Friday, June 18, 2010

Summer in Texas

I cannot wait to escape from the Texas heat when I take my trip up to Wisconsin. Down here it's almost 100 degrees, but up north it will be in the 80s the whole week I'll be there. So excited! Down here you have to simply deal with the heat; you learn how to touch your hot steering wheel and what clothes not to wear. You just put up with it because it's the only thing you can do, unless you want to live your entire summer indoors. Tonight, despite the heat, a small group of friends and I went to "Stars under the Stars," they play a movie on a jumbo-tron in one of the parking lots downtown. It was a lot of fun - you bring your own chair or blanket (but who really wants to sit on the hot asphalt?) and they have some concessions there. Tonight they showed "Blindside." I saw the movie once with Jeremy and it was still good the second time and still made me tear up at different points of the movie. And again, I still didn't understand the reference to Lawerence whoever... I guess something about protecting the quarterback's blind side? Anyone know?

Thursday, June 17, 2010

A Real Job!

On Tuesday I accepted the position of Youth and Young Adult Ministries Coordinator at the parish where I have been apprenticing for the past two years. 24 people applied, 5 people were interviewed, and one person was chosen. I feel very blessed and I am very grateful for this opportunity to serve this parish in a greater way. It will be difficult because it will be like starting from scratch. I just hope that I can be seen as my own person and not as the past youth minister. I also hope that I can work effectively at putting my vision and goals into place at the parish.

I officially begin July 1 and I'm thinking of giving this blog a new twist... I think I might focus it on church work and parish ministry - the day to day stuff that happens at the office, random things people say, my struggles and joys of being a youth minister. We'll see how that goes.

Right now I have a ton on my plate. On Sunday I'll be flying home to Wisconsin to spend a week there hanging out with my family and packing up things from my original home. I'll be attending two weddings and hanging out with Echo people at one of them (yay!), and then road tripping down with Jeremy to officially move myself from the Dairy State to the Lonestar State. I have an apartment all lined up, which I am super excited about. It has everything I want in an apartment and it's at a great location. On top of all that moving and starting a new job, I also have to continue to study for my comprehensive exam. Who am I kidding... I have to start studying! I hope a month will be enough time to go over the material... Prayers for that please!

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Fireproof

It's amazing how things work in media production and how people can stretch things out. Don't get me wrong, I love the concept of the movie/book Fireproof and The Love Dare, but at times it seems like people are in it for profit. I'm not exactly sure what came first, if it was The Love Dare or the movie Fireproof (let's say the movie). It was a decent movie - the acting wasn't award-winning, but the storyline was. In the movie The Love Dare was introduced and that is what kept a broken marriage from dissolving completely. Viewers were then intrigued and wanted to know more about The Love Dare, so [they] wrote some more books. There is The Love Dare, similar to the journal in the movie, in two forms: hardcover or a leather journal (again, like the movie). There is also The Love Dare for couples, a year-long devotional. There are several more resources on how to "fireproof your marriage." So there is a movie, several books on The Love Dare, small group study guides, and then someone wrote the book Fireproof, which is how I first came in contact with it.

It seems strange that a book was written after a movie, but someone decided they wanted to expand the story. I enjoyed reading the book more than watching the movie; it allowed time for the characters and plot to develop and I was more emotionally involved. I was actually mad at the husband in the beginning because I thought he was such a jerk! He redeems himself by using The Love Dare and the book had me crying at the end. It's a great book about faith as well. Caleb (the husband) asks his dad "how can I love someone who constantly rejects me over and over again?" while his dad is standing by a life-size cross. This is a story about love, not only the love between a husband and wife, but the love that God gives us freely and graciously and He never gives up hope.

http://garywiram.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/fireproof_desktop2_1600.jpg