Burning Ones

YAY! We officially are Comcast cable internet users as of last week. It’s been nice being able to check the email. Pictures should be up now but they’re not because I haven’t gotten around to it. Hopefully next post.

Side note: my uterus is the size of a soccer ball! That’s INSANE!

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what my purpose is living here in Norristown. So much of me wants to lock myself inside our apartment: to avoid the outside world because its easier than making awkward confrontations with people I don’t really know. It would fix any kind of fear that I have of being a small woman alone all day. I could make sure nothing comes in and I never go out. I could make the apartment look really pretty. But I feel like that would be wrong.

I was reading Jeremiah where God is speaking against Israel because after delivering them to the promised land, they turn around, forsake God, and then run after everything but God. God, I don’t do want to do that. I’ve always considered Norristown our “promised land” (even though many others would disagree). We’ve waited to be here so long and God was awesomely faithful. The last thing I want to do is start worshiping the “good house-wife” god and lusting after the god of image. Ugh.

I have ideas that I’d like to do and Lord-willingly they’ll happen. I would like to lead a morning worship (like 7-9 AM) in the morning at our church (which is a block from our house). I’d like to have an “open house” policy while I’m there and as long as the door is open any youth in the area who’d like to hang out and maybe do lunch is welcome. I’d like to hang out on our front porch all day and talk with our neighbors and build relationships (we need porch furniture though). I don’t know; just random stuff. We’ll see :-)

Tim was telling me about a sermon by John
Piper where he briefly comments on C.S. Lewis’s The Four
Loves, explaining two of them as being different kinds of friendships.
There’s eros friendship, where the two people involved are focused on
each other (as if they were facing each other) and then there’s Philia
friendship where, instead of facing each other, they are facing a
mutual vision or purpose and running after this goal together. I feel
like this is a much more biblical model of how friendship is supposed
to be, and we need this to stand… or I need it.

I’ve come to realize that I am lacking a Philia friendship outside of
Tim. It’s not that I don’t love the friends that I have, but I’m not
running towards anything with them. The closest thing I think I’ve had
to this was when Alex & Jaclyn were here in PA and Peniel (our
ministry) was active. As I look back on it now I’m not really sure if
we ever really hammered out the details of what our common vision was,
but it is something different to say “we’re in this together” while
leading various worship events and prayer nights instead of just
attending some function.

But now it seems like that has ended (even if it is because of sheer
practicality), and I’d really like that type of friendship. Sometimes
I think I’m more “holy” for doing without, but after thinking about it
I really don’t think we are supposed to be “without” this. I read a
story about a man who went to Hell and one of the interesting things
he said was that you weren’t able to communicate to anyone. So there must
be power in unity… a source of strength that I want. Just like its
always easier to bear something when another person is bearing the
same load.

Love to hear your thoughts about this. Piper boiled down his
point to this: “The greater the shared vision, the deeper the
friendship.” Do you agree? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

I had no idea moving would be this insane! Almost all of stuff is moved in and so far the only thing that is really left undone is the living room (pictures will be coming soon!)

We sadly do not have the internet so right now I’m doing laundry at my parent’s and trying to do a few updates while I’m here.

In the past week we’ve slept at three different houses and have had a dog to watch. We took him home on Monday and although its more lonely without him and I did enjoy having him around, I can get more unpacking done.

I cannot tell you how wonderful God has been through all of this. Everything seems to be working out perfectly. Yesterday we were given an over-sized leather Lazyboy recliner (looked brand new) that fits perfectly into our living room and there’s a rumor that we might be given a really, really nice sound system with a DVD and VCR player. All of our furniture seems to be fitting “just right” with inches to spare and any fear that I had about living in Norristown in completely gone. I could not love living in our apartment any more.

So hopefully by the end of the week we’ll be all situated. Yesterday was our anniversary (two years!) and it was nice to spend in the new apartment. We’ve been taking pictures along the way but sadly our camera battery charger is still in the muck somewhere :-).