That's What Jenni Said

Joy Another productive and fun week. So far, my early 30s, have been the best period of my entire life with more days of happiness and internal sunshine than cloudy despair. Everything seems so orderly and pleasant; the universe seems to make sense in a way that just wasn't within my grasp during my 20s. I wonder if it only gets better from here and I'll love my 40s as much or if this decade is really the peak. We shall see. Theology We enjoyed a really good fellowship discussion with our new associate pastor over dinner on Monday evening. We explored the ins and outs of Calvinism, missionary work, and the Christian approach to taking risks and decision making. Jon and I are both fond of this new guy and think he is going to be great for our congregation. Guns In the past week Jon and I had the pleasure of trying our hand at gun sport. Anna and Ron invited us as well as Danielle and Clayton out to the range in Alexandria to shoot for sport. Within the group we had a 22 rifle,...

How many kings step down from their thrones? How many lords have abandoned their homes? How many greats have become the least for me? And how many gods have poured out their hearts To romance a world that is torn all apart How many fathers gave up their sons for me?   This is the chorus from a new Christmas melody that has been making its way around the country this holiday season. It's absolutely beautiful both in sentiment and tune. You can hear the song on the blog of one of the band members here .

Thursday was a day for making memories. A good friend was unexpectedly in need of some biblical pastoral counsel so I took the afternoon off work to journey with her to a man of God we'd been referred to see in D.C. A pastor at a Baptist church near Howard University (New Bethel), he was quite the wise man. His words were exactly what we needed to hear. I came expecting to provide support for my friend but instead found myself just as moved by his counsel as I hope she was. He spoke of God, our mission in life to allow God to perfect us (and how, when he's helped us to overcome one stranglehold, God will soon spur us on to dislodge the next- it's a long road to perfection), and the enemy who stands at the constant ready to distract us and disrupt the mission. He gave us practical and specific advice on discerning the word of God (be in the word every day until God's word is so familiar that no enemy of his can mimic it and lead us astray without us being aware of t...