Use it or Lose it

It was a tough week at the gym last week.

Those who know me well know that I am a gym rat. I'm at the gym at least 5 but usually 6 days a week. It's what keeps me sane and gives me stress relief. I'm a big fan of group exercise, because I have found that I push myself much harder when I am surrounded by others. I take zumba, which is a dance workout that is latin based, but my latest love is body combat, a rockin' kickboxing, martial arts class. It is hard core, emphasis on the word hard, and a fantastic workout.

But then I went away for about three weeks, to Brazil on a mission team, to Blackstone for a residency event, and to Richmond for my brother's wedding.

Hence, last week, my first week at the gym in three weeks, was a tough week.

I'm always amazed at how quickly one can lose the edge. I've been building up stamina for months, working hard and pushing myself, and after three weeks away I feel like I'm back at square 2. It was all I could do to keep up for the whole class, and boy have I felt it in my back, arms, and legs!

I think this rings true about the most important things in life: when we step away from them, even for a short time, we rapidly lose the ground that we have spent months building up.

The spiritual life is definitely this way. John Wesley would call this backsliding, when we get lazy or busy and neglect the spiritual disciplines, when we neglect our relationship with God and the way that this relationship intentionally calls us into relationship with others, when we lose our focus on God's will and call for our lives we start sliding back. And unfortunately, we all know that it's easier to slide down the hill than it is to climb back up.

Summer, while it is fun and spontaneous and unstructured, seems to be time rife with backsliding. There are so many other things to do, that worship takes a backseat to going out of town or "enjoying" the day off (a strange and un-Christian understanding of sabbath). We don't offer any Bible studies at the church, instead we take a break. And I would hazard a guess that many of us often take a break from the personal, spiritual disciplines that we practice as well.

But following Jesus Christ is an everyday commitment, with no breaks and no holidays (though there are holy-days). It takes focus and determination. It takes reordering of priorities and quite honestly, the reordering of life. It takes our response: to God's call, God's initiative, God's grace. It takes practice, which is one of the reasons why we work on spiritual disciplines. It necessitates community, to keep us accountable and to surround us with encouragement (again, it's all about group classes!)

May God keep us focused so that we can continue to press on toward the goal!

VBS fun

At this moment, we have finished Day 4 of Vacation Bible School, and I can already feel the weariness setting in. Day 4 is a tough day, because by this point in time, all of the kids are tired and cranky, since many of them are staying up later than usual to come to VBS. They are also feeling more comfortable and bold, which is both a positive and a negative. It's positive in that they are singing the songs with confidence and dancing freely. It's negative in that they get a little too free and push the limits, every limit they can possibly push.

But VBS is so wonderful!

Tonight, I had a little girl, I would guess 5 years old, come stand next to me and tell me, "I love Jesus" in the same kind of way she would say "I love my mom."

Then a little boy who is 7 said, "Pastor Kristin, aren't you going to stand up and dance?" And so of course, I stood next to him and he became my dance partner.

A teacher told me about her niece, who heard someone mention Brazil on the radio today and said, "Hey, that's where those kids live!" (We have been talking about the kids in Brazil every night because our VBS offering is going to the Shade and Fresh Water Project.)

All of these little moments, strung together, make the chaos all worth it. What a blessing!

On God's Mission to Brazil

Well, it has been a wild and crazy week because I have been preparing to leave tomorrow with a mission team from my church to Fortaleza, Brazil. We went to Fortaleza last year for the first time and were very blessed to connect with the brothers and sisters at Aerolandia Methodist Church. When we returned home, we felt God leading us to develop a partnership with this particular congregation, so here we go, returning one year later.

It is a really fun team this year, with 6 people returning from last year's team and 5 new folks. What a great mix! We have been sending facebook messages with the young people at Aerolandia for the last few months, and everyone is eager to see each other face to face. There's nothing like returning to friends after being away.

There's a good chance I will not be blogging on my personal blog, because we will be keeping a team blog while we are there. I invite you to check it out> www.calvaryinbrazil.blogspot.com. We will be updating everyday with stories from Brazil and photos of friends and activities.

Like I said, I have been running and running trying to get everything together and done in the last week. I can't wait to get on that airplane!

Feeling thankful

Last night I had one of those moments of deep gratitude.

I was at the men's church softball game, where our team was playing the Baptists. Friendship Field is the name of the field where the men's and women's softball teams play here in Stuarts Draft, and it is THE place to be on just about any evening in the summertime. Friendship field is actually in the middle of a vineyard; think "Field of Dreams" and replace the corn with grapes.

Softball games are a staple of small town life. I sat over on the Calvary side with several of the wives and children of the players. The smaller kids were all playing in a big pile of sand by the scoreboard, burying a beetle and filling up a huge pixie stick with sand, then mischeviously asking us if we wanted some candy. There were at least eight or nine folks with dogs, both big and small, who were also socializing here and there. The bleachers were packed last night with people watching the game and talking about life.

It was the perfect night for softball; hard to believe that the next day was the beginning of July. There was a delicious breeze in the air, and I actually wished that I had brought a jacket with me. The game started at 8:00, so we watched the sun go down over the outfield. The sunset painted the sky various shades of pink, yellow, and blue.

It turned out to be a great game, and our team won. As I walked to my car, parked by Row 4 of grapes, I stopped for a minute and looked out at the mountains, dark blue in the twilight, and the crescent moon just above the skyline. I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude, for that particular moment in time, for the beauty that was so incredible. What a blessing it is to witness and be moved by beauty. Thanks be to God!

The Master Gardener

Yesterday I finally got around to trimming the bushes that had overgrown and were taking over my back porch. I have a love/hate relationship with yard work. I put it off as long as possible and have a hard time getting motivated to do it, and yet, once I start playing in the dirt and clipping away at the bushes, something deep inside of me feels calm and peaceful. I know with my bones that sitting on the earth is good for the being.

I think I spent a good hour cutting back the two bushes, and it was quite dark by the time I finished. As I clipped, I couldn't help but think about the theolocial significance of pruning. In John 15, Jesus talks with the disciples about God's pruning task. Jesus is the vine and the Father is the vinegrower, the Master Gardener if you will. We are the branches that are to abide in the vine, and the Master Gardener prunes such branches so that they will bear fruit.

I thought about all of this as I trimmed away. My bushes were completely out of control. They were wild and crazy, taking over the deck, pushing away the other flowers. They looked terrible and uncared for. I spent a long time trimming them (I am NOT a master gardener), trying to get them balanced, healthy, ordered, and beautiful. When I finished, they looked great!

The tendency I also have to watch, however, is over-trimming. Anyone who has ever gotten a bad haircut will tell you that at a certain point, you are cutting away too much and doing more damage than good. When you cut away too much of a bush or a plant, it looks bare and ugly.

I do believe that God continues to prune us, to cut away at things that are unhealthy, unnecessary, unruly in our lives. Spiritual disciplines are a way that God does this. As we spend time in prayer, fasting, worship, tithing, and as we spend time with the poor, we begin to notice things in our lives that are at best distractions and at worst, unhealthy addictions. We notice that we spend more time watching television than gathering with the body of Christ to worship. We notice that we spend more time on the internet than interacting with our families. We notice that our thoughts are consumed with gain, with money, with possessions, with stuff, with guarding what we have and getting more of it instead of giving freely and living simply.

And then of course, there is Scripture. As I used the big clippers, I couldn't help but think about the Word of God being a double-edged sword, and how great that sword would be at pruning! As we read the story of who God is, what God has done/is doing/will do, and what we are to do about it, it is like holding up a mirror to our own lives. Yeah, I think that Scipture is probably even better than the very cool electric bush clipper that someone let me borrow last year!

What needs to be trimmed away? What needs to be seriously cut back?

At the end of the night, I felt satisfied with my work. I imagine that God probably enjoys the gardening work; that God enjoys ordering our lives, giving us healthy discipline in which we can find freedom, creativity, and life. I am sure that God loves to see our beauty as we are shaped into the magnificent creation that we are intended to be.

A few of my favorite things (audiobooks)

As promised, here are my favorite books on cd/readers:

1. The Harry Potter series read by Jim Dale.
First of all, if you are going to listen to Harry Potter, the reader has to have a British accent. Secondly, I am amazed that all of the characters are read by this one man, because each one has a very distinctive voice without being cheesy. The man is brilliant, and of course, the books are as well.

2. Ilyana Kadushin (reader)
The quality of her voice is breathtaking. I encountered her for the first time in The Memory Keeper's Daughter, which was pretty good. She also narrates the entire Twilight series, which I found delightful, and I enjoyed her reading much more than the movie.

3. The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography by Sidney Poitier
I love to listen to books read by the author, and this is my favorite in that category. Sidney Poitier, in addition to having a wonderful voice, reads his book as if he were sitting on a porch with you telling you these stories firsthand. He even chuckles here and there. He is truly an amazing man.

4. Dreams From my Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama
Another book beautifully read by the author. Yes, I could listen to him read the phone book.

5. Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Read by the author...hmm, I'm seeing a trend. I read this several years ago when it came out and was very moved. I was moved again in listening to the author tell this powerful story of redemption. I also like to hear the author pronounce the places, names, and words that I do not know how to pronounce correctly.

6. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, Camille Kingsolver, and Steven L. Hopp
I have been on a food craze recently, reading lots of books on the food industry and such, and I enjoyed this book immensly because it is a more narrative form that still contains good information. It is also unique because it is written by Barbara Kingsolver's family, and all three authors participate in the reading.

7. The Camel Club by David Baldacci
The author does not read this, but I loved this book. Since I have started to listen to books on cd, I have listened to many of Baldacci's books. This one is my favorite. Baldacci writes conspiracy fiction that is based in Washington D.C., Richmond, and the Charlottesville area. That is my geographical home, so I enjoy reading books that are situated in areas that I know.

I would love to hear about any particular audiobooks or readers that you suggest!

Audio Books

I absolutely love audio books aka "Books on CD." I started listening to books on cd three years ago when I came to Stuarts Draft. I would say that on average, I spend at least an hour a day in my car driving to and from work, the gym, and anywhere else necessary. By the end of my first few months here, I was tired of all of my music, not crazy about the radio stations, and not ready to spend a fortune on new music. Enter: audio books. I discovered that my local library has shelves of books on cd, and it is FREE to check them out! Not only that, but I can use the library website to search for books that I want to read from other libraries in the area and have them sent to my library! It is brilliant!

The wonder of audio books is multi-faceted. I actually love to read but never have enough time to read the books that I currently own, much less new books that are current and trendy. Now, I can "read" books while I'm driving, cooking, or cleaning the house. I have "read" most of the books on the bestseller lists and re-read some of the stories that I loved the first time around.

On a geekier, more ideological level, I believe that it is important to continue developing my aural skills. We are fast becoming, or have already become, a culture that is unable to listen to and tell stories and depends solely on visual media. While I am a very visual person and love visual media, I believe that it is crucial to be able to get wrapped up in a story that someone is reading or telling. This doesn't just happen; it has to be developed.

A word of caution: not all audio books are created equal. Obviously, the reader is a determining factor in whether I will enjoy the book or not. The reader can make or break the whole experience. I will not be able to listen to a great book read by a boring reader, but there are several books that I have listened to when I thought, I could listen to this person read the phone book!

So, watch for my next post: my favorite audio books and readers! And I welcome any recommendations!