What a full and good weekend it has been.
I don’t think I could do justice to all the ways I’ve seen God’s blessings so I won’t try. But yes… God is way better to me than I deserve. And my friends, you are also better to me than I deserve. But I am truly grateful.
We will praise the Lamb of God who sits upon the throne
We will worship Him and give the praise to Him alone
He who was and is and is to come
We will sing before His throne forever, forever
I’m excited to announce that I’m now an uncle twice over! My beautiful niece Kaydence Ainsley was born early this morning!
Yay! I get to meet her in May!
Here’s a picture of her after her first bath! Doesn’t she adorably look like most other babies? But she’s my niece so she’s the cutest!
And just because I’m showing off anyway, here’s a picture of my super cute nephew from just a few days ago. They both get their good looks from me!
This weekend I’ve thought a lot about disconnection and connection. Loneliness and community. In a conversation with one friend, she pointed out that lots of people are lonely. Which I think is really and tragically true. People are built to be in community, so loneliness and isolation are terrible things—and yet distressingly common, even in the church!
Sometimes I regret moving to Fields Corner. There have been a number of things that are really good about the move (new friends, increasing role at TXV), but a lot of things that have been hard (disconnection from church community and many older friends). I’m still trying to figure that out, I guess.
But yeah… There have been many conversations when I’ve learned to my surprise that people who I think of as central in church community have felt on the fringes… And probably lots of people who have been surprised to learn that I have usually felt on the fringe, despite 10 years and many friends.
This is a terrible tragedy because the church ought to be the place of connection, where disparate, sinful people come together and by the power of God are united into a family. Lord, have mercy and teach us how to love in suprising ways.
In spite of these thoughts (or perhaps because of them), I have had a number of great connections this weekend. A raw and real conversation with a dear sister about trusting God in difficult decisions. Insightful discussions with justice-oriented friends. An inspiring brainstorming session with a new friend. An unexpected but thought provoking IM session. These are priceless, and not even all of the things that have happened.
I’ll leave off with some details on the brainstorm. Essentially, a couple of people have put together a neat idea for a website to bridge the gap between Christians and need… In so doing, I imagine this will also help Christians make good connections with each other—for example, someone I know from church had spent an entire year in Xinjiang (one of the places I love most)… And I had had no idea.
But yeah… there are plenty of Christians who want to do more, to leverage their resources for the Kingdom. And there’s plenty of need. But I don’t really think there’s been a good way to connect the two. There are a couple of innovative ideas around this website that make me think there’s some potential here.
Would you (or someone you know) be interested in such a project? Among other critical people, we’re looking for someone who has some knowledge of data mining techniques and someone who has decent web UI skills.
In the meantime, I exhort you (and myself) to continue stepping out in risk and making connections. And may all the glory go to God!
