The Versatile Blogger

Jess: Wes and I have been tagged by Lisa Ramsey as a "Versatile Blog." Thanks so much, Lisa, for forcing us to actually write two blogs in one week! Now we have a few things we have to do:

- Thank the person who gave you the award- check!

- Share 7 things about yourself.

- Pass the award to up to 10 versatile bloggers.

- Let those bloggers know that you gave them the award.

Wes and I are each going to share 7 things about ourselves, and then we'll reveal the wonderful people who have the pleasure of writing an extra blog this week.

My seven things:

1. I love to do crosswords, but rarely finish them after Wednesday. I still try my best, but I'm pretty good at giving up and hoping Monday comes around again quickly.

2. Reading has always been one of my passions, but ever since I started my senior year of high school, I haven't gotten to do as much "fun" reading. I used to read at least an hour every day, and my mom would literally have to pick me up and put me outside during the summer. Instead of playing, though, I just sat outside and read. I'm not really sure that was her goal.

3. Before I started working at Starbucks a few years ago, I hated coffee. I thought the smell was okay, but I never touched the stuff. Now I know more random facts about coffee than anyone should ever know, I can taste every subtle hint of flavor in a cup of coffee, and I drink it on a regular basis- and not the "girlie" stuff. Plain coffee with a little cream and sugar.

4. I love milk, but anything other than nonfat makes me want to gag. I can handle a little half and half or whole milk in my coffee or tea, but I can't stand drinking anything but skim. I blame my mom.

5. I used to be a disaster. My room was so messy at one point during my childhood that my parents stopped coming in to tuck me in at night. After this drove them crazy enough, they promised to get me a new computer game if I could keep my part of the house cleaned for a month. It took me a couple of months, but I finally got my Ducktales floppy disk--which I still claim is the greatest game I ever got. Now, I'm borderline obsessive about keeping things clean. Wes will agree.

6. I wanted to be a teacher for most of my life, until I decided I wanted to make more money than that. Then I considered being a lawyer, and even did my ninth grade career project on becoming a lawyer. Finally, I discerned God's call for my life and realized I am supposed to be a pastor...I'm sure I'll make more money than a teacher that way. Lol.

7. If I hadn't discerned God's call on my life, I would have done something with childcare for the rest of my life. I may have started a day care, or worked my way up through one until I was in charge--something along those lines. I love kids and love seeing them grow and develop, and I'm still trying to figure out how that fits with God's plan, or how God wants me to use my childcare gifts as a pastor. We'll see!

Wes: So... Seven things about me:

1. Eric Matthews is one of my idols. If I could be just like him, I would be a very happy man. That is how much Boy Meets World has impacted my life.

2. I have walked on my toes my entire life. I do not know why I do this or how I started, but usually if anyone asks, I lie to them and tell them that I had to be pulled out of the womb feet first, which messed up my Achille's Tendon. This is why it looks like I am bouncing when I walk.

3. And speaking of bouncing, when I get really excited or agitated, this is exactly what I do. If I'm standing, my entire body will bounce up and down. If I'm sitting down, my legs will bounce up and down.

4. My first vehicle was a truck, and honestly, I cannot stop coveting any and every truck that I see on the road, from brand new, steroid enhanced super trucks to old, beat up chevys. Jess won't let me have one, though...

5. My favorite meal is a tie between steak and mashed potatoes, and chicken fetuccini alfredo.

6. I used to teach a SAT/ACT math prep course when I was a junior and senior in high school. This is funny because I absolutely hate math, even if I am fairly competent at it.

7. I've been baptized twice, the second time because I didn't know that I had been baptized already and my parents didn't tell me. I've been told by three different pastors--two who were the pastors of churches I attended--that I was going to hell because of this.

Jess and Wes: Ok. The people who have now do this:

1. Corbin Stephenson

http://pixelated-vision.blogspot.com/

2. Brent Philips

http://brentandbroken.blogspot.com/

3. Kevin Baker

http://believablebaker.blogspot.com

Well, that's all for now! You stay classy, World Wide Web!

-Jess and Wes

Contemplating Our Lives

Jess: For those of you who don't know or haven't been paying attention in church, we're in the glorious season of Lent right now. Some denominations don't really observe it, while others have blanket rules about the season. In the Lutheran church, for example, we do not use the word "Alleluia" in worship during the Sundays in Lent. I'm not sure how I feel about this particular rule, because the Sundays in Lent are supposed to be separate from the season--Sundays are always a celebration of Christ's resurrection. But I digress...

Lent used to be my least favorite season of the year. Why would I want to spend six weeks being sad? The only thing I understood about Lent was that when it was finally over, we celebrated Easter, my favorite service of the year. I understood parts of the season: 40 days to match Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness, Maunday Thursday and Good Friday to remind us of Jesus' last days and suffering, etc. Yet I didn't get the point of the season overall.

Once I got to college, I started to realize that Lent wasn't just the stuff we had to get through to get to Easter. It's not just about giving something up and celebrating more on Easter by having that thing again. It's not about anything I do--much like everything else in life, Lent is about Jesus, his sacrifice, and his place in our lives. Lent is a time for me to reflect about what Jesus has done for me and what I am doing to honor and glorify him. If Jesus is not the center of my life, now is the time to change things so that he is. If that involves abstaining from something that has taken his place as my top priority, so be it. If that means doing something outside of my normal routine to glorify him and be his hands and feet, then I should do that.

I also recognize that I don't need a church calendar season to reflect on my life and whether I am living it the way Christ wishes. This should be a part of my daily life, prayer, and worship. If I want to live a truly Christ-centered life, I shouldn't wait for the late winter/early spring to do so. God is waiting for me every day, not just during Lent. I hope that this is the message people are receiving during this season, and one I can preach effectively in my ministry.

In the past, I have given up junk food, TV, caffeine, etc. for Lent. Last year, Wes and I each took on a new God-centered task; mine was reading the Gospel of Mark in Greek. This year, we have decided to work our way through The Love Dare, a Christ-centered approach to strengthen our marriage. It's going well so far and really making us take a close look at the way we interact. I look forward to the new challenges each day brings, and I am sure we will reach the end of this season with a healthier, happier marriage.

Wes: I would like to start things off by saying ALLELUIA! HA! Take that, Lutherans!

Now that this is out of the way, let us look lovingly and longingly at Lent. (This use of alliteration is brought to you by the letter "L"). I've always enjoyed Lent. For the longest time, I saw it as the time when God challenged me to give something up for 40 days, just to see if I could. Well, being the kind of person to never back down from a challenge (except Sunday morning crossword puzzles), I heroically stepped up to the plate, ready to show God that 40 days without soda, or gum, or video games, was easy. Come on, God! Bring on the challenge!

There were a number of years while I was in high school where I would give up a handful of things, just to make sure that I made it all 40 days still abstaining from at least one of them. I'd give up things like pizza, candy, soda, gum, wearing hats, listening to my cd player (I know... anachronistic...), etc... And, without fail, I would always mess up and divulge in all but one of them. I remember one of the years, my theater group had a pizza party. Not thinking about it, I enjoyed a greasy piece of stuffed crust deliciousness. Then, about 6 bites in, I realized I had screwed up and indulged in the unindulgeable. But I thought to myself, "Oh well... I can't let this pizza go to waste! Especially when I only have the stuffed crust left!" So, there went giving up pizza.

My senior year of high school, I did something really cool for Lent. I fasted every Wednesday lunch period and prayed for everyone in my school--students, faculty, and staff--by name. I didn't do this alone, though. One of my friends, Chuck, joined me most Wednesdays for prayer and fasted with me. It was a great time that helped me grow closer to my friend and closer to my God. This year sparked a change in my Lenten disciplines. Since then, I have worked to take something on instead of give something up. Last year (partly for a class assignment if I'm being truthful), I prayed every day for 30 minutes straight the Jesus Prayer, which is a very simple, very powerful prayer: "Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." I would pray this over and over again for a half hour, and I must say that it was very centering for me. I really felt like I was doing something worthwhile, something with real spiritual depth.

Lent for me, though, has always been a stumbling block. I struggle with Lent for the same reasons that Jessica mentioned above. So many people--me included--tend to place the focus of Lent on themselves. It is a time for us to show God how much we love Him by giving something up or covenanting to pray for so long. It is about what we do, not what God does for us. Even in my sermon at Ash Wednesday, I unknowingly preached this idea by talking about Lent as a time for introspection, a time for the person to learn more about themselves and learn more about their God. I fully believe this is the purpose, but it is by no means the entire purpose, or the main one.

What I am striving to do this Lenten season is to come to realize it as what it is: a time to take a step back and see what God is doing in the world and in me. I hope that through this time, I will begin to view the world through the lens of Christ, so that I might always be putting God in the center of everything, even and especially my own life. I am hosting a Bible study for my churches that goes through the book The 24 Hours that Changed the World by Adam Hamilton. Along with this, we begin our time together by engaging in a part of the practice of examen: We share with each other where we felt close to God in the past week and where we felt far away from God in the past week. It for me has become one of the ways that I recenter my world around God, reminding myself over and again that even if I feel far away from God, the truth is that God is always right there.


We hope that your Lenten season is a fruitful one, and that God works wonders through your devotional practice, whatever it might be.

You stay classy, World Wide Web!



-Jess and Wes

Our achy breaky hearts

Jess: Last week, Wes and I had the privilege to go to Texas for the Rutledge-Stone wedding. We were so excited to get to visit all of our friends in family in the great nation of Texas. The last time we visited was for the Haug-Lys wedding last July. It's been about 35 degrees here for most of the last couple of months and we haven't seen our friends and family for awhile, so we were understandably jumping up and down with excitement to go down.

Our journey began on Wednesday, when we flew from Philly to Atlanta to San Antonio, where our wonderful friend Ryan picked us up and took us to crash at his apartment. For the 20 minute trip, we yelled out every Texas-related thing we saw on the way: "HEB!" "USAA!" "Mexican food!" "BBQ!" "I-35!" Since it was late, the yelling quickly degenerated to "Sonic!" "McDonalds!" "Bank of America!" "Grass!" We then passed a wonderful couple of hours alternating between talking about how tired we were and catching up on the last few months. Thusly did our wonderful Texas vacation begin.

Over the course of the rest of the week, we spent time with our friends and family, eating Mexican food, eating barbeque, not sleeping enough, wearing shorts and flip-flops, and generally enjoying ourselves. We got to see two of our good friends get married and start a new life together, and we even got to see my friends James and Christi who had been AWOL in our lives since our wedding. It was an absolutely wonderful trip, and we enjoyed every minute of it.

Then came the inevitable: we had to say goodbye to everyone for another long stretch, and get back on the plane to Philly. Katherine (Wes' little sister) cried the whole time we were in the airport, and I think there were a few more of us with less than dry eyes. The plane ride home was long, sad, and tiring. We had to get up about 4 hours after going to bed early Wednesday morning, and going back to work and school was extremely tough.

I've never had friends like I have in Texas. Like I told my mom today, every time we go back there, even after months of being gone, it's like we've always been there. After the initial excitement of being back home, we just fall back into our lives there. It makes New Jersey seem like no fun when we come back. We are really enjoying our time up here, and we know that we have fun and will look back on this time fondly, but going down to Texas reminds us where we belong.

Wes: So I was a groomsman in this wedding for which we flew down. That of course means that I was privy to all of the wild and crazy Bachelor Party shenanigans. And let me tell you, we had fun. In the interest of protecting the newly wed Justin (and in the interest of protecting national security), I'll only divulge the events of part 1 of the festivities. Our first excursion was to the Comal River for what I thought was going to be the worst float of my life. I mean, who goes and floats the river in February?? I must say, though, that the water was amazing, the sun was out, and we had a wonderful time. To top it off, we were the only ones on the river for the most part, and it was great having the whole thing to ourselves.

One of the highlights of the trip for me (outside of seeing friends and family of course) was getting to worship again at my home church in San Antonio. It was great to walk into University United Methodist and feel like I had never left. People I didn't know were coming up to welcome me back and the people that I have looked up to for years were some of the first to welcome us with open arms. Worshiping there was like coming home for me. I have really missed beign able to sing with Mark Swayze and hear about how God is at work in the lives of so many people down there. And even though the sermon was not delivered by the man I consider to be my pastor (who is currently in Rwanda on a three-month sabbatical/mission trip), Pastor Charles spoke an amazing message that I cannot wait to steal and share with my congregants at Crosswicks and Ellisdale. It was a wonderful time that I have dearly missed.

I really enjoyed being back in Texas, and it made me realize how much I miss all of my friends and family who live down there. It is really hard to be up here and away from so many loved ones. Now, for those few people up here in Jersey who read our blog, please do not think this at all means that we don't love and appreciate you. People like Josh and Sarah, all of our friends at Theology on Tap, our church family, and everyone else around here are the reasons that being up here is not only bearable but enjoyable, even fun. But I do have to admit that as much as I love our house, love my job, and love our friends up here, it just does not seem like home. We'll enjoy every minute we have up here, but we know where God is calling us next (or at least where it feels like He is!), and we are ready to answer that call.

Well, that was our Texas trip! Hopefully, it won't be another 8 months before we're able to make it back again. Until then, though, we'll keep chugging away up here, and we'll keep enjoying every minute of our lives together.

Thanks for tuning in! Check back soon for our take on corporate Christian accountability and how it pertains to the world today.

You stay classy, World Wide Web!


-Jess and Wes