Saturday, September 22, 2012

It's RACE DAY in Nashville!!!

Well, it's HEEEEERE!

Race day!

Angela and I - friends since 5th grade - gonna get our RUN on today!

Starting at the Country Music Hall of Fame. 

To run 13.1 miles *it's crucial that you do NOT forget that .1 people

This is Angela's first half. It's my second. I'm just as nervous this time as I was the last time.

Looks like God has blessed us with a nice NICE day for it. Much better than the 3-4 months of H-E-A-T and humidity we trained in. But I'm not complaining. Cuz it's race day and race day is FUN! 

You may not think running that far is fun. But it is. I promise! 

After you run that far and all those people cheer you on you get to EAT EAT EAT Lol And you can brag to your non-running friends. And you can get one of those cute 13.1 stickers. 

Well I gotta run (ha LITERALLY) - scarfing down this oatmeal before hopping up to get all my gear on. Aren't you glad I posted this quick little entry?! 
Have you ever tried to blog whilest a 14 pound cat is in your lap? smh



Sunday, September 16, 2012

the current state of affairs - us & churchin'

I haven't really blogged about our current church situation, although I've mentioned it in passing. 
 
Sometimes you kinda wanna hold back on what you share with the unknown masses. I know you're thinking what masses? You don't have many followers. Well, I know a lot of folks who read my lovely blog and aren't identified as followers. They're technologically challenged shy. And that's ok. ;-)
 
You may remember last September my dad stopped pastoring and stepped out in faith to be a revival preaching evangelist. the blog post about dad 
He didn't have a ton of appointments at first (it was winter time grant it) but he's gotten much busier since spring. He's quite the travelling man these days. It's so neat - he gets to do what he loves to do and what God called him to do without the burden of pastoring. I always say pastoring is like running a company with volunteers. If you're a pastor's kid you know what I'm talking about. 
 
Anyway, the hub & I stayed at the church Dad had pastored for a while. But then we left. And we visited here and there...and there... and there... 
 
If you've ever searched for a church, you feel my pain. :-/
 
Some may criticize our church search and say we should have waited until we knew where God wanted us to attend. Well it doesn't always work that way. 
 
The first Sunday of 'the search' we visited Long Hollow Baptist in Hendersonville. We sat in the balcony. I didn't like it much for a few reasons. But I did love the pastor and his sermon he preached that day.
 
As I said, we visited a lot of different places and kinda settled in for a while at a local church. But it always felt temporary. We love the pastor. And the people there are sooooo nice! But it just didn't feel 100% r-i-g-h-t for us ... you know what I mean?
 
A couple months ago (on a Sunday the local church wasn't having service) Anthony wanted to go back to Long Hollow. I was Negative Nancy on the inside but the supportive wife who lets her husband be the head of the house kicked in and I was like, ok, sure. I s'pose we can give it another try. 
 
This time it was so different for me. 
 
For one, we didn't sit in the balcony. And this time everything just seemed to fit. 
 
I felt God's presence throughout the entire service. Honestly, I'm getting emotional just typing this now. I had tears in my eyes that day.
 
And the sermon that day - the pastor might as well have come and stood right in front of me and said Lyndy, Lyndy, Lyndy... cuz that Sunday we were definitely supposed to be in that church hearing that message.
 
(Pause)
Thank you God for my husband. 
And I'm so thankful I honored him by going that day.
 
(ahem) 
Anyway, we absolutely adore the worship time. Since Anthony plays acoustic guitar & I sing, that's kinda a big deal for us. And we love the pastor and how he delivers his God-inspired messages that are absolutely full of scripture and every day application. 
 
It's so awesome to look forward to going to church. To be excited about God's work. And learning more about scriptures you've read over & over. To feel like you can make a difference in God's kingdom.
 
This morning for the first time I sang in the choir with the worship team in two services. We lost ourselves in worship - hands raised, eyes closed, focused on our Heavenly Father. It was so fun! Yes, God's work can be fun! Worshipping Him can and should be enjoyable.
 
Am I perfect? Nope! 
 
Why don't we all just try to do our best and look to the Bible for direction and lean on the Lord for our understanding? And stop comparing ourselves to others. That's such a dangerous game.
 
I think that's a good plan, don't you?! 
 
And for now, I'm gonna be working on that down at The Hollow with a few other folks.