The other day I found a (rather large) bookstore going out of business, and everything in there was a dollar! They still had an impressive selection...I walked out with 14 books. Yay!
I also ordered a two-year subscription to Newsweek. Good magazine.
My ankle has been healing! Three months of wearing a brace and 10 hours/day of electro-stimulation therapy have paid off. I'm continuing the electro-stimulation therapy, but have been told to experiment without the brace. So I'm no longer wearing it to the office or around the house. If that goes well, then I'll try some exercise (biking, rollerblading, brisk walking). I'm hoping to play some softball this fall. Slow but steady...
Zoey is healthy again (she had a urinary tract infection which caused her to pee all over the house, an ear infection, stuff like that). She seemed to think she could pee all over since we didn't scold her when she was sick, but we crated her for a couple days and that seemed to set her straight. What a smart dog!
Kendra and I have switched churches to Suburban Life Community Church. The pastor there, Tim Hoekstra, officiated our wedding. We know him because he was the chaplain at Trinity when we were there. Some things we really like about our new church:
- It's small, like maybe 40-50 people. This was new for us, but we really like the size. There's community, but also freedom to be undignified before the Savior.
- It's challenging and at times uncomfortable. There's a major push for service and reconciliation.
- They meet in a community center gym on folding chairs, with an old-school projector (like the ones used when I was in 4th grade) on the wall for music lyrics. This church does not spend a lot of money on itself.
- Sermons are often more like group discussions.
- "Greeting time" lasts 10-15 minutes, and allows for more than surface smiles and handshakes.
- They meet 3 Sunday mornings each month for about 2 hours. Although it's about double the length of a traditional CRC service, it feels like half the time. A good portion of the service is meditation and worship. Maybe 20 minutes are devoted to the "sermon" (i.e. discussion), and of course plenty of time for fellowship. For me, it often takes some time to clear out my heart and mind and make room for the spirit. The extended time makes that possible, where in my former church, I felt like I just got lucky if I had a spiritual connection.
- The 2nd Sunday of each month there is a combined evening service with a number of churches in the Chicagoland area. There is great racial, denominational, and financial diversity at these combined services. I've always railed against Sunday being the most segregated day of the week in America...not any more (for us, anyway). Plus there's a meal provided before the service which is always very yummy.
- There are no performances. All worship is communal. (this is just my preference...I'm not saying that performances can't be worship.)
- There is a small group of people we meet with regularly to discuss what we're studying, eat, and just enjoy the fellowship. I know that many churches have this, but I just wanted to mention it as something we appreciate.
We'll miss doing youth group with our old church. It's hard to say good-bye. And it's hard to not feel judged for leaving, even if you aren't. But as a good friend of mine told me not too long ago, there's only One that we're accountable to, and we waste way too much time worrying about what the others think.
