Having church without going to church

This weekend Rogers Park Community Church chose not to meet. It was a precautionary measure because of the Swine Flu. Anyway, it was weird waking up this morning and not preparing to go to church. I have been so blessed to find a family in RPCC, but when I was in undergrad, I did not have a "home church." There were many Sundays that I would attend "Bed-side Baptist" instead of going out and finding a place to worship. I did not feel a part of the global church.

But now, sitting in my apartment, listening to a sermon online, I feel full participation in God's church. This morning, people all around the world woke up and met to worship the Lord. Often sitting in church, I get wound up in the "doing" and I don't take a moment to think about the global body of believers. Such community! What other institution can take any given moment and know someone else is praising God and lifting up their brothers and sisters in prayer?

I am grateful for this morning. A moment to sit, just me and God, and think about who He is to all of us, not just me, not just RPCC. He is the sovereign and good Lord of the entire Universe . . . and He loves me! It doesn't matter that we aren't meeting all together in a building, each and everyone of us is able to worship and praise our Heavenly Father wherever and whenever we are. So thank you, Jesus! But please bring us back together next week for holy fellowship and community. :-)

This is the sermon I listened to this morning. I encourage you to listen to it. There are six parts.
http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/redeemingruth/gods-hand-in-our-suffering

pandemic

The summer between my junior and senior year of high school I read the Left Behind series. In retrospect, the writing wasn't that good; I would have gotten more sound teaching fro scripture; and I shouldn't have watched those awful movies. Regardless, I read each and every one. When September 11 hit, my friend (one of my few Christian friends at a public high school) and I began to wonder if this was the end. Turned out, not to be the case.

The one thing I did take from those books was the magnitude of God's judgment. It's going to be big, it's going to be scary, but in the end, Jesus will come back and reign victorious!

Now that we are on the eve of a pandemic--last seen in 1918 and the bubonic plague--I began to wonder if this is a rumbling of the end. It's definitely big and scary, and it's definitely a way of getting people's attention. The way the news keeps describing all the outbreaks, it's like the plot for a "6-degrees-of-separation" TV show. Global panic makes the world seem so small, and not in a cute, Disney World sort of way.

I don't want to be worried. I have a God who is so much bigger than this, but living in one of the most diverse zip codes in the country, I do feel a little uneasy. I wonder if when it will be unsafe to go to the grocery store and ride the bus. Until "they" let me know, I'm going to keep going about my daily routine. I do need milk, mustard and peanut butter, after all.

I am almost done . . .

It has been quite some time since I updated this thing. The primary reason being the crazy busyness of this semester. But, the end is fast approaching. I have persevered, and now all I have left is to finish my Masters Essay!

Here is a list, in no particular order of things I am looking forward to once I graduate:

- reading fiction and other books I had no time to read before
- finishing a crochet project
- moving into a new apartment with a huge kitchen!
- spending time with friends without feeling guilty that I'm not doing hw
- seeing NYC for the first time
- the new Harry Potter movie coming out July 15!

Things I will undoubtably miss:

-learning (I know, I am a geek/nerd at heart)
-watching missed TV shows on library laptops
-school friends
-the structure of the school year, especially around the holidays

Daily Epiphany: February 22

Things I realized this week:
1. Frozen potato soup does not defrost well.
2. Ricola Cough Drops are amazing. Halls tend me make me feel nauseous, so I'm glad I found a better brand. Plus, they help in the over all feeling-better process, not just a sore throat.
3. I think I was born in the wrong music era. I am really loving Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Bobby Darin (also contemporary covers by Barbra Streisand and Michael Buble).
4. Water is amazing! Hydration is both healthy and beautiful.
5. For all the snow that fell yesterday, there isn't very much on the ground, and I am ok with that.
6. Some of the stories in the Old Testament are pretty crazy/ God works in mysterious ways.
7. I crave sweets when I have a cold.

In honor of Valentine's Day: An ode to clean romantic comedies

I went to go see He's Just Not That into You with a friend this weekend. I didn't read any reviews, so it's mostly my fault, or maybe it was just wishful thinking, but I wanted a feel-good movie. While this movie was a "chic flick," it wasn't a romantic comedy. The art of romantic comedy has gone down the tubes. Even recent movies correctly labeled as such are mostly overly sexified eye-candy.

Where are all the good old-fashioned romantic comedies that didn't need to be rated PG-13 for tickets to sell? Like You've Got Mail, While you were Sleeping, Sleepless in Seattle, One Fine Day, Return to Me . . .
Or even the classics adapted from the likes of Jane Austen, Lucy Maud Montgomery and Louis May Alcott.

I want to see a PG "chic flick" that is not about a teenage girls or Disney princesses. There's gotta be someone out there willing to engage in the making of wholesome entertainment that tugs at our heartstrings.

Daily Epiphany: February 12

Being a student of history, I am often so focused on the past, and being a human, worried about the near future that I forget about eternity. I forget that I have citizenship in Heaven; that I was not made for here, but to spend eternity with my Savior. When I do remember to be "kingdom" minded, I am reminded that my actions should be first and foremost pleasing to God.

I think that is why I was having such a hard time coming up with a good topic for my Masters Essay. I didn't want to write just any old research paper. I wanted my work to have purpose, to be relevant to who I am and what I am studying. This morning (with the help of my adviser) I finally found a topic! I will be asking the question, "Is family history public history?" However daunting this research endeavor may be, I am excited. May that excitement last!

My Sweater!

Working on the said sweater . . .

Completion!
I decided to go with 3/4 length sleeves because it was already a pretty warm sweater, even though it is holey. I also made it a button-down, instead of closing it with a belt, as the pattern suggest. Final alteration: it was supposed to go down to mid-thigh. I thought that was too long.