a new week

A few thoughts from Candace…

 Well, we have been in Evanston six weeks, now. This has been a huge transition time for our family. I feel certain that God has been seeing all that we have gone through and has been taking care of our little family. These six weeks have been full of ups and downs, moments of faith and moments of doubt, arguments, tears, hospitality, and loneliness. It’s really easy for me to focus on the worst times and forget that God is here being faithful in all of it. When I think about it, I am sure that God has really taken care of us in more ways than I realize. I know that many of you pray for us – thank you. God has provided us with work and money when we have needed it most. I also believe that God helped us to find a good midwife here in Chicago, which could have been a much bigger challenge. He has also given us the small encouragements and conversations when we needed them. From a sermon we needed to hear this morning to friends coming over tonight – God is with us and ministering to our hearts during a difficult time. For this I want to say, “Praise the Lord!”

 

A prayer request: I have a job interview on Wednesday at 3pm. The job is working part-time helping independent adults with disabilities with life skills. Please pray that I would have discernment about whether or not this is the right job for me. And, if it is, that we would be able to work out our schedules and Jedidiah’s care to accommodate this job.

 

And from Josh:

     Lots of good from this week. Good friends came over tonight. Several different pot-luck meetings. Church this morning was really really good. (I know church can be a frustrating place for people, and you think it should be going a lot better than it is… well Reba church is pretty close to the way it ought to be, in my opinion.) We hosted small group on Tuesday, and I had some thoughts, so I’ll focus in on that.

     It turns out that Bill Maher has a movie out that makes fun of people who have faith (not just Christianity, but all of them). Some people think he’s a genius and really funny. People in our days think that critics are great, and this goes for art as well – it’s best if an artist is commenting on some social problem that they weren’t a part of. I didn’t see the movie or anything, but it led me to some other thoughts. First, I say that Bill Maher can seem really enlightened because he is just criticizing people. He isn’t actively doing anything.

     In group we were talking about stuff, about intentional community and how we want to make Disciples, how I have some evangelical roots and feel I should be helping the lost to know Jesus. But with community living, you’re not always verbalizing your opinions so that people know where you stand. Instead you stand in some place. You stand with your life. Shane Claiborne says we vote every day through our actions.

     I am liking the idea that through community we are actually doing something with our lives. I have always had a lot of interpretations and philosophies and ideals, but there wasn’t a proof of it all. So when I would proselytize it would be about two people agreeing about something or someone. What we are doing now is really basic. There isn’t a fancy way of putting it. It is vulnerable to criticism. But we are doing something. We are trying to live as the Church. We’re trying to obey what we understand to be God’s call on our lives. It may not impress people at parties. But it feels good to be involved with our very lives.