shannonelysia

In my last post, I mentioned the “perfect Christian woman” model that has come up in so many of my conversations lately.

Check out this poem:

Look at me, look at me, look at me now.

You can do what I do, if you knew how!

I study the scriptures one hour each day;

I bake and upholster and scrub, and pray.

I keep all commandments you see, quite completely;

I speak to my little ones gently and sweetly.

Design all their clothes and sew all they wear,

Drive them to practice and cut all their hair!

I encourage respect for the local authorities;

Order each goal to be done by priorities.

I play the piano, bless all with my talents.

My toilets all sparkle! My check books are balanced!

One day a week every child gets a date;

I attend all my meetings—on time, never late!

I’m taking a class on the teachings of Paul,

But that is not all!  Oh no, that is not all:

I track my bad habits till each is abolished;

Iron every t-shirt. My toenails are polished!

Our evenings at home are ever delightful;

The projects I plan are both fun and insightful.

Up early each morning, which isn’t a shock;

I know all the names of the youth on my block.

I read to my children! I help all my neighbors.

I bless the community too, with my labors.

I exercise daily, cook menus gourmet;

My taxes are filed on the very first day!

I have a home business to help make some money;

I always look beautifully groomed for my honey.

There’s more…but it makes me nauseous to keep reading.  It’s supposed to be funny.  Because at the end it says that she said all these things were easy and then she dropped dead.  Ah haha hahaaaaa.  Spare me.

But really, I think that while every person I know would gag at the thought of that woman, many of us have her, in some way, shape or form, in our minds as what we should be, never will be, and don’t really want to be.

In a random article I read a while back (that I can’t remember the rest of so I’m not going to cite it) a woman talking about being in women’s ministry said something along the lines of, “As I observed those flawless women and then compared myself to them, I thought to myself, ‘If this is what it means to be a successful women’s minister, then I clearly don’t measure up.”   That statement is one that I can honestly say I’ve felt multiple times in multiple ministry situations.  It’s a statement that I hear a lot of women saying in some form or another.  “If that is what Christian women are supposed to be, then I guess I’m not a very good Christian woman.”  Or, “If I’m supposed to look/act/feel like that woman looks/acts/feels all the time, then I don’t think I can sign on to this Christian thing.”

On one of my coffee dates, I decided that I think there are four types of Christian women.  The first comes on Sunday morning, isn’t involved and no one really knows her.  The second is a woman who looks like that “perfect Christian woman” who is just putting on a front.  She acts like someone who has it all together but she isn’t being honest with the people around her, and perhaps isn’t even being honest with herself.  The third is a woman who looks like that “perfect Christian woman” to people around her, and she actually is just that type of person.  She’s honest about who she is, what she’s struggling with, and how the Lord is working in her life, and she just “fits” that model.  The fourth is a woman who looks at those other three types of women and thinks, “Holy shit, I don’t fit in.”

It seems like most of the women I end up having coffee with are hanging out in that fourth category with me.  And I want to talk about how ridiculously crazy this whole thing is.

When those of us who are tomboyish or loud mouthed and opinionated or just plain weird look at those other women wishing, on one hand that we could be like them and hating, on the other hand that they act like that; we do ourselves a great disservice.  The art of comparison isn’t an art at all.  It’s a lie.

What is the “perfect Christian woman”?  Where did she come from?  Who made this chick up?  It certainly wasn’t Jesus.

I’d love to spend hours writing an in depth study of all of the women in the Bible whose stories I love, but quite frankly, you should be amazed that I’ve even written a new post in the first place, and secondly, I’m not in LDI anymore so I refuse to write any more papers.  It would be helpful to look at a few women’s stories from the Bible, though, to see what type of woman has been set before us as an example.

Eve:  I would be remiss to exclude her from this list.  She is the first woman, the only woman to ever experience perfect (though fleeting) unity with God.  Eve was created because, unlike every other created being that God had made, it was not good for Adam to be alone.  She was created as the only suitable helper to Adam, and was made in his image and in the image of God.  She listened to the lie of the serpent, fell into temptation, and changed the course of human history forever.  Her curse: pain in childbearing and a desire against her husband.  In the midst of her rebellion, God named her, clothed her, provided for her, and protected her from remaining in an eternal state of rebellion against Him.  (Genesis 2-3)

Hagar:  God had promised Abram that he would be made into a great nation but his wife, Sarai, had bore him no children.  In desperation, Sarai suggested Abram impregnate her servant Hagar.  Once Hagar became pregnant, Sarai dealt so harshly with her that Hagar fled into the wilderness.  It was in the wilderness that Hagar (whose name means “stranger”) received a comforting message.  Her son would be called Ishmael because the Lord had heard her affliction, and he would be “a wild donkey of man” who would rule over all his kinsman.  It was at this moment that Hagar called the Lord, “The God of seeing” because He looked after her so kindly. (Genesis 16)

Rahab:  A prostitute who single-handedly saved two of Joshua’s spies by hiding them, lying to the authorities, and helping them to escape.  The opportunist prostitute that she was, she took the opportunity to ask for kindness from them and protection for her family.  After the spies escape, her family is protected, and she goes down in history as the prostitute who, “did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.”  (Joshua 2, Hebrews 11:31)

Ruth:  The daughter-in-law of Naomi; Ruth loved Naomi so much that she left her home and went to Bethlehem with Naomi.  When offered the opportunity to leave, Ruth told Naomi, “Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”  Ruth then got the attention of a kinsman of Naomi’s, Boaz.  Through working diligently in his fields and lying at his feet (you should listen to the message I spoke about that here), Ruth managed to land a covenant from Boaz and a place in the lineage of Jesus Christ.  (Ruth)

Bathsheba:  Beautiful, naked, and married.  Adored by King David, she fell into temptation and slept with him even though she was married to another man.  After King David had her husband killed and learned that their night of passion left them with a child, the Lord prophesied, “I will bring evil upon you out of your own house.”  The child died after birth.  After all of that, God had mercy on them, and blessed the two of them with a child named Solomon.  Bathsheba would be remembered not only for her early indiscretion, but also for her wisdom and leadership as a Queen Mother.  (2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 1 Chronicles)

Mary, JC’s mom:  Young, betrothed, and a pregnant virgin, Mary’s story starts with an incredible act from God and an incredible amount of trust and obedience from her and her betrothed.  She gave birth to our Lord and Savior and was herself a disciple of Christ.  She had to believe in Jesus’ divine nature before anyone else because He, for 9 months, dwelled in her womb.  Her opportunity to be the mother of Christ was not because of any extraordinary actions from her.  It was a gift.

Like I said before, I could go on and on.  The Bible is full of so many great stories and so many women who had incredible opportunities to experience the Lord in unique ways.  While their stories are all unique, there are a few things that are common amongst them all:

–God moved into their lives before they made the decision to act for Him.  He always moves first.

–God gives them the opportunity to respond.  These women find themselves in crazy situations: desperate, despised, hopeless, and in order to be rescued; they need to respond in obedience to God.

–God blesses them greatly, even in the midst of their failures.  Their blessings are not because of their value, worth, or righteousness.  They are fully gifts.  And they are given to bring about His glory, to show off more of Himself, and to continue to reveal His plan for redemption.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t see anything about quiet, well-groomed, cupcake baking, perfectly manicured, housewives.  Not to say that those things aren’t good.  If you’re one or all of those things—that’s superb.  The point is that women tend to sit a certain type of woman on a pedestal and look at her as though she is the “right” kind of Christian woman.  But there is no “right” kind of Christian woman other than the one who sees God moving, responds faithfully, and receives His blessings for His glory alone.

That’s it.  See where God is moving.  Respond faithfully.  Use your gifts for His glory.

Well, I’m sure there’s more than that.  But I’d like to say that as far as the “perfect” Christian woman goes, those are three pretty important things.  Your personality, your hobbies, your ability to cook, make babies, and desire or non-desire for staying at home are just personal preferences.

Embrace who you are.  Embrace who the Lord has made you to be.  Whether you fit that “perfect” model or not.  Redefine “Christian” woman as a woman who does those three things.  Stop comparing how you look or act or feel.  Stop looking at other women and wishing that you had what they had.  Stop looking at other women and judging them because they don’t have what you have.  Stop looking at women that have problems like there’s something wrong with them and start loving their honesty and their willingness to share.  Stop calling yourself “outside” or “inside” if it’s based on anything other than a faithful love of Christ.

Be the Christian woman that you are.  That’s perfect enough.

I’ve been meaning to write this post for a while.  I suppose it’s been a little over a month since I decided I wanted to write this, and as is the pattern of my life, I got busy and completely forgot that I have this thing called a website that people like you read.  Sorry.  I’m actually writing this post in a Word document right now because the wireless at my house is down, so who knows when this thing is actually going to get posted.

Anywho, it hit me a while ago that a story untold isn’t a story at all.  I know that sounds redundant.  While I work in the office of the office of the redundancy department of redundancy in my spare time, this post actually has a point.

I’m distracted because I’m sunburnt and my arms itch.

At Hope’s Spring Retreat a few weeks ago, a girl that I know (well, I knew who she was at the time, but I didn’t really know her) came up to me and said something along the lines of, “One of the first Hope events that I came to was Women’s Slumber Party two years ago.  I heard you share your story there and it made me realize that Hope was a place that I wanted to go.  Where people can be honest about their lives.”  I paraphrased that.  She may not have even been that nice, but that’s what I understood her to be saying, so we’ll roll with that.

After that night at Slumber Party (that sounds like a line from an American Pie movie), another girl and I met in the hallway at Hope and she mentioned a bit of her past, I mentioned a bit of mine, and we set a date for coffee.  At said coffee date, I shared my story with her and she shared hers with me and we had an incredible conversation about Jesus.  I felt like she was being totally honest and open with me, and it blew my mind that I could have such a real conversation with someone that I barely knew.

My job puts me in a position to have women offer to share their stories with me.  They see my face on City posts and see me running around like crazy on Sunday morning and they email me or call me up and want to talk about life.  As a woman in ministry, this isn’t abnormal.  But it is abnormal for me.

I’ve always been the girl that didn’t really fit in with other girls.  I felt more comfortable around dudes and I like doing dude-like things, so dudes were the ones with whom I usually hung around.

Jesus has a funny way of changing things.

My personality hasn’t changed.  If anything, it’s been affirmed time and time again that I’m this type of woman (the kind that likes Star Wars and gun ranges and whiskey more than cupcakes and chick flicks and fingernail polish) because that’s who Jesus crafted me to be.  What’s so great about this is that in ministry, I’m the type of woman who doesn’t fit the “perfect Christian woman” model.  (I have a TON to say about that in a later post)

What I’m learning is that a woman like me has a place in women’s ministry because there are tons of women like me.  There are tons of women who are believing the lie that they don’t have a place in the church because they don’t look or act or feel the way they think Christian women look or act or feel.

Back to the story part: my story is unique, yes, in that it is mine.  My experiences, my feelings, my body, yada yada.  But my story is part of a much bigger story.  That’s actually where this year’s Spring Retreat theme was born.  In the realization that though my story is uniquely mine, it is also part of God’s much larger story.  Read through the Old Testament.  Right now.  I’ll wait.

It’s full of stories.  I’m not saying the made-up, tall-tale kind of stories.  I’m saying that it’s full of stories just like mine.  It starts with Adam and Eve and the way that God worked through them and in their lives.  Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph; and that’s just in Genesis.  Their stories are just like mine in that they’re unique.  Each one of them is a story of one man’s life and how God worked in their lives to bring about His glory.  So while the Old Testament is full of stories of individual lives, all of those stories come together, intertwining and developing into the story of God’s redemptive work throughout human history.

Think about your story.  How have you seen the fall and redemption in your own life?  How has the Lord shown Himself to you?  At what moment did you follow Him?  Where were your moments of glory?  Your moments of shame?  Where do you see Him working now?  Your life is no different than the life of Adam, Noah or Abraham.  You may not be in the Bible, but you are a part of His story.  YOU play a role in the history of God’s redemption of human kind.

Think about that for a minute.  If you don’t share your story, you might be missing an opportunity to share the Gospel.  Your story is unique.  It’s powerful.  It’s life changing.  Embrace it.  All of it.  And share it for God’s glory.  When we have these incredibly unique stories that show off more of who God is and how He works, we are selfishly keeping His good works to ourselves.  So be honest, be open, air your dirty laundry (in appropriate settings) and let it all hang out…figuratively speaking.  Doing this will give you the opportunity to speak honestly and openly into other people’s lives, bringing them closer to Christ, for whom all this business happens anyway.

I’m moderately amazed at how quickly the last 4 months have flown by.  It seems like yesterday I was sitting in my house writing that last post.  Alas, it was not yesterday.  It was just under 5 months ago.

Here’s a short recap of what’s been going on:

August:

Held the beginning of LDI Trek 2 year 2.  Or my third year of LDI.  Or whatever you want to say.  I went on the Trek 1 orientation at the beginning of August to spend some time with the incoming interns and loved every second of it.  I met who would become some of my favorite people there.

I started doing Roller Derby.  There’s a practice league, where some real Roller Girls teach wanna be Roller Girls the tricks of the trade.  Every Sunday afternoon for 3 hours, I’d strap on my skates and get my butt kicked by some awesome lades.

I started working at a coffee shop near downtown Minneapolis called Segue.  If you are my friend on Facebook, or follow me on twitter, you know what a fun and crazy job this has been.  I’ve loved every minute of it.

September:

Held a few of my favorite events: New to Hope Lunch, Ministry Expo, and Women at Hope House Party.  All three were things that I got the pleasure of overseeing again this year.  The New to Hope Lunch and Ministry Expo were great learning opportunities for me.  I’d never delegated before.  Thankfully, I was working with rockstars like Brittany and Kari who made it easy on me.

October:

Flew by even more quickly than August and September, but was packed with incredible things.  October 2nd was the day that we celebrated Hope’s 15th birthday!  I got the chance to plan the whole shin-dig which took a ton of work but had an amazing pay off.  Who doesn’t love carnival games, hot dogs, candy corn, popcorn and cheesy prizes?  I still haven’t figured out how to get the remainder of that banana off of the side of the building though.  Hmph.

October also held the news that the church I served with during the summer of 2010 in South Africa was closing its doors.  This was really heard news for me for two reasons: 1) I loved the people in that church and the city of Cape Town and 2) I had already started planning another trip there for the summer of 2012.  After a LOT of prayer and some pretty clear direction, I found a church in Panama City, Panama who was excited to partner with Hope doing a similar trip to what we did in South Africa.  So, it looks like I’m headed to Panama this summer, kids.  Stick around for more updates.  It should be great!

October also held the Women at Hope Slumber Party, a HUGE and super exciting night away for all of the ladies at Hope.  I had so much fun working with Naty in planning this and I even got the chance to teach through the book of Ruth with her while we were there.

November:

Flew by.  I don’t really remember what I was doing.  Chili Bowl happened in the middle of the month, and once again, was a really great learning experience for me.  I got to go to Indianapolis to see my brother, Stu, perform at Grand Nationals.  I’m so glad I was there, because for the second time in our band’s history, they made finals.  And they came in 7th out of 90 something bands that performed there that weekend.

December:

Who even knows.  As I’m typing this, it’s becoming even more apparent how busy I was this fall.  I know these little bullet pointed lists don’t really seem enough to fill 85 hours a week with work, but man, they were.  The closer December got to Christmas, the more ready I was for a break.  And here we are.

I’m sitting on my parent’s living room floor trying not to kill their dogs because they won’t shut up, making a schedule for myself for the spring (that I can hopefully stick to!!), and thinking back at how amazing this fall was.  I know I’m busy.  I know I’m really horrible at maintaining relationships while I’m busy (for all of you friends out there that have learned this from experience–sorry :/).  I know that sometimes I create busyness for myself that doesn’t really need to be there.

But as I sit here, trying not to throw rolled up news papers at the dogs, I’m amazed at how incredible Jesus is.  I look at my life three years ago and I was a total mess.  I mean, I’m still a total mess, but I’m a total mess that is and is being made new in Christ daily.  When I look back at the fall, I don’t remember being tired and stressed out (and trust me, at times, I was!).  I see all of the incredible ways that I’ve got to experience Jesus working.  Through the people at Hope, the friendships that I’ve made and the old friendships that continually grow stronger in Him, the changes I see happening in my life, the community that is happening around me, the ministry I get to do when I’m not “in” ministry.  It’s amazing.  And I’m so thankful.

Here’s the skinny:  I have added “Write a blog post, lazy!” to my calendar on a weekly basis.  What this means is that the list of blog posts that I have been meaning to write, or have started writing and since given up on, will get some use!  What this means for you is that you might get a post out of me more than twice a year.  I’m working on adding an RSS feed so you can subscribe.  Wouldn’t that be handy?

I was having a conversation with someone the other day and while we were talking someone came up to a woman behind us and yelled, “Oh my gosh! You’re engaged?!?!  I’m soooooo happy for you!!”  At that very moment, my friend and I looked at each other and said, “Why don’t people respond that way when we tell them we’re single?”

Good question.

Let’s compare.

Here’s the face we see when women get engaged:

Oh my gosh, I'm sooooo excited for you!!

And here’s the face we see when women say they’re single:

"Hmmm, don't worry, he'll come along..."

Seriously.

Now, please please please please don’t hear me say that getting engaged is not a very exciting and merry occasion–it is!!  For all of my friends that are in relationships, engaged, and married, I am truly very happy for you!

What I do wish to speak to though, is how we as single women (or men) view our singleness and how we and those around us can respond.

There are a lot of things to be said, and a lot of things to note.  Here’s what is on my mind, and if you’re so inclined, feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments

I was talking to a very dear friend the other day who recently got married and she said to me, “I didn’t realize marriage was this hard.  I remember people saying it was hard, but no one prepared me for this.  It wasn’t until after I got married that I realized how much I had been idolizing it.”

Isn’t that what we (as individuals and as a society) do?  We all long for our lives to look like this:

There is at least some part of all of us that longs to be bearfoot on the beach with the one we love.

Why?

The tale of the romantic comedy:

“In a typical romantic comedy the two lovers tend to be young, likeable, and apparently meant for each other, yet they are kept apart by some complicating circumstance (e.g., class differences, parental interference; a previous girlfriend or boyfriend) until, surmounting all obstacles, they are finally wed. A wedding-bells, fairy-tale-style happy ending is practically mandatory.”     (http://condor.depaul.edu/dsimpson/tlove/comic-tragic.html)

The ones I can think of off the top of my head that have come out THIS YEAR: “Crazy, Stupid Love”, “No Strings Attached”, “Just Go With It”, “Something Borrowed”, “Friends with Benefits”.

How many of these have I seen?  All of them.

The tale of the well meaning relative:

There is an age where we fall in love with the person we’re sure we want to marry and our parents, our grandparents, our aunts and uncles and cousins all tell us, “You’re too young to get married.  You’ve got the whole rest of your life left.”

Then there’s an age where we’re not in love with anyone, nowhere near ready to be married, and all of a sudden those desperate cries to keep us out of love become pleas to get us to accept it.  “Aren’t there any nice men at your church?  Have you thought about online dating?’

You all know exactly what I’m talking about.  Funny thing, though.  Scenario #1 was just 10 years prior to scenario #2.  Apparently 10 years is long enough to get us from “You’ve got the whole rest of your life left,” to, “You’re only going to be able to have children for so long.”

The tale of the empty apartment:

I don’t know how many of you have lived alone, but there comes a time where it doesn’t really feel “right” to have roommates anymore.  You think to yourself, “I probably should grow up and get my own place.”  So you do.

Then there comes a day, or a night, where you realize that if you choked to death in your very empty apartment, it may be possible that others won’t even notice until it starts to smell. What about that light bulb you can’t reach?  Put a chair on top of the kitchen counter to reach it.  Fall.  Break neck.  It starts to smell.  Dropped your favorite earring down the garbage disposal.  Dismantle in a feeble attempt to pull it out.  Don’t know how to put it back together.  Stop using sink.  Toilet won’t stop leaking. Use other toilet.  Closet door falls off track.  Hide it under bed.

The tale of the smitten best friend:

You’re inseparable.  You and your best friend.  Weekends were the best times of your lives.  Then one day best friend falls in love.  Head over heels in love.  They try to respect you by not talking about it aaaaall the time, but it’s different.  It’s all over their face. Best friend gets engaged, you help plan the wedding.  Best friend gets married, you stand up in the wedding.  Best friend starts having children, you wonder how old you really have to be before your aunt’s warning about having test tube babies becomes true.  You’re so so so so happy for best friend.  They really deserve it.  But don’t you too?

I’m not saying those things always happen, or maybe they’ll never happen to you.  Maybe you’re a dude.  Maybe instead of wanting someone to fix the sink you really long to be the one who gets to fix it.  Maybe you’re married and you’re only reading this because it’s been entertaining so far.  Maybe you’re single and you love it.  Maybe something else.

Let’s look at how we (as single people) should view our singleness.

Now for the single, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy.  I think that in view of the present distress it is good for a person to remain as he is.  Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. . . . I want you to be free from anxieties.  The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord.  But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided.  And the single woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit.  But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband.  I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.

I remember reading what Paul says in first Corinthians 7 for the very first time and thinking to myself, “You’ve got to be kidding.  No way is it better to be single than to be married.  That man was straight up crazy.”  The funny thing that happened though, is that the Lord convinced me of its truth.  As a single woman I am able to work at Hope 80 hours a week if I want to.  I can take women out to coffee and do roller derby and go out to eat every night with friends.  I can spend time in the Word every night and every morning.  I can devote every minute of myself to the Lord in a way that a married woman cannot.  It’s not because marriage is bad–its really great!  It’s because as a married woman my responsibilities change to include more than myself.  Single, I am anxious how to be holy in body and spirit.  Married, I am anxious about how to please my husband.

Why are we viewing singleness as a curse and marriage as a blessed gift from God?  BOTH are gifts from God!  BOTH are given to us from Him. Instead of going home and feeling like this about your singleness:

Go home and feel like this:

Thank the Lord for the gift of singleness that He has already given you.  Stop believing the lie that because you are single you are not remembered by our Almighty King.  Stop believing the lie that marriage will make you complete.  Stop believing the lie that once you have a spouse in your life you won’t be lonely anymore.  Stop believing the lie that marriage is what you’re striving towards.

We talk about marriage in that way.  Sympathetic Greg up there at the top of this post says exactly what all single women (and men) need to stop hearing.  “Don’t worry.  He (she) will come along…”  WHO will come along?  WHO are we waiting for?  Guess what.  If you’re making marriage your idol–your end all–and you get married, you will be sorely disappointed. You will be let down. You will miss your singleness.

The only thing we should be waiting for, longing for, dreaming about, is the return of Christ and His eternal reign.  Make THAT your dream and your hope.

So how can we love the single women and men around us?  By asking them if they are glorifying God in it.  Instead of saying, “Don’t worry, Shannon, you’ll find someone.”  Ask me–”How are you using your time in singleness to glorify the Lord?”

For all you married people out there, you’re not off the hook.  I’m asking you right now–How are you using your marriage to glorify the Lord?  How are you honoring Him independently (by yourself) and corporately (as a family)?

Of course there are always times of sensitivity, after a break-up or during times of great struggle, “You should thank God for this,” may not be the appropriate first words.

All that being said: How will we stop looking for (and leading others to seek) anything other than Jesus Christ?

I was sitting at Hope plugging away on emails and to-do lists

It's organized chaos...or just chaos.

(Yes, every single sheet of paper on that desk is a to-do list)

And it hit me that my heart is full.

I was driving around last night trying to find an open gas station and it hit me then too, that my heart is full.

I guess part of me doesn’t really know what that means.  I imagine that it might look something like

I mean, if each little speck represented something amazing that’s happening right now, and my heart actually looked like that and not like this:

For those of you that have been following me for the last 2 years, this post might be insightful, but it’s not really for you.  This post is for those of you who are actually thinking, well, “wtf is LDI?”

In one short and very concise sentence, LDI is Hope Community Church‘s attempt to train young leaders in three key areas: Biblical thinking, Christ-like character, and ministry skills.

Sweet.  We’re done here.

If only it were really that simple to explain.  For some reason, I can never get away with just saying that one sentence.  Most of the time, people smile and nod, but unless you’re living and breathing Hope Community Church, you’ve never heard of anything like this before.  These videos do a really great job of hammering out the details of LDI, I suggest taking a few minutes to sit down and listen to them if you’re interested in taking the program in the future, building a similar program at your church, or just have specific questions that I don’t answer here.

For me, the best way to describe LDI is to define what it’s done in my life.

Trek 1: A one year (August-May), 45 hour per week program aimed at building a foundation in all three key areas mentioned above (Biblical thinking, Christ-like character, and ministry skills).  In Trek 1, interns take a variety of classes ranging from inductive studies over specific books in the Bible to classes that are aimed at better understanding their own specific personalities and where their giftings lie.   Trek 1 totally changed my life.  At the beginning of Trek 1, I was a baby Christian, just having became a follower of Christ a year prior to entering the program.  At the end of Trek 1, I stood firm in my beliefs, had an understanding of who God has made me to be, and had built an incredible foundation for the rest of my life.  The end of Trek 1 led me to South Africa (you can read about that here) and a place of desiring to work full-time vocational ministry.

Trek 2:  The place where you figure out what “full-time vocational ministry” really means.  On paper, Trek 2 means taking proven leaders who choose to carry on from Trek 1 and giving them a place to develop into leaders in a specific ministry career.  For each Trek 2 intern, this will look different.   Myself and my dear friend Laura are the first two women to take this leap from Trek 1 to Trek 2, and in this, we’ve found so much joy.  Since being in Trek 2, I have taken on the role of manager of community life events at Hope.  This really is a fancy way of saying that I get the joy (and it really is a joy for me) of planning and organizing all of the church-wide events at Hope.  I’ve also been mentoring other women, learning how to delegate to new leaders, working with the women’s ministry and the small groups ministry, learning how to lead a Trek 1 class, and Im sure a bunch of other stuff I can’t think of right now.

So why are there three years of LDI?  If Trek 1 gives you a foundation, and Trek 2 builds on that foundation…why is there a Trek 3?  Well, there is no Trek 3.  There’s simply “Trek 2-Year 2″.  That’s what I’m calling it at least.  I think Trek 2-Year 2 looks different for everyone who has been in it.  For myself, I plan on being at Hope as much as possible.  I want to dive in more, to learn more, to gain more experience, to get more feedback, to serve as much as I can, and to live as loudly for Christ as possible.  This year, for me, will mean taking all of the responsibility I had last year and growing even more.  Instead of planning and organizing a lot of the events myself, I’ll be delegating to someone else (that means I’m learning how to manage–yikes!).  I’ll be mentoring more, leading a class instead of learning how to lead a class, and taking on more responsibility around the church.  On top of all of this, I’m learning how to be an entrepreneur in case the Lord really does call me to open up a coffee shop.   I’m sure you’ll hear all about that as the year progresses.

In the end, LDI isn’t about what Hope wants me to do, or what I want me to do, or even what I think I should be doing.  It’s about God.  My favorite thing about LDI is that taking an entire year (or three) of my life and saying, “Here, Jesus, do what you want with me,” has brought me to a place that I never would have dreamt of.  Never.  Ever.  It’s actually really incredible.

I hope that this helps to clear things up a bit.  If it doesn’t, I hope you’ll contact me and give me the opportunity to answer your questions.

Come back in a week or two for updates on my business plan, my summer, and what lies ahead in August!

I’ve been thinking about perspective lately.

What exactly is perspective?

Simply put, it’s a way of regarding situations, facts, etc, and judging their relative importance.  It’s the proper or accurate point of view or the ability to see it.  It’s the ability to look at something objectively.

Just for giggles, I Googled “How to get perspective in my life.”  I was curious what the world had to say on how to look at thing in life based on their relative importance.  Relative to what?  Here are some great things that I found:

Take a weekend away.  Schedule in “thinking time”.  Write a journal.  Figure out what’s going on in the rest of the world.  Have compassion.  Let the little things go.  Choose to think positively.  And my personal favorite, “Be brave.”

Something I’ve always loved are those optical illusions that look like one thing, and then when you look at it from a different angle or a different perspective, it becomes something totally different. 

What about images that are one thing, but can look like something else?

This is one of my favorites:

Part of my decsion to spend my time in Oklahoma this summer included the decision to take some business and marketing classes from a local college here.  In the moment that I realized that the Lord was calling me to stay in Minneapolis this year, I also knew that the process I went through in deciding to stay was a process that had changed me.  Not only has the Lord brought me to a place of stability; He has brought me to a place of intentionality.  The kind of intentionality that means recognizing that every single second on this earth is a second that the Lord is using for His glory and His purposes.  If I believe that the Lord is preparing me for great things, why am I not taking steps on my end to prepare as well?  In the past 6 weeks, I’ve written a business plan, learned how to successfully market a business online, and been completely convicted that every single second of my life is completely worthless if I’m not using it to glorify Jesus.

The funny thing about giving every single second to Christ, is that I waste a lot of time.  I could spend weeks thinking about absolutely nothing of importance.  Sometimes I find myself getting ready in the morning daydreaming about that favorite pen I had when I was in kindergarden.  Then I snap out of it and think, “Did I really just start my day thinking about a pen?  I forgot to thank the Lord of the universe for another day, but I remembered a PEN I loved when I was 5.”  Sheesh.

And then there’s all the people I love.  My family.  My friends.  There’s all the people I meet.  The funny singer at the Warped Tour.  The waitress at Red Robin.  The crazy dude at Wal-Mart.  How am I using every second to glorify Christ with them?

Take a look at your life.  Where are you focusing your time?  Your energy?  What are the things that consume your thoughts day to day?  How would your thoughts change if you put them in perspective?  How would each second of your day change if it was framed in the knowledge, and true belief, that it’s not about you–it’s about Christ?