcomed and loved here.

nine. continue in the pursuit to live simply. Over our internship we learned that we can live on very little. Why live on more just because we can? "What if we began to see our spending, not just our giving, as a matter of discipleship?" --The Justice Project

Have a great day everyone!

Life

I'm taking a little break from my thoughts on the pursuit of rightness to write a little update on our lives. Our internship was supposed to end on May 15th. Our original plans were to leave Salem on the 16th, spend a few days with my sister in Medford, go to Oklahoma for a bit, head up to Austin, MN for a wedding, and then come see my parents in Warroad, MN. From there we would figure out what to do next. That all changed last week when we found out my grandpa had cancer. They found out last week and it progressed very quickly. We left last Sunday in hopes of making it back in time to say goodbye. We were less than an hour away when we got the call that he had passed away. We've spent the last few days helping my parents out around the house as they spend time with family, making funeral arrangements. It's been hard on everyone because it happened so fast. My grandpa was an amazing man who loved Jesus very much. He will be missed.


His funeral is on Sunday. We plan on spending another week or so in Warroad before we go down to Austin for the wedding. Hopefully we will get a trip to Oklahoma in as well. The next few weeks will be busy for us as we travel, finish up internship homework, look for a new car (ours went down to 3 cylinders on our way out here), and figure out what the next step in this journey is going to look like.

A Defining Moment

I do not want anyone to mistake what I am saying about the pursuit of rightness as the pursuit of truth. I think there is a difference between seeking truth and seeking everyone’s approval of my opinions. Before I go further into this, let me first make a little disclaimer…although I have been thinking through these ideas lately, I am still thinking. These are not my final conclusions on this subject...just where I am at now.

Truth. When I refer to truth, essentially I am referring to God. God is truth. God has revealed himself to us in the Bible, thus revealing truth to us in the Bible. I believe the clearest revelation of God (and once again, the clearest revelation of truth) is found in Jesus. Because Jesus is the clearest revelation of God, everything we read in the Bible should be read through the life of Jesus. I also believe that God has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit which helps us to (among other things) interpret Scripture.

The Pursuit of Truth = Seeking to know God more fully everyday.

Rightness. Now, this is no dictionary definition of the term, but rather what I am referring to when I use it (same goes for the above “definition” of truth). Rightness is the assumption that all my opinions, ideas, interpretations, etc are the only “right” way of viewing things. It is the arrogance that my understanding of Scripture is superior to your understanding. Yes, we have the Holy Spirit to guide us in this process, but is one way of understanding right while the other is wrong, or does the Holy Spirit guide us into different understandings?

The Pursuit of Rightness = Seeking my interpretations to be superior to all others.

Let me close with this…Arminians and Calvinists disagree on the interpretation of many different passages of Scripture leading to two very different (if you stick with the strictest of each branch) views of God. Is one right? Is one wrong? Is one guided by the Holy Spirit while the other is lacking? Or, has the Holy Spirit guided each of these two branches into two different understandings of Scripture? If the latter option is true, then how else may the Holy Spirit guide different groups in different understandings of Scripture? If this is the case, does this nullify God and the pursuit of truth or our arrogance in the pursuit of rightness?

In my pursuit of truth I am throwing off the pursuit of rightness in favor of asking more questions.