Anyone need to hear a love song today?
No?
Just me, then?
Oh well. This hopeless (hopeful?) romantic will just sit and watch this then:

Just a Fifth...

My goodness, a whole lot has changed since I last posted anything on this blog! And honestly, it's not because I've forgotten about it, but more, "where do I begin?" or "I haven't really got time for this right now..." or "has my life really been that interesting lately to want to blog about it?"

So, the how to go about getting back into this? Perhaps list five some things that have changed since five years ago:

1. My first house. A down-payment, a mortgage, furniture, yard work, digging out of the garage on my own during a blizzard (all right, only 2 inches had started to accumulate on the driveway, but hey, this is Oklahoma!), the whole gambit. I love my house, and I love being on my own and having to be responsible for all of this, but occasionally there are moments when I start to wish I wasn't doing all of this on my own. Especially when I need to do laundry and mow the lawn and manage to put together a somewhat healthy meal instead of running out to Chick-fil-a and suddenly remembering that today's a Sunday. Many thanks must go to my dad, who somehow doesn't seem to mind coming over and working for food, and to mom for letting him.

2. Five years seniority. Yay! And then, I suddenly think "How in the world has time moved by so quickly that I've already been out of college and working at the same company now for five years?" Then again, that's nothing when compared to the tenure some of my coworkers have... 10, 15, 25,... 33... yep, barely a "fifth" of the time they've spent in this industry. I feel so young! What in the world am I doing at this place, thinking I'm smart enough to handle half of the work they're giving me, this young whipper-snapper? "Yup, I got it, no problem!"

3. New and old things to geek out about. "Lemme explain... No, there is too much. Lemme sum up." And bombard this post with a collection of weblinks:
Geek Out Podcast
Muppets!
Harry Potter
More Potter?
Doctor Who
Smallville
Chuck

4.Why did I give myself the goal of typing up five of these? I'm not really sure how to begin to describe much else, because I sort of feel I'm lacking the luxury of not having been absent from my own life over the past five years. There's likely been a whole lot of gradual changes... growth, maturity, physically, mentally, spiritually,... that I'm just not aware of in myself because I don't have an accurate image of where I was with all of those things five years ago... Do I feel like I've learned something more today than I did yesterday, though? Yes. But it feels like an impossible thing to label or categorize. Especially when it seems like there's so much to tell, or still more to go out and DO.

Guess I better get back out there, then. One for the road, please...
Movin' Right Along

One Step at a Time

I'm overdue for a new blog post. No point in making excuses, this blogging thing just has never really been a high priority thing, but more as a way to document milestones.

I always enjoy stumbling across (friend's? acquaintance's? complete strangers?) blogs that give me something to think about and learn more about who I am... and since I just posted over at one, I figured I'd share the link:

A Proposal of Evolution

I realize I left my response a little open-ended, but I'd rather the discussion continue than start to debate faith - which is impossible to do given the basic definition of the word (from m-w.com: faith - a firm belief in something for which there is no proof).

Don't get the wrong impression that I think of the Bible as a just another "story," or as something that is not divinely inspired by God - I do - it's just that I get frustrated when verses are taken out of context and applied to whatever subject suits the speaker's mood. The Scriptures don't work that way. I consider myself to have a very shallow understanding of Jewish culture and ancient history, and even I know that a lot of the "laws" that are quoted from the Old Testament are meant to be there more as a way for me to understand the New Testament and the importance of the New Covenant that God made, rather than just an additional list of rules that I am required to follow, because I am a Christian. Yes, there is definitely something to learn from those laws, because they cover issues that can lead to harm and hurt others (think adultery) or our own self (think of the "unclean" foods). But the consequences of disobeying these laws don't have to be carried out the same way any more - sure, stoning your son-in-law to death because you caught him with another woman might make you feel better, and would definitely keep him from ever doing it again, but did he get a chance to learn anything from it? Would YOU have learned anything from it, for that matter? Or would it be more effective to force him to LIVE with the consequences of his actions and witness the hurt he's caused his children or his wife? I suppose it ultimately shows the true character of that man - in how he chooses to live his life after his action is revealed - as well as the character of his family - in how they choose to accept or not accept him back into their lives, and how they heal or don't heal, from the feelings of distrust and betrayal.

I think "eye for an eye" and "turn the other cheek" may have a deeper meaning than the physical after all.

...

Meanwhile, I've been lucky to come across a group of young adults that meets on Tuesday nights for group discussions on topics like the above and for fellowship, so I have something to look forward to every week. It is definitely helping to fill that need in my life right now - to connect with people my age and seek spiritual guidance together. I find it odd that I'm in the age group that is often the most likely to turn away from churches and the Church, and my home church was doing very little about it. Discussions with Nooma DVD's and Rob Bell aside, there's not much available to draw the college-age/20-somethings to church only on a Sunday morning.

Which is why I am VERY happy that someone finally got "the right people" - not just enough people, or the same people who have been asking for something like this for years - to get excited and start up a Saturday evening service. Once this gets rolling, don't be surprised if I am missing from your weekend party-stravaganza between the hours of 6pm to 9pm. And if this sounds like something you would be excited about too, please let me know and I will make sure that you are there with me!

Hope everyone is taking time to make this "Holy Week," well, holy!

Can I claim I've been a bit busy lately?

Hi again faithful readers.

So... a whole lot of stuff has happened since I last posted a long, thorough note of what is going on in my life. What follows is my attempt at trying to compile everything from the past 10 months into a few major highlights:

1. Position change at work! - A lateral move, but nonetheless, this was a good move for me as it has offered me many more responsibilities and opportunities for growth (where I was, I was somewhat like a glorified intern, though making way more $.) - Read this as "Em likes to be paid for what she's worth" not "Em was trying to see what she could get away with." It also meant a little more safety in my company, as our industry was hitting some rough times (if I had proof that I was handling the work of 2 people, TPTB were less likely to make me leave).

2. Terminus! Wizard Rock! Chicago! - Granted, we didn't see much of Chicago while we were there, but the whole thing was quite an adventure - from flying standby to finding roommates online to navigating the L (where we felt a bit like Arthur Weasley) to meeting some very friendly and strange people to all things Harry Potter.

3. Weddings! SO many friends got married during the Summer of 2008. A few resulted in road trips to see friends, and some I had already planned a trip in the opposite direction. Best wishes to all of you! (and add another year of celebrating the single life... however I may be deluding myself).

4. 180 degrees, or how having high expectations can lead to burnout - Well, maybe it's not burn out yet, but I was very overwhelmed this past Sunday at church with the level of tasks that had to be managed technically for the Sunday service... and I wasn't even scheduled to be the one responsible for handling everything.... Sadly, Sunday service hasn't been a worshipful experience for me for some time now... it's been a part time job I don't get paid for. Previous weeks it's just been loads of frustration, and last week ended in tears... in plain sight of everyone exiting the sanctuary. Yeah. So, I had a talk with our new music minister, with my Mom acting as a mediator/translator on my behalf, and I'm hoping that things are better after my weekend away.

Not wanting this to end on a sad note, I'm excited about the trip to OKC this weekend! Dancing, wrocking, and chillin' with friends should be awesome! I believe we shall have to do things like these more often!

Sermon Notes

I decided to be creative with my sermon notes today...
The youth pastor was speaking today, so I suppose it inspired my inner child.



Edit: I see the scan cut off the scripture reference, so here it is:
Matthew 13:31

Hello World - the tiny blue-green pea in a ray of sunlight

Call it crazy, call it a "God-thing," call it fate, but I'm always in awe of how some things just come together the way they do.

If you are reading this (and therefore procrastinating studying for your finals) note that after viewing the entirety of the video at the following link, 42 minutes and 30 seconds will have passed by. And if you can't spare that amount of time, or need a shorter break, I'll share a shorter clip (8 min 44 sec) further down.

I don't think that this guy is an amazing speaker. I think this is just a guy who knows how to speak to people to show them how amazing God is.

Indescribable - Louie Giglio

As it has been a long time since my last note, obviously a lot has happened since.

1. We now have a new worship team leader - he will be solely working at our church as of this next Sunday (the first Sunday in May). I would say Pastor George is what our church needs to get the "chosen frozen" moving, so to speak. He's certainly stretching everyone in the way we worship God, and I'm loving every minute of it.

2. We (the church technical crew) are now using a software program called EasyWorship during Sunday services. It's awesome; it makes putting everything together beforehand and running all of the media the day of SO much simpler - integrating videos, sermon note PowerPoint slides, song lyrics, moving backgrounds, fade-outs, special songs, etc. a BREEZE! One program up on the laptop instead of 50,000,000, and no annoying media player frame around the video clips and such. (Did I mention I love my (volunteer) job when no one even notices me in the back? That that's what makes this so fun for me - that I can somehow use my talents to make (a majority of) everyone in the room focus on the message of the worship, the message of the speaker, and just let them all give glory to God?)

3. Now that we are digitally recording the Sunday message (well, okay, this started way before the last entry/note), we are s-l-o-w-l-y moving to getting them online on our church website (still in the works, though the template pages are already visible out there at http://southparktulsa.com/Web/Home.html). Right now it feels a little awkward, as it seems we are screaming "we are a cool church, come and be cool with us!" when we are still far from it. I agree that we will need to make steps in that direction if we want to draw in new people who are hurting and seeking, but we still have some major hurdles to get over before we actually look and move like a "modern day" church.

4. I finished paying off all of my school loans. (Whooo!) The loans my dad took out to pay for college are another matter, but again, that's part of the arrangement of me getting to stay at home, and why I am paying "rent" - and more than enough to help supplement the cost of utilities and groceries and insurance (see item #5).

5. I bought and paid for my first car. As in no more car payments. Just insurance payments, and tag/tax. It slightly creeps me out that my dad can't even say that about his CRV. It's a Honda Fit, 2008 Sport model, automatic, Blackberry Pearl. And for those that care, I did my homework, and yes, it's fuel efficient and has low emissions. (Forget the silly hybrids that cost so much more it would take me 8 to 10 years to make up the difference in what I would save on gas money - even at an estimation of $4/gal.)

See photo. Or Google it.

The remainder of the money that went to saving up for the new car is now going toward future house plans. When the time comes, I'll be looking for a female house mate so I'm not a single young female in a big house all by my lonesome - college buddies have first priority. ;)

I say all this because I've been recently reminded how crazy it is that someone as small and insignificant like me could be watched over and taken care of by such an amazing God. It's unimaginable how different things might be if I hadn't given my sophomore Thermodynamics class, that I thought I was heading to fail, over to God, along with my major and all of the reasons I was at TU... if I would even be at the job I'm at today, making the salary I'm able to make, so that I can afford to pay off my school loans, so that I could buy my first car, so that I can give back to my church (and The Church - through missions, etc.), my community, and do so much more than I would have ever been able to imagine... I am too small to have thought it, and God's plans are too big for me to have dreamt it.

Know that He is the Creator of all things, and that He is holding you together, and that by Him, all things come together to glorify His Kingdom.

So, I just happen to get sent a video link via e-mail from relatives living miles away on the same weekend our church pastor starts a sermon series on God and our bodies...

How Great is our God - Louie Giglio

Time for a follow up!

For those of you who read my birthday post and were keeping me and our church in your thoughts and prayers, it's time for me to give you an update!

This past month we officially hired a new senior pastor! YAY! So that is a big answer to prayer, since it took 9 months for it to happen (and for those of my family dealing with pregnancies, that's the closest thing I'll experience to that unless until I meet "Mr. Right" and marry him... but that's a different prayer request. *wink*).

Tom Hopkins has been here several Sundays now, and his enthusiasm and ideas for our church's future are contagious. One thing he's mentioned to me as part of the tech crew is that he would like to see us have a little more media during the service (i.e. moving backgrounds, videos, and the like). Another plus is that he does his own slides for his sermon, which, if you know how difficult it is to try to take someone's notes and get into their head in order to have the "right" things shown up on the wall, you know that this is a blessing! (and Chris, I can't say I envy you your job... I really understand the amount of work you must put in every week!) Anyways, having Tom wanting to see us do more things is definitely one of the things I was hoping for - because I can see that we have the potential to do that sort of thing, but it's getting past the mentality of "this is the way it's always been done" that's hard to overcome... and when your senior pastor wants it to change, well, then that's a hurdle that's a little easier to cross!

We have also moved into the 20th century, as we now record the Sunday sermon digitally! Granted, we can't get CDs to folks until Wed, but being able to put them up on CDs or even up on the internet is a great improvement from the cassette tapes we were using. And we're going about it in probably the least expensive (and possibly not the best) way, as it gives the computer guy (me, or whoever is on that week) one extra thing to do before we can sit back and just listen to what's going on and what God has to say. But it gets the job done!

So, although we don't have a worship leader on staff yet, I'm already starting to feel like a burden's been lifted off of me - I've been wanting to see something like this happen for a long time, but "just me" and my lack of tact isn't going to make that sort of change. I'm really excited about where this could go, and am now thinking that prayers need to shift slightly to us getting a few more "tech savvy" folks (or at least those who can learn computers and software programs quickly and can control their ADHD for a few hours) on rotation... we have willing workers right now, but they will need a little training and continued coaching to keep things running smoothly if we are going to start changing things... or maybe a few more people who can work together when we have a Sunday with just a few more visual requirements than in other weeks.

Seriously, I'm excited about the changes that should be coming in our church soon, and I think I can hold off on wanting to do a major Christmas production like we did in years past for another year or two!