Sunday, November 22, 2009

reading list status

Lately finished:

Servolution by Dino Rizzo: Aside from my dislike of mashing the word serve with the slightly overused revolution, it's an easy read about the founding and continuing ministry at Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge, LA. It also offers an outline of how to adapt some of their techniques and philosphies to other ministries, but if you are already familiar with dreaming up ministry philosophies, it doesn't offer anything that new (or at least it didn't really present anything new to me, but I probably read more about structuring ministries, etc. than the average person). I would reccommend this book as a 101 level of "rethinking" church resource.

Through Painted Deserts by Donald Miller: After years of hearing praise for Miller's Blue Like Jazz, I ended up being drawn more to this story of Don's roadtrip from Texas to Grand Canyon to Oregon. It was an interesting read, it seemed more like a memoir though than a new ways to think about God and/or Christianity (which is what I was expecting for some reason...). MIller shares a lot about his views adn idea of God during this journey, and while I value his willingness to share and openess, it didn't feel like anything new...which reflecting that I'm saying this about two books in row, maybe I've grown a little hard-hearted...It's good, and I'm looking forward to reading his other books (especially with all the things I'm hearing about his latest), and this wasn't a bad place to start since chronilogically in Miller's life, this was the frist journey.

Salvation on the Small Screen? 24 Hours of Christian Television by Nadia Bolz-Weber: In the vein of The Year of Living Biblically by AJ Jacobs, Bolz-Weber, a Lutheran minister, watches 24 straight hours of the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). Looking at the content, intended audience, products offered, and Biblical soundness (Bolz-Weber would also have visitors spend portions of the day viewing, many of whom have various masters or doctartes in Divinity). It's interesting, that while she expects to be horrified by what's going on TBN (televangelists preying on shut-ins for monetary gifts; iirelevant teaching; etc.), by the end, Bolz-Weber is able to draw connections and ask some interesting questions not only of the Christianity represented on TBN, but also in her own emerging Lutheran church camp. It's a very quick read, and I greatly enjoyed it and would also reccommend it.

In the midst of:
The Books of Pellinor by Alison Croggon: This is a four book young adult fantasy series a friend reccommended and I'm currently on the final installment. It's decent...I would only reccommend it to other YA readers, and even then only if they like fantasy.

On Deck:
Total Church by Tim Chester & Steve Timmis (yes, I've finally retrieved it from carry-on bag and have placed it on top of the pile_
Uglies by Scott Westerfield (I like to read fiction before going to bed, while I reserve non-fiction for other times of the day, so this will take over the pre-bedtime slot when Pellinor is through)
Flickering Pixels: How Technology Shapes Your Faith by Simon Higgs (in reality I've already read the first 3 or 4 chapters, but I really want to explore more of the ideas Higgs presents and take the time to reflect and journal when reading, so this might be pushed back still...)
Speaking My Mind: The Radical Evangelical Prophet Tackles the Tough Issues Christians Are Afraid to Face by Tony Campolo (I'm intrigued to read this because I've been thinking and debating a lot lately of gay marriage (and marriage in general especially as what is marriage as defined by God and what is marriage as defined by government and are they same thing, should they be the same thing, etc.?) and while there are many books out there I'd like to read regarding this subject matter (I'm most interested in Love Is An Orientation by Andrew Martin, but it's not available at the Clarksville library...nor is it sitting on the shelves of either of the major chain bookstores...), they're a bit hard to come by

Monday, November 2, 2009

hedgeapple

Today I walked for several miles to enjoy the lovely weather and geocache. The Clarksville Greenway lays atop a now defunct railway path and offers some wonderful views. And a fun autumn find: hedgeapples!



Found a hedgeapple/osage orange. The texture is so amazing.







Around 1630 there was an echoing of loud booms. I'm pretty sure that was my husband. Can't wait for him to be home on Wednesday.







The creepiest spider I've ever seen in person that didn't have a nice layer of glass between us.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

purchasing pumpkins

Excited by the possibility of handing out candy to children dressed as pirates, princess, and other things, I wanted to make sure they knew that they could come to our door for said candy, and the best way to advertise free candy? A jack-o-lantern.

Except that week, due either to time restraint or gallons of water pouring down a pumpkin was not to be gotten. Which left pumpkin purchasing till the day of...

Attempt #1: Walmart. Our super Walmart has everything; groceries, electronics, lube jobs and when we walked in a giant wreath proclaiming "Seasons Greetings"... but no pumpkins (we did however pick up a new Xbox game).

Attempt #2: Gordon Food Service. If you ever wanted to pretend to own a restuarant, this is the place to go. Previously in October, they had a huge cardboard trough filled with perfectly sized for carved pumpkins. Day of, free samples of hot cider...but no pumpkins (the cider was decent).

Attepmt #3: Kroger. Besides Walmart, really the only other place to buy groceries is Kroger and while some of their prices maybe slightly higher, their produce and bakery departments offer much more than Walmart. Though that day they had one striking thing in common with Walmart...no pumpkins (though at this point we bandied about the idea of carving a watermelon).

Driving home in defeat, there on a hill on the side of the road a simple plywood sign reads "Farm Fresh Produce" and surrounding this sign: pumpkins.

Pull in and we are in Pumpkin Wonderland. Deserted Pumpkin Wonderland. Pumpkins lay all over, gourds stacked high in all shapes, sizes, and colors, but not a farm fresh producer anywhere. Including the near by farmhouse.

Our solution to making this transaction? We left the following in a note:

Hello! We are excited to buy a pumpkin, but it appears that no one is home. We are not entirely sure how much you want for the pumpkins in the bin marked 45 200, but we took a pumpkin from that bin and have enclosed $5. Thanks!




Evening fell, leaves rustled by our jack-o-lantarn angled ever so smarted by our now inviting door which was not knocked on once.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

new toys

Today Paul spoiled me with an iPhone (from which I am writing this from)! It was very unexpected as we were only going to the store to replace his lost phone and him add to my family plan. He was planning on getting one for himself as we tend to get into rather odd debates and often arrive home with a list of items to lookup on wikipedia to verify/prove the other wrong. We also learned that I've had my trusty blue KRZR for two years. I didn't really see the need to trade in phone unless I could also get something cool and spiffy, and viola, he spoiled me.

He's sweet like that.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Black & Bleu Bison Burgers

Ingredients:
1 lb ground Bison meat
1/3 sweet/yellow onion
4 strips bacon (cut in half)
4 oz crumbled bleu cheese
4 hamburger buns






Caramelize onions; set aside.
Fry up bacon; set aside on paper towels.
Toast buns at 350 during the next steps.
Mix in a few dashes of salt and pepper into the bison and split into four 4 oz. patties.
On stove top, heat patties for 3-4 minutes on each side heat set on medium-high.
After patties are cooked, remove buns from oven and set oven to broil.
On top of patties layer bacon, onions, then cheese.
Broil in oven for 1-3 minutes (till cheese is melted and bacon is cracklin').

You now have some tasty black & blue bison burgers!



Sunday, August 2, 2009

Servolution - Intro & Chapter One

Two books unexpectedly arrived at my door this past week: Servolution by Dino Rizzo and Total Church by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis (they were sent to me from Deets in some sort of thank you circle).

So first up in my reading is Servolution, tag line: Starting a church revolution through serving.

Intro

In the introduction, Dino starts off with explaining his underlying motive to serving: That God values everyone and wants them as his own, not matter the cost. More so, not only does God wants us as his own, those that are his are let in on the mission of pointing others to God.

He calls the church to look beyond themselves, but rather to those not already in on the mission, and the best way to do that is by serving them. It sort of reminds me of JFK's whole "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country" mantra. Don't ask yourself what you're going to get out of the church this day, week, month, etc, but rather how you can serve the people around you.

I'm on board so far; growing up in a youth group that was modeled on the five Purpose Driven(TM) characteristics for a ministry, this make sense as one of those five characteristics is serving others.

Quick background: the five purposes of a church/ministry are (in Rick Warren's vernacular): Worship, Fellowship, Discipleship, Ministry, and Mission. These five aspects are taken from The Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) and The Great Commandment (Matthew 22:37-40). In this case Ministry would constitute service to others ("...love your neighbor...").

In the introduction, Rizzo references Jude 23 with the emphasize seemingly on the idea of "..to others show mercy..."

Jesus taught heavily on ministering to others (especially those in less fortunate positions that would sometimes by overlooked by other religious leaders of the day), the early church is rife with examples of believers coming together and serving one another.

Rizzo is not stating a new idea here (which is good, because the church should always be looking to back what they have done (i.e. serving widows and orphans), and what needs to shift through the times is the how it is done (i.e. providing left over wheat from the harvest in a bygone era to something more practical today's culture, like free to low-cost school supplies for single parent families).

Chapter One: The Beginning of a Servolution - Forty-Five Tons of Tea

I'm simply going to take the definition that is given in the opening section of this chapter word for word and copy it here:
What is Servolution? (surv-uh-loo-shuhn)
1. A complete and radical change if a person's life caused by simple acts of kindness for the glory of God
2. God's kingdom on earth as it is in heaven
3. A church revolution through serving


Personally, I'm not a big fan of the word servolution. Note, I'm a fan of the idea/meaning of the phase, it's the physicality of smashing the word serve and revolution together. The phrase Serve Revolution would have sufficed, though to be honest the word revolution is a pop-culture word that the Christian sub-culture has latched onto a few years after pop-culture and are riding it for all it's worth. Again, this isn't that what the author is saying is wrong, it's just that it's a bit disappointing to see an example of slight culture pirating and I needed to get it out my system.

Oh, I should mention too if the subtitle of the chapter is a bit confusing, it's a reference to the Boston Tea Party, which Rizzo likens to the start of his own revolution - that at the time, no one knew what one seemingly insignificant (OK, filling Boston harbor was too insignificant, but considering what it was only leading up to...) incident could lead up to. His started with an unexpected offering from John Osteen (father of Joel) after pouring out his ideas for ministry. John wrote him a check and told him to start a church for the poor and hurting in Baton Rouge.

As with most starting up church plant's, attendance that first Sunday could be counted on both hands, but Rizzo was not to discouraged. His focus was not on Sunday morning sermons, but rather on helping people in the community.

By performing simple acts of kindness (visiting a widow with terminal cancer) and service (helping a single mom move) the congregation began to grow. After hosting a church wide dinner, he states:
"We were learning that whenever you find something that meets a need and makes people excited about coming to church, it is probably worth doing."


The chapter closes up with a section entitled, "Servolution Strategy" in which the author offers several steps to follow as well as posing some questions. He also emphasizes that when looking for a person or people to serve, to especially consider those on the "bottom" of the list, the types that tend to be overlooked and then identify their needs.

That can be a bit tricky when you think about it. Often we minister to those who are like us because we know what we would like or need, but to brainstorm up something you don't necessarily need yourself, but someone else might, can sometimes be a challenge. I would say that the solution to this is to ask questions. Don't speculate or assume, but rather ask.

It's a good start so far, and very easy read, so hopefully I'll be posting more in the next day or two.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

new chapter

OK, so I figure if I actually keep this blog up to date, this is probably the best way to keep everyone (who cares) informed of what all is going on in my life now that I removed from the Pennsylvania scene.

First: I AM MARRIED TO ONE HECK OF AN AWESOME GUY!!! Huzzah!

Second: We went on a cruise to Mexico (where we suffered only the slightest of sunburns...though I'm apparently allergic to whatever is in Banana Boat spray on aloe cooling gel...)

Here are a few pictures:














B











Third: Since the traditional arrangement of a husband and wife is to live together, I have moved to Clarksville, Tennessee to keep that tradition going.

Fourth: I am still working for Collages.net, via tele-commuting...ahh the wonders of technology.

Fifth: I'm not simply a wife, I am a military wife, and I'm learning that means I have to share my husband with the US government. Which means he's working overnight. Which means I miss him terribly and writing this entry maybe a part of my attempts at distracting myself from his absence. Future distractions for this evening invloce driving around Clarksville getting a lay of the land...and possibly some Starbucks.