Harry Freaking Potter

Dear friends, I realize many of you may not share all my values, and I'm okay with that. But here is what I've picked up from the Harry Potter series, as it relates to my relationship with Christ.

Harry Potter is a wonderful example of needing a power greater than ourselves. Of course, this power is not described as a god, but it is a power that is in every wizard. Before Hogwarts, Harry could do some stuff, but it wasn't til he accepted he was a wizard that he could start to grow and be trained by teachers and mentors who have been doing this lifestyle for years. Voldemort's purpose is to lie, steal, and kill. He is Satan embodied. Harry can't do this life alone. He needs his community. They all can partner with this wizard power they discovered was in the mirror all along to battle Voldemort. Harry embodies a christian, with innate abilities but is dependent on this greater power to be effective.

Of course every metaphor has its faults. Don't get me started on the self-sacrifice as an ultimate form of love, though. The book has squibs who are people born to wizard families that can't do magic. Is that kids who grow up in a Christian household and just are destined not to be Christians in this life? I don't know. It's a rough metaphor, as I have said. There are also muggles, people of non-wizarding families, who some of which turn into wizards.
My friend, Tyler, pointed out to me that Christians are almost all behind Lord of the Rings, even though Gandolf is a wizard. I guess they just skip over that part of the story and jump to witchcraft being an abomination only in Harry Freaking Potter.

I believe our God is big enough to speak to his people through many mediums. Watch out, now! Do I mean medium as in a person who can communicate with the dead? You decide... ;)

Love y'all! I hope you enjoyed my musings.

30 Day Challenge

Some people say 30 days is enough. Some say not. I say, "What the heck are you talking about?" That usually solves the problem.

Some friends have this 30-day blog adventure that they've been fiddling around with. I probably won't survive after two days. Weeks later, my neighbors will report a weird smell from my apartment, and the cops will discover my decaying body. That's how you'll know I didn't finish this.

I Love Me Some Mary Poppins

Like any of y'all care about this, but I forgot how much I loved all sorts of movies from my childhood. I can't believe how wonderfully made Mary Poppins was. The spectacular world of imagination! The telling of tales through song! The simple adventures from every day life!

I learned a lot of valuable lessons. Boys shouldn't ever wear big yellow socks up to their knees. Old men must fluff their mustaches out, not tame it down. Mary Poppins was a drunk. I couldn't believe that when she was pouring out medicine for herself and the children, her's was rum flavored.

I still love this movie. It's such a lovely piece of work...but still...Freakin' drunk.

Happy Birthday, Me!

I'd say I had a really swell birthday, today. I started off helping some people interpret dreams at a class at church, which I love doing! I helped Bridget lead worship in kids church, an amazing workout! I received about 39 wall posts on my Facebook, wishing me a happy birthday! There were just so many great things that happened today. Splendid!

Steak for lunch. Arrested Development for post lunch nap show. And then, hot wings and pizza bites at the Davenports'. They made the official announcement to their small group that they are going to be starting a small group in Farmer City in January, and somehow it came up, and Russell told everyone that I would be going with them. Woot!

I'm really excited about the team of leaders coming together for the Farmer City area. I love the people, and I love that God wants me to be a part of this.

Oh, I also had some randomly vivid dreams last night. One was about killing a snake and a frog in a pond with my heel. The other was much longer and involved me visiting my friend Jamie in St Joe, wanting to make Christmas Cookies. If anything comes of them, I may write about it.

Cooking = Time w/ God

I just had this realization today. When I am cooking breakfast (instead of just eating a power bar and running out the door), I have much better focused conversation with God. For instance today, I made pancakes and eggs. While walking downstairs, I began talking to God about the church plant. He gave me some ideas on how to roll out my plan for the small group worship.

While mixing the ingredients, I started talking with God about my 8th graders and how grateful I am to have them. We talked about ways of making the group go deeper and open up about even more serious topics. I can't wait to see if our group can go that way!

While frying the giant pancake (I don't like to make two or three little pancakes...just one huge one), I gathered some more insight on setting healthy boundaries with work. I was thinking of going in and doing some extra stuff today, but God had other plans. Now, I'm headed out to hang with one of my close families in Mahomet.

And that's why spending time with God is well worth it. I got a good meal, and I got some good pointers for my day.

Stop Working

This week, I started setting boundaries at work. I've no longer just let myself stay at work all day and evening because it's a good thing to do or because it will help someone else. If I keep working myself to death to please everyone else, I'm not going to be very useful to anyone. I've been feeling great, too!

I've been able to hang out with a friend at a bookstore and just talk about where God has taken us. I've been able to go deeper with the team that I will be planting a church with. I've also realized that when I'm setting time limits on my work, I have time to read.

I've got to start figuring out what books to read. I need to learn more about starting a church and growing leaders. That's what I'm hoping to do with my future down time.

Prayer Request

As the Christmas season approaches, my family seems to be under attack. My dad has been having a lot of really random health issues, beginning in early summer. Now, he is starting to take anti-depressant medication tonight. He is now having anxiety attacks, and he’s feeling the empty nest syndrome. My mom also informed me that he really wishes he could get in touch with Chris, his son from his previous marriage. There has been a lot of conflict between my dad and Chris, and Chris just doesn’t want the relationship to get better.

My grandpa, who just had surgery on his legs the day after Thanksgiving, had to go to the ER, early Sunday morning. I’m not exactly sure why, but he had to go to Terre Haute on Tuesday to see a doctor. My grandma is stressed and worried and would like my mom to come down, but my mom is super busy and doesn’t think she’ll be able to make it down there. Today is my grandparents' anniversary. I hope they are able to have a great day.

Please keep my family in your prayers.