Bubble Busting

I haven’t been around much the past week.  I guess I’m in a non-writing phase right now.  At least here on OD.  So last week was our anniversary.  It came and went with not much but a "Happy anniversary.  I love you." between the two of us.  In all honesty though, that was enough for me.  We considered going and doing something this past weekend, but ended up staying home instead.

Saturday was spent hanging out at home until around 5:30.  Then we went over to Paster Kevin and Luann’s house for the first get together of a summer bible study group.  It was fun and eye opening.  We started out by having some pizza and chatting about each of our personal stories on how we became Christians.  Once we were done eating, we played a game I guess you would say.  Luann has a book that lists 100 questions to start a conversation.  Basically an ice-breaker type game.  It was fun to listen to the answers and we had a good laugh on a few.

We also watched a ten minute video that related to what people think of Jesus and what people think of Christians.  I pastor over in the Santa Cruz area had gone to the UC Santa Cruz campus and asked random people first: What do you think of Jesus?  Everybody who answered the question stated that he was a man of love and he represented a great cause.  There wasn’t a single comment that was really negative about Jesus.  THEN he asked the same people: What do you think of Christians?  Almost every single one of them had negative comments about Christians ranging from Christians are hypocrits to they should all be taken out and shot.  Talk about WHOA!  The thing about the fact that they didn’t really have many positive comments about Christians was the fact that hardly any of them actually had any Christian friends.

The pastor then went on to expand on the fact that most of the people were willing to accept Jesus as a good person and willing to discuss his good deeds.  They didn’t have anyone to talk to about him though.  It simply came down to the fact that there is a major stereotype of how a lot of people think Christians are when in all honesty their views of Christians have been influenced negatively by media and other outside sources.  None of them actually KNEW any Christians or were friends with a Christian to be able to logically deduce the negative outlook that they seemed to have.

The pastor went on from there to talk about how we as Christians actually start to live in a "bubble".  We surround ourselves with other Christians.  Hang out with other Christians.  Participate in activities with other Christians.  But don’t really have a lot of non-Christian friends ourselves.  It makes sense to surround yourself with people that you have the most in common with, but at the same time when people who are non-Christians don’t actually KNOW a Christian and only get their perceptions of Christians based off of media and other outside sources, it’s no wonder they don’t have a whole lot of positive things to say.

So needless to say, the theme of our new group is going to be "breaking out of the bubble".  The goal is not to go out and preach the word and try and shove the Bible in people’s faces.  In general, the goal is to just engage in conversations with people that may not know about Christianity.  Just be a positive influence period.  Watch for opportunities to spread the love and word of God to others who are looking to possibly learn more or understand why Christians believe what we do.  it can be a scary thing trying to talk to somebody about religion not knowing how receptive they may or may not be to it.  Just knowing the right things to say is difficult.  But when the time is right, I know that God will let me know and will provide the words for me.

Sunday we got up and went to church.  Afterwards we grabbed something to eat for lunch and went over to the park.  Dori and David invited us over to watch their fencing group practice.  I think Jacob may want to get into fencing now.  LOL  I’m happy to just sit back and watch.

Today was back to work.  Rosie just got back from vacation, and Shannon is gone for this week for vacation.  This is Lani’s last full week, and her last day is next Tuesday.  Then she is gone for the next 6 months on maternity leave.  It is going to be so weird not having her at work!  We’ll miss her.  The next week after she leaves, Keri is going to be gone too.  Yes… that means that it will be only me, Rosie, and Shannon in the office.  Now that’s scary!  LOL  I’m really not looking forward to that week.  *sigh*  Hopefully it flies by with no hitches.

I need to stop and get one last thing of yarn so that I can finally finish the baby blanket for Lani.  I want to make sure that it’s finished before she leaves next week.  I feel like I have so much going on right now.  It shouldn’t take me long to finish it though.  Then I need to start another blanket for Zane and Kadee’s baby.  She is due in October and they are having a girl.  That will be fun!  I’ll have to find a cute little girlie pattern for her.

I finished reading Eclipse the other day.  I’m now ready and waiting for Breaking Dawn to come out next month.  Only a little over 2 weeks to go!!!  I’m uber pumped and excited.  I’ve been waiting for 2 1/2 years now to read the ending of this series.  It’s going to be great to finally have all four books!

I just finished reading this book:

It’s a cute series and I’ll be buying the rest of the books as I go along.  They are making a series on HBO about these books too.  That should be fun to watch.

I’m currently reading this book now:

It’s a beautifully written unique book about a girl named Much-Afraid and her spritual journey to High Places.  After just reading the first few chapters of this book, it already has so much meaning for me.  It’s a great book and it has given me a new and really clear perspective on my own spiritual journey right now.

I suppose… it’s 1:00 a.m.  I should hit the lights and get some rest.  Oh yeah… Jacob is starting a new job tomorrow morning.  After putting up with way to much bologna from the supervisors at his "current" job, he found a job at a nursery within walking distance of where we live.  He came home this morning because he was supposedly suspended for the day over something so extremely stupid it was ridiculous.  As soon as he got home and we talked for a bit, I got online and he started calling other landscaping places to see who was hiring.  He had also stopped at the nursery to inquire about a job there, and they ended up calling him and said he can start first thing tomorrow.  So instead of continuing to

put up with the drama at the landscaping job, he is going to move on to hopefully a much more peaceful position down the street.  I pray that this is the right decision and that everything works out accordingly.  I’m happy that Jacob will get the final say in the negative situation that he was in at the old job.  He is going to go over first thing tomorrow morning and tell them that he’s quit.  I would love to see the look on their faces.  =)

Okay… I’m going to bed now.

Good night!
JamieLynn =)