working through and waking up

Yesterday was a full day. I preached for the first time at Christ Community, here in West Hartford. Then I taught a class on Spiritual Gifts - the first part of a four part serries with the teens, adults, and older elementary kids. After church the teenage girls came over for lunch, which we normally do on the fourth Sunday. Everything came off really well and I am thankful for all of you out there who were praying for me this weekend.
Going into the sermon I wasn't that nervous, which was strange. As I preached I felt like I wasn't connecting and was concerned about going over my time limit. I got a little mixed up in my head at a point or two and felt somehwhat dissapointed coming out of the pulpit. But despite my kinda negative feelings or critique of it, God used the sermon in people's lives. People were very encouraging and I was thankful that God worked through me even though I had trouble connecting to it. It was an interesting experience and I am still thinking through it. If you are interested in listening to my sermon, click on this link and you'll arrive at the church website. It is at the top of the list.
The spiritual gifts class, also went well - except for some technological difficulties. My computer generally works well, except for when I'm trying to use it at some sort of public event. Despite my power point presentation freaking out for most of the class, it went really well. It was fun to have this wide range of ages there and to see people interacting and talking about how God has gifted them for his service.
The other thing on my mind happened as I was lying in bed this morning, slowly waking up. I was thinking how easy it is to try to earn God's favor. Regardless of how often I remind myself and others that God loves his people because of Christ, and not because of what we do - it is so easy to live otherwise. I want to know the freedom of simply being cherished because of what Christ has done.

fish, hats, and intimidation

Last Thursday Hillary and I had a fun time hanging out on Valentine's day doing various things. We went and got fish and chips at this fish market about 15 mins south of us and it was a lot of fun. According to their Web site they have a 5,000 gallon lobster holding tank. We saw the tank. It is full of big crates all of which have lobsters hanging out. You go up to the edge of a the tank, point at a lobster and the worker reaches in and pulls it out. The lobsters curl up, twitch their legs and give you menacing looks - it seems like they don't like to leave the water. The guy on the left is the guy who founded the company in 1930. I think he looks a little fishy - hahaha (bad puns run in my family).
After having lunch we hung out, went shopping, and at REI there was a big winter sale. I'm a fan of winter hats (I don't like cold ears) and most of their winter hats were 50% off! It was a very exciting time and I came away with 3 hats! This one on the right is my first step away from the traditional beanie/skull cap. It has a fun look and feel to it. Hillary says it reminds her of the UK.
The third big thing going on with me is that this coming Sunday I am preaching at church. It is a great opportunity, but I'm definately feeling intimidated. The passage I'm preaching on is from 1 Peter 5:5-11. I'm talking about life beneath the hand of God. I have a lot of different thoughts, but the challenge is to put them together into a cohesive whole. It is easy to get a little nervous and put off working on the sermon, but that only makes things worse. So, I'm off to work on the sermon now and I'll let you know how it works out. (just for fun - when I was getting the picture of this hat from REI.com, I saw a review for the hat which said, "Tip: don't wear with a tee-shirt, it looks funny." I'll have to keep that in mind.)

Rain, Rain Go Away

After somewhat spring weather last week, the temperature has taken a dive with some flurries and "snow showers." Since sometime last night or early this moringing we have had lots and lots of rain (1 to 2 inches potentially). So poor Jarrett has been shoveling slush today while getting drenched by the incessant downpour of rain. Besides the weather being a bit dreary these past few days we have enjoyed building relationship here in the greater Hartford area. In having dinner with our next door neighbors we had the opportunity to invite them to church to hear Jarrett preach (he will be preaching at Church on Sunday, February 23rd). We think they are really interested in coming...please pray that they would hear the gospel and they would be cut to the heart. We continue to be excited to see how God is working in our neighborhood.

Jarrett has had alot on his plate trying to learn quickly children's ministry while maintaining his other responsibliites. He loves the many things he is doing but trying to juggle while running a marathon is rather difficult to say the least! Hence, I (Hillary) have taken over the blog for this week. So he is on the learning curve trying to be wise and discen what is urgent and what is important and how long to spend on different things. Meanwhile I am trying to not fall into a cooking rut, learn to be content in the mundane and to be faithful in my studying for the counseling exam. I generally love my flexible schedule and am excited to see where God is leading me.

after school activities

So I've started to volunteer at the Elmwood Community Center. On Monday's I go there from 3~5:30 and help with the after school program for teenagers. Basically it is a place where teens can come and hang out after school. They have an open gymnasium, billiards, Xbox, and various other things. I've gone twice now and it has been good just getting to know different kids. I'll often play basketball and you can tell that I'm not a regular. Everyone else has high top basketball sneakers, snazy basketball shorts, and big baggy t-shirts. The first week I played in my jeans and sketchers, while this week I had indoor soccer sneakers and zip off camping shorts to play in. Trust me - I looked out of place. After playing basket ball (I was rather tired) there were some guys doing break dancing who were teaching others some of the basics. I learned one "stall" which is sort of what you see on this stamp. It is where you hold your body off the ground in a certain position. It is pretty difficult and my legs were waving around while I was doing it. It was a lot of fun and I'm hoping to build relationships with the different folks at the teen center.