Truth to Tell

So there's this book that I have been reading and the others I know that are reading it agree that this compilation of works is undoing us. It is simply called Bread and Wine- Readings for Lent and Easter and is a compilation of over 50 authors.

Lent and Easter are both over, but I am still very much in the middle of the whole of it because of this book.

I will share some with you. There's no dramatic conclusion or tie in with thoughts from me. It's just what has been forming me lately.

From a writing titled Truth to Tell by Barbara Brown Taylor....

This is the opening quote: We say we want to forget the world, but in the depths of our hearts we do not be forgotten by it.- Francois Fenelon

Uh, yep if the truth were told, I am found out by that statement.

Then she writes this:

In regard to the crucifixion: "One of the many things this story tells us is that Jesus was not brought down by atheism and anarchy. He was brought down by law and order allied with religion, which is always a deadly mix."

Then there's this from Jean-Pierre Caussade about surrender:
"Finding the heart pure, trampled and holding nothing back, he communicates his will fully to it, because his love has given it an infinite capacity by emptying it of all created things and making it capable of union with God. O heavenly purity! O blessed emptying! O unreserved submission!...I do not need to add or subtract anything,nor to seek after or mull over anything. It is for you, Lord, to regulate everything: direction, humiliations, sanctification, perfection and salvation- all are your business Lord. Mine is to be satisfied with your work and not to demand the choice of action or condition, but to leave everything to your good pleasure."

Amen and Amen

1800/1480

I'm a dietitian...remember? Yeah, sometimes I forget too. Well any dietitian and most everyone else out there who has ever done anything related to fitness would know that consistent exercise increases your metabolism. This means you would be able to burn fat at a higher rate. Side note....muscle has the capacity to burn calories but fat just sits there. Conclusion: building muscle increases your metabolism. Anyway, moving on. I know that this is true but had always just kind of treated it more like a theory that maybe could be disproved or at least didn't apply to me.

Well, recently I have had the longest stint in my life (after the age of 8) without consistent exercise. I feel it and know it and hate it. I also have this little machine at work called a MedGem. It measures resting metabolic rate. This tells a person how their metabolism is doing. This number would increase as you become more fit (build muscle) which means it will decrease with the opposite. This number is usually used to determine a calorie level for weight maintenance/weight loss. So, in theory, if you eat the same # of calories as your RMR, you should be able to loose weight slowly but for sure maintain your weight.

I measured mine about 6 months ago... and now...is is 320 calories less. That sucks which means I walked and then ran some and then did some pilates and I will never be able to stop for 6 months again...ever...until maybe I'm 80 and who the hell cares.

Bad Idea

What was a bad idea you ask?

Opening the beef jerky that has mysteriously been on the floor of my room for over a week. It hadn't been opened and I think it was Sara's (who's room is across the hall). I'm guessing something random her mom gave her. I noticed it and thought about how much I loved John's beef jerky growing up (neighbor). I'm not sure I've ever told him that. I've only probably had it twice but it stuck in my head regardless and made me open this package tonight. It was mistake, as tonight's beef jerky was kind of slimy and too sweet. I will always be suspicious of beef jerky (as any sane person would be) from here forward.

That made me think of so many other things that I have limited exposure or experience with (like the beef jerky) but they leave a memory or a mark or something significant that matters. The first 2 things that come to mind are 2 different statements made to me, one in the 9th grade and 1 last year that both dramatically affected my perception of myself. Neither scenario was ever repeated or consistent in my life and neither was intended to do the damage that it did. Both were 1 time, 1 shot, and done....enemy grabs it, and I believe a lie which takes years to unravel and rewire....or perhaps is still being rewired.

It makes me think that memories are such fickle things and that the enemy is real but will always be found out. Memories can be so glorious, sometimes too glorious, and they can be comforting and even refreshing. But they can be so brutal; beating us up over and over and over for no good reason it seems.

On another note, I led a discussion at church on the components of missional DNA this morning for almost 2 hours with my pants unzipped. All the girls were sitting in each side of me and they would've told me, so if anyone noticed it would've been the guys, none of which I know well enough that I would expect them to tell me. But, if they really understood missional DNA they would've told me. Ok, maybe unzipped pants has nothing to do with missional movements but it should, dang it, it should.

Here's how it should go:
1. Jesus is Lord
2. Disciple Making
3. Missional-Incarnational Impulse
4. Apostolic Enivronments
5. Organic Systems
6. Communitas not Communities
7. No One Left Unzipped

If anyone who was there this morning reads this, it could actually have some meaning in the context of Will's analogy of the Apostolic, Prophetic, Evangelistic gifts working with the Pastoral, Teaching gift being like a zipper. But for me, it just means you should always find someway to tell someone their pants are unzipped if you notice it.

Top 10

Top 10 Reasons this was one of my favorite weeks of life....

10. Flying to Colorado instead of driving

9. A jacuzzi so hot that when I got out my lips stuck to my Starbucks ice cream bar like a tongue on a flagpole and actually worrying that all the skin in my lips might rip off

8. Watching my dad laugh really hard at my lips stuck to my ice cream bar like a tongue on a flagpole while I kick him for laughing at me.

7. Listening to my mom say emphatically, "Do not pull it off, you will rip all the skin on your lips off. Do not try to pull it off. Do not move," making me laugh harder and drool come out the sides of my mouth with my lips still stuck to the ice cream bar. (don't worry, I'm ok and have all of my lips intact)

6. Listening to my mom ask every single person we were ever in a confined space with what they thought of the elections AND what they thought of Obama followed with all the reasons they should like Obama.

5. Discussing 1% vs Skim milk with my mom for over 5 minutes in the grocery store and watching her "secretly," try to switch the skim for the 1% when I wasn't looking.

4. Dropping my favorite Patagonia glove off the lift 2nd run up in the only part of the lift to which I couldn't ski. The only time in 20 years of skiing that I didn't clip them to my jacket...I think I've always secretly thought people who did that were so irresponsible and careless. I am now one of them.

3. This scenario that followed:
- My dad telling me to take off my skis and go get the glove
- Stepping into powder up to my waist still at least 8 ft away from the glove
yelling back at my dad, "see, I told you it was too deep. I could die just for
a glove and it would be your fault."
- Dad responding: "you can get it, keep going, but stay close to a tree so you
can pull yourself out."
- I'm laughing too hard to go further saying, "Dad this is stupid, I'll buy
myself new gloves."
- After I'm out of the waist deep powder, he says, "I still think you could get
it."

2. Brother-in-law learning to ski...no description necessary

1. Finding out after the greatest day of skiing ever that I got into Fuller Theological Seminary's MA in Global Leadership program (online) which starts March 31st...actually hiding my cell phone from my mom who wanted to listen to the message on speaker phone over and over and over.

So yes, if I had to classify this week, I would definitely say it was one of my favorite. I have a small hope that if I don't go to sleep tonight then I won't have to wake up and go to work tomorrow and my week will just keep going...

Maybe watching the Office with all my roommates when I should be sleeping is the right thing to be doing right now as the grand finale.