plug

So, my friend TLC is amazing.

And I don't think she's starving for publicity...but I can't not point you to her blog.

I mean, it's already on my links over there on the right, but that's pretty passive, whereas I am going for a more blatant approach here.

She sings, she's got mad guitar skills, she writes...she's one of the few people I know who is actually really good at actively maintaining long-distance friendships...and so much more.

The reason I'm pointing you to her today is because she's writing some great stuff there these days, and I basically just think anybody I know would benefit from (or at the very least enjoy) reading it, especially (but certainly not ONLY) anyone in a pre-married state.

a sigh of relief?

"The urgent need for the church today is not for more clever people to explain Jesus better, it is not for more attractive people who by their looks and personality will make Christianity suddenly more trendy and appealing. It is not even more committed and disciplined people who will advance the cause of the kingdom of Jesus by grit and hard work. The great need today is for deep and authentic people."

Taken from Wasteland by Mike Pilavachi - quoting the British evangelist David Watson)

time to make the donuts

Everything seems so crazy right now, I'm sure I'm going to meet myself coming in the door one day soon, just like the Dunkin' Donut guy.

Anybody remember him?

hmm...interesting...

As it's been over a month since my last plug for Stott, I thought this little snippet was worth sharing. Much shorter than usual (and certainly much shorter than the novel of an entry from yesterday).

Doing the truth

Everywhere in the New Testament God's truth is something to be *done*, not something only to be believed. It carries with it demands, duties, obligations. The evangelical faith radically transforms those who believe and embrace it.

--From "Make the Truth Known" (Leicester: IVP, 1983), p. 12.
----------------------------------------------------
--Excerpted from "Authentic Christianity", p. 129, by permission of InterVarsity Press.

this is (now) a grumble-free zone

"Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life..." Philippians 2:14-16 ESV


Someone from my church Pastorate (read: community group) shared this verse as part of a testimony of her journey to/in faith in Christ, and I was immediately mindful of the fact that I have been doing a LOT of grumbling recently about how much stress I'm enduring at work lately, mostly because:

• I feel 100% personally responsible for the success or failure of a major project that affects every single person in my office
• I have to rely on some people outside the company to hold up their end of the deal, and I have no real bargaining position or recourse for their poor performance
• I'm generally stretched for time due to other equally pressing projects

But everyone is stressed right now. So it's not like I'm the only one waving that flag for whatever reason. And other people aren't holding my feet to the fire anything like to the extent that I am.

So when my friend read these and the surrounding verses, I was captivated. It dawned on me that I used to let all the stress roll right off my back, or let off steam within a 'safe place'. But now, I get a bit defensive and am always at the ready with excuses. And people don't need or want to hear defensiveness and excuses (no matter how valid).

My main problem is that I've been too transparent with people along the way, so the fact that the project completion date keeps getting pushed to the right makes me feel like I look incompetent...whether or not that's actually true. (The phrase "under-promise and over-deliver" comes to mind. This is not the tack I've taken up to this point. Note to self for future projects.)

And thinking through dropping the excuses, etc., I'm having to eat the words which I've uttered many times to many different people: "You have to be willing to be misunderstood." Ouch. And then when you throw that "shine as lights in the world among a crooked and twisted generation" bit in, there's even more consequences (tangible or not) of being a grumbling Christian.

I sense there are two trains of thought running here, actually...but it's all related in my mind.

Regardless, I have a new sense of perspective and am feeling rather chilled about the chaos that ensues around me. Gold star for the readers that powered through to the end of this stream-of-consciousness brainstorm.

musical recommendation

Most of you know that I'm more often on the receiving end of this deal, but I've found, of my own accord, a new musician I'd like to recommend.

Admittedly, when I asked a few of my UK-based friends about Duffy, they all already knew about her. BLAST and DRAT!



However, I'm hoping (with fingers and toes crossed) that some of the rest of you won't have heard of her, and I'll get credit, possibly for the first time in my life, for recommending a new up-and-coming music artist to my home country.

i love christopher walken

So, I'm totally ripping this off (well, the link, anyway) from a friend of a friend, but I can't not...

The best line, as the aforementioned friend of a friend also notes, has *got* to be: "Exit Pig One. Pig Two...same story."

Classic. Beyond classic, actually. Whatever that means.

second brush with fame

Some of you may remember that during my first week in the UK, I came very close to meeting the queen . I maintain it as a real possibility that we may have been invited into Balmoral Castle for tea if I'd just thought quickly enough to bump her car ever so slightly with mine.




Today, as I was walking to the Texas Embassy to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, I looked up as people were shouting "Boris! Boris!" to see London's newly elected Mayor ride by on a bicycle. It all happened way too fast to pull out the camera, so you'll just have to believe me on this one.

for michelle

bits and bobs

Today is my cousin Lori's birthday...and she's in Canada, alone. Boo on that, eh?

I went to the store today, twice, and both times, as I was walking back in the door to my flat, I remembered something I forgot to buy...but I couldn't be bothered to go a third time, even though it's only a 2 minute walk down the road.

The one thing I went back for the first time was milk. Just so I could have a cup of tea. Mmm...tasty.

I "made brownies for the office" tonight. Translation: I wanted brownies but want to keep myself from eating the whole pan, so I made them on a non-weekend to be sure others could help keep me from consuming 100% of gooey chocolately goodness.

Yesterday I found out for sure that two good friends are coming to visit me! YAY!!

Some people were not wired to work from home. I'm one of those people.

Today we passed the 1,000 tickets sold milestone for Passion London. The venue capacity is 3,600, so there's still plenty of room, but we're praying for a sell-out. We need more volunteers, so if you want to come and serve...let me know if you're going to be (or be able to be) in the London area on June 5th.

weird folk

I've been reading through Genesis and Exodus in the last couple of weeks.

It's been a long while since I read either of these books comprehensively (rather than for discrete verse references), and I'm finding myself shocked at some of the things Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all of their relatives did "wrong", and yet still found favor with the Lord.

It's a nice reminder that even Biblical heroes were human and sometimes made bad choices...even some which brought life-long consequences...and yet God blessed them immensely.

Why am I surprised at this? Why am I ever surprised when God does things that I don't expect?

happy birthday, mom!

My mom turns 65 today. That's just crazy...because she's not old enough to be a "senior citizen". I wonder if this means she's old enough to drink coffee with her meals yet? I'm not. And now that I'm in my 30s, I think i qualify as a legitimate adult...so the only milestone i can see from here is senior citizenship. I digress...

To many she is known as "Moms", because she claims many kids scattered about the globe. And although she is very good at loving them all, I know I'm her favorite.

And she's my favorite too. I love her in all her quirks, country ways, bizarre sayings and various imperfections. When I was younger, I think I saw my family through rose-colored glasses and completely missed all the imperfections. As I've grown up, the rose colored glasses have come off bit by bit over the years...sometimes not so much to my delight (because we all want the picture-perfect family, don't we?).

However, I've realized that over the years my love for my family has grown into the closest thing I can imagine to true Christ-like love.

Because I love my mom for who she is. Not for what she does for me or what she can give me. I love her despite her imperfections. And although I always want to help her see them and change for the better (sometimes gently sometimes abruptly)...because as I've grown up she's become my friend as well...even though she'll always be my mom first and foremost. But I love her anyway, even if she never changes a bit.

And I love her more than words can express. Which makes me feel silly for even trying. I could write pages and pages and still not quite feel like I've done it justice. But I can't not try.

I love you, mom. I hope you have the best birthday ever!

when you point your finger at someone...

...remember there are three fingers pointing back at you!

I'm sure my mom has said this to me a thousand times...but some things take a new delivery to really sink in, or raise your awareness and actions toward what your ideal image of yourself says you are (behind, of course, what Scripture says about who we are and how we should act).

I just read this short article by Abraham Piper (son of John) on DesiringGod.org and immediately thought of one of my favorite preachers (who has never gotten any air time here before) named Voddie Baucham.

Just after he makes a particularly piercing point, he often says "If you can't say 'Amen!', you ought to say 'Ouch!'..."

I was definitely saying 'OUCH!' just now. But I was also nodding my head in Amen-like agreement.

For audiences that are familiar with Voddie, I think it would be funny (and possibly even more convicting) for him to sometimes say "Let not your 'Amen!' be lessened by the simultaneous inward uttering of a very loud 'OUCH'!"

science v. theology...?

Now here's a surprise...I'm sharing another thought from my beloved Stott (emphasis mine).

Nature and Scripture are both divine revelation ('general and special', 'natural and supernatural', to use the traditional terms), since God has revealed himself both in the world he has made and in Christ and the biblical witness to Christ.

Science is the fallible human interpretation of nature, while theology (or 'tradition', which is theological reflection) is the fallible human interpretation of Scripture.

You and I believe (I think) that in nature and Scripture there are certain given things, *data*...which, if they truly come from God, cannot contradict one another.

The contradictions have not been between nature and Scripture, but between science and theology, that is, between different human interpretations of God's double revelation.

If, therefore, we are to learn lessons from the past, it is neither for conservatives to deny the evidence of nature, nor for liberals to deny the evidence of Scripture, but for all of us to re-examine our interpretations of both.

--From "Essentials", by David L. Edwards and John Stott (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1988), p. 335.

I think what I love about Stott is his gentle manner in bringing out different sides of an issue, acknowledging them all, and dealing with each in equal measures of tact. At the end of the day, it may be clear which side of the fence he falls on in any given debate, but the other side would be hard pressed to feel offended by Stott's approach to the contest.

i'm annoyed with myself

Somehow, posting a spinning shamrock seemed like a good idea at the time. I now feel like I've outed myself as "that girl". You know, the one who sends on every FW: email that she gets and uses cheesy clip-art in PowerPoint presentations.

I'm not her.

I just had a moment...that's all.

I promise.

happy paddy's day

Things I learned in Dublin last weekend:

• One is welcome to refer to today as "St. Patrick's Day" or "Paddy's Day", but NOT "St. Paddy's Day". I failed to clarify why that is the way it is, but I believe it has something at least loosely related to "the Troubles".
  
  
• There are a LOT more Americans who have passports than most people in Europe think, and they were ALL in Ireland over the weekend.

culture clash

As an American living in London...I have become keenly aware of the cultural differences between my home* and my home-home**. These differences seep down into our sub-cultures as well (e.g. into the local church). One would expect this on an intellectual level, but even I am shocked at my own lack of awareness of this on a practical level.

Further to that, armed with my new-found cultural awareness, I'm shocked at the pre-conditioned response I still seem to bring to Scripture. So, today's little dose of Stott was a poignant one for me.

Obedience and understanding

Obedience is a precondition of understanding. We need to repent of the haughty way in which we sometimes stand in judgment upon Scripture and must learn to sit humbly under its judgment instead. If we come to Scripture with our minds made up, expecting to hear from it only an echo of our own thoughts and never the thunderclap of God's, then indeed he will not speak to us and we shall only be confirmed in our own prejudices. We must allow the Word of God to confront us, to disturb our security, to undermine our complacency and to overthrow our patterns of thought and behaviour.

--From "Culture and the Bible" (Downers Grove: IVP, 1981), p. 33.

Someone once said that upon accepting Jesus as Lord we are positionally justified but that we will also always be going through the process of sanctification (i.e. we are both positionally and progressively holy). I'm really thankful for the term "process" in that context.


*home: the place where one spends most nights and all her currently-used stuff lives.
**home-home: the place one claims to be "from" or where her "roots" are.

washington dc: a short tour

I was in DC a couple of weeks ago on my way back to London. I had a few hours to be a tourist, so I hopped on the Metro...



...where the "Park and Ride" concept has a distant cousin:



I went to the Washington Monument (which I failed to take a picture of), enjoyed the 70-second elevator ride to the top, and took a few snapshots of the view.

Begin tour.

The Lincoln Memorial



The Jefferson Memorial



The Capitol



The White House


End tour.

happy birthday mrs. palazzo!

My second grade teacher's birthday is on February 29. She's the only person I have ever known born on this day. I'm not sure if I'd love it or hate it it were my birthday.

I suspect 'hate it'.

Just because...when do you legitimately get to celebrate, except every 4 years? February 28 is too early...and March 1 isn't even the same month anymore. Boo on that!

However...what better excuse to throw FABULOUS parties every 4 years could there be?!

I bet Mrs. Palazzo is partying it up today! I know I would be.

an inconvenient truth:

Life takes time.

Grr.