All the Single Ladies... and Gentlemen

I am so excited about what God has been teaching me lately, and I think that a lot of other people might be able to benefit from it. Therefore, I have decided to relate this part of my journey . God has really been after me with this whole singleness thing (dun dun dun). Goodness knows I have been back and forth with it in my mind for ages, but I think God has been bringing me to something really cool. I do want to say that I know a lot of people have very different views on this than I do, and even what I write here will probably shift as I gain more experience, but here are my thoughts so far.

Most recently, I have decided that the term “single” bothers me a lot, although I have been wearing it as a sort of badge of honor lately. Anyway, I think it is extremely misleading because I am not alone or solitary. Whenever I hear that term I think of those individually wrapped candy bars that look so lonely in their little boxes at the checkout of the grocery store. My position is, in fact, completely opposite. Especially as a Christian, I am a part of a rich community that loves and supports me. I am surrounded by friends and family that care for me more than I know, and most importantly God loves me more than anyone ever will. Despite how I feel sometimes, I am an integral part of the body, and as such I can never really be alone.

On the other hand, as I said earlier, I have been regarding those six little letters on the left side of my Facebook page as a badge of honor. I feel as though I am finally coming to a place where I am secure in the life God has blessed me with, and even excited to see what He has for me in my singleness. I am in a unique place right now where I can focus all of my energy on the kingdom. I have the opportunity to do incredible things for Christ, and I fully intend to take hold of it. 1 Corinthians 7:32-34 says it best in my opinion:

I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord's affairs—how he can please the Lord. But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife— and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord's affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband.


I am also proud of my singleness for another reason. There is this worldview out there (and no this is not just a non-Christian issue) that says that if you are single for too long, you will never meet somebody. So the result is, people end up dating person after person. They endure heart break after heart break in order to find “the one.”

However I don’t think that is necessary. First of all, I am only looking for one person. I don’t need to flirt with and date lots of guys because I only want one. I am not saying, however, that people should necessarily settle for the first person they date (although it makes me smile to see people get it the first time out). I am saying that it is good to be very careful and picky with whom you date. I think that you can get to know most people well enough to know that things would work or not without dating them.

I think that maybe a good idea is to go on dates without necessarily dating. This way, things are really low pressure. You can get to know each other a little better without getting super emotionally involved or feeling like you are stuck. (Again, I cannot claim to be any sort of expert on dating, but this just makes the most sense to me right now.)

Alright, now back to an area I know better, and the actual topic of all this. I am happy being single. Of course I am unbelievably excited to see who God has for me, but in the meantime I am going to make the most of today. If something comes along, then we’ll see how it goes, but right now I am in no hurry. I am not going to worry about it or pursue it. I am simply going to seek God’s will, because…

…I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11 Alright! <-That’s for you, Kelly ;).

Love, Crumpet

Talk About It

I think the biggest thing that bothers me about most churches is their unwillingness to face things that are less than perfect. I think we all have this misconception that Christians have to be perfect. We think that we are not allowed to make mistakes and bad choices and still be a Christian. So instead of encouraging each other to overcome our sinful nature we end up creating this critical, unforgiving and high pressure environment that only serves to encourage their hopelessness.

It breaks my heart to see people I love struggle in their faith, make a bad decision, and be sort of shunned and black listed by people at church, the very people they need love and acceptance from. The issue is entirely ignored as are they themselves, and no one is there to name the problem and work through it. Then they turn to people who will give them attention. People who will accept them. Unfortunately, those people are usual those who will encourage them in their sin instead of in grace.

I am not saying that we should accept or condone sin, we have a responsibility to rebuke and correct. 1 Timothy 4:2-3 (quoted below) pretty clearly states that.

Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

There are a lot of churches that are extremely good at accepting people. However, they miss the sound doctrine part. They instead tell people only what they want to hear in order to make them feel good, but then nothing changes. They continue in their mistakes. Real change, as this verse says, requires facing the truth. It requires telling people that what they are doing is not right. That it is not good and pleasing to God.

However, this truth must be spoken in love and patience. This requires a lot of skill as I have been learning recently. We have to be strong and firm, but at the same time gentle and infinitely loving. That, brothers and sisters, is how to reach people.

So please, let us stop ignoring issues, stop accepting issues, stop condemning people, and stop holding this standard of perfection that none of us can reach. Let us instead focus on how we can speak God's love and grace. Let us recognize our sinful nature yet in spite of that pursue purity, truth, and righteousness. Most of all let us "...encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness." Hebrews 3:13

Love, Ashley

Observations

This being summer and me having no job has given me a lot of time to think, observe, and reflect. So here are a few things I've noticed.

First of all, I have learned that being productive as most people view productivity is not as all important as we seem to think. Sometimes it is far more beneficial to just sit somewhere without doing anything. No work, no entertainment, no talking, no texting, and no distractions. Just sit. It helps you wind down and simply revel in life.

I have to say, it is an eye opening experience. You see things when you aren't distracted. You see the good in life and you see the bad. You see the incredible beauty and wonder of God's hand working. And you begin to understand what is really important and what isn't.

Another thing I have been thinking about is working with teenagers. I have been helping out with the youth group a lot since I have been home so that has set my mind on the best way to minister to them. Maybe this is stating the obvious, but I think the most important thing is building a relationship. Throughout my time in different youth groups and other teenage-directed activities I have seen that a lot of them did not have that focus. A lot of them treated us like criminals, or babies, or brains that need to be stuffed with knowledge.

Needless to say none of that did me any good, and I don't remember anything they tried to teach me. The ones I do remember, however, are those who showed that they really cared about me. They treated me like an equal. They gave me trust, and love, and an example of what a relationship with Christ would look like. Those are the people I claim as my mentors and role models. I owe a lot of who I am today to what they taught me, and I pray that I can do the same for others.

Well, I think that is going to be all for today. Here is a verse that I found in devotions this week that I really love.

Revelation 3:12
Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name. <-He loves me so much he is going to give me his name! I think that is so beautiful.

love, Ashley

Well, its a start.

Here is something that I am starting on. I am hoping to expand it a lot more. I think it will end up a little similar to one of my other stories, Memoirs of the Disillusioned in regards to its allegorish-like feel. This paragraph came out of a prayer one night, and I am really excited about it.

I was a slave masquerading as the master. Now you bring me before you to make an account for what I have done. I know the sentence that will be upon my head before long. Death. Death. Death. Death. Ah, I can hear it echo already. “Death.” Now it is real. Rough hands grab my shoulders and force my cheek down against the splintering wood of the block. I see the menacing glint of metal and feel the air give way as the ax slices through it. Next, all I see are lifeless eyes staring back at me. Not my eyes. Not my face. Not my blood.

Feedback is appreciated.

Love, Crumpet

Mentoring

Next year I am going to be a peer mentor at school. Which is basically just me mentoring a couple of underclassmen. Therefore I have been thinking a lot about mentoring, its effectiveness, what makes a good mentor, and what makes a bad one. I just started reading a book given to me for this position called LifeGiving Mentors by Tim Elmore that has been in my thoughts as well.

To be honest, I am scared to death. Personally, I do not think I am mature enough, wise enough, godly enough, or even old enough to be in a position like this (no matter what my ego tries to tell me). I mean, these people are going to trust me to give them wise counsel, a different perspective, and someone to be there for them, and I feel so inadequate. In spite of my failings, though, I know God will work through me. He has me here for a reason.

Something that God has been reminding me of both in these doubts and doubts about my future profession is that he uses the least likely people to do extraordinary things. The example of Mary especially comes to mind. She was just a girl, even younger than I am, from a small town and the smallest of tribes. There was nothing super special about her, but holy crap God chose her to bear his son. Yeah, you know the guy who is going to rule over everything in existence? She was chosen to be his mom. Ridiculous, I know. So, I figure if God did all that with a little girl from Bethlehem, he can certainly do something with a little girl from Niles.

Another thing that I am a little worried about going into mentoring, is that I will go into with the wrong mindset. I'm afraid that I am going to go into this trying to impress people rather than trying to let God work through me. Right now I sound all rational and humble, but trust me, my pride gets the better of me more times than I would like. But I'm praying about it, and I know God's got my back so I am not completely freaking out about it.

Man, am I glad I don't have to worry about stuff. Of course, I occasionally do (and by occasionally I mean a lot), but my God is bigger than all my fears and anxieties. Boo freakin' ya.

love, Crumpet

P.S. I have a lot more to say about mentoring, but I figured that was enough for one day.

Perspective: Not Just Something I Learned in Art Class

As this is the beginning of both this blog and my summer, I figure it's time for a little perspective finding. And there is nothing better for perspective than going back to the foundations of my life and faith, and really laying out what I am all about. There are a lot of incredible things that I love about the tradition I grew up in, but I find it so easy to fall into legalistic thinking if I am not careful in reminding myself what I am living for. So here goes.

In my devotions, I have been working through the New Testament (minus the gospels, they are coming next), and right now I am in 1 John. What really got me thinking about all this was chapter 5 verses 1-5 as well as some other passages in 1st and 2nd John that go along the same lines. What I've discovered is pretty confusing and complicated if you let it be, but it is also very simple.

First, I am going to start with the complicated way of looking at this. Forgive me if my logic is flawed, if I'm missing something, or my model doesn't quite work. This is sort of a work in progress.

First of all, 1 John 5:1 says that everyone who believes Jesus is the Christ is a child of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves his children. Verse 2 then goes on to say that we love God's children by loving him and obeying his commands. Love for God is obeying his commands (1 John 5:2 and 2 John 6). God commands that we walk in love (2 John 6). The only way we can love is because God first loved us (1 John 4:19). God showed his love by sending his so that we could live through the sun (1 John 4: 9) Since God loves us, we are called to love others (1 John 4:11) Everyone who loves has been born of God because God is love (1 John 4:7-8)

(For those of you who prefer charts and stuff, here is my gift to you.)



So basically, we love God by loving others and we love others by loving God. I've been following that one around in circles in my head for awhile.

Okay now for the simple version. I have quite thankfully found some verses that explain it all. On a side note, God is pretty freakin' awesome the way he can say something that is so complicated and so intricate, but also so simple at the same time. Its Absolutely beautiful and I might add genius as well, but I guess he has to smart since he's God. Anyway, rabbit trail officially over. Here are the verses I was talking about.

"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."
Mark 12:29-31

So there you have it. Love God and love others. That is what the aim of my life is, that is what I want every single action and thought to reflect. It is as simple and complicated as that. Of course we could get into all the nuances of what it means to love God and love others, but let's just leave it here. Let's just bask in the beauty this simplicity, and leave behind loopholes and technicalities. The important thing to ask myself is whether or not what I am doing is loving God and loving others. If not, then I don't need it and I don't want it.

Love, Crumpet

Mission Statement ready, GO!

I'm sitting here watching some Muppets in Space, (My man Gonzo->), as I write my first blog post. So here's the deal, I have decided to start this blog for the summer and possibly for longer for a few reasons.

1. To prevent the inevitable laziness and brain mush of the summer.
2. To focus my thoughts.
3. To tell people what God is doing in my life.
4. To practice my writing

When I first had the idea to do a blog this summer I thought, "Heck yes, I am going to start a blog, and post every day of the summer. Woo!" Then I remembered that I am me and I don't exactly have the best track record for doing things like this every day. So instead I decided a better goal would be 2-3 times a week.

Here is to this summer, then. I am hoping it will be an exciting journey, and I am excited to see what God has for me.

Love, Crumpet

P.S. This video is amazing -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur0OMTHKRKk