Fun is fun

The church in Raleigh grew by 50% yesterday! What incredible, 1st century-ish statistics! God is moving powerfully!!

Okay well, if you want to get technical, we went from 4 to 6 people. Jared and Leanne rolled into town yesterday around 4pm. By the time Curt, Drew, and I arrived (Amanda was already there) around 6 or 7, almost everything was finished. By the time we went to dinner at 8, the books were all arranged on the bookshelves, multiple candles were lit, and the key hanger was already nailed into the wall next to the front door. I have never seen people move in so fast! They said it was their pure excitement driving them to get settled.

All I could think was how fun church is when church is people + normal everyday things like moving into a new apartment and going for a burger and fries. And we talked about how John, Deb, and Joelle will be here in 2 weeks. And then Amy will be here, with her husband Zach following just a couple weeks after. Eventually (!!) even Mike and Jasmin will make it to Raleigh. :) Who am I leaving out? There are millions of people I'm leaving out. By this fall, I wouldn't be surprised if there were 20 of us here. This isn't including Daniel and Mong (someone better tell me how to spell that sister's name!) from Maryland, and maybe Bob and his family, and there's always the local people we've met like the Eastmans, Jorgen and his wife (her name is escaping me at the moment), Joey and Chloe, and so many more. Plus we have some fun Florida visitors for the OTR concert, and Jill and her 2 boys will probably be staying with me in June. Can we say PEOPLE!!! I'm so excited. God is so good.

Did anyone read yesterday's Relevant newsletter? It was a story about a friend with cancer, and the point was that God's presence is our presence. I read as much in a book by my friend Jo Anne Lyon called The Ultimate Blessing. God is in our midst as we form community together. And as more "little Christs" come to Raleigh - with the light of Christ burning in them - we start to experience Him a little bit more. There are more everyday events to meet Him in... not more, really... just collectively, more people looking for Him together.

Anyway, the point of this is that church au natural is WAY, way too fun. And thank goodness for that.

Then, I went shopping for a new top today, and found that I can get into a smaller size than I ever have before at any time I can remember in my life. That is amazing. I had to call my trainer Malak and squeal in excitement with her. I also told her I have a date tonight, which I'm now telling you. And so everything seems so fun and full of excitement lately. Now back to this, uh, this WORK thing... which isn't quite as great as people moving to town or fitting into a smaller size skirt or going out with a new boy. But I guess it sorta makes the whole experience possible. (Suppressed "wahhhhhhhhh.")