Catch-up Post #2 - October & November 2010

October and November is best shared in pictures, I think. The major events were the Underground Masquerade Ball (for which I dressed as an MIB agent with my new friend Betsey Mitchell), the Bowling party, and the Ugly Sweater party. We really ramped up the practicing for worship band and the Christmas play so mostly I was just really busy running around. If you'd like to see more pictures than what I just posted here, the full albums are up on the Photo Archives page.


Underground Masquerade 2011

We ARE the Men In Black.

We had quite the collection of characters this year.

In which two members of an imaginary law enforcement agency protect the public by arresting a gnome.

In which the members of two different imaginary law enforcement agencies protect the public by arresting a key guido from the Jersey Shore.

The Ugly Sweater Party

Yes, it really was that bad.

Catch-up Post #1 - September 2010

I can measure how "busy" my life is by how long I leave my blog alone. Given that the last time I actually wrote anything here was last October, and that it is almost October again, I must of had a crazy busy year! Its been a good, full, hard one; I'm still processing a lot of it. I might post some of those lessons later, for additional comment. But first, here's a seasonal update for those of you who have been asking how I've been for months now.

In September, I started attending a new Underground small group called SLICK (Single Ladies In Christ's Kingdom) led by my good friend Shari Carew. She had a very strong call on her heart that God wanted to reach out to the single ladies in our age group and work healing and growth in our lives. She didn't think she was the leader type, but thanks to her willingness to obey we started meeting on Thursday nights. I had the opportunity to offer my apartment as our meeting place and I was unbelievably grateful to do so. See, even though I had been a regular attender of Cornerstone and a faithful servant in Underground for months, I still felt like I didn't really KNOW anyone well, or that they knew me. Part of that was due to the fact that I hadn't had any of my church friends over to my place for anything. My apartment is rather small for parties and such, but its perfect for small group. Once these women started visiting my home and saying how much they enjoyed being in my "space", I really began to feel like I was more than just "church friends" with people, and that I now had Christian sisters I could walk with in my life. That was the first healing I experienced as a result of SLICK - God used those first meetings in my home to deliver the final blow to the isolation I'd struggled with since my fight with depression began in 2005.

Also in September, our new worship pastor and choir director Jason Rose started to shape the choir into an actual consistent, contributing entity in worship and creative ministry. Can I tell you just how much I've appreciated that this year? When I first came to Cornerstone, we had a small choir for occasional music and then later a sort of "worship chorus". Unfortunately both of those groups kind of lost steam and petered out at time went on, primarily due to a lack of leadership. Since music is one of the ways I connect with a community, I was really feeling the loss of a "place" to fit in the church. Now, however, there was a place to serve in music with community, consistent expectations, and a vision for the future. I love that. Choir has become one of my anchors of connection to the church. Our first major project was to introduce a choral element to our production of "The Christmas Window". I do enjoy a challenge. ^_^

In Underground, I was asked during the summer to take over as leader for the worship band in place of my friend Mike, who got married in June. My guitar skills aren't that great but I had led worship before in college, so I decided to say yes. We really started to gel in September as each of us adjusted to a new practice schedule, new music, and regular team devotionals under Pastor David's guidance. It took a couple of tries before we figured out how to "get out the way of the Spirit", as the saying goes. But it is really true that when you obey and do what the Lord asks you to do, no matter how full of holes your service is, He shows up in amazing ways.

At work we adjusted to the loss of a few of our undergrads to graduation, and the addition of some new people to cover the work. Also my boss informed us that he would be taking a year off for sabbatical and spending it mostly in Europe doing fieldwork in the cave systems of Croatia, so we started working on the details needed for that to happen. The idea behind the trip came out of some data we had been collecting on the pathway L-tyrosine takes to produce melanin in the body, and the reasons why that pathway doesn't work in our blind cavefish. (One of these days I'll be able to talk about this project in detail on the 'net. Its really very cool.)

And that was September for me.

A Lesson From Biology - Why There's No Such Thing As "Status Quo"

Right now at my home church, we're very blessed to have our senior pastor Mark Lehmann and his wife home safe from sabbatical. I knew when we sent them on their well-earned break that we'd have to be prepared to keep up with him when they returned and boy, was I right! Its a good thing. Pastor Mark said last night at Wednesday service that he's found that when he just tries to maintain where he's at with God, he actually starts to lose ground. For that reason its important for all of us to keep moving forward after our Lord. And being the science nerd that I am, it hit me...that's just like the human body.

Most of you probably remember from high school that the body is composed of millions of tiny cells, each with their own characteristics and lifespans. In order for a human to gain mass and size as he develops from a child to adult, the cells in his body must divide and produce more cells at a rate much much faster than they die off. So if the average cell lives for ~1 month, the cells of a child will divide around twice as much as the cells of an adult during that lifespan, giving the child's body more mass.

The interesting thing is that once you become an adult, your cells still have to divide and produce offspring to keep you being you. They don't just sit there and stay the same all the time. Every time you eat, breathe, touch something, think something, or just plain exist with your environment you lose cells due to damage. So if your body didn't constantly produce replacements for those, along with replacements for the cells that naturally die, you'd cease to be a form anyone would recognize as human. This is a major cause of many diseases in the body, such as sickle cell anemia and osteoporosis. In addition to that each cell you are born with has a genetic timecode in it for the number of times it can divide without losing important DNA. Once that limit is reached there is no more cell division from that line. This is the fundamental cellular reason why we all age, we basically start to lose the body's ability to renew itself and maintain its form.

Here's the parallel: our bodies must constantly expend energy to grow in order for us not to die. There's a certain level of energy and effort required to keep us being us. Anything above and beyond that allows us to develop beyond our current state. If this is true for us physically, its certainly true of us spiritually; after all, we are uniquely physical-spiritual beings and many of the rules of physically mirror those of the spiritual realm. This is why there is no such thing as "status quo" for Christians. When we stop running after God, when we stop feeding on His Word or loving His people, when we stop praying and worshiping Him, we cut off our own lifesource. We start to age. We start to die inside. And then we wonder why He seems so distant, why we feel so empty, why we have little joy in our lives.

I'm currently poking at a brand new book called "The Me I Want To Be" from one of my favorite authors, John Ortberg. In it he very honestly talks about the difference between the "status quo" and flourishing in his own life, and why spiritual growth is vital to the everyday Christian. The point he tries to make is that all of us need to be intentional about our walk if we are going to survive as a Christian. It doesn't matter if you are a passionate person or not, a learned person or not, a hurting person, broken person, confused person, whatever. Every time you choose to make an effort with Christ, no matter how small, you are choosing to live. Our bodies make that choice for us automatically so we don't have to think about it much beyond eating the right kinds of foods and getting good sleep. Unfortunately we can't treat our new spiritual bodies the same way. We are saved, we are destined for heaven, and we won't ever lose that, BUT we have to choose: either we cross the finish line on our own two feet as heirs of the kingdom or we get dragged across by God's wind of motion as the kingdom charity cases. Diane Duane puts it like this in "High Wizardry" from her Young Wizard series:

Those who refuse to serve the Powers,
become the tools of the Powers.
Those who agree to serve the Powers,
themselves become the Powers.

Beware the Choice! Beware refusing it!

And its true. There's no such thing as "status quo", friends. Not in this Life.

Recommended Reading - "Anonymous" by Alicia Britt Chole

"Anonymous" is a very refreshing and accessible book to read on a topic most of us Christians don't like to think about - those times in our lives when it feels like no one is taking notice of all the work we've been doing, whether God or the people around us. I'm not sure where a lot of us get this idea, but for some reason people in the church seem to think that if you're not being celebrated or appreciated for the service you give in the church or the work you do at your job that you are somehow being maligned or taken advantage of. Success is equated with people's recognition of you or being given a leadership position. When our dreams take a long time to actually come to term, or when we have to work for a long time without reward, many of us ask if God is really there or if He really knows what He's doing with our lives. Ever been there? I sure have. The ironic thing is that so often we get frantic to be fruitful because its uncomfortable to admit we are in that place.

I had never heard of Alicia Chole before she came to Cornerstone and gave her testimony in February 2009. I don't tend to read a lot of female Christian writers that aren't over 50, for some reason. But I was intrigued by the way that she honestly tackled some of the things most Christians don't like to admit are a regular part of the Walk. Instead of condemning people for being in a time of hiddenness, or trying to encourage them to work frantically to get out of it, Alicia goes straight to Scripture and the missing 30 years of Jesus' life to talk about how important it is to our growth to have these uncomfortable "anonymous seasons", as she calls them. God Himself treasures those times in our lives when we are revealed for who we are down to our bones, those times when He can have us all to Himself because we are laid bare before Him. Those are the periods He can work freely to make us strong enough to hand the dreams and plans He has for us.

I found this book to be encouraging, thoughtful, and above all wise. It really pays to have an accurate view of the seasons of your life so you don't miss what God is saying to you. Whether you've been a Christian for a long time or a little, this book will give you plenty to reflect on and be encouraged by.

Find out more about Alicia Chole at her ministry site, TruthPortraits.com.

Recommended Reading - Wayne Cordeiro's "The Divine Mentor"

This marks the first of a new series of posts I've wanted to add here for a long time. True, for those of you who aren't really part of the Christian faith or science buffs, most of these reviews probably won't do much for you other than give you an idea of what the inside of my head looks like. But for those of you who are looking for something to help deepen your faith and are as overwhelmed as I am by the sheer volume of written material out there, maybe this will give you something to start with.

I'm a strong believer that godly wisdom is absolutely necessary for anyone to live. Regardless of how old or young you are in Christ, without wisdom you will always be at the mercy of whatever Satan throws your way. That's why I constantly am seeking for ways to learn more about who God is and how the world works. Books by godly men and women are one source that we of the modern church rely on heavily today, oftentimes even more than we read the Bible itself. So perhaps it is ironic that the first book I'm recommending on my blog has as its subject matter how to make daily devotions in the Word our main source for wisdom.

In The Divine Mentor, Pastor Wayne Cordeiro gets very honest about how in his own life written commentaries and books "about" the Bible were not enough to help him stand under the pressures he felt during the early years of his career. Even though this man studied faithfully, served faithfully, and prayed faithfully for his congregation, he was still approaching burnout at a very high speed. All of his knowledge and all his godly living did nothing to stop this trend, and he was at a loss to explain why. At the very end of his endurance, the one thing that kept him from chucking away ministry all together was a daily time of study in the Word of God.

To Pastor Wayne, the Bible is not just some book that you have to read to be a "good Christian". Its not something you need to memorize facts about or learn to quote from word-perfect. Its God's gift for us to learn from the people who have gone before us, full of their stories, thoughts, experiences and wisdom. Its the only literature with His personal guarantee to have the power to actually change our lives. And its the only book on earth that He has said He will meet us within if we want to have a relationship with Him. Which leads Pastor Wayne to ask the very good question, why is it that so many Christians today fail to read the Bible itself but instead rely on books about the Bible for their spiritual growth?

One very good answer he gives is the disturbing trend of the number of Christians today who do not know how to feed themselves. Pastor Wayne gives the example of a child of 1 that you might feed with a spoon. Is it reasonable for that same child at 21 to expect his parents to continue to feed him baby food with a spoon? That food in child-size quantities is nowhere near enough to sustain his adult body, and he has already gained the ability to feed himself years ago. So the healthiest thing a parent could do for that 21-year-old would be to insist on him feeding himself on solid food that would sustain him. In the same way many of us in the American church have allowed ourselves to rely on being "spoon-fed" the Word by our pastors or favorite teachers. We have not learned the discipline of feeding ourselves with the raw nutrients of the naked Word itself, and so many of us find ourselves spiritually starving. When life gets rough and we don't have the strength to deal with it, we move on to the next teacher, the next church, and repeat the whole failing process again until we drain our ministry leaders dry. Its a trap that all of us fall into, regardless of our number of years with Christ.

Therefore the most important thing we as Christians can do to keep our spiritual bodies and churches strong is to feed ourselves from the actual Source. At the end of the book Pastor Wayne includes a method for devotional study called SOAP that has worked very well for him and many others. But regardless of the method you might choose, he emphasizes that its the consistent daily interaction with God's Word that is the beginning of wisdom for a walk that doesn't just survive, but thrives.

I highly recommend this book for anyone serious about sticking with the Faith. Even as a 20+ year-old Christian I've found plenty of things to encourage me to get back into the Word for myself, and I'm currently using the SOAP method for my own devotions. If you've been in church any length of time, you've probably heard similar topics before, but may not of considered the true role Scripture plays in our daily lives. Reconsider the truth of the familiar with Wayne Cordeiro's honest look at the importance of Scripture in his own walk with God.

Related Links: TheDivineMentor.com

Stopping To Catch Your Breath

I was originally hoping that this blog would be a sort of anchor for my thinking and a place for family to catch up on what I'm doing, but looking at the rate I've been writing I can only say that I must be more caught up in the speed of my life than I thought I was. If I were a married young mom, I'd understand it...having little kids leaves little time for inner reflection. But as a single person I have to admit I haven't been taking as much advantage of the amount of control I have over my daily living as I want to. How many life lessons have I missed out on simply because I've let things carry me at their own pace? How much of God's voice have I not heard just because I let the world get too loud? While there are times when its inevitable to get caught up in what's going on, I really don't believe that its wise to stay there.

So today I'm taking the opportunity to sit down and think some about all that's happened so far this year. Since Christmas I've had the joy to see my younger brother get married and attend my first real "family" get-together at their home over Easter. I've welcomed a new co-worker from China into the Jeffery Lab and lost a dear friend to sudden heart failure. I've seen my friends Adrian and Jessie welcome their third child into the world and move into a new (huge!) house. I've had friends at church get engaged and seen some lose their jobs. I've met new friends during Underground outings, seen our fledgling worship team grow in stability, started a new research project for the boss, sent off one worship pastor and welcomed a new one to Cornerstone. I've watched three undergrad students graduate, tried to start my new porch garden and joined a new softball team. There is so much I have to be thankful for, both good and sad, that I can't believe its only May. (You can see a lot of what I've been up to in the albums I've added to the blog.)

I turn 30 this June. In and of itself that's an interesting thing to think about. I always get reflective when I hit the 5's and 10's, that's probably normal. While there's a lot of things I think I could of done better, in the end I think I'm satisfied that I've made it to this age as the person I am. God has done a lot of work in me over the years, but I know He's nowhere near done yet. And as long as that is true, I can't stay satisfied with staying the person that I am at 30. So then, the question is, who do I want to be now? Where do I want to go from here? While God gives the growth, we are responsible working on the development, the self-control, the investment of time into ourselves and others. In light of the person I want to be 30 years from now, how do I walk today?

I have hopes, of course. Someday I would like to be married and starting a family of my own. I'd like to make an income that covers all the bills with a bit left over for saving and for play. It'd be great to have a house I'd like to live in for years, with a black Labrador for company and enough space for a veggie garden, a study/library, and a craft room. It'd be great to serve at the same church for at least a decade or more. And in my career I'd like to become the kind of technician that can enhance anyone's research, a specialist in doing science well and in running a lab to succeed. The funny thing is, I think I've been learning that all of those things are things that God has to give me. I can't really make any of them happen on my own. I can prepare for them, invest in the internal infrastructure my soul needs to live fruitfully during them, study to increase my toolbox for them but I can't make them happen. Its kind of like my garden. I can plant the seeds, enhance the soil, and water them everyday, but unless God says "grow", I won't get any tomatoes for my salad.

While I can't make my hopes reality, I can make the person I wish to be a reality. God may have to guide the how (because I'm really clueless about that) and He certainly will guide the events of when, but the choices I make each day are the foundation of who I will be tomorrow. They'll either be a platform I can build on or a weight pulling me down. So if I want to be a woman of wisdom, relatively good health, and joyful humor in 30 years then today I should choose to spend time with God, do a little exercise, and give something in service to somebody that makes them smile. I'll choose to challenge myself a little at work rather than sitting on my current expertise. I'll choose to not freak out over my income but work on honoring God with my money. I won't go headhunting for a guy just because I'm 30 and still single. If I faithfully do my work today, God won't leave me hanging. He's not that kind of God, after all.

The Christmas Window

Yes, I'm horribly delinquent in updating this blog. A large part of that has been due to the fact that it fell on me to rebuild the lab webpage after all, and every time I got on the internet at work I've felt guilty if I didn't work on it. The good news is that after 3 months of pounding code and visual design, we should have something up and running come early January.

More importantly, this has had much of the rest of my attention recently because I'm participating in the cast. I hereby extend my formal invitation to all of you who know me and would enjoy seeing me try to waltz in a fancy dress with 7 other couples. Cornerstone Church proudly presents "The Christmas Window"!




From the Cornerstone website:

Friday, December 18th – Sunday, December 20th at 7:00 p.m.

Please bring a non-perishable food item as the cost of admission to support those in need in our community.

Come discover Tyler, a disenchanted little boy, who is trying to rediscover the miracle of Christmas before the holiday ends. Join us in bringing this epic journey of faith to life before time runs out and Christmas is over.

There you have it! Come if you can, I promise you that there will be plenty of neat things to see and enjoy in this play. I'd be glad to see you!