Why I love volunteers

Exhibit A:



I guess I should clarify...I love MY volunteers at my campus. They are totally rad, as can be seen in the above example. But in all seriousness, our services would be totally lame without my awesome team of volunteers who give up their weekends after working all week in order to have artistic moments in church. I love working with my team of artists. I really do. And there is no way I could make all the artistic elements we plan happen on my own. Contrary to popular belief, I am not a one-woman show. So thanks to all the volunteers at Montgomery...I really appreciate you all. I love that you roll with the punches, and that no matter how weird our ideas may seem, you help me make them happen. Even when I want to sing Madonna. With a side ponytail. You wear afro wigs, and play crazy songs, and give up your Saturdays for rehearsal....and just plain rock.

I think I have the best volunteers at CCC. I know that it's not really a competition, but my artists are the best. We're not supposed to say that, but you know what, I'm gonna put it out there. Sometimes I feel like Montgomery is the little campus that could, the underdog campus, and I'm out to prove that we rock as hard as anyone else. Especially to 80s music...

the church....stayin' alive

If you were alive in the 70s, it probably looked nothing like this:






...but we sure had fun this weekend!

a swift kick in the butt....

Don't you hate when you think you are doing a good job at something...and then you find out that you're not? It's pretty much the worst feeling ever. Probably not ever...I guess I can think of worse things, like having someone be disappointed in you (which is THE worst feeling ever and infurates me!), but it's not too pleasant.

Take today for instance. Every time we talk about tithing at church, I don't really pay attention, because I tithe. Or at least I thought I tithed. But apparently I don't really. I got to see just how my record of tithing and the church's record of my tithing (since they also know my salary!) actually line up, and I was actually really surprised. So I guess when they talk about having leaders tithe, I should be paying attention. Huh.

It turns out that I am terrible at keeping track of my finances. Half the time I don't even know when I get paid...I know it's generally around the 15th and the 30th, but if it's an off-week, I don't pay attention. I don't balance my checkbook. I check my bank statements online. I use my debit card like there is no tomorrow. I never carry cash. (Although I'm trying to get better at that one to keep track of my small expenditures more competently...like Starbucks and Borders and WalMart...yes, I shop at WalMart.) And I found out that I don't keep track of my tithing either. I'm kind of hit or miss, I knew that, what with being at church so much that I forget to do things like write a check, but I had no idea it was THIS bad!

Nothing like a swift kick in the butt to make you see what you need to do better. This is the real me, I suppose. Slightly irresponsible and a little flighty...please don't hold it against me. I'm working on it, I promise...

nothing to fear....

One of my greatest fears is that I will go through life living half-heartedly. I wonder, do we really live at our whole-hearted potential, or do we simply go through life waiting for those shining moments that allow us to really BE....be awake to the world as a marvelous and magnificent place, be in the presence of God, be in love with the people who make our lives worth living, be quiet and revel in the wonder of the stars....

Sometimes I want to just BE. In each and every moment, full of wonder, whole-hearted and involved in all the moments of my life. But it seems easier to live on the outskirts of passion. It seems less risky, less confusing, less hurtful, less intense....just LESS. But living on the edges is different than living on the edge. I've always found that phrase bold and inacurate. Aren't we all really living on the edge of something? Somehow living on the edge means taking risks, being brave, strong, courageous and innovative. We all live on the edge of something greater than ourselves, I think, even when we feel we may be in the midst of it. I always get the sensation that something is looming on the horizon, no matter what is happening in my life. We are on the brink...of something. But we also live on the edges....of relationships, commitment, happiness, contentment. Can we live IN the midst of those things for more than mere moments of our lives?

I like to think that I'm an optimist. I like to think that we can dive into the world as it presents itself to us, in ways unfathomably large and beyond our control. On my honest days, though, I have to admit that I am more like my dad the pessimist than I like to think, because sometimes the thing looming on the horizon is dark and scary, not shining and bright. It is more like The Nothing, coming closer all the time, threatening to envelop my whole world.

Fortunately,

Jesus calls us to Life. Life abundant. That is the Life I crave, for which my soul cries out and I find the energy to throw myself whole-heartedly into the fray. And in those moments, I can BE.

I think we're on the brink of something large.

blog neglect

Yes, my blog has been suffering from severe posting neglect recently...I didn't realize how extremely time-consuming moving can actually be, and all the accompanying drama. Five people's crap + really big house x 2 years' worth of accumulation of junk, dust, and dirt = one really gross house, and one rather peevish landlord...or should I say ex-landlord...who is reluctant to return a rather large security deposit. Thankfully, this saga is drawing to a close, although we are not home-free yet...we are having waste removal problems at the moment, which makes no one happy, least of all those of us waiting for our security deposits. Moving is the bane of my existence right now.

But I have found an author who might be my kindred spirit in disguise. I picked up Shauna Niequist's book Cold Tangerines based mainly on the title and the bright orange cover...but started reading last night and only stopped when I was about halfway through and it was after midnight. I think if we ever met we would have a high probability of being friends. She writes the way I would if I wrote about myself, which I guess is what happens here on this blog suffering neglect and abuse, collecting figurative dust on the shelf. It's rare to feel like you know an author or that they are anything like yourself...but it's nice to sense that someone else is expressing your heart of hearts, and expressing it eloquently and poetically and humorously and beautifully.