More of last night

Hi to all!

Last night we had an amazing time of fun and celebrating, of concern and caring, and of learning. It was really cool. There was no fakeness, no false or trumped up images to portray or keep up. There was tons of laughter, and quite a few tears...real people sharing something More than the more we spend most of our time searching for. It was good.

We began by talking about our favorite restaurants - the answers, as I'm sure you can imagine, were pretty wide, but it was nice to remember and enjoy something light and relaxing. If you were there, please add your restaurant and info to the blog, so those of us who want to go to them can remember!

After settling in a little, we took some time to recognize that there is something amazing and wonderful about this world and life that is bigger than us: God. Our worship, which is the word we use to describe this recognizing, was all about taste. No, not taste in clothes or good sense in color coordination, but the sense of taste in your mouth and the memories that come with it and how amazing and wonderful it is to be able to taste so many things - that the sense is made so cool (I'm sorry, but convincing me that it developed as some accident would seem pretty far fetched) - and even more, how many wonderful tastes there are! It is a reminder, as simple as it is, that the world is full of the wonder and awe of God. Unfortunately, if you're like me, you forget this most of the time and live a life consumed with the ordinary.

So...next time you taste peanut butter, salt, cane sugar, honey, chocolate, maybe it would be better to really pay attention to the sense and the taste and all it brings to your mind if you settle into it for a little bit and then maybe in your own way, have a moment of thanks and smile about a God who is big enough to make it all and yet loves us enough to make it so wonderful!
After being thankful, we shared stuff that we were going through and enjoyed some time talking to God about it. This, we drew 3 crosses on a dry erase board and then gave everyone the chance to come up and write a picture, a symbol, or whatever to show their need. Then we looked around and really tried to see each other clearly for a minute, with the idea of praying for the concerns written on the board while remembering the faces around the room. By the way, by praying for each other, we believe we involve God in our lives and that this really helps even the hardest times.

After sharing for a little (and as corny as it may sound to some of you, the time of sharing and prayer was really cool), we had one of the people who has been coming to the group share about how God has really been changing his life and some of the people around him. It was cool to hear the realness of God in a real person's life.

Last we had some teaching and then finished with some communion bread brought by Becky Livingston, which was fabulous, celebrating our the love God has for us!

Out teaching was by a guest speaker. She has had major problems in her life, including drug addiction, being lost to her children, and being put in prison. At the end of her searching for control and pleasure in all the drugs, and finding that the promise of happiness and joy in them vanished like smoke in the wind, she cried out to God to either kill her or allow her to go to prison. After landing in prison, she was introduced to the idea that there was a God who loved her very much and she decided that she wanted to live going after His More, rather than hers, which had lead her to such destruction. Recently, she said to me, now married, with a good job and respected by her children, "I never knew I could be so happy." Translation, the happy, the joy, the meaning in life...the satisfaction and truth...the balance and perspective is found in God...in searching for and trying to get closer to Him. This is not religion for the sake of guilt or because we should. This is not religion to seem better or to convince everyone of how good she is. This is the "I've finally found something that makes everything make sense" kind of thing...and it's what this group is all about.

If you find yourself slamming through your days, spending your time not getting what you feel you should out of life. If the things that you shoot for, go after, strive for, and live trying to get do not seem to ever satisfy you, this good woman's story is speaking to you - consider beginning a search for the amazing God, the More, who puts it all in it's right place and can help you say, "I never knew I could be so happy."

Next time we will be doing our community outreach - where we go and do something nice for someone, just because - I will keep you updated with the details!

Here's hoping that you have a "I never knew I could be so happy" kind of day!