Who are you?

I have two questions that seem really wierd (and possibly inconsequential), but go with me on this...

If I were to walk up to you and ask you the question, "Who are you?," how would you respond?

Now, assume that you were walking with a friend, and I asked you "Who is this?" How would your response differ from your response about yourself?

I'm out of practice, so it's kind of hard to get started here

Well, I guess it's pushing a week, now, since I headed up here. This is the first time that I've touched the internet since last Wed, so I've been sorting through my 60+ emails. Not such an easy thing to do, but I guess it had to be done. Right now, I'm paying more than I should be for 24 hours of net access, while sitting down in the coffee shop in my building. However, my connection just dropped, and I'm wondering if it is due to one of the patrons talking on a cordless phone. Yup, she just got off, and I re-connected. I'm in the most connected country in the world, but I'm paying through the nose for my first access in a week. Go figure.

So, the week has been pretty busy. I think most of Thursday and Friday was spent driving around to different places, but Saturday was the '06 planning meeting for The Point. I have never been through such a smooth meeting. We pretty much just breezed through. I was actually tagged to sort of open us up in talking of vision and leadership of a church. Just a quick 5-10 minutes, but I think it was ok. I was working off of someone elses material, so it was a little bit forced I'd say.

Sunday was pretty slow in the a.m. I was still recovering a bit from the travel and craziness, but I think I have acclimated since. Staff meeting was at 3pm, and then the worship gathering at 5:30pm. It was fantastic. Carol and the rest of the worship band do a great job in leading worship. We watched a couple short videos, Kelly taught from John 11, and then we took communion. After the gathering, about 15 or more people came by our (my roommate Joel and I) apartment for a little drop-in.

Monday was errands, most of which were unfruitful, but we did get cell phones. We also went out to this retreat center on Bowen Island called Rivendell. What a fantastic place. We did a bit of the covenant stuff, so that we all know what is expected of each of us. It went well, and I was able to get a few cool pics. Today, we spent 2.5 hours on mass transit coming back, but it was really cool to ride the Seabus across the Barrard Inlet to downtown Vancouver. Great view of the city, but we were closed in, so no pics.

Well, that's about all I'll say for now. I'm a bit tired, and I need to return some emails. School starts next week, but this is a internet only quarter, so I'll be glad to get the cable hooked up on Friday.

peace
-kyle

Quick timeline update!

Tomorrow: Move out of basement apt and store stuff at my parents' house.

Friday: Go to NC to visit Dad's family for Christmas gathering.

Saturday: Return to Knoxville for New Year's Celebration (don't know specifics, but I want to do something).

Sunday: Gather with church.

Tuesday: Last meeting with my small group (they are continuing... YAY!!)

Thursday: Fly out of Knoxville at 8:50am, heading to Vancouver.

I'll be in Vancouver/Burnaby until mid-late April. I'll do my 2 weeks at Bethel, one week back here and back up to Vancouver. If you'd like to see a little bit more of what/who I'll be working with, you can view my Support Letter online (ps. depending on your browser, you may have to click the page to zoom in). Adieu.

Well, Christmas has passed. Thank the LORD!!

No, I'm not a scrooge, but I must admit that the whole gift-giving/receiving thing has really started to wear on me the last couple of years. Take this year for example. Mom had been bugging me for weeks on what I wanted for Christmas. In all the craziness that has been my life lately, I had not even thought about it. So, for a couple of weeks, I just said, "I don't really know." Finally, the one thing I came up with was a PalmOne Tungsten E2. I need to be more organized, so hopefully this thing will help.

Fast-forward to last week. I'm helping Mom wrap all her gifts, and she says, "I really feel bad for you and Chris (my bro-in-law). You guys only have a couple of gifts to open, even though I spent the same $ on all of you. They just have a lot of smaller ones." I told her that she was crazy!

So, when it came time to open, she again apologized for our lack of gifts. This time, we both told her she was crazy. So, I had like 4 gifts to open (including the ones from my sisters), and to be honest, I was a little tired of opening by the 4th one. Everything was nice, and I am very grateful for both the gifts and for my family thinking of me. However, I just don't get into it too much.

My Mammaw was talking about Christmas when she was young. She said that they would get one gift, and thier stockings were usually filled with fruit. I kind of envy her.

To me, the best part of the Christmas holiday is hanging out with my family and extended family. Like sitting next to my uncle and cracking on everyone, and the two of us laughing at each other. Or watching my Pappaw make a joke in his real dry humor, and seeing him sit there with a straight face until everyone starts laughing. Or reading "The Night Before Christmas" popup book by Robert Siboda (if you've never seen his popup books, you are missing out - they are amazing) to my two nieces as they sat in my lap. Or washing my car with Dad's help. Or helping Mom wrap gifts. Or... you get the idea.

Oh, and Christmas Day being on a Sunday this year, and actually going to worship service on Christmas was a great bonus! I should add, I actually had a wonderful Christmas! It's just that the stuff above stuck out as something to continue thinking on.

I'll update you all on my moving stuff later today.

expanding my sphere...

thereeser

Wow, been a long time

Yeah, I just realized that it's been a long time since I've posted on here. My postings lately have been on my Xanga site (too tired to link), but there's been a lot going on. A quick rundown...

• I've nearly finished my first quarter in Seminary. I have a couple things yet to do, but I'm almost done.
• I sold my condo, and I'll be moving into a small basement apt of a house that my church owns. I'm actually moving tomorrow... well, today really.
• I may only live there for a month or so, because I'm trying to get on as a NAMB "Semester Missionary" at a 2 year old church plant in Burnaby, BC (greater Vancouver area). I would remain in school, and I'd be funded for a year or so.
• That's about all, but it's a lot.

Hope everyone's doing well.

expanding my sphere...

thereeser

funny thing, this blogging...

Honestly, I don't know why I post some things on here. I guess, at heart, I'm just hopeful for a better future. Maybe I'm looking for answers or support or just some other hopefuls... Or maybe I'm just bored...

I want it back!

Ummm. This is really weird. It's 2:52am and I just woke up with this thought that I have to get started. It's redemption. Redemption of things that were once pure. Redemption of things that were once beautiful. Redemption of things that once reflected the glory of the Creator.

Along with the fall of man, and progressively throughout human history, we have continually, sometimes faster than others, degraded actions that were once so pure, and beautiful, and Glorious. We allowed the Deceiver to inject selfishness and filth into them until they are hardly recognizable. I believe that these can be redeemed for the Glory of God, but I don't really know how. How can we redeem these in our society that has distorted and mutulated them?

I'll list 2, and I'm open for comments (maybe criticisms) on how to redeem these, and also on other aspects of life that desparately need redemption. These are very personal to me, so I will assume that they may not apply to all, so please share the things personal to you that you see need redemption.

1. The enjoyment of alcoholic beverages in a God-honoring manner. This is a two-fold redemption. First, from the prohibition-fabled minds of the church culture. This persists to varying degrees, but a Biblical call for abstainance from alcohol is just not there. Second, and more importantly, from the throes of abuse that are so rampant in our society. In this, I mean abuse in it's lightest form as well as the darkest. How do we redeem this?

2. This is in the realm of sex, but more specific. I want to be able to look at a beautiful woman and genuinely marvel at her beauty. This is both highly personal and highly communal. At times, I can't control my mind. It wanders into places that it should not go. At other times, I can not look at the woman, because her shirt is so tight that her nipples show through, or her pants cut so low that her panties or thong or whatever are revealed as she sits down. I don't want this to be the case! I want to look at a woman as Adam did, in God's presence, and be amazed by her beauty. I want to do this purely, but how do I redeem it? Can I redeem it?

For anyone that read this earlier, this is an addition. At a groggy 3:15am, I didn't quite get the whole thought out. Both cases above, there is a need to redeem what has been taken away. These may not apply to you, but I'd expect that you have your own list. In the first case, your surrounding culture may not make this an issue. In the second, maybe this is only possible in marriage. I don't really know. What I do know is this: we have been given freedom through Christ. Freedom to enjoy God's creation, freedom to live as wheat among weeds, but in order to do this, we must not be all about "mind control." These books & conferences tell men to wear a rubber band and snap themselves when they look at women. The preachers and teachers tell us that to have alcohol is a sin, or at best we're probably causing someone in the restaurant to sin. Both are about guilt and control. WE ARE FREE! But how do we live as freemen(and women... this is not gender specific) in a slave world?