Month in Review

Too much to write about…it seems to be a problem for me to find time to write anything new or exciting and then you have a month that goes by that is jammed pack full of exciting events or things that transpire that take you out of your comfort zone. Along with all this craziness comes the journey of the Way which has been both challenging and amazing. Certainly this has been the most amazing month of my life. I have had a few bumps along the way, but for the most part it has been great.

For those who don't know or else have dropped by my site at random, I got married to my best friend on June 7^th. She is amazing and starting out our new lives together has been (Insert new adjective) amazing! I adore and respect so much of who she is. It is awesome to have someone who is right there beside me as I go throughout life. Likewise, it is really amazing to watch her as she grows in knowledge and into the future mother (5 years) that God is already preparing her to be.

We went to Cancun, Mexico for our honeymoon which was gorgeous. There were many lessons that God taught me through some of the things that we experienced (more on this later). It is great being in a culture that is different than your own. I think sometimes we think that the American dream is the only way to be happy, but when you watch a different culture and see the joy that some have without the distractions that we have, it is amazing.

Emily and I watched a party in the streets in which people were laughing and dancing and it seemed to beg us to join. I spiritualized it a little bit, but I do think it is interesting how many times Jesus compares the kingdom of God to a party. It made me long even further to want God's kingdom here on earth. To think that we have made the kingdom of God so confined to the modern Evangelical ideals…

My Grandma passed away at the end of the month. It was this experience that lead to a lot of healing in my own life. I started to realize that I have a need to love and forgive those who anger me the most…by rendering evil for evil I am returning to a system of thought that I died to, years ago.

I finished Everything Must Change by Brian Mclaren whilst I was in Kentucky for my Grandma's funeral. I have to say that it was one of the most interesting of his books that I have read. I say interesting but I guess I more or less mean that I don't know if I liked it or didn't. It wasn't as exciting or revolutionary as many of his books are, but it was provocative. I found myself a little on the depressed side at times, but then found hope at the last several chapters. One of the things I take away from the book is that it is through hope that we are encouraged and moved to change. It is through hope that we instill change. We must hope for the kingdom of God and push for it to be fully realized in this world.

It has been a great month and I look forward to tracking more later. Til then.

Hope, love, pray

Noah