Some Things from the Weekend

There were some interesting things that happened this weekend, and I thought I would detail a few of them.

First off, the Illini lost…that sucked. Something was said to me during the game that I think is really wrong…like not bad opinion wrong, factually wrong and provable, but based just enough on perceptions to be difficult to prove. I spent some time pondering if it was worth it to bring it back up later or not, the jury is still out on that because I see it as something that has potential for negative effects later, and that statement embodies a negative attitude held by a group of people that might need to be addressed, or if I should just pray for them about it But more on this later.

Got home from the game….sang some fun drinking songs with Dink in the bar and on the way home….probably scared a couple of old people out for a nice walk at night….that was kinda funny. Talked with Alex on the phone for three to four hours, good times. Talked about women, love, snowboards, and a lot of church stuff. I really like talking to Alex about this stuff, because he is sorta like the total embodiment of everything in me that is laid-back and worry free, but not in a bad way…he cares about stuff, and he thinks a lot, but he just doesn’t worry too much. I got to tell him some more neat stuff about my theories on the spiritual aspects of sex, I don’t know if I ever talked to him about that before…but I made those theories up while I was still living with him in the dorms. Dirk and I had been talking a lot about those theories lately, and he agress with me on some points, so I figured I would share with Alex since we were on the topic anyway….I forget how we got there tho…*scratches head*….oh well. Also, I got to tell him about some of the really cool God stories I’ve had since he left, which he thought was cool. I love talking to Alex because he almost always gets excited about the stuff that I’m excited about when I tell him about it. I talked with him a good bit about the possibility of him being a groomsman in my wedding. I think I’m going to make Seth and Rob ushers and either have Alex or Min as the last groomsman. I’ve lived with Alex the longest, but I just think it would be cool to have Min because he is so damned awesome. Well, at any rate, I went to bed way to late that night because I was chatting with Alex.

Woke up too late, and got yelled at because I was supposed to go register for wedding stuff with Lauren. Did you know that Best Buy and Circuit City don’t have a gift registry. I figure they lost out on a couple hundred dollars in DVD sales because of that. So we went to Target and later that night we went to Sears. At Target we registered for DVDs, and I wanted to scan some electronics too, but they just didn’t have the selection I wanted….that further annoyed me that Best Buy didn’t have a gift registry…maybe I’ll write them an email or something.

Small group was fun…we had to bail in the middle of registering to head home for that. We had a new person, and it was nice to see a new face. Apparently she has been bouncing between a couple churches and really likes the Vineyard so far. Shelly came, she came once before. She asks really deep questions that I wish I could answer, but they are the “why are we here” type of questions, and I can only give her my opinions prefixed with “There is no absolute answer to this, but I believe…” Sometimes I forget that the lesson part of group is supposed to be the least important, and I let it drag on so I can get to more questions. I wonder if lesson is, at some point in the life of a persons small group attendance, the most important part. People need to grow, and they definitely can grow no matter what through ministry / prayer time and worship, but sometimes I think they have to be prepared, and the lesson can do that…..but anyway, I digress.

Saw the Passion after finishing up registering at Sears. Just have to say Wow! Very powerful…much more of an experience than a movie. It said so much, with so few words…just watching a man hanging almost dead from a cross and praying for the people who put him there….I just hope I can be that forgiving someday.

Came home from that…spent a little time with Lauren so she could come down from the movie…it was very moving for her too. Then I went home, and talked to dirk for an hour or so about the movie, and about some concerns I had about some stuff from earlier in the weekend. He told me the exact opposite of what Laurens advice was. Then about 2 or 2:30, I hit the sack trying to sleep. But I had insomnia, I couldn’t sleep. I prayed a lot about wanting to sleep…and I prayed a lot about the concerns I had about that stuff from the bar on Friday night. Asked God if I should say something about it, or just let it go, and see if he decided to fix it without (that last part was Laurens suggestion). I still haven’t decided what I’m going to do…because I’m going to sound like a pretty big jerk I think making my point, and I’m not sure if that is the loving thing to do right now, or if it will even hit home or make a difference. It is the kind of thing where I’m going to have to ask a person to back up a statement they made, and then dump a crap ton of evidence of why they have the wrong impression in their lap. I do think this attitude is a problem, a fairly big one, and I wish I could write more about it but until I decide what to do for sure I don’t think that would be prudent. I also have to consider that I might be making a mountain out of a mole hill, and I have to consider that I may have stumbled upon a hidden mountain (metaphorically speaking) that needs to be pointed out. But am I the one to do it….this is a mountain in my life too…something I struggle with….something a whole lot of us struggle with, so am I the best person for the job? Dirk, and Lauren both saw this is a problem in our church too, so maybe it is something that needs to be addressed. This has probably been the single biggest beef I’ve had with the Vineyard and how it sees itself in the Church body since I got here. Lauren told me she has been praying from a distance for this problem for a while…so maybe that is what I should do.

OH, the DRAMA!

Anyway, I fell asleep at about 7 to 7:30ish, got up a little after 10, because I had Laurens car and she needed to be in the nursery watching kids, but she called at about 10:30 saying she had a fever and couldn’t go. Yeah, so now I’m up, dressed, tired, and I am not sleeping for no reason. But I went to church anyway…it was good times. Great worship set, pretty good message, and I got to talk with some people which is always good.

Went to Laurens, ate lunch, took a short nap…and I was back up to go run the sound for the 703 service. I ended up letting a new trainee guy run the board almost the whole time, he did a pretty good job…he knew how to work a sound board already, so he just needed time to play with the board and get used to hearing the acoustics in the room…some of that is preference, some of it is just board time, so I just let him go and didn’t correct much. After service I talked to some people, and went home…a pretty good weekend…even though it was exhausting and I didn’t sleep enough. Now I have to prep for a test tomorrow…and I accidentally scheduled a lunch appointment with Jeff during the test….oops!…so hopefully he’ll get my email and be able to rearrange for me.

Finally, if people could pray for direction and clarification for me on the issue I was talking about it would be great…especially that I would see how important this really is, like if God sees it as something important and worth dealing with right now, or if it can wait…and if he does want to deal with it…ask if I’m gonna be a part of it, or if he doesn’t want me to do anything.

Thanks people for reading my long weekend post….but you made it all the way through…don’t you feel proud.