youth ministry
this sunday i have a meeting for parents of high schoolers to explain our ministries to them. this whole thing makes me very nervous. in fact i've rarely been in the presence of youth's parents when i didn't feel like my every breath was being scrutinized. sometimes i feel like i'm going to be talking to the parents and one of them is just going to stand up and start hurling insults at me about my inability to make their kids good. there's probably some serious psychological deficiency or trauma that causes this. maybe some part of my brain's development was stunted, maybe i was weaned too early, maybe my mom should have used a different fabric softener on my blankets when i was a baby.
saturday
i love saturdays. this saturday was the first normal one my wife and i have had since we moved. we slept in until 9:30, my wife watched her gillmore girls season one dvds, i sat on our patio, played my music, and worked on sunday school (rom. 7:14-25)(and for those who care i'm taking the position that paul is speaking of his present christian experience). tonight we're going to watch a movie with some friends. i love saturdays.
tiny red death
the other day i noticed a stinging sensation on my foot. i looked down to see a fire ant digging its stinger out of my foot. i said something like "ouch, dang it!" and went on my way. later that night we were unloading some furniture and i noticed the palms of my hands itching. i also felt a tightness in my chest. my inner ear itched, but when i went to itch it the canal was all swollen. i went to the mirror to see a white face with bright red lining my eyes, nose, and mouth. we went to the er, got a benadryl iv, went home, and i slept like a baby. turns out i'm allergic to fire ants.
anniversary
the 11th was sarah and my 4th anniversary. we're going out of town labor day weekend to celebrate.
i'm a big fan of my wife. i mean, i'm not going to talk about how i stare at her when she sleeps or anything, but i don't know what i would do without her. i think the thing i love most about marriage is when you can't remember what it was like to not be married. even my memories of life before i met sarah seem to have her pasted in somehow. i love you, babe.
John
this is john. he's on staff with ywam (youth with a mission) in new orleans. he's an open theist. we had some interesting conversations. he's a typical evangelical, and a good picture of where evangelicalism is heading if it doesn't learn to respect what the church has historically believed. spurgeon once said (something like), "how can one think so highly of what the Holy Spirit teaches them, but think so little of what He has taught others before them?" he has a website: forever grasping the first picture you see is very telling. the subtitle on his writing on the trinity is indicative of his theological methodology. luckily, he just ends up sounding like gregory of nyssa, so he's in good company.
moving sucks
we're finally moved in to our new place. we took five trips with a two-door explorer pulling a little enclosed trailer--but we didn't spend any money. let me tell everyone out there, never do that. even if you're moving into the house next door rent the big uhaul, load it all at once and unload it all at once. i was so sick of moving by the end of it all i was taking family heirlooms and chucking them carelessly into the trailer.