Needless to say, I didn't get up as early on the Saturday.  Knowing that it was now 8:30 and not 7:00, I had at least 30 min. more sleep and a better idea of what was ahead of me that day.  My second immersn presentation was in the morning this time, and my confidence level was certainly higher.

Ahhhh, home sweet home.  Back to the grind.

I've been trying to reflect on this past weekend with a logical and unbiased view, but I keep giving way to my own emotions, opinions and biases.  You see, I had a wonderful, eye-opening experience at this year's UCC Worship Matters Conference.  I also realized how out-of-place I felt.

This past Saturday was an interesting affair - I attended my first Church Strategic Planning meeting.

It was to our advantage that the Church has actually done two planning meetings before this one, and while it was my first time being involved, a good proportion of those who attended had been through the process before.  We were also very lucky to have one of our members guide us along (him being a Strategic Planner in the 'real world') and, to my great surprise, actually finish on time.

So this weekend was my best friend's wedding, and I've survived.

I wish I had the energy to tell you the details, but in short: it went well!

I got engaged this past Friday!

Just thought I'd let the gang know.

Last night, immersn (my church's alternative/complimentary worship service) had a night of heart stories.  We shared testimonials about where we'd felt God; where we'd been closest to him, etc.

Honestly, I was planning on sitting back and listening.  Some of you who follow this blog may remember that I struggled with my own spiritual identity, about not having an 'aha!' moment that cemented my faith.  So I was quite happy to sit back and listen to everyone else's beautiful moments.

So what do you guys think?  Funny, or not funny in the slightest?

I'm not one to pray much.  Or, to be honest, at all.  I follow prayer in service, and bow my head for grace, but I don't do much more than that.  I mean, there are occasional moments when I'll make a conversational comment to God (like "Ooh, nice one there!"), but I have never understood nor been satisfied with what most people see as a necessary part of being a Christian.

I was reading the thread "Homosexuality and Science" over in R&F, and Charles T said this:

I don't have a problem with sin being genetic, because I believe that all of creation is corrupted, including our genes.  Look at babies being born with all sorts of defects, or Kappa mentioned psychopaths. 

I was thrilled to open the Observer this month and see a picture of my minister, one of our youth, and my lovely church smiling at me.  They were interviewed about how we put sermons up on the web.

I'm very proud of our online presence.  We are a church that is mostly young families and the elderly, and it's a very straightforward and simple way to reach out.  It still surprises me how many of those elderly I know who check the website!