Oceanskater’s Blog

It’s been a while since I’ve posted here! That’s because my life has been incredibly busy in the recent days. But there’s a lot I want to share with you.

Since it’s the beginning of the school year, it’s also sort of the beginning of the ministry year, since the church where Alive in Christ meets has a lot of families and college students. So for the past 3 Sundays, I’ve spent quite a bit of time at the church. I’ve also been helping with music at the church that Roy & I attend.

I’ve also attended several seminars over recent months. Just last week, I saw both Stormie Omartian and Steve Arterburn speak. Steve was hilarious, and Stormie was inspiring. Roy & I also attended a friend’s wedding and a family birthday party that actually had a performance by an Elvis impersonator. Quite amusing

I don’t know how many of you have heard of XXXChurch.com. They are starting a new campaign to raise awareness about and find help for pastors who struggle with pornography addiction. I get e-mail updates from them, and today they shared that a professional pornography photographer gave his life to Christ a week ago. Praise God! He immediately called up Playboy and resigned, and just last night, he found a good-paying job in a completely different field. He ended his blog post by saying, “This is, of course, much less than I’m used to making. But it will allow me to take care of my son. Try telling me that God’s not helping me.” Amen to that. His name is Donny. Please keep him in your prayers.Also, keep those affected by all the school shootings in your prayers.

I’ve returned from the Land of Christian T-Shirts, also known as a Christian music festival called SoulFest. Officially, I was there to share a ministry display booth with ReCreation, another Exodus member ministry. While there, I got to take in some great music and read a lot of T-shirts. I’ve never seen so many Christian T-shirts in my life! I think it was even worse than last year. Some of them were clever, but most were just sort of silly and some offensive.

This shirt is is my least favorite:

While I understand the message they are trying to share with it, I definitely don’t think it’s the most effective way to reach someone who is pro-choice.

Some of the shirts made me wonder if the wearer only wears the shirt at Christian gatherings, like “Satan is a freakin’ idiot”. Would they wear that to the grocery store? At a certain point, I wanted to create my own Christian T-shirt. If I did, it would say, “does you life speak as loudly as your T-shirt?” and on the back it would say, “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” 1 John 3:18

On another topic, I got to see some cool bands. My favorites were definitely KJ-52 and John Reuben. It was really cool because they got to perform on the Main Stage, and it was packed! Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures of KJ-52 because I forget to bring the camera and had to have Roy bring it. But here’s John Reuben:

Why does he always have such funny looks on his face?

Chris Tomlin was also cool. Here’s a very bad picture of him (because we were so far from the stage):

I also got to have some great conversations with people. I went around to booths of other ministries and talked to people. A few wanted to hear more about what we were doing and even asked for literature. I also had some good conversations at our booth. Some were pretty random, but still good. It was a good time.

I also got to learn about some organizations that are doing great work. It was interesting because our new roommate (who is 18) was saying that she was concerned that her generation was not passionate about anything. I can see why she might be concerned about that, but I met some very passionate young people. Here are some of the organizations:

The Amazing Change (an organization with a campaign to raise awareness in the UK and US about modern-day slavery, and to help to free the 28 million modern-day slaves)

You should also plan on going to see the movie about William Wilberforce that is coming out next Spring.

Stand True (a pro-life organization)

Blood:Water Mission (an organization started by Jars of Clay with the purpose of building wells in Africa for people/communities living with HIV/AIDS)

To Write Love on Her Arms (a campaign to raise awareness about self-injury and offer hope to those who struggle)

I also need to post about our recent trip to New Orleans, but that will have to wait until later!

Amazon Grocery? How bizarre!

I listen to this rather serious radio show, where everyone from co-dependents to porn addicts call in to get serious help. Yesterday, this woman called in because her boyfriend talks about farting and burping too much. It was just hilarious compared to everyone else calling in with DID and sex addiction.

I don’t know why, but I think the whole Bush/Blair conversation that was inadvertently caught on microphone was hilarious. It doesn’t even bother me, really, that Bush swore. But I can’t help but keep saying, “Yo, Blair! Thanks for the sweatah!” (Of course, that’s my Boston accent coming out.)

It probably also goes without saying that I am thrilled that Bush vetoed the Stem Cell bill. Thrilled! He’s right - he said in a press conference that these embryos are not “spare parts”. It’s sad for me to hear people call stem cell research on frozen embryos “progress”. What’s even scarier, in some ways, is that all these frozen embryos even exist. That’s a whole nother topic. But I heard a radio show today with families who adopted the embryos and now have babies.

The original couple who sued for gay marriage to be legalized in Massachusetts are splitting. Crazy (as in hard to believe/imagine).

A friend who came over for our house-warming party last weekend said the pictures I post of Noodles look nothing like him. So here he is again.

Noodles in Kitchen:

Noodles in Dirt:

Noodles Getting a Bath:

Noodles After His Bath:

It’s 53 degrees in Boston. That may not sound warm to you, but it makes life a little easier, for some reason.

The seminar this weekend went very well. I found it to be so refreshing. We had quite a showing from Alive in Christ, which was of course encouraging since last year, only Roy & I went. My teaching went well, I think. I had a bit too much information, even though I didn’t go over my time. It was just so great to share about something that has made such an impact in my life and changed the way I view myself and God. My prayer was that I’d be able to communicate just a fraction of my passion. I hope I was able to do that.

Some of you know that Roy & I have been thinking of buying a place. We’ve been going to open houses and talking with realtors. Well, I just found out less than 5 minutes ago that we need to move from our current place. Our landpeople (landlady and landman) have decided to sell the house in which we rent a floor. So, it’s either move into another apartment or buy something. Please keep this in our prayers. I never thought I’d be staying in Boston long-term, so this would be a big decision.

And I’ll end with a praise report. Roy & I and a few of my close friends have been praying fervently for a young friend of mine for a while now. He’s been through some rough times. What has been so amazing for me is to see God, one by one, answer all of our prayers. Every single one. Even when things seemed hopeless, God was listening and working hard. Last night, after He responded to yet another of our pleas, God reminded me that He cares even more than I do for our young friend. It’s just been humbling. I have never before in my walk with God seen Him work so powerfully and consistently. Of course, He’s always been working in all things, but I guess I just wasn’t able to see it.

He is God, and He is good - at His core, He is good.

I have several important events on the horizon that I’d like to tell you about and ask you to pray for. My body has also chosen this time to try and come down with a cold and fever. I’m attacking it ferociously with zinc and vitamin C, but I believe your prayers would be more effective

Here’s what’s coming up:

First, Hugh (one of the male leaders in Alive in Christ and I will be teaching a class during the upcoming session of Christian Formation classes at the church where Alive in Christ meets. Our class is entitled “Homosexuality: A Biblical Perspective & Solution”. We’ve been purposeful in choosing to offer this class during the evening time slot as we hope to attract people who may not necessarily have a Biblical understanding of same-sex attraction. Hugh and I are really looking forward to this.

Second, I’m currently preparing to teach a class at the upcoming ReCreation Ministries Sexual Healing seminar. The basic theme of the seminar is the father heart of God. I’ll be teaching on a class called “You are God’s Favorite: Living in the Reality of God’s Fierce Tenderness”, so please pray for me and my preparation.

Thanks! And I’ll keep you updated on my health.