Going, going... almost gone.

So I am very excited about moving this weekend, except I hate moving. Well I actually hate packing and unpacking and lifting and pretty much everything else that goes along with moving except for being in our new house. Tonight was a special night though. Tonight was our last night at Highland where Rachel has been working in the Children's Ministry for over 3 years. I have been helping her a lot over the past few months in the nursery and I have really enjoyed it. It was something that I was not expecting to like but I really do love the kids we've had and I'm going to miss them. If you know Rachel, then you know what a loving heart she has. That's not to say she doesn't have her moments when she gets frustrated with people, but she LOVES people. Which is why she's going to be so great as a Children's Minister. I watched her cry a lot tonight because she's sad about leaving the kids. Naturally I wanted to help her and go into problem-solving-mode. But all she needed was someone to listen to her express herself. I think I did a good job. She has taught me a lot about loving kids. The way she reacted tonight about leaving continues to tell me she's the right person for the job she's about to start.

If you're someone that knows me well then you know that I have been rather disenfranchised with the way that we "do" church. Admittedly, a lot of the problems are my own personal hang-ups about little things. But even so, I have found it hard to sit through church over the past several years. (I think that's why I enjoyed being in the nursery so much, it allowed me to serve and express myself rather than just sitting.) Anyway, all that to say that no matter how much going to church might be hard for me, the community of God never ceases to amaze me. Tonight Rachel and I went to the elder's meeting at Highland and were richly blessed. Suzetta Nutt (the Children's Minister) expressed her sadness over losing Rachel but her excitement over hearing about the wonderful opportunities Rachel will have in Longview. Then the elders and other members who were present at the meeting surrounded us as Suzetta and then Steve Hare (one of our teachers at ACU and a great mentor with whom we did pre-marital counseling), prayed over us. It was such a blessing to be surrounded by several who have watched us grow over the past 6 years: David Wray, Bob Strader (many more than 6 years), Steve Hare, etc. Rachel and I cannot thank the men and women of Highland enough for all the ways they have blessed us. It may be hard for me to sit in a pew but it's never hard to recognize the powerful work of God in the lives of people who surround and love others. That's what we experienced tonight and that's what we want to return as we continue to grow and have opportunities to bless. It is and will be hard to leave Abilene (even though I'm not extremely fond of the city). We called this place home for so long and actually made our first home here. I can't wait to see what happens next.

I am currently reading...

Paul and Palestinian Judaism. This is not a lay-person book. I am still steeped in the world of academia and so the books I read still tend to lean in that direction. That doesn't meant that I don't read less technical books (I read just a couple of weeks ago Come to the Table by Hicks). But the book I'm reading now by E.P. Sanders is a fantastic book for anyone pursuing New Testament studies. As much as I dislike the pedagogy of current preachers to focus primarily on Paul, it is important to understand and try to view from various angles the man who was a trampoline for Christianity in the first century c.e. The focus of the book is a meticulous reassessment of modern (and past) scholarship on 1st and 2nd century Judaism and Paul's understanding of that religion. Sanders maps out the problems New Testament scholars have had with Paul's arguments against Judaism. From there he proceeds to tear down the arguments of those scholars on how to rectify the situation. I am only 100 pages into the 550 beast but I have loved every page so far. Someone might wonder what an Old Testament guy like myself would be doing with a primarily New Testament book. And that's a fair question. Sanders though, like some of his predecessors, uses much of the late b.c.e. literature and early c.e. literature (that is Second Temple literature) to assess Judaism of Palestine in the first century. He reviews Mishnaic literature (both haggadic and halakic) as well as Deuteronocanonical books (i.e. 4 Ezra, Ben Sirach, 1 Enoch, etc.) and Qumran texts to establish what Judaism (at least Tannaitic Judaism) was like then. The main reason for the book is to discredit the argument by countless New Testament scholars that Judaism was a religion of works righteousness. Unfortunately that idea has been passed along (and down) to countless Christians who have bought into the idea that Judaism was a crappy religion and that it never focused on the heart of its adherents. If you are interested in a fair (but scholarly) treatment to the alternative then I highly recommend Sanders' book.

Growing up

I'd say so far in our marriage not much has happened that has really made us feel "grown up." While getting older certainly does at times, being only 24 we're still young. However, several things recently have made us continually realize that we are older and decisions are hard. Three in particular come to mind when I think about making us feel grown up. (1) We're moving. Although we have moved before, this one in particular is significant. When we decided to stay in Abilene and go to ACU for graduate school, we decided to remain in relative comfort. We know a lot of people out here, we were able to continue with jobs we currently had, etc. Now we're moving to a brand new place, albeit close to our families. But we're moving as a married couple for the first time. So the first one is multi-faceted. We're moving as a married couple for the first time, and we're moving somewhere where we have never lived before. (For further details on this move see the previous post.) (2) Full-time job. For the first time one of us is going to have a full-time job. And what usually accompanies a full-time job? Correct. Benefits. For the last year (and almost a half) we've lived without health insurance. Now this is no fantastic feat because I know people have gone much longer than that without it. But that aside, we're growing up. Rachel is doing something that her mom didn't do because she chose to stay at home and home-school her 5 children. Rachel didn't watch her mom go to work. But she is growing up all the same with this job. And I'm growing up watching and cheering her on from the sidelines. (3) We bought our first vehicle. We decided a couple of weeks ago that purchasing a second vehicle would probably be in our best interest. However, we were thinking of buying in a couple of months, not last week. We realized that with moving and new jobs (see #'s 1 & 2) it would be necessary to have 2 vehicles. But we also figured we could wait until we got to Longview before we bought (and we could have). But such is life as an American. We found what we wanted and had to have it. We started looking (actually my mom did and sent me about 50 emails) and realized that we like the look of the Mazda Tribute/Ford Escape. Consequently, Kyle and Larissa have a Tribute and we really liked it when we rode in it last summer. Thus, we already knew what they are like and so were convinced we wanted a smaller suv. So we set about looking and found one in Abilene. We went and looked at it, yada yada yada, 2 days later we bought it. This purchase was the first one we have made without actually having the money for up front. This is a scary concept to me. I don't like the idea of paying for something with money I don't have. But that's the way it's done.

Anyway, we both thought getting married would be a huge step and make us feel more grown up. But we've talked about that together and realized that we really didn't feel that differently after we got married. It actually just felt more natural to be married. But going through these last few months has been hectic and fun. We have felt overwhelmed, excited, nervous, frustrated, and lots of other emotions similar to the ones listed already. The point is, I realized that growing up doesn't happen at one moment ever year (i.e. Birthday), but it happens at various times, in various ways, and to varying degrees. While that's not profound or new, it has helped me understand my place (for now) amongst all the other things going on in my life. And if what I am experiencing is growing up, then I like it.

New Stages

Well Rachel and I are moving on to new stages in life (together of course). Today Rachel officially accepted the position of Children's Minister at Alpine Church of Christ in Longview, TX. We visited last weekend to interview and it was a wonderful weekend. Rachel was called, two days ago, on Wednesday evening while she was at church and she was offered the job. We talked about it when she got home and decided that this is what we want. We'll be moving at the end of this semester, that would be mid-May. This will be the first time Rachel has had a full-time job (I have yet to have one). She is very excited and also nervous. I will be through with classes for my Masters degree at the end of this semester and I will just have my thesis to complete. I am hoping to have that done by May '09. I am going to try and find a part-time job after we move. This is also a new stage for us because we haven't ever lived in Longview before. My mom grew up there, my dad grew up in Gladewater, but it's still a relatively new city for us. So we're excited to start a new life there in a different place than we've been before. 

We are going to miss certain things about Abilene (or at least that's what Rachel keeps telling me): people, sunsets, dry heat, no rain, horrendeous pot-holed streets, etc. But seriously, parts of Abilene will be missed. It played home to us for 4 years as singles and over a year now as a married couple. It was our first "home" together. We will also be leaving great professors, mentors, and friends behind.

We are excited about living close to our parents again. It will give us great opportunities to further those relationships as they have grown so much over the last few years. We are also excited that grandparents will be close when children come. Not that it will be anytime soon. But there will be enough distance between us and parents that we shouldn't have to worry about pop-ins. 

It really is an exciting and unknown time for us. We are trying to still take it all in and just experience everything as it comes. We prayerfully began the process of Rachel applying and we are going to prayerfully continue the transition of her getting the job to starting the job.