Remind Me Again Why I DON'T Live in Seattle?!?!

You guys, I cannot deal with today. The two silver linings I see are, we got to have a pleasant dinner out with our friend from NJ using a gift certificate given to us by another friend AND that the elevator at work was inspected YESTERDAY.

Today started with pouring rain, I say started but it was really just a continuation of weather from the past two days. I don't mind rain terribly I loved the weather Monday, I wasn't disappointed on Tuesday and today I was fine until 3/4 of the way into my walk where my pants were completely soaked through so that now my underwear was wet, my jacket had sprung leaks and I couldn't see because there was soo much water in my eyes. Still, I thought, it's not terrible, being wet is better than a lot of things. My socks, however, were only wet on top. Two doors down from my office, there was an unavoidable puddle. My feet were sopping. When I got into work I took off my shoes and there was standing water in them! I was still dripping, still having a hard time seeing from the water still pouring off me. I spent some quality time in the bathroom with a hair dryer, it didn't help much.

I was wet until about noon. At about 12:30 today our elevator stopped working. I feel like you guys might see where this is going. I didn't. I blithely thought the elevator people were fixing the issues the inspector had pointed out yesterday. After a few people stopped in to mention that the elevator wasn't working I went down to the basement still sure I'd find elevator people busily working. Why WOULDN'T I think that? We've put in Two new sump pumps since our last disaster. Well my friends, it turns out that two more sump pumps (for a total of three) is still not enough!! There were only two inches of standing water and it wasn't everywhere, so that's better than the four inches we had before, but still depressing.

After that fiasco my feet were wet again and they didn't dry out for the rest of the day. We met my friend, as I mentioned and it seemed like maybe today was looking up. You know, I sort of felt like the Facts of Life theme song was playing in my head.

When I got home tonight, there was an impressive little bulge in the ceiling. Like the basement, it to was far less impressive than the absolute low point of ceiling falling in on me this spring, but it still wasn't great. Once poked, the water was about three inches high in the five gallon bucket we held under it. needless to say, the theme song in my head has changed slightly.

Hello Again

So it's been well over a month since I last posted. I hate blogs like that. I had high hopes for blogging fun little details about our wedding, but not too many, lest you were actually coming so there would still be fun surprises left for you when you came (and if you are planning on coming either send in your rsvp or do it here online you've got t-minus 23 days to get it in!). Clearly, the blogging hasn't happened. We did manage to get a fair amount of projects completed a few weekends ago. My friend (and bridesmaid) Sam was the catalyst behind that, if she hadn't been here, I would have just crawled into bed that weekend and not come out. I caught Hand Foot and Mouth Disease, a mild case, but still wasn't feeling great. Yes, that is a childhood disease and yes, I did have it when I was a kid. Apparently there are three strains of viruses that cause HFMD and I didn't have the strain common on the East Coast.

In other mildly depressing news, my mother is back in the hospital. While it started out looking just as terrible as the last time, two years ago, it is starting to look up. It seems that this time they're fighting her infection and not causing her potassium levels to plummet as well. Her pain isn't being managed incredibly well, but as the swelling has gone down in her spinal column the pain there has righted itself some. So it's still touch and go, but it looks like things are improving. You can pray that they continue on this path so that she makes it to our wedding!

Speaking of health news, one of our friends from The Common died since I last posted here. He had been with us since the beginning and was quite a character. I should probably say cast of characters since one of his favorite things to do was recite all the parts from the Wizard of Oz in a sort of one man show. There is a memory pole up for him in the common right now near the visitor's center, which I think he'd like. He spent a fair amount of time near there. One of his proudest moments (perhaps second only to the joy of getting housing) was when he got a job as a tour guide for one of the walking tours around Boston. He even gave our group a free tour once. He was one of those people who was always hungry for attention and when he got it, he truly shined. He was interviewed for the Metro at one point and I can still see him waving the paper, telling us about it. I post a terrible scan I took of it below (the only copy I have left, sadly) as sort of a memorial here on this blog. . . He's the one in the middle.

Finally, in updating this blog, I thought I would mention that tonight I am giving the sermon on The Common. My family will tell you that I put off writing it till the last minute (which is true) but I've been thinking about it for several months. Out on the Common we meet a lot of people who feel like that their lives have strayed so far that they cannot talk to God, they are too bad or too worthless for God. Here is the sermon I plan on giving tonight (please pray that it reaches those who need to hear that God loves them and wants them. . .pray that the words tonight are all God's and not mine):

I was reading a book a few months ago about Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints. I don't know how much you know about the religion but it's pretty extreme. I was really upset by a minor detail in the book. The woman writing the book was talking about a sin she committed that she was convinced was so bad that Christ couldn't forgive it. She quotes Brigham young saying, "There are sins that men commit for which they cannot receive forgiveness [by the blood of Christ]. . . She talks about her sin saying: "And now I needed to atone for my despicable crime. A price had to be paid, and Jesus hadn't paid it -- not for such a weighty sin as this. . .

I found this upsetting because nowhere, that I am aware of, in the Bible does it ever make a list of sins that are so bad that if you repent and ask forgiveness of Jesus he won't or can't forgive you. Also, if Jesus' blood atonement wasn't sufficient enough for all sins whose blood or repentance would be good enough?

On the 12th of this month, The Onion, a fake newspaper ran an article essentially titled "If I Hadn't Found Jesus, I'd Feel Pretty Crappy About My Crimes." As with most of their stuff, It was an over the top article, here's an excerpt:

The first few months behind bars were the worst of my life. Every night I'd stare into the darkness, waiting for the nightmares, waiting to hear those horrible screams all over again. Even here behind these thick penitentiary walls, there was no hiding from what I'd done to that poor family.
Then, one night, it happened: I lay alone in my cell, my only companion the visions of wickedness that filled my head. Suddenly, there was a light, and somehow the light spoke to me. It was the voice of Jesus Christ. He told me he had died for the sins of mankind and all could find peace through his salvation. Was I ready to repent?
Uh, let me think about that for a sec. Yup!
It was a stroke of unbelievable luck. Here I thought I'd spend the rest of my life agonizing over that night I broke into a random house and methodically tortured all five of its residents, but Jesus was like, "Nah, you're good." He took all those years I expected to wallow in suffocating guilt . . . and wiped them away in a jiff.

Clearly the article was written to be funny, but it’s not terribly off the mark. It may miss the point about genuine repentance and striving for righteousness once you’ve been forgiven but Jesus' forgiveness is radical. It's unbelievable, and it's true.

In 1 Peter 2:21-25 it says: For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, 22WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH;
23and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; 24and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. 25For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls. Jesus died for our sins, ALL OF OUR SINS while we were still sinning.

John Piper, a famous evangelist says of this passage:

We need to linger here. Do you believe this about your own sins and about the sins of your brothers and sisters? The implications of this for us individually and as a church are huge. It means that, if we will, we can leave the past with God. We can say, "I trust you, Jesus, that all my sins; all the ones that are public and all the ones that are private, all of them, have been lifted, borne, suffered for, and therefore removed from me. I bear them no more. I do not carry their guilt into the future with me."
Let this sink in. You do not have to carry your sins or be burdened by them. You do not have to wake up with guilt or go to bed with guilt. You can bank your hope on the commitment of God in Jesus: "Christ bore our sins in his body on the cross."
But notice again clearly what God's aim is in this guilt-lifting death of Jesus on the cross (v. 24): " . . . that we might die to sin and live to righteousness." This corresponds with the purpose mentioned in verse 21: "that you might follow in his steps." Following in Jesus' steps is the same as living to righteousness.
In both cases, the vicarious suffering of Jesus in verse 21, and the substitutionary death of Jesus in verse 24 are given as the means that God intends to use to make us righteous like his Son.

It is important to note, that Jesus is not unfamiliar with our temptations, in Hebrews 4:15-16 says: For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. 16Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

I want to finish with these thoughts, Jesus did die for all sins, no matter what you have done, by truly repenting and turning to Jesus you can approach the throne of God in confidence. There is no sin no series of sins even, that Christ doesn’t have the power to forgive. No one is so bad that they are beyond Christ’s healing power. You can always turn to Jesus in confidence, knowing that his mercy and grace is sufficient for you.

In our church, before we take communion, we recite part of Psalm 51, a Psalm David (God’s Beloved) wrote after the prophet Nathan had confronted him when David had committed adultery with Bathesheba. I’d like us to recite that together now as we begin our prayer time:

Psalm 51: 1-12
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Let us pray.