It's been a while.

I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long, and because of that it's my own fault that I have lost the bulletins from previous weeks. So, if I find them I'll blog about the missing weeks. My man and I are planning on cleaning up a little tomorrow so maybe we'll find something then. If we do, I'll update about the missing weeks. Two weeks ago Andy talked about the importance of living in circles instead of rows. In other words, get involved with a small group. At any church-but especially at a church the size of North Point, you need a group of people you can count on-and a group of people who can count on you-to make your church life that much better. It gives you a sense of community, and gets you involved with the church. More on this in a minute, I'll mention my experience at Grouplink briefly.

First of all, let me begin by saying that I don't really want to write about this. But I know that I need to stretch myself spiritually so I can grow in my relationship with God, and since one of the easiest ways for me to do this is through writing, I have to do this entry. Last week we began a new series-one that a few people will have a field day with-called Recovery Road. One thing I like the most about NP is that Andy doesn't shy away from delicate topics that other churches might. He gives a fair warning that the day's message might not be the most comfortable for everyone, but he encourages everyone to stay and listen with open hearts and ears.

One of the main questions/statements from last week was "We look at our faith through a politics filter, not viewing our politics through a filter of our faith. What would happen if we did the reverse?" (Something along those lines.) So, based on this, why do we, as one of the strongest countries in the world, have so many financial problems? Even those who fight against us, invest in our US dollars because they know we are worth something. We have a lifestyle problem, not a cash-flow problem. We see this in our own lives, those of us who are in debt know this quite well. It also seems to be a management problem-look at the major businesses of the 90's that are no longer. It's not that they were necessarily lacking in the funds, their downfall happened because they had a management problem. One thing that Andy said-that I'm sure we can all relate to-is that our financial problems are similar to health problems. We ignore them until they become problems. We begin dieting/exercise regime when we hear from a doctor that we are at risk for, well, pick any health problem that might be able to be fixed/relieved with a change in diet and/or exercise.

Andy also said, "We are reaping what we have sown. Our problems stem from abused prosperity."
Why is this so? Because (this is according to Andy-and I agree with him in this case) we have a(n):
-discipline problem
-entitlement problem
-greed problem
and a
-fail of nerve problem.

These are all fairly self explanatory-but the last one seems a little more challenging. We back down from what we know needs to happen and so it doesn't. I think I heard this is one of my OLS classes at Purdue (woah! I actually learned something from those classes?!): We must do what is right now, and we must do what is right now. To clarify: we must do what is the right thing to do at the moment, and we must do what is correct at this very moment. I hope that makes some sense to you. I hope that you read this and think back to a moment when you had a failure of nerve. I hope that you are able to recognize the next moment when you might have a failure of nerve and are able to take the chance to step forward and beyond that nerve failure.

The road to recovery begins with we-not they. It begins with me-not you. There is so much more I could write on this last week's message, but I don't know how to put some of the things into my own words. If I can figure out a way, I'll update again and link it to here.

But onto my Grouplink experience on Thursday. I loved it. I was nervous going into the evening, but a good nervous-I kept comparing it to first day of school nerves. My man and I got there a few minutes early, but that was okay. We checked in and he went off to the men's side (at NP there are 2 kinds of groups-same gender and married couples groups) so I peeked at him once in a while at the beginning, just to make sure he was talking to people (I could only see him for maybe 10 minutes and he was talking to someone every time I got a peek at him). Any way, I met a fantastic woman shortly after arriving and she lives just around the corner from me! So we're going to be in the same community group, yay. We met up with other women who live in Marietta and there are about 11 of us in our group. We're going to have our first meeting after Labor Day, because our group leader is going to NY for the US Open. We are the youngest in our group, and I admit, I am a little nervous. I am fresh out of college, my neighbor has a 4 yr old stepson and works downtown ATL. The rest of the women have kids who are my age or older-and most of them also have grandkids. I am unsure about my group because of the age difference, but I am going to go into this with an open mind and open heart. Because if I don't, I could miss out on something that could be so beneficial for me. I'll keep you updated. Who knows, maybe by November I'll have a few new readers. :)

Until next time, dear readers.

Agh!

Hey all. Well, for those of you who are still reading... I'm sorry I haven't updated in two weeks. I completely forgot to post last weekend and I was busy buying out Wal-Mart yesterday and then I had to nap after my long day-I know, whoop whooop. Excuse train. I'll update ASAP, with a real entry, I promise. Just not tonight, since it's bedtime.

Also, please continue to pray for those families and friends affected by the tragedy at the Indiana State Fair. I (very) indirectly know someone who lost their life in the crisis.



On a much much happier note, my entire family will be here this weekend (I haven't seen my sister since May/June!) and then my man finally gets here!! (I haven't seen him since I dropped him off at the airport on June 20. I really do not like long distance relationships.) I am so excited for this weekend!! I'll make sure I update Sunday evening after my family is gone, if I can drag myself away from hugging my boyfriend, haha. :)

Until next time, dear readers.

You must be the change you wish to see in the world.

I apologize for the late post this week. My parents were here for the weekend and I was busy spending time with them. We had a good time by the pool and at the DCI Southeastern Championship. We went to North Point on Sunday, and my mom loved it. We then spent some more time at the pool and then Dad&I changed my car's headlight and installed a digital thermometer for my A/C. So, overall, a good weekend.

Yesterday we looked at Mark 9:42-48. It was a pretty intense message, and a couple times I could only pray that my parents weren't turned off to NP because of it. Joel started with a reference to the movie 127 Hours. If you haven't seen it, Google it. I'm not sure I could handle explaining the movie, let alone watching it. But one of the quotes he pulled from the movie was "It's just an arm." After all, it is just an arm. You can live with out it. Sure, it will be challenging at first. It's essentially a new way of life, but a necessary step for you to take. Aren't there things you hold tight onto that cause you to stumble? I know there are for me. I do apologize, dear readers, but there are some things the interwebz don't need to know. I trust that there are things about you that you don't wish others to know, and so you understand my position. Maybe it's something that you are doing that is causing you to stumble. Something you look at, something you think about, whatever it is, it's causing you to stumble. 

If you knew years before the problem were to arise, wouldn't you cut whatever it is out of your life? A surprising quote from yesterday morning was "1 in 5 divorces cite Facebook as a cause to the beginning of an affair". If you knew that Facebook would ruin your marriage, wouldn't you deactivate your account? I know I would. No questions about it, I would say goodbye to Facebook. What we do today impacts where we end up tomorrow. I know it seems like a given, but it's still something to think about. Consider it as you go through your day. "If I do this/look at this/buy this, how will it impact my tomorrow?" There may not be an immediate effect on your life, but in time it may begin to affect your life in a way that you wish it wouldn't. 

There is more to this life than this life. Why would you trade anything for your eternity? I do wish that I could go back and change some things that I have done. But I can't. I can only go on with my life, and change what I am doing today and hope that it will have a positive effect on my future life. I pray that I can look back on my life now and say, "Good job, 2011 me. You made some good choices that year." 

I hope that you think about what is causing you to stumble and seriously consider cutting it out of your life. I am making steps towards my own goal, and I hope that you will be able to do the same. If you want to share your story with me, please message me or send me an email. I would be more than happy to listen and help if I can. If you'd rather not, that's okay too. If you would like me to pray for you, please don't hesitate to ask. This is a tough thing to go through (no matter what your stumbling block is) and I hope that you can trust that there is someone for you to talk to if you need to.

I have no idea how I will write next week's blog, we got a "don't bring your small children to next week's service" announcement. It's the last message in this series, and it's about marriage. I attended a service with my man at Connection Pointe, his home church, that was also about marriage. I admit that after that service I was kind of a mess. Luckily for me, he was there to lean on. I'm not sure how I will survive next week-since I have a feeling it will be similar.

Only 2 more Sundays left... Until next time, dear readers.