Random thoughts!

I have a lot of random thoughts going on in my head these days. For one, I am super nervous/excited/etc. about buying a house here in the near future. There are so many things to consider-it's such a HUGE decision, and we want to make the one that is the best decision for us financially. We don't want to be "house poor" and never able to do anything, save, give, etc. because every penny is going towards the mortgage. We want to buy something that we can turn around in 5 or so years and sell, hopefully making enough of a profit to buy our house we'll stay in for a long time. I struggle with wanting what others have, so I know I'll need to get over my issues of "everyone else" having a bigger, better house than us. It will have to be small, but it will be filled with so much love, and that's what matters, right? Right. :) Bryan is giving me an amazing blessing of not having to work so I can stay home with Caleb, and I know that if I was working, we could afford a bigger house, but then I wouldn't be home with Caleb...when I step back and look at the "big picture" I see that Caleb being with his mommy is more important to me. A sacrifice? Yes. But with so many rewards. So, anyway, location is key, but Lexington is so weird when it comes to location...and it doesn't help matters that Bryan works on one side of town, but our church is on the complete opposite side of town...it'll be a matter of give and take, for sure. I'm just scared of getting in over our heads, but I'm sure it will work out--God has the perfect house for us, we just have to figure out which one that is! :)

Other thoughts revolve around Caleb turning 1 next month. I just can't believe a year has already passed. Those first few months seemed to go really slowly, but then WHAM, he's almost a year old. He is becoming more and more like a little boy every day, and less like a baby. He can hold his own sippy cup and drink from it, he cruises everywhere, claps when someone says, "Can you clap?", does this hilarious thing where he "snaps" his fingers, goes to sleep on his own, the list goes on and on. He means the world to me and I'm so happy I get to be his mommy. I'm sad about his birthday, but also excited to see what's next...I am anxiously awaiting the day he says "I love you mommy..." :)

I've been thinking a lot about our church, too. I've been reading this guy Steve's "church experiment" where he is visiting 52 churches (synagogues, mosques, etc.) each of the 52 weeks of the year. It is extremely intriguing to me, and as I read it, I realize more and more how happy I am at Southland. Is it perfect? Definitely not--having a husband who was on staff for 2 years made me more aware of its imperfections, but no church IS perfect! They are all filled and run by imperfect people. But there is something to be said for a church that is ALIVE. I have NEVER understood why people who have heard and understand the message of the Gospel would want to passively sit in a pew every week and sing songs they put no emotion behind, listen to a boring message from a boring or inept preacher, and go home unchanged (and bored). Shouldn't we have EXCITEMENT when we enter God's house? I mean, the message of Jesus is that we were bound for hell-not just in the afterlife, but in the here and now!, but His sacrifice rescued us from that, forever!!! We were orphans, and God adopted us into his family, no strings attached. And we mumble the words to the songs we don't understand and check our watches to see how much more we have to endure before lunch? I think there's something wrong with that kind of thinking! Jesus came to give us LIFE, right? How much life do you see on the faces of most churchgoers? Not too much, unfortunately. And I think a lot of that is the fault of churches who are content with being complacent.

There was a man who got baptized at the service we went to this week, and it just blew me away. He was middle aged, and apparently has/had an issue with staying sober. The message this week was about sin and taking on the life of the Spirit once we accept Christ...this man was convicted and knew he needed to change-or, let God change him is more like it. Seeing him baptized in the water and raised to new life had me reaching for my tissues, because isn't that what it's all about?? Changed lives. Not a nice (or boring, or irrelevant) message to listen to (or not) before lunch. Something big is going to be happening at Southland this fall. www.itlexington.com. I'm not sure exactly what "it" is all about-Jon said he will be unveiling it in August...but it will be big. And all about getting out of the pews and being the hands and feet in our town. I can't wait.
:)

Wow, well, those are my random thoughts at the moment. Just had to get them down in writing!