It's Sunday evening, September 14th. We have had a great day today. It started out with a bang as we experienced fellowship & participation in the Spirit (aka "koinonia") with Erin Miller's parents' church in Rockmart, GA. They invited us to come down and visit and share our lives and our spontaneous Spirit-led worship with them. Without knowing what to expect, I think that it was received well on both sides. Sharing, openness, & vulnerability were present; along with sharpening, challenging, & spurring one another on by means of the Scriptures. It was our first experience together in a group or church outside our usual home setting. We are deeply grateful for Erin's family & the church body that they are a part of for being so kind and humble to allow a bunch of early 20's "crazies" to come and help "lead" a Sunday morning gathering that they do.
Over the last couple of weeks we have become more regular and routine in our schedules. We each have regular jobs now! We have been volunteering in the community more - at the 5th Avenue Nursing Home on various days & at the Mountain Top Experience Ministry in South Rome as often as possible. Our eating plan/food regiment is also getting pretty regular. We try to have a simple breakfast and coffee each morning at 7a.m...it's usually more like 7:30 though. For dinner, we cook every night except Wednesdays, when we eat at 2nd Avenue Baptist Church for free and study the book of Acts with all of the adults of the Church. Marty, the pastor, is both incredibly intelligent & loving - keys to being a good leader in a church.
As we begin this week, we are already looking forward to a few things that are on the radar. Tomorrow night, Tim Martin - Executive Director of Building Better Communities in New Orleans - will be staying with us. He is speaking at Shorter College this week for "Christian Focus Week" - which we are calling "Metanoia Week" this year. (Metanoia is the Greek word that we translate into English as "Repent". BUT, the original meaning has more of a connotation of "Change your whole way of thinking and living").
Anyways, another big thing this week will be the moving in of our friend Oudvin. We will be trying to help O. get on his feet, get a job, and find a place to live over the next 2-4 weeks. Currently, Oudvin is still living with our friend Will Givens, who has graciously tried to help O. for the last 3 months. Oudvin was a Shorter grad last year, and is originally from Liberia, Africa. With God's abundant grace & our faithful obedience to God in prayer (& driving him around), Oudvin shouldn't have too hard of a time finding a job...unless the economy is just really that bad right now!
A few small things: Rome First Methodist gave us an old upright piano this weekend. We call it the "tiger" piano because of the exotic wood that it's made of. The garden is growing pretty good. The radishes are growing like crazy! The cabbage, carrots, onions, & spinach are starting to sprout up. We need to weed it & take good care of it as it comes closer to harvesting.
I can sincerely say that living together is a growing experience. We each have our ways about ourselves that are a bit different or quirky. But, there is a deep sense of respect and appreciation for one another and our own ideas. Here's the thing...this group was born out of a kindred spirit for, I think, 2 things: 1. a passion for seeing restoration and revitalization in people's lives in the Church and the World as a whole; and 2. a discontentment in experiencing & observing the lack of transparency and genuineness in the church. We are trying to be intentional in the way we share our lives together every day - it may not seem like such a big thing, but it really feels that way for us.
Lastly, a thought that has been present throughout the writing of this entire blog. I hope and pray that nothing that has been said has even a twinge of presumptuousness about the way we have decided to live. If anything, I hope that all of the blessings and gifts and joys and the struggles that we have described, all point to the greatness & gloriousness of our God & Savior Jesus Christ. If seen rightly, He is the source of all true blessings. He is the giver of all good gifts. He IS joy. And he is especially our guide in living & struggling through this life on earth.
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