Victoria Drive

It had rained while I was in the movie theater. I emerged, blinking, into a mild, clear summers evening. Inhaling deeply for the first time in what seemed like days, I decided a walk was in order. Experiencing the single life, albeit thankfully briefly, this weekend, I engaged my desire for spontaneity and detoured to Central Park for a walk. A beyond that...a drive.

When you rush through life, driving from one appointment to another, you forget what a joy it can be to drive. And as I rolled through the Rosevillan suburbia, the aroma of freshly cut grass and rain on lakes wafted through the windows. I decided to explore, and took a rode that I recognized but did not know it's end point. I took a familiar rode that would take me to where I wanted to go...even though the journey there was unfamiliar.

Which, while a true story, seems to be an apt metaphor for my life. I'm going down a familiar path, towards a desired destination...the journey to get there is somewhat uncertain. No huge complaints, no big uncertainties...but certainly unknown territory. And for the moment, I'm going to have to be okay with that. There is joy in the journey, just as there is pain, there is heartache, there are miracles and surprises. But it is in the journey, indeed.

in need of recipes

Anyone have any good Bok Choy recipes? We just got a bunch of it in our CSA today and I've never cooked or prepared anything with it..ever! I'm excited to try it out! Anything good to try out, we'd love to try.

I’ve got a number of posts percolating in my head. But, as often happens, the ideas percolate and then deflate when it comes time to put fingers to keys and make it “real.” As real as words saved on a server hanging out in cyberspace can be. Pretty darn real.

Anyway. As a way to update, Dan and I made a significant purchase this weekend. Not a house, not an iPhone (sadly) nor was it a television set (although that is perhaps in the queue next). No no no, we invested in some furniture:

Imagine this without the curved U tier third from the bottom and you have the general idea. It’s monstrous. It’s hideous. It’s a beige monolithic, behemoth in our living room. And the cats love it. They love being at around our eye level when we walk into the room, Bean loves hiding in the bottom nook, and they both love having something tall enough (finally) to scratch on.

I know this because they have stopped scratching the carpet. Which, let’s be honest, was the driving force behind the purchase of this. I am hoping that this also starts to cut down on some of the anxiety that Ender has when we have company over and all of “his” normal spots are taken by people and feet. This furniture will not be taken over, and shall hopefully give him some peace of mind. We’ll find out this weekend when Roy and Glenna come over and stay the night.

The price causes us to pause. The size of it did too. But the price, I have come to rationalize, is almost nothing. Here’s my reasoning. We chose to adopt cats, not dogs. Lots of reasons, many pros and cons for either choice. But when I get down to it, I have to admit, cats are way more low maintenance than dogs. Significantly fewer walks on leashes, wiping off muddy paws, intentional play time (although they still need that)…and if time=money (which in some cases it does)…we’ve saved up enough to be able to afford the horrible, beige, monolithic monstrosity that now lives in our house. The cats love it, we love that they love it…and dang it, until we have kids – that’s what matters in our household!

Why Do I Do It?

As a piece of Graduation Sunday at church, I preached. I am including a piece of my favorite part of my sermon. The text for the day was Matthew 13:44-46, as a piece of our series on parables, emphasizing "see," "hear," and "do." The premise being that we need to "see" what the Kingdom is made of, "hear" that Kingdom work is difficult as well as joyful, and ultimately "do" the work of the Kingdom -- what you were born to do, and get out of the way to let our youth and fresh wind bring change. I wanted to include a few of my favorite snippets from my sermon. And, I think it answers -- why do I do it? I'm sold out. Below, with the bold emphasis my favorite lines, is an intimate story of when my calling became really real to me this year. Enjoy.
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In short, this Kingdom treasure is not always easy, simple or comfortable…it is demanding, it requires the disciple to be engaged and present in order to gain the full value of the Kingdom. And, I agree with Klyne when he states that this is more than an issue dealing with money. In this present age, in this present culture, often money isn’t our sticking point. According to www.theglobalrichlist.com -- based on my yearly salary I am the 260,000,000 richest person in the world – a figure that puts me in the top 4.33% of the world. Who am I to complain about money? We do not live in a culture, even considering the current economic crisis, where “selling everything” for a treasure is either risky enough or a compelling parallel to draw. Instead, as I have reflected on it – the cost of Kingdom living for a disciple begins with us embracing a lifestyle of intentionality and difficulty.

This chosen way of life is something I have become familiar with. Sometime early this spring, at around 8:45 on a Wednesday evening I found myself in tears on my living room floor – questioning my call and ability to lead the youth ministry. To put it mildly, the evening program had not gone well. As a disclaimer, any given Wednesday night in the youth ministry there is a fair amount of organized chaos intentionally "programmed" in. And in the midst of “programming” those unplanned and unprogrammed human factors of minor meltdowns, relationship drama, friendships solidifying, souls being bared, etc. factor in. And on this night, it was possible that these human factors gelled with a game that didn’t work out or my talk didn’t connect or a small group was especially difficult…it came down to being not any one incident, or any one youth or any one anything…just a perfect storm of youth ministry that pushed me to a breaking point.

Thinking this over, I can’t remember the specifics, only that I had this sense that I was looking at myself through the wrong end of a telescope. The world was very very big, and there I was in the center, all together too small. Hear this – sometimes Kingdom living is the sweetest thing in the world. It’s the youth who just started showing up and is eager to tell you how he heard God speaking to him. Or it’s the tender safety of a small group where girls can be open and honest in front of each other and share their struggles without fear of it being gossiped about or used against them. It’s seeing our youth lead worship, serve whole heartedly selling rolls or on a mission trip, or being creative in silly skits. And sometimes, as I was reminded on that night, Kingdom living is heartbreaking, humbling and petrifying. Through some wise words of my husband, I was able to pick myself up off the floor and face another day. And through the work of God I spent the next few weeks being awed time and again by the Kingdom work being done in the youth ministry and through the members of this congregation.

As I was speaking to one of the youth mentors in a year-end review this past week, the conversation turned to when you know it is time to transition out of a stage of ministry and I found myself relating this story. As I have thought and re-thought it through since then, I have come to the conclusion that I made it through that difficult night, and other ups and downs of working with teenagers, because the value I have ascribed to doing this Kingdom work that I have been called to is greater than the personal cost to myself and my life. And, consequently, to not be a part of the work that is being done here on the East Side through this body of believers, would be more heartbreaking, more devastating, than that night was this spring. I’ve sold out to the Kingdom for a life that is not always easy but is ultimately glorifying to God.
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Grace and Peace,
Kate

Kind of an amazing day

Can't you see the joy?















The weekend that was:
Friday finishes up class work for the quarter.
Saturday sleep in, hiking around Eden Prairie and brats on the grill
Sunday graduation (hint: they're the ones in the red gowns).