The Snowboarder Order

Revolution Reality 01 Tomatoes

2009-10-23T22:34:00.000-07:00

A fun little video we made for Tommy and Krissi's Revolution Reality. There will be more of these fosho.

The Five Love Languages

2009-10-03T10:53:00.000-07:00

Love Languages

For a significant amount of time since we'd broken it off, I've spent countless hours resenting my ex boyfriend (unnamed here) for being neglectful and unloving. I've cried out because I felt I was the victim of two years of emotional abuse. At times, I was even more angry at myself for allowing the emotional wounding to happen.

Recently, two happily married friends invited me to a seminar where, among other things, I learned about the concept of the "5 Love Languages" and how they help us understand our personal emotional wounding. Apparently this Christian marriage counselor named Dr. Gary Chapman put this all into writing HERE in his books(s) with the same title "The Five Love Languages". Many aspects of my past relationship started to make a lot more sense to me after understanding these concepts. Although not everything in the relationship could be explained through the love languages concept, understanding the love languages really helped me understand myself more. It really hit head on when it comes to my current relationship and the little times in that relationship that I feel might be repeating themselves from the last one gone sour. Thanks to my understanding I know that I'm not crazy and that it's ok to need love the way I'm wired to need it. Before, I though I was just being irrational and "too needy" where, instead, I should have sacrificed my own understanding of love, lived with a huge hole in my heart, and be ok in relationship with someone who just doesn't know or maybe doesn't care what language they should use to make me feel loved. WRONG!

The following are the five love languages taken directly from the website thefivelovelanguages.com as written by Dr. Gary Chapman. (remember, you can check out his books at that same website) Remember, these don't really apply to ALL of the friendships and relationships we have- just people we are in relationship with like family or boyfriend/girlfriend, etc.

Words of Affirmation
 Mark Twain once said “I can live for two months on a good compliment.” Verbal appreciation speaks powerfully to persons whose primary Love Language is “Words of Affirmation.” Simple statements, such as, “You look great in that suit,” or “You must be the best baker in the world! I love your oatmeal cookies,” are sometimes all a person needs to hear to feel loved. Aside from verbal compliments, another way to communicate through “Words of Affirmation” is to offer encouragement.
Here are some examples: reinforcing a difficult decision; calling attention to progress made on a current project; acknowledging a person’s unique perspective on an important topic. If a loved one listens for “Words of Affirmation,” offering encouragement will help him or her to overcome insecurities and develop greater confidence.

Quality Time 
Quality time is more than mere proximity. It’s about focusing all your energy on your mate. A husband watching sports while talking to his wife is NOT quality time. Unless all of your attention is focused on your mate, even an intimate dinner for two can come and go without a minute of quality time being shared.
Quality conversation is very important in a healthy relationship. It involves sharing experiences, thoughts, feelings and desires in a friendly, uninterrupted context. A good mate will not only listen, but offer advice and respond to assure their mate they are truly listening. Many mates don’t expect you to solve their problems. They need a sympathetic listener.
An important aspect of quality conversation is self-revelation. In order for you to communicate with your mate, you must also be in tune with your inner emotions. It is only when you understand your emotions and inner feelings will you then be able to share quality conversation, and quality time with your mate.
Quality activities are a very important part of quality time. Many mates feel most loved when they spend physical time together, doing activities that they love to do. Spending time together will bring a couple closer, and, in the years to come, will fill up a memory bank that you can reminisce about in the future. Whether it’s sitting on the couch and having a brief conversation or playing together in a tennis league, quality time is a love language that is shared by many. Setting aside focused time with your mate will ensure a happy marriage.

Receiving Gifts 
Some mates respond well to visual symbols of love. If you speak this love language, you are more likely to treasure any gift as an expression of love and devotion. People who speak this love language often feel that a lack of gifts represents a lack of love from their mate. Luckily, this love language is one of the easiest to learn.
If you want to become an effective gift giver, many mates will have to learn to change their attitude about money. If you are naturally a spender, you will have no trouble buying gifts for your mate. However, a person who is used to investing and saving their money may have a tough time adjusting to the concept of spending money as an expression of love. These people must understand that you are investing the money not in gifts, but in deepening your relationship with your mate.
The gift of self is an important symbol of love. Sometimes all your mate desires is for someone to be there for them, going through the same trials and experiencing the same things. Your body can become a very powerful physical symbol of love.
These gifts need not to come every day, or even every week. They don’t even need to cost a lot of money. Free, frequent, expensive, or rare, if your mate relates to the language of receiving gifts, any visible sign of your love will leave them feeling happy and secure in your relationship.

Acts of Service 
Sometimes simple chores around the house can be an undeniable expression of love. Even simple things like laundry and taking out the trash require some form of planning, time, effort, and energy. Just as Jesus demonstrated when he washed the feet of his disciples, doing humble chores can be a very powerful expression of love and devotion to your mate.
Very often, both pairs in a couple will speak to the Acts of Service Language. However, it is very important to understand what acts of service your mate most appreciates. Even though couples are helping each other around the house, couples will still fight because the are unknowingly communicating with each other in two different dialects. For example, a wife may spend her day washing the cars and walking the dog, but if her husband feels that laundry and dishes are a superior necessity, he may feel unloved, despite the fact that his wife did many other chores throughout the day. It is important to learn your mate’s dialect and work hard to understand what acts of service will show your love.
It is important to do these acts of service out of love and not obligation. A mate who does chores and helps out around the house out of guilt or fear will inevitably not be speaking a language of love, but a language of resentment. It’s important to perform these acts out of the kindness of your heart.
Demonstrating the acts of service can mean stepping out of the stereotypes. Acts of service require both mates to humble themselves into doing some chores and services that aren’t usually expected from their gender. However, these little sacrifices will mean the world to your mate, and will ensure a happy relationship.

Physical Touch
 Many mates feel the most loved when they receive physical contact from their partner. For a mate who speaks this love language loudly, physical touch can make or break the relationship.
Sexual intercourse makes many mates feel secure and loved in a marriage. However, it is only one dialect of physical touch. Many parts of the body are extremely sensitive to stimulation. It is important to discover how your partner not only physically responds but also psychologically responds to these touches.
It is important to learn how your mate speaks the physical touch language. Some touches are irritating and uncomfortable for your mate. Take the time to learn the touches your mate likes. They can be big acts, such as back massages or lovemaking, or little acts such as touches on the cheek or a hand on the shoulder. It’s important to learn how your mate responds to touch. That is how you will make the most of this love language.
All marriages will experience crisis. In these cases, physical touch is very important. In a crisis situation, a hug can communicate an immense amount of love for that person. A person whose primary love language is physical touch would much rather have you hold them and be silent than offer any advice.
It is important to remember that this love language is different for everyone. What type of touch makes you feel secure is not necessarily what will make your partner happy. It is important to learn each other’s dialects. That way you can make the most of your hugging, kissing, and other physical contacts.

Love Languages applied:
Honestly, when the women at the seminar were explaining the love languages in short... I just couldn't believe what I was hearing. It made so much sense. I'll recap it here: People feel and express love in 5 common ways. Often times, if a family member or lover expresses their love for you in a way that isn't your personal love language, it's hard to understand their love for you. For example, my mom might love me a ton but if I understand love through words of affirmation and she understands and expresses love through physical touch, it doesn't matter how much she hugs me and rubs my back, I'll still have a hole in my heart because I'm waiting for her to tell me that she loves me or compliment me or encourage me. If words of affirmation just aren't the way she expresses love we could misunderstand each other resulting in my not feeling loved and her not understanding why I think she never loves me. Understand? Spending a significant amount of time in a relationship like that can cause significant emotional wounding that carries over into other aspects of your life. If mom never told me she loved me (but she DID love me... she just didn't speak my language), then I might start freaking out if I have a boyfriend who doesn't tell me he loves me every hour that I'm with him. That unrealistic expectation of him would have been caused by being in relationship with someone who never told me that they loved me so now I need someone ELSE to tell me that they love me enough for the mom who didn't and for themselves or else it's going to be the end of the world because NOBODY LOVES ME! Sound familiar?

Sometimes these emotional wounds also carry over into our relationship with God (as the trinity- father, son, holy spirit). If we understand the Father through our relationship with our dad (dad's supposed to give us identity, security, and protection), the Holy Spirit through our relationship with our mother (comfort nurture and teaching) and Jesus through our relationships with our siblings and friends (communication and companionship) than think of how our unsatisfactory or broken relationships with those people affect how we understand the corresponding Godhead. Sometimes, it seems like we start to believe lies about God based on how those family members or friends have treated us. If Mom misses my love language I might believe that the holy spirit doesn't want to encourage me or will never get excited about me or what I do. That is a LIE! Understanding the love languages can help me understand what lies I believe about God and then ERASE them so that God, (holy spirit, jesus, and holy father) and I can get closer. way cool. Forgiving Mom for just not understanding the love languages, releasing her to God and blessing her and then forgiving yourself for thinking that the Holy Spirit wasn't your biggest fan and then starting to let the Spirit Shine through and show you how much of a fan he really is will not only help you partner with God in love but allow God to HEAL your wound so that you can move on with your relationships in a more healthy and affirming way.

I've tried this and it's TRUE! Tried and true... you would not believe how awesome forgiveness is. I'll talk about that in my next post.
We could be closer than you know,
Chelsea

A movement everyone should know

2009-09-06T22:06:00.000-07:00

This is the most beautiful poem I have ever read. It is the poem that inspired my favorite song (of the same title): the third movement of Suite bergamasque by Claude Debussy. Appreciating beauty is worship in itself. I think God listens to this song as much as I do and digs the poem that inspired it. How some people can write music to so perfectly match someone else's words is a marvelous mystery of art and intelligence.. in it's own sense, empathy.

Claire de Lune
by Paul Verlaine (1844 – 1896)

Votre âme est un paysage choisi
Que vont charmant masques et bergamasques
Jouant du luth et dansant et quasi
Tristes sous leurs déguisements fantasques.

Tout en chantant sur le mode mineur
L'amour vainqueur et la vie opportune
Ils n'ont pas l'air de croire à leur bonheur
Et leur chanson se mêle au clair de lune,

Au calme clair de lune triste et beau,
Qui fait rêver les oiseaux dans les arbres
Et sangloter d'extase les jets d'eau,
Les grands jets d'eau sveltes parmi les marbres.

Click to read it in English

Self Denial 101

2009-09-02T11:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had a breakthrough.
My whole life I have misunderstood the whole "die to self" thing that Jesus teaches. My blood sugar was low, which causes some strange things to happen sometimes, and, after totally embarrassing myself in front of some friends while trying to get it under control, I just sat for hours alone thinking. What occupied my mind: how on earth was I going to make it up to them, the fact that they have to be my friend. Yes, folks, I've gotten to that point in my life. I have become a self-loathing loser who thinks nobody would ever forgive her for anything. Awesome. The realization of it made me want to vanish even more. What have I become?

Once I could finally talk again, in my sorrow, I asked for some advice from my boyfriend. He lovingly pointed out, again, that I need to start thinking differently. "You need to change your attitude." Whenever it comes to this I can't, in my life, figure out what he's talking about. I have tried everything and a half to battle this illness that I've had for about two years now. I've been terribly resilient. I've come a seriously long way but it's not gone and the symptoms of it still plague my life. I often feel like I am a disease. A disease to other people's lives and to my own. It's painful and scary and bad. Anyway, I think constantly bouncing back from episodes and being persistent and energetic in my treatment for it would count as having a positive attitude. Never mind the fact that I constantly feel spent and hopeless... defeated. Point being, I can never understand him when he tells me i need an attitude adjustment. I was still around wasn't I? I hadn't given up and, to me, that was about as good as it got. I hadn't given up yet even though I had to fight and give it EVERYTHING i have to keep from failing, giving up, admittedly loosing the battle... but to him that isn't good enough.

After our conversation and more tears on my part I started my two mile walk home in the 100 degree weather. More pitty party for me. I didn't have a job. I didn't have money. I didn't have a car. I didn't even have my bike because something was broken on it and I had to buy a part to fix it. boo hoo. It didn't last long, though, because something he had said a few minutes before got me thinking about self-denial.

As a Christian we are taught that self-denial is an essential part of our faith. No I'm not referencing Romeo and Juliet: "O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name".. I think the most famous verse from the bible abou this is as follows:

Matthew 16:24-25 "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it."

Another popular reference is to the story of the least shal be first dinner table fable thing.

But then it hit me... the breakthrough. My whole life I have misunderstood the whole "die to thyself" thing. I've had it totally backward and that's what Ty was talking about when he told me I needed to change my attitude. He was talking specifically about how I dealt with my illness, however, what he said applied to my whole life- overall.

What I used to think:
Denying oneself meant putting yourself in the worst positions possible and/or always approaching bad situations in your life with acceptance and tolerance. Making sure that you acknowledge your unworthiness in every situation and always taking the last share or none at all depending on the situation. Not complaining and certainly not changing a bad situation that you are in. The more suffering you must endure, the more loving you are being. Suffering is just a way you are building character so living with it and not dealing properly with people who abuse you or mistreat you is just building your faith and your character. Your enduring makes you more worthy. You are worth less than everyone else and placing yourself in that position is a way to get closer to God and be more holy.

Yesterday morning that was seriously how I lived my life!!!!! It was how I felt and how I thought I was living humbly and correctly. I thought THAT was humble. It was the reason I've stayed in abusive relationships with boyfriends and plain old friends. It's why I haven't taken initiative in so many places that I should have until it built up so much that i exploded and then just made the situation worse, why I let a non profit screw me out of hundreds of hours of time and about 9 thousand dollars so many years ago, why I let room mates walk all over me, why I let jobs pay me almost nothing, why I let people at church take advantage of my charity and hard work, why it seems like I resent more people than I respect, and why I'm currently a self-loathing looser.
Consider the light bulb on!

I'm proud to say (thanks to God!) that today I have a totally different outlook. Never mind how I got here in the first place. I'm learning learning and one of the first things I'm learning that the past is the past and now is now. WOO! yay God.

What I understand now:
When Christ asked us to deny ourselves He didn't mean for us to deny our worth. He meant we should Deny our privilege and then allow God to place us accordingly. Luke explains starting at 14:7:

When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this man your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Denying your own worth could be considered a SIN on it's own! Denying your worth and accepting less than your worth in life on the basis that you are not worth anything or you aren't worth better is like denying that the Lord made you in his image. Denying your own worth causes resentment, misfortune, and unhappiness. It doesn't help serve the world and it certainly doesn't help serve you. I honestly never realized I was doing this until yesterday afternoon.

PRAISE GOD for giving me this breakthrough.

Denying one's privilege is humility and, although I think sometimes there can be some grey area and a fine line, really most of it is clean cut and clear. The man at the table didn't deny his worth and sit on the floor for crying out loud. He didn't place himself with the dogs- he sat at the table to get food and join the celebration! He just chose what place to sit in... he still got to sit at the table and then, when the host promoted him, he didn't say "nonono promote someone else" he allowed himself to get promoted.

Point being, stand up for yourself Chelsea. Don't accept crap from people because you certainly don't deserve it. Stand up for yourself and realize your own self worth. We are all children of the Lord and we are worth more money than is conceivable. We are more precious than any object or any other person in the world. We don't have to be martyers or put ourselves in bad situations and when bad situations come it is ok to try to get out of them! If it's impossible to escape THEN and only THEN is it time to be resilient and push through but not because you have to suffer to be close to God, no, because you value the life he gave you so much that you WILL suffer if it means protecting it the way the Lord gave it to us.

I was like becoming a modern version of one of those misguided Catholics who thought they had to harm themselves to make up for their sins. One of the monks who wore a hair shirt or whipped themselves. That's like how I was living!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wasn't Christ's death enough for me.

It is now. Praise God.

I have value and today is day number one. I will accept no less than I am worth. Today I end resent. Today I start fresh. Today I begin to heal.

We could be closer than you know,
Chelsea

A series on modern morality 2

2009-04-09T12:05:00.000-07:00

So as soon as I blogged my last post and started writing I stumbled upon this book:

The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical by Shane Claiborne

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is by far the best book I have ever read... ever.

Dive in and dare to dream!!!

Now that I've read this I am not about to even start to compete by writing my own. So scratch that whole last post. Holr!!!
We could be closer than you know,
Chelsea

A Series on Modern Morality

2008-09-15T15:28:00.000-07:00

I have decided that I'll go about getting my recent education out of my brain and "down on paper", err... "blogged" by setting it up like I was going to write a book. haha. Well why not?

Anyway, I'm going to keep the title: "A Series on Modern Morality", but i'll add something afterwards for each.. uh.. chapter. For example: "A Series on Modern Morality: Food" or... "A Series on Modern Morality: Conscious Consuming". These titles will hopefully give you an idea of what is to come. Chances are there will be different sections to each basic chapter so their numbers will be added accordingly: "A Series on Modern Morality: Conscious Consuming; Section 01"

I can pretty much guarantee that I won't be posting these entries in any specific order so that's why I'm so meticulously categorizing them. This way anyone can follow along even if I post them grossly out of order and out of wack. Ya'll can just look them up in my history and continue through.

I can also guarantee that these aren't going to be a weekly thing. I am going to spend a ton of time on them and research them as thoroughly as I can before slappin' em on the old blog. I'll try to get some kind of a rhythm going (and i'll set deadlines for myself because the good Lord knows I need deadlines in order to function) but I'm not going to make any promises here about that :)

EEsh this is going to be a big project. I'm glad, though, becasue getting this stuff out of my head will really help me understand it myself. Seriously.
Maybe I'll post the letter I wrote to some of my spiratual confidents that explains how my brain has been in a bit of a twist since my understanding of morality has greatly expanded. It's really a rant but might give the blogging world some perspective as to where the inspiration is coming from for this huge project.

We could be closer than you know,
Chelsea

BICYCLEs and Faith

2007-09-08T02:45:00.000-07:00

How Cycling helps me learn balance :

Psalms 18:36 - "You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn."

Yes, that's right. My bicycle has been a key asset to learning balance in my life!

Balance is a term that can mean many things. What I mean by balance here is simple. We have a few main needs in our lives, some of these include things as simple as food and shelter, another is, for example, the need to be in relationship with people- friends and family. We need good nutrition, regular exercise, enough sleep, and a place to work. With all of these human needs we also need relaxation, God, and a spiritual element to our lives. The trick, though, is finding a balance of all of these basic human needs. Often time, in my own life, I end up spending much more time focusing on one need and, subsequently, end up neglecting another need. The problem with this is that each need is still a need and when I spend more time with one than with the other my life starts to become unbalanced and I start to feel that unbalance. Unbalance in a personal life can be a very negative thing that can ultimately hurt a person in many different ways. For example, if you neglect your body and choose to, instead, only relax and are not actively exercising often then you open yourself up to heart disease, a higher risk of cancer, high blood pressure, higher chance of heart attack, and many other health problems that come with being over-weight. If you devote all your time to your need to work and make money and neglect relaxation and the relationships you have with friends and family you can hurt the important relationships in your life and even become exhausted to the point of mental breakdown.

Did you know that any form of extreme unbalance in a person's life, when it comes to these basic needs, can cause permanent damage to that person? An unbalance in any of the basic categories of need can damage a person's body, mind, soul, relationships, quality of life, etc.

This is a little candle my boyfriend and I made for my good friend HAWK who is a bicycle security guard... I love stuff like this.

So it seems like, to me, of all of these needs, I tend to become most obsessed with one of them: the need to make money in order to sustain myself financially. Very often I let this need overtake much of my life. It quickly and effectively snuffs out the time that I dedicate to other needs like exercise, building relationships, and even adequate rest. The funny thing is that I just can't seem to concur this over-dedication to working and I've been trying to figure out why. One of the things that I've discovered is that I am absolutely not alone in this particular type of unbalance. In-fact it seems like an unbalance when it comes to putting work over all other needs has become part of the typical progressive American lifestyle. This is not a unique trait to just the Americas, it's here and there all over the world. I can't say that I'm surprised though. Our culture puts such an emphasis on what job you have, how much money you make, where you live, what you own, what you drive, and so on. People have disputed this with me. I've had people say "oh i don't care about what someone does or where they live" when we hit the topic of needs in our conversation. Take these people to a party, though, and introduce them to someone new. 10 bucks says that they, at at least once point in the conversation, ask their new friend "what do you do?" or "that's cool what kind of car is it?". They don't ask that to judge... it's just our custom. It's what we deem important in life. Usually "What do you do?" is the FIRST question in a new conversation when we are getting to know someone. I'm guilty of the same thing.

How does one remedy an unbalance when it comes to work? I can't answer that question for somebody else because every person's needs and the action and lack-there-of that fit our lives are different. People have balance and unbalance all over the place and it really doesn't make sense that there would be one formula that works for everyone, one course of action to balance everyone out. After looking at my own life and trying to understand the reasons why I was always rushing around and never seemed to have "time" to do anything but work I started to discover the areas in my life that I had surrendered control and choice to the working world. For example I would start allowing my boss to call me anytime of day or night to demand my time. When I was called I would always respond and focus on working. As this went on and got worse and worse my work became the center of my life instead of just part of the balance. I would drive my car all over the place rushing to do all of the other things that are parts of my life during the small time that I wasn't working. Often times I'd get to the point where I felt as though I was not in control of anything in my life and that I didn't have enough time to do anything that i wanted. I felt like I wasn't accomplishing ANYTHING yet for some reason I wasn't doing anything but working. It was a spiral..

And then I got a bicycle.

I decided to start riding to work, my appointments, and everywhere that I could. Sometime it was because I couldn't afford gas, sometimes it was because I really needed the exercise, sometimes it was because I thought I owed it to the environment to give my car a rest. As I began to make cycling one of my main modes of transportation I started slowing down. I found a gateway to learning balance. I had no idea how to start and, being forced to slow down a little because I was cycling instead of driving, provided the first step to understanding what balance in my life I needed. When my boss would call and say I need you at work I went from saying "ok right away" and rushing in my car over to the office to saying "ok I'll be there in 30 minutes", packing and planning to ride, and then jumping on my bicycle and having an enjoyable journey to the office.

It taught me to slow down, plan ahead, and enjoy the ride.

I started taking less things with me and started running chores one at a time instead of trying to do everything gat once. I started buying less in order to fit things in my backpack. I started feeling less tired and more in shape. I started eating better and drinking more water because I had to make sure I had enough energy to ride the 25 minutes to work and 25 minutes back every day. I started thinking about ways to make time to SLOW DOWN instead of make time to speed up like I'd been accustomed t for so many years. Often I ride with friends to work or on chores and it gives me a chance to spend time with them and catch up. Best of all, riding bicycles is FUN! Every time I ride to work it reminds me of when I rode to school every day in middle school having a blast all the way. You start noticing things that you don't notice in a car like the smell of the bagel shop down the street, the sunflowers that grow in the street gutter, the decorations in people's lawns and the smiling faces of your neighbors. Now that my boss is accustomed to me riding my bicycle to work he understands that it takes time and doesn't expect me to act on the drop of a pin every day.

Even better, so many of my friends have begun to pick up on my excitement about slowing down in life and achieving balance through starting to ride my bicycle everywhere that they are also trying it out. To their pleasure bicycle riding has been helping them as well! (not to mention saving them a lot of gas money!)

Riding bicycles is a fun pastime and a friendly way of transportation as well as a great way to slow life down and achieve a little balance. It's funny what types of things can help us in life, even spiritually. God made the world so that we can enjoy it.. how interesting that enjoying a bicycle ride has helped me so much to achieve balance for all of the other needs in my life. Funny how these things work, right? I thought that working all the time and rushing around and making money was what would make me happy when in-fact the opposite was true. Cycling more, working less, and experiencing a little more time off, friends, neighbors, exercise, nutrition, energy, and sunshine was the key ;)

Keep riding!
-Chelsea

(For more information about cycling in Utah check these web-pages out: http://www.slcbikecollective.org and http://www.slccriticalmass.org/)

Why I wave to people and why you should too (maybe)

2007-06-12T18:10:00.000-07:00

I have a friend named Zack who I lovingly call Zackrack. During college Zackcrack was a delightful friend in my life and, to this day, still makes me smile whenever we get a chance to catch up. When I think about Zackrack I think about how many pairs of shoes he had, his funny bmx bike that didn't have breaks (maybe the reason he went through so many shoes), the giant inflatable yellow M&M character that was always outside of his bedroom door, and, most of all, his habit of waving and saying hi to tottally random people he didn't know ALL OF THE TIME .

Senario: Zackrack and I would be driving down the street in his station wagon and, at a light, a mother would be crossing the street pushing her young son in a baby stroller. Without thinking twice, Zackrack would make eyecontact with her, wave his hand irradically, and say "HI!!". His actions ALWAYS invoked the same responses from his victems and from me. See, Zackrack said his hello's in such a friendly way that everyone he waved to thought that maybe they knew him from somewhere. Their response, 99% of the time was a look of "do i know you?" and, upon realizing that they didn't, they *usually* waved back. MY response, almost every single time, was always me asking Zackrak: "Do you know them?" to which Zackrack would turn to me with a big goofy smile, almost laughing, and relpy "Nope!". These interations happened on a daily basis.

So, naturally, after spending tons of time chillin with Zackrack in Savannah I decided to start waving to people whenever he did, double the flavor, double the fun, right? We'd laugh and enjoy interacting with people together. Sometimes we'd even meet a new friend doing it. Rarley did we ever have someone react negativly to our greetings and so, what was habit for Zackrack became somewhat of a habit for me.

Little did I realize how much of an impact just waving at someone or saying hi to a strange could have until I moved to Salt Lake City, Utah. Without Zackrack to be my waving partner in crime I had to hold up the "friendly stranger repretoier" on my own... not like it was hard to wave to people. I don't even think about it really, when someone makes eyecontact with me I wave at them. The way I see it is waving and saying hello to someone you, say, pass on the street or is next to you at a stop light, is a super simple and easy way to reach out to people, spread welcoming in your community, and maybe just make someone smile.

For example: One day I was driving down the street and out of the corner of my eye I noticed the woman in the car next to me was looking in my direction. Without hesitating I looked over at here, smiled big, and waved hello. We then continued on our ways but soon came to a stop light. She rolled down her window at the light and motioned for me to do the same. Not knowing what to expect, I rolled down my window, smiled, and said "hey!". She proceded to tell me that I made her day. "Not one person has been nice to me today and I was really starting to feel discouraged. You made me feel so much better just by waving and smiling. Thanks for everything!"

I couldn't believe what I had just heard. I think I replied with something along the lines of "of course, well take care and Godbless". To tell you the truth I honestly don't remember WHAT I said because she caught me soo offguard. I had no idea that my goofy little wave actually might mean something to the people that I wave too. How profound and how simple at the same time. What an basic way to spread some love, don't you think?

Well to tie this up really quick I just wanted to explain the "why you should too (maybe)" part of my title. See I was talking with someone about the whole waving-hello-to-people thing and they said to me "I just wouldn't feel comfortable doing something like that". I thought about that for a while after our conversation and then came to a realization: Everybody in the world is called to the Lord BUT that doesn't mean that everybody's calling is the same. What God puts on my heart and gives me the natural ability to do, for example be outgoing and engage strangers in a greeting, may not be even close to what he puts on my neighbor's heart and gives THEM the natural ability to do. Just because waving to people is so easy for me doesn't mean that it is easy for everybody and, because of our differnces in personality, ability, and calling, I should never expect another believer to just naturally be able to or even want to minister to people the same way that I do. In realizing this I have to make sure that when I'm presenting what has "worked" in my life when it comes to my relationship with God, my faith, and my callings/ministeries I present it in a way that is attractive to others but not overwhelming. I don't expect YOU to decide that you are going to wave to everyone as part of practicing everyday kindness just the same as I would like for some people to not expect ME to "evangalize" the same way that they do. It's just something we need to think about. Jesus had 12 deciples for a reason. He was able to bring out the best in each one of them so that they could work together in their beautiful differences.

So remember, when you read in a book about someone and their way(s) of pleasing the Lord in their lives or you hear someone tell you through a sermon, conference, or just conversation what has worked with them in their ministeris... remember that just because it has worked for them doesn't mean that you HAVE to be just like them. You can learn from what they tell you, maybe even adopt the same actions, but, if it's not your calling then it's not your calling. No worries, mate.
Either way I'll wave to you on the street:)

We could be closer than you know.

lets customize!

2007-06-06T01:08:00.000-07:00

So I decided, in my absence of writing, that it is time to make this blog fully customized! I'm starting tonight. The following image is all that I have so far. Now to learn how to really manipulate these blog templates... I think this is going to take a little bit of online know-how. I need to learn web design anyway... Here's some eye candy for now that I made just tonight. I know I know it's like 4am. After I post this I'll go to bed (maybe).

I am obsessed with manipulating religious imagery. I love it.

Godbless,
Chelsea

Holy Week and DEATH

2007-04-05T10:48:00.000-07:00

So today is Holy Thursday. The Triduum on Easter starts tonight with the gift of the Eucharist. I have been learning so much this year about the Easter celebration. For so long, in my mind, Easter was about only Christ's rising and that's it. (not that His rising is very insignificant... haha) I had completely missed the point of the 3 day liturgy.

Yesterday I went to a Wednesday night candlelight service at the church I belong to. Can I just add in really quick that I am actually an official member of the church now and even get newsletters in the mail along with a little collection envelope?! Haha as funny as it sounds, it's awesome to belong to a parish. Seriously.

Anyway, I was at this candlelight service and the Dominican celebrating the mass put it really well. He said that the Triduum (Holy Thursday through Easter Sunday) is 3 days of continuous liturgy NOT 3 separate liturgies spanning over 3 days. These next few days in the Catholic church invite us to strengthen our understanding and appreciation for Christ's suffering, passion if you will, His gory death, the people who loved Him's reaction, and, eventually, his resurrection. How's that for a run on sentence? Anyway I'm stoked. I can't wait to go to the service tonight even IF it means I have to skip out on night snowboarding with a good friend. No worries.

When I think about the Passion of Christ I think a lot about death. I'm going to dedicate this entry to what has been going on in my head when it comes to death as of late. Even though it's not the kind of death that people talk about during the Easter Triduum I'm going to talk about death all the same because I believe that there is more than one way to be "dead" in this "life". haha.

Oh yea one more thing before I dive into death (what a strange thing to say). Did you know that many other denominations of Christians do not have special days during the year that they pay special attention to events in Christ's life like the last supper and the washing of His disciple's feet, or Christ's agony in the garden? It's come to my attention that many other denominations (not all but quite a few) of Christians do not focus much on the Passion of Christ at all. This makes me want to cry because, to me, this is the pinnacle point of Christ's life and mission. This is WHY we are called to service, this is WHY we are Christians and WHY we are saved. Christ's passion, death, and resurrection are one of the main reasons Christianity is set apart from every other religion and many Christians don't devote any time to it. Interesting. I asked one friend of mine why they don't have a special service for the passover, the last supper, the washing of the feet, etc. One special service to focus on the meaning of the last supper and how the church was formed and her reply to me was something along the lines of "well we celebrate that every time we share communion". This is interesting to me because just sharing communion doesn't teach people about how Christ started the institution of the church. It's a great thing to remember the last supper through communion but there is so much more.

ON DEATH (for Mattie and anyone else interested)

Death comes in all shapes and forms. I meet dead people all of the time. People oppressed for whatever reason, people trapped, people slaves to whatever, people just moving through the motions living every day life. One of the women I live with, Jenee, always says the same thing when she catches me resorting to worry because of another friend's situation:

"You either have a pulse or you don't. If you have a pulse, you're ok. If you don't, then... eh."

Jenee's statement has helped me countless times since I've moved to SLC and have had to deal with a few emotional issues with some old friends. And Jenee, please don't take this the wrong way but just for the sake of thought-process, I'm going to talk about how, in many cases, that statement is not necessarily true.

Can a man be dead and walk among us?! duh. It's called a zombie.

Have you ever felt like a zombie? Like something happened that was so shocking or horrific in your life that you feel numb, wandering, life-less. Maybe you can not get your mind off of one thing that is bothering you and it starts to effect other parts of your life, your relationships change, your daily life changes, you stop eating or start smoking or just plain old loose your passion for everything. This is waking-death. This is depression at it's greatest. This is no way to live, in-fact it's not living at all... it's dying.

I have had so many friends talk to me about their depression. There is a difference, though, between depression and what I'm talking about here. This living in a state of constant death is much deeper than any depression. It's obsession, it's where you have gripped onto a steel rod and are holding so tight that your hands buckle into place, your knuckles are white, the muscles cold with a death grip on something that doesn't even help you in life. It's not letting go of a relationship that went bad, it's not getting over the opportunity you might have lost, it's not being clear on the correct course of action, it's being manipulated by someone you trusted. It's death and it's very real and very alive in many many people we encounter every day.

A man stuck where he shouldn't be, saying things like "i don't care", loosing weight, loosing his creative zeal for the art he sees around him every day. I think when people slip into this death-state they forget that there is any other way to live life. They begin to accept the pain they are going through as just part of life and for those who don't attempt to just kill themselves, they do something just as bad- they give up and just start submitting to whatever the antagonist is in their lives. "I don't care" is one of the saddest things I can hear. You've known people like this, maybe you know them right now- they just don't care anymore. Where there was excitement and passion, they just don't care. They are numb.

A few people I've known over the past few years who have awakened from this state of living-death have told me that they had gotten to the point that they were relying on everything else to be them, feel for them, decide for them, etc. Much of it was because of pain or fear (although I'm sure people go through this for any number of reasons). Self-loathing follows close by and they tell me that they just stopped feeling things. They would wish with all of their might that they could even just feel pain again but it wasn't there. I can't imagine what that would be like. How can you pull yourself off of the ground when you can't even feel yourself hitting the ground anymore? How?

Each one of those people at separate times and in separate places has told me a similar thing when it came to escaping the grip of such death. They said that they slowly started feeling the pain again and then were able to constructively deal with it through ACTION. ACTION ACTION ACTION ACTION. But I can't make you act and you can't make me act or even WANT to act. I think this is where God comes into play.

I think that just living everyday life is a dead weight that should not be something that Christians do. Christian people are called to be a LIGHT in the world... not just a dim bulb that is just like everybody else, wearing the same old thing, singing the same old thing, belonging to the same old thing, hanging with the same old folk, listening to the same old music that every single other person, even Christian, listens to. When someone meets a Christian they are supposed to know us by our LOVE right? Well what is LOVE? Just love for each-other? Noway jose! Love for what God his given us: each other, the earth, intellect, knowledge, free will, the ability to create, everything. For God so loved the Earth.... balblabla. This is what we are called to.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian who was executed by the Nazis, wrote of the Cost of Discipleship and warned of "cheap grace" that did not take seriously either the gravity of sin or the radical call to servanthood: "When Jesus bids a man come, he bids him come and die." (Bratcher, Dennis. "The Days of Holy Week", http://www.crivoice.org/cyholyweek.html)

How do deal with living death? Love. As a Christian we are called to servanthood!!! This call is radical WHY? Because it's crazy! We are called to be stoked about life when the rest of the world is a zombie.. just going through the motions. We are called to be the ones wearing polka-dots just for the heck of it on casual friday, to be the ones who notice the robin outside of the hospital window and smile at it's stubborn yet delicate beauty, to be the ones cheering for the kid who just landed his first 360 off of a little kicker on the mountains. CHEERING. Do you hear me? CHEERING!

Ok to tie this up there is a really encouraging song by a band called The Normals called"Coming to Life" off of their album "Coming to Life". I REALLY suggest that everyone go log onto the itunes music store and buy it. It's only 99 cents. The Normals are a Christian band who sing very real songs about very real life struggles. This one is by far my all-time favorite and it goes right along with what I've been writing about.

Remember, only Christ can save somebody from the living-dead.. but we can help by loving each other and the world that the Lord has giving us. It's what the Lord is radically calling us to do ESPECIALLY during the Holy week. Make radical sacrifices (like not snowboarding for an evening) to better the kingdom of God and your own understanding of the Lord. Make radical decisions to live in LOVING JOY when nobody else is. Be happy and you won't become a zombie. haha

-Chelsea

On the road again... and love...

2007-03-28T13:19:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking a lot about love lately. I know I know when am I NOT thinking about love? But seriously now....

Recently 3 friends flew into Salt Lake here and chilled for their Spring Break. Abigail, Rachel, and Hawk. Abigail came to see some friends and her boyfriend, Hawk came to chill out with me because he's one of my closest, and Rachel came with
Abigail to just chill and have fun. We all had a blast while they were here and I miss them since they have left. During Hawk's visit he, me, and another friend from SLC named Tyler went down to California to go to Facedown Fest for a day and see one of my best girlfriends, Lauren. A ten hour drive to see a few bands play and chill with lauren for 30 minutes is well worth it. Well worth it.

Anyway so it amazes me when someone comes all of the way out to Utah just to visit somebody that they love... be it Abigail visiting James who she loves as her boyfriend or Hawk coming out here to visit me who he loves as his sister in Christ. It amazes me that driving 10 hours to California and ten hours back just to see some bands we LOVE and so I can see a friend I love is like a no-brainer. Go to CA for a day? duh.

What is it that makes us long for someone's presence in our lives? What part of love makes us feel connected to people even through we live sometimes thousands of miles away? What kind of love can continue to develop in a relationship or just a friendship over that kind of distance over time, space, whatever? What a miracle, eh?

So this past summer at Cornerstone Festival I really started to feel the ache of love for my closest friends. I had, earlier that summer, been on an extended road trip working on a documentary, then went to school where many of my friends were elsewhere taking their summer break, and then went to Cornerstone where I got a chance to see some friends I haven't seen in months, even years. All of this separation and reuniting and meeting people here and there over the course of a short period of time and not being able to develop any really tight relationships like ALL SUMMER LONG really got me thinking. I spoke with a new friend I had made at Cornerstone during this whole whirlwind about it on one of the festival nights. His name is Josh and he has been one of the only ones that I met this past summer that I have still been able to keep up with here and there. (side note: check out his band Sivan.)

Josh and I talked about Paul the Apostle and about how the Lord sent him out as a traveler of sorts... just like the musicians I know who tour 9 months out of the year, or the people I know who make documentaries and narrative films who feel like they never have a home. Paul ministered to the Gentiles and planted churches along the Mediterranean Sea. The thing is, though, that Paul dind't just go hand out pamphlets and start churches in a week or so and then leave, no... Paul would live with the people he was ministering to and love them and befriend them and build the community through the relationships he had. When Josh and I were talking about Paul I realized that I felt like I could relate to Paul in a very big way.

Lets continue with this passage from Acts:

"But when the Jews opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am clear of my responsibility. From now on I will go to the Gentiles." --Acts 18:6

I am not one of those Christians that has ever been involved in ...well... lets call it "door to door evangalizism". Like usual, I can understand why people do that and I will never bash anybody else's methods of loveing people who aren't Christians because God can work through anyone willing and he DOES.... BUT- as many of you know of me.. that type of teaching is just not my calling. My calling, as the Lord has made it clear to me, is to those hurt by the church or uncertain of their faith and the way He has called me to approach that calling is through relationship, not "door to door". The Lord puts people in my path who I befriend and in the course of our friendship He reveals his reasons to me. This is my evangalism. This is one of the ways in which I am personally called to spread the Gospel.

Paul would fall in LOVE with the people and the culture he was ministering to and then God would call him elsewhere. It's not exactly the same situation with me but I can relate and I know many many many people who travel so much that feel like they can relate even more. I guess this is just God's way of keeping me humble and saying "ok I'm going to use you a little bit here and then take over completley and use other people in this person's life... good work here's the next one." Sometimes that is seriously how I feel and it makes me angry at times because I want to be like "no God let me stay let me help more let me love more". Sometimes those things just don't make any sense until later, sometimes they don't ever make sense at all.

The fruits of the decisions and moves... it's the fruits of the situations that give me peace about where God puts me in life. I see so many good things come of the tasks given me and so many good things come to the people He's allowed me to love. Paul would start his letters with "Beloved," and I know why. He loved them for real just like I love the friends I've made over time that God has put infront of me, good and bad. People who know me well understand these people in my life to be what I call "my personal kingdom of God". I take the words written "THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS AT HAND" probably the most serious of so many things written in the Bible. The Kingdom of God is at hand. This is my Christian friends and my "gentile" friends, the young and the old, the ones here and the ones I've left in Georgia, Michigan, wherever. We are the kingdom of God and my love for them continues on.

The band Beloved has a song in which it is sung: "If we live in hearts we leave behind, then we will never die... we'll never die."
I think this is a way killer way of explaining the kingdom of God. Think about it. If we continue to love eachother through the love God has allowed us and for the people God has put in our paths, our personal Kingdom of God, then we will stay in union with God. Love God's people, love God. *sigh* I miss so many people....

Thank God we will all be together again someday. haha I know that's an intense though but it's true. I know someday we will all be in the same place, at the same time, marveling at our faith, at our Lord, at our love together as one Kingdom. That day will rock fo sho. Until then I'll keep one foot infront of the other and keep my friends in prayer and hopeully a few phone calles here and there... oh yeah and maybe with the help of a few random encounters in road trips and music festivals we'll keep the stitching tight and the bonds strong. Praise God.

Salt Lake Fo Sho.
-Chelsea

I love forgiving you!

2007-03-15T10:50:00.000-07:00

What? You love forgiving me? I should love forgiving people? eew.

"He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy an to walk humbly with your God."
-Micah 6:8

As you can see in the above verse, the Lord is calling mankind to "love mercy". This blew me away. I understand that we are supposed to be loving and forgive people over and over and over and not hold grudges BUT... love doing that? How on earth am I supposed to LOVE being merciful to the people who treat me like crap every day, to the people who abuse me, to the people who just plain suck in life? I'm supposed to not only be merciful but LOVE doing it? When I read this verse I was like "um... you have GOT to be kidding me. It's hard enough already much less to love doing it." I have the being merciful part down for the most part... i think... but no. I do NOT love doing it. ugh.

Ok so the other day I was at Taco Bell snatching some hot sauce because we, here at the Globe (the Globe is what Jenee, Emily, and I call our apartment complex), really like the Taco Bell hot sauce. The current trend is to put it in stew. mmm.

haha. Anyway, when I was there waiting in line for my Burrito Supreme I started to understand this verse more. It was lunch time and there was a line of like 15 people waiting to order and pick up their Taco Bell. This line was made up of many different kinds of people- there were 5 super punk rock kids who looked to be about high school age who were obviously playing hooky on their lunch break, some business men, some construction workers, some business women, and a family of people who looked like they were of mexican descent and spoke perfect spanish. There I was somewhere in the middle thinking about how genius Jenee is to put Taco Bell hot sauce in the stew at the Globe when I noticed something interesting.

The reason the line was so long wasn't because there were an unusual amount of people craving Taco Bell. The reason the line was so long was because the kid behind the counter taking orders was new at what he was doing. Every time someone ordered something it took him a little bit to find the buttons on the register and send everything through the computer system. You can imagine what it was like for him to take the super long orders of the two women in front of me- they had to like hold the beans and add extra lettuce and then add an extra side of cinnamon twists, etc. He was doing a good job, just taking wayyy longer than usual. I started to time it and, as it turned out, was in line for about 13 minutes before I even got to order. Usually 13 minutes is all it takes to order, get your food, eat, and peace out of Taco Bell. The kid was slow.

The cool part about this, though, is that not one person was grumbling about how slow everything was going. Nobody complained, nobody even frowned. All the kids behind me with their moehawks and chained wallets just goofed off and made jokes and high fived while the business people, families, and everyone else just talked with each-other and seemed to actually be enjoying the wait instead of dreading it. Upon their individual turns for ordering, everyone was polite to the kid. Some of them even made sure to tell him he was doing a good job. All the wile they were smiling and carrying on with each-other.

Although this is a really simple example of "loving mercy" I think it's a good one. Things get a little tricky, however, when we have to constantly show mercy over and over and over to those who are burdens in our lives. What about the woman who has to, every day, deal with her elderly hospitalized mother whose mental problems prohibit her from acting normally and treating the woman with respect? What about the teenager who has to go to school with a past friend who, every day, torments him and publicly embarrasses him? What about the young adult who, after going through a break up with her beloved boyfriend, has to deal with how to love and respect him as just her friend and coexist every day while he continually emotionally abuses her and mistreats her as a friend? What about the parents whose children seem to be going off of the deep end, only thinking of themselves, and never recognizing the sacrifices that their parents have made for them? What about the old woman whose even older sister makes it known daily how worthless she thinks she is because of their different views on religion yet still expects her to wait head and toe on her every need?

What about all of those situations? What about them? How on earth am I supposed to find joy in forgiving someone who constantly wrongs me. How am I supposed to find anything but anger in that? How? AHH. It makes me pissed that God even wants us to do that. hahaha. ...and the fact that I'm getting so worked up makes me laugh. What a cycle. *whew*

Ok so this week I'm trying to be grateful that I even HAVE people to forgive. what? Does that sound backwards? yes. But ok, here, thank God I am learning to embrace forgiveness. Thank God I am beginning to understand that love should be unconditional. Thank God I am learning about what it truly means to be a follower of Christ and LOVE Mercy. It's hard... freakin hard... but thank GOD I know what is right because if I just kept up with my anger and kept "forgiving with a grudge" then I'd only be doing what my mom used to always call "half-a-job". She'd say "You did a really good HALF-a-job... now when are you going to clean the REST of the bathroom?". She'd say these things when we kids would try to deceive her by only doing the surface work of the chores she gave us... organize the counter but don't scrub it down- you know, that type of thing. I think that is why the Lord has been trying to teach me all week- forgiving someone without joy in the forgiveness is only doing a "half-a-job". We are called to be joyful. We are called to LOVE mercy.

That's seriously enough calling for me this week though. I'm out to go get abused and hated and beat up (again and again and again) so that I can struggle even MORE with loving the forgiveness I'm called to provide each villain in my life. woo!

This week is a good week... can you feel it? <3
-Chelsea

Star Wars Faith

2007-03-06T08:57:00.000-08:00

I really should have named this first "real" entry "Star Wars Faith and Why You Should Chill Out" but I didn't because I hate when the archive section of the blog has names of entries that take up more than one line. haha. What a great way to start.

I'm going to add a photo before I write any more. I know it's blurry... I snapped it really quick while leaving a church service in California. Yes, you heard me right. That there is a photograph of a painting that is on the wall of a church. I wish I could fully explain why this almost made me keel over and die but it would take wayyy too long to explain the whole thing here. Lets just say that you can find that painting on the wall of a church called Ththemi in Redlands California. Everybody in the world should check out that church at least once in their lifetime. It may be easier to check out the free Tithemi pod-cast on iTunes. Just search "Tithemi" in the iTunes music store. Anyway...

During the last few weeks that I was living in Savannah, Georgia, this awesome young man named Tyler and I started meeting up once a week to talk about "faith". He was seeking the Lord and I guess chose me to help. It was seriously the coolest thing ever to be part of his initial journey to the Lord. Anyway, Tyler would often times bring up things he's heard about different forms of Christianity or ask about different rules and regulations. A lot of the things he asked about he did so because they didn't make sense to him. He knew that Christianity was based on LOVE but he just couldn't see how some of these issues fit into that mold. Whenever her asked one of these questions or brought up one of these topics I would point out that whatever the thing was... it boxed the Lord in and made an absolute. I'd say
"Only Siths deal in absolutes."

To which he'd laughingly reply "STAR WARS FAITH!". It became a running joke for us... for example- Tyler would point out that he observed someone telling someone that they were going to go to hell and he'd ask me what to say to that condemning person if it happened again. I would tell tyler to politely tell the man that "only Siths deal in absolutes" and he'd start laughing "STAR WARS FAITH!".

Real quick: for those of you who aren't nerds- a SITH is one of the bad guy characters in star wars. Siths are like a cult of warrior priests who are devoted to the dark side of the force. I got that from Wikipedia.. you can click on the word SITH above and the link will take you to the Wikipedia definition. In Star Wars Episode III, Bin Kenobi makes a statement to Anakin (who would soon become Darth Vader) on the volcano, "Only Siths deal in Absolutes." He was acknowledging, out loud, the change in Anakin's mind set. Remember, Obi Wan was not BASHING absolutes... he was talking about dealing in absolutes. Obi Wan Kenobi was a very very good guy. If you still have no idea what I'm talking about PLEASE go watch the movie and stop acting like you are too cool for Star Wars. puh-leeez. so..

"Star Wars Faith" became out way of saying "chill out". We recognized that there are many many differences between the hundreds of denominations of Christians and we recognized the fact that many take those differences as being absolute. The great thing about Tyler is that he understood from the get-go that Christianity was nothing without your own personal relationship with the Lord. When we spoke of a personal relationship, he understood that everybody's individual relationship with God needs to be personalized. To go even further, the cool thing about THAT is the fact that, in most cases, it takes a community of believers to help you personalize your faith in God. This is what many people call their "church". Now while developing your personal relationship with God inside of your church is definitely encouraged, Tyler and I recognized that this community of believers that help shape your personalized relationship with God should maybe start at the church that you may (or may not) be going to but, then, stretch right out the doors and onto the streets of the city that you live in. It should include not only Catholics but Baptists, Methodists, Nondenominational people- other Christians. This faith community that helps you shape your personalized relationship with God should include the young and old, black and white and hispanic and well.. everyone that you encounter in good faith and bad. If you only let God work on you and get to know him through studying, conversing, reading, whatever, through the handful of people that you feel comfortable with at your church... then chances are you are limiting the relationship that you could have with the Lord.

"For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves..."
-Colossians 1:13

It was a beautiful conclusion and a very needed reminder that we, as the kingdom of God, NEED each other. We need to get outside of the walls of our church and get together. He brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves so that we can explore our relationship with him and the other communities and believers out there that He also loves. Some of us Catholics need to start hanging out with more Baptists, more Evangelicals, even more atheists. Some of us churches need to start communicating with other churches, communities, people outside our "norm". We need to reach out and try to understand the similarities in our brotherhood instead encourage absolutes within our differences. Open up the doors, PLEASE, so we can avoid Star Wars faith because... only Siths deal in absolutes.

-Chelsea

Introduction

2007-02-27T16:24:00.000-08:00

I started this blog as a way to focus on my faith during lent. The article linked through the word above states:

"Lent is a time of stripping down to essentials, as each Christian focuses on his or her individual relationship with God. It is a time when Christians remember our baptisms, when Jesus washed away our sins, giving us newness of life to celebrate..."

Stripping down, eh? I went through a handful of Catholic Answers type of pages before I found this very basic definition of Lent and decided that this one, indeed, would serve my purpose the best. So in the spirit of stripping down, my goals for this blog are merely threefold:

1. Explore my personal faith in God through Catholicism and the big bad world around me that we are all called to love.
2. Log my thought-processes and discoveries.
3. Encourage and engage in conversation and education especially when focusing on the modern day Catholic while having a little fun.

Remember your baptism? Baptism calls all believers to step it up... step it up right into your personal place in the Kingdom of God. No, not the kingdom of God to come way later once we have all passed through final judgement, no... the very current very real Kingdom of God right here, right now. Upon baptism, or the choice to be baptized, we are obligated to continue to be students of our faith forever. Currently, this is how I'll be accomplishing that obligation.

I will post at least one entry a week focusing on what I got out of mass on Sunday and the faith-sharing group I joined at my church. That post will be food for though for the rest of the week until the next one. I may add a few entries here and there that relate to one of the three goals of the blog outside of those reflections so keep watch and always remember to let me know what you are thinking by commenting.

Mother Theresa started an order of religious woman who focused on relieving some of the pain and poverty of the people in Calcutta, India... who is to say someone might not start an order of religious women who focus on providing spiritual outreach and support to the United State's extreme athletes, artists, and musicians? The Order of the Snowboarder?

For thine is the kingdom, the powder, and the glory...

-Chelsea