Murphy’s Law:  "If something can go wrong, it will."  Now, I don’t really believe in this law.  It is contrary to my optimistic nature but sometimes I wonder. Especially because of the pattern of major hang-ups right before I leave on big trips or youth events.  Today was busy, busy as I tried to wrap up things before I leave town.  Much did not get done and is now coming with me to the beach.  Oh, well.  However, right at 5 pm I get the word from our maintenance crew that one of the vans I was planning to take on our trip did not get a good "brake" review and it isn’t suppose to leave the state.  So, a last minute scramble to figure out another mode of transportation as I head out the door.  A few calls and rearranging and that problem was solved.  I rush home to get ready for the evening and try to get my laptop going to check email.  My computer starts acting really funky and making weird noises.  I reboot a couple of times and no luck.  I feel like I can just hear the worms eating away my hard drive.  Steve gets here in the middle of my computer crises and seeing my desperation and realizing that he will be blog-less next week unless the situation is fixed, gets on the phone to his brother-in-law who knows computers.  So after dinner, we go to meet up with them and he takes a look at my computer.  No apparent virus.  Lessons learned:  1) When Windows tells you they have updates for you to install, you should do that.   2) When you get the Norton AntiVirus renewal notice, you should renew it.  Don’t keep hitting "renew later" for 5 months.  Do it NOW!   I have repented.  My computer is now fully updated and my subscription is renewed.  Tonight was a close call.  Thanks, Steve, for saving the day and my sanity.  I started to have the tremors and shakes thinking about no computer for a week.  Pathetic . . . .

Tomorrow (or I guess today) is jammed with final errands and work before I get ready to leave.  Not sure if I’ll have time to post before I head out and not sure if I’ll be able to get to internet while on the trip.  But I’ll do my best. Don’t want to miss a prime opportunity to make everyone jealous.

Some things to chew on from my Galatians readings today:

"Doing things for God is the opposite of entering into what God does for you." Gal. 3:11 (the Message)

"In Christ’s family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female.  Among us your are all equal.  That is, we are all in a common realtionship with Jesus Christ."  Gal. 3:28

I’m not commenting on these tonight.  They just really stuck out to me and spoke to me.  I’ll leave it open for you to engage the Scripture as the Spirit guides.

Peace – Melissa

… is love, sweet love.  It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of. Not just for some, but for everyone."

I was reading about a church plant, Imago, the other day in the book Blue Like Jazz. In the book, Miller talks about their humble beginning and the difficulty they experienced in growing because of their focus internally.  Then the group committed itself to simply loving others because they deserve to be loved.  No other agenda, no other motivation, no outreach plan for the church.  Just love.  In a short time. their community grew and within two years, they have grown to over 500 members.  Now, the number here isn’t important but the reality of what happens when we honestly and genuinely love is.  Nothing clearer in Scripture than this, right?  Love God, love others. 

But it isn’t easy is it.  Like I said a couple of days ago, its messy and complicated and scary.  These are nonnegotiables if you are going to love others.  But so are joy, care, being understood and new understandings.

"To love means to open ourselves to the negative as well as the positive – to grief, sorrow and disappointment as well as to joy, fulfillment and an intensity of consciousness we did not know was possible before."  – Rollo May

Whatever love you are talking about, this applies.  Eros, Philia, or Agape. To love another human – whether in a passionate way or a brotherly/sisterly way – is an opening to the negative as well as the positive.  It is because it involves humans with human nature and human depravity.  But to not love is shutting the door to the positive – to blessings and intensities that we would miss completely.  The old adage:  "It is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all."  And to not love means we miss a whole dimension of God that can only be fully understood or known through vulnerable love with one another.   Everyone must weigh the risks for themselves but as one who used to be self-protected in this area,  let me say with honesty that it is worth it to love and with the help of the Spirit, it is possible to come through any hurt to the other side which is a stronger, wiser member of God’s family.

I am committing myself to loving others more authentically, more compassionately, more Christ-like than I ever have before.  Why?  Because they deserve to be loved.  No agenda, no manipulation.  Just love.  My prayer is that one day at a time, God will change my heart to match my will to love and that one day I will wake-up and realize that God has done an amazing heart-change in me and to love is no longer a concerted effort but rather way of life-breathing for me.  I love without thinking and if I stop loving, I cease.

Peace – Melissa