Have you ever looked at picture and felt like you don't belong or never belonged? This afternoon I 
was persuing a website with a bunch of pictures from a group I used to hang out with/attend events. Looking now it just hit me again - I never fit into this group of people! I was never myself and I was constantly not being myself because of others around me.
I have such a judgemental attitude towards that group of people - which is horrible! But I guess my reasoning is that I've grown up, I've discovered God in a whole new way that made me realize that I wasn't living a victorious life with Christ and I know a lot of them haven't truly found Him (not that I'm judging their character just that I grew up in the same way, with the same knowlege of faith and I know now how much I was missing). It's so hard! I want to love every single one of these young adults and know that I was generally accepted when I did attend events (who am I kidding? I hardly ever had a good time, no one liked me very much). It's so odd looking back and trying to remember why I did the things I did and why I didn't stick up for myself more often.
I guess I'm also dealing with the fact the YA is no longer part of my life - I am no longer a CRC member. Kind of weird thinking about - closing a chapter in my life and seeing how much things have changed.
Read an excellent article on Relevant this morning on church politics...
"Next, and perhaps most important, we need to realize that we are all transformed in and through Christ. Leadership is not about “lording over people” but coming under Christ for His glory. We need to live beyond our humanity. Our churches need to embrace life-transformation over structural details. The truth is the church exists for Christ’s glory—not for man’s. "
This quote definitely reflects my church in that the minister is all about giving glory to God and none of the light shining on him just because he's a pastor. What an selfless act for a pastor unlike most who want to take credit for their "flock" and boast about increased membership numbers.
I like my little church and am happy to be an "offical" member! :)
"As Blaise Pascal said, “We never keep to the present. We … anticipate the
future as if we found it too slow in coming and were trying to hurry it up, or
we recall the past as if to stay its too rapid flight. We are so unwise that we
wander about in times that do not belong to us and do not think of the only one
that does; so vain that we dream of times that are not and blindly flee the only
one that is … [We] think of how we are going to arrange things over which we
have no control for a time we can never be sure of reaching … Thus we never
actually live, but hope to live, and since we are always planning how to be
happy, it is inevitable that we should never be so.”
Found this great quote in an excellent article on Relevant.
More thoughts to come...