in the spirit of wrapping up the year, there would be too many highlights to mention. it was a good year for me. i am still healing from my mega-church crazy exit at the beginning of ’06 but i think i am really truly done with the big grieving. this year, the tears dried up. most of the anger has dissipated. a lot of hope has emerged. i really like my life now. i can look back and be thankful for all that i gained from being part of such a big and wild organization. all that i learned–the good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful–has made me so much more passionate about believing that “the Kingdom now” is something worth fighting for even when sometimes i want to give up & throw in the towel. pain & hurt is sometimes that way—in the moment we are completely blinded by it. but as we move through healing & time & forgiveness, a lovely light can pierce through the darkness. i started this year with more hope than i had the previous year, and i am ending it with more than i had at the beginning. 2007 was a year of clarity on what i believe about brokenness, leadership, equality, diversity, love & grace in community. and while these areas became more clear, fuzziness increased to near record levels on what i believe about doctrine and the christian dogma that i clung to for many years. i have no idea what 2008 will bring. i don’t have huge plans for “the way it is supposed to be” (rare for me) and i think that’s a good thing. i want to hold things a little more loosely in the new year, be willing to move & groove & shift and be less self-centered & controlling about the way i think it should go. i am excited about the refuge’s future; even though it’s hard to pull off this kind of upside down community i wouldn’t trade it for anything. i look forward to another year with my babies before they grow up and leave us (josh is only 2 ½ years away). and maybe most of all, i am most encouraged that maybe my heart will fling open a little wider toward God & i might taste a bit more of what it means to lean more fully into His ways instead of mine.
yep, 2007 was a cool year. i encountered so many new cool people, thoughts, things, moments, experiences. here are some of my highlights…check them out if you are online wasting time and like to click on links. for me, it has just been a good reminder.
2007’s coolest….
conference (that doesn’t really feel like a conference): off the map
gift i bought people (and myself, i couldn’t resist): jen lemen’s hope candle & cool people care poster
present i got this christmas: a collage made by josh, my almost 16 year old, of words that describe me. it made me cry.
children’s ministry video (for the refuge VBS’y thing we did, made by our very own paul & christa romig-leavitt): creation
church shopper: (all she wants is reliable casserole delivery, is that too much to ask?) betty butterfield
movie i saw, no doubt my fav for the year: juno
fiction book i read, the story just sucked me in…. middlesex
nonfiction read: irresistible revolution by shane claiborne. i want to be like him.
people sold out for the urban poor/marginalized in denver: milehigh ministries
refuge blog entry, it was simple but it really hit the nail on the head: karl’s inspiration addiction
church plant, i have so much respect for these guys: home-pdx in portland, a plant from the bridge. jose & i are going up there to hang out in january…
surprise – my 40th birthday party at the refuge, yeah, they got me good!
quote that lingered—”no heart is as whole as a broken heart, and i would say that no faith is as solid as a wounded faith.” elie wiesel
thoughts for churches & christians to consider – jim & casper go to church by jim henderson & matt casper
Jesus story that seemed to pop up in all kinds of conversations i had this year: john 8:1-11
happy end of 2007. hope for all of us for 2008!