The First Day Comes to a Close

Well, I think I'm having fun.

Ants

As I was flying, I looked out the window a lot. (The people sitting by me on both flights were not very talkative, though one did snore extraordinarily loud--the kind that even wakes the person doing the snoring up.)
Even though I've seen it every time I fly, I was so amazed at how toy-like everything looked. You mean our yards are that square? And we drive that well spaced-out? And our roads are that even? You're telling me I can't reach out and pick that car up with my fingers? It seemed unreal.

I tried really hard to remember that each little moving dot contained a person with a name and a history and a favorite color and a food they hate to eat. Each one. There were as many little moving dots as there are ants when I'm sitting outside.
But those are just ants. They're minuscule. Worthless. Uninteresting. Can't even begin to imagine who I am. Would be scared to death if they could comprehend me--but they can't. Cause they're just ants.

Why does God care so much for us? We're just ants.

Arrival

I have arrived.

I woke up at 4:00 (went to bed at 1:30, oops) and left for Pittsburgh at 4:30AM. My flight left on time and I got into Dallas at around 9:30AM. The weather was awful though and I got stuck on the shuttle (and later had a three hour delay) because of it. I met a man there that worked for a travel agency for rich people. By the end of the conversation he had given me his business card. I tried to tell him that I wasn't in the economic status he was looking for, but he kindly said he would answer any question I had about traveling efficiently. He was my friend. First God sighting.

General Assembly in San Jose, CA

Well, I haven't been on here for awhile, but I thought I would start up again to record my thoughts at the Presbyterian Church's General Assembly.

General Assembly (as defined by Wikipedia) is "the highest court of Presbyterian polity. Each presbytery selects a number of its members to be commissioners (that's what I am!) to the general assembly. The general assembly is chaired by its own moderator, who is usually elected to a two-year term." It's like the Federal Government of the Presbyterian Church.

So, while I'm at GA, I think I will blog everyday.
This may be something that will end up sitting in the back of my mind and never getting done, but I'm thinking right now that it would be a pretty cool vessel for those at home to "experience" this whole thing with me. A lot of times I go away and experience great things in life and then come home and say, "Yeah mom, it was fun."
>>I can't possibly translate all I learned in one conversation.
So maybe if I take you with me, it will be more effective.

I hope I have time to do it.

I will be a Youth Advisory Delegate (YAD), which is a youth commissioner. The Assembly takes place in San Jose, CA, and my plane leaves in a matter of hours, so I should be packing...

Pray for me this week that I may make a difference and hear God's guidance clearly, without my own opinions mixed in. : )

The Response Should Be Community

Another section of an email to Ty from me:

I liked what you said about how what we do DOES matter, but not for our salvation. I had already come to the conclusion that what we did didn't matter for salvation because we can't DO anything.

But when you're left with that, it often seems as though you are stuck without a purpose or drive in life. Making our lives a RESPONSE to God's salvation is so much more of a welcome thought. It's not something I can check off and be ready to go to Heaven with; it's a lifestyle of living constantly in the glorification of God. THAT seems more like a purpose in life. Not just an, "ok I accepted Jesus, now I'm in" kind of thing, but a "I've accepted Jesus, now what can I do every day to glorify and serve others to say, 'You know what God, thanks a bunch.'"
The Meant To Live song is a really good example. (It made me like Switchfoot.) We WERE meant to live for so much more. And so our purpose in life is to get as close to how God intended our lives to be as we can (which I believe leads to getting the most out of life.)

I remember reading about the "love"/"tolerance" thing in a C.S. Lewis book, I think Mere Christianity. I liked what he said though because it was saying that you have to actively LOVE someone. Not just not dislike them.

We DO need to build a community. Mom and I were looking at Dr. Gagnon's (you know, her Greek professor) website (http://www.robgagnon.net/AnswersToEMails.htm) and reading some of the emails he received and responded to. The second one listed was the one that really jumped out at me. It was essentially: should we withhold membership privileges from cohabiting heterosexual partners, just as we do from cohabiting homosexual partners? Apparently Gagnon had labeled homosexual relations as an "extreme sin" (weighing sins now, are we?), and this pastor was wondering if he should place the same label on a parallel situation. Gagnon said NO that it wasn't "as serious". (So lying isn't as serious, I'll just do that and maybe I'll get off? Huh?)
He said it wasn't like homosexuality because it wasn't unnatural, and then he threw out some Scripture (like always) about the prostitute creating a "one flesh" union, even though it was unholy. Then, even if homosexuality is unholy, why is IT not still "one flesh"?
Some of what he says makes sense, he's just so polarizing and completely close-minded that it makes me angry.

My main point here is why are we turning off membership in the first place?
Mom said that it was because when you join the church you are saying that you are going to withhold a certain moral code, which makes sense in theory, but where do we draw the line?
Are we saying you're not allowed to be a part of the church if you're an active sinner? Yeah, I think we kind of are.

And here's the amazing ending to his email:

"From a pastoral standpoint, I recommend having a personal meeting with the offenders, going through Jesus’ teaching on marriage in Matt 19, highlighting the importance of obeying Jesus as his disciples, and explaining that membership can only be granted (or actively retained) if they marry or dissolve the sexual bond. I also recommend, if you haven’t already done so, that you regularly preach on the importance of sexual purity and marriage. I doubt that they would want to become members of a church that clearly declared their behavior to be sin, if they insisted on staying in a sexual relationship outside of marriage."

"I doubt they would want to be members." I think I just threw up a little in my mouth. This is disgusting. He's now telling people to preach to WARD PEOPLE OFF!!! This is absolutely ridiculous. Some community. No wonder people don't want to be a part of us. WE don't want THEM.
Sometimes I really can't stand Christians.