Children

It’s a pretty normal thing for girls, especially women of our age, to contemplate the number of children we would like to have. I think this is fair since we are the ones who will be bearing the children. This topic of conversation came about because of Trip and Jess’s (leaders of the Soma expression) four delightful daughters. With four youngsters in the house, things are always exciting from handfuls of dried strawberries that were meant to be shared with neighbors but instead are incriminating evidence on red hands and lips to captured butterflies who are woeful to be temporarily stored in wine glasses to incessant motion and question asking, it was necessary for us to discuss how many children we thought we wanted to have as we contemplate living a lifestyle similar to these folks. Nevermind that our future children’s fathers probably deserve input in the matter, it is always best to be prepared.

Bethany decided that her maximum limit was definitely a number smaller than four, unless they were spaced a little further out than Trip and Jess’s children. Becca on the other hand, has increased her number each time the topic has come up. From three-four to definitely four to four-five.

This is yet, again, another reflection of our differences in personality. Now that we’ve publicized this, the fates may have it that Beth will have the five children while Becca has only two. However, where we find common ground is that we both want our homes to be places of hospitality where our children, family, friends, and strangers the Lord leads across our paths always find that there is welcome room at the table for one more. 

Pockets

All humans create pockets. I'm not talking about the ones you plunge your hands into when you're nervous, I'm talking about a space that every human can create that invites others to an action. There are lots of different kinds of pockets. 

While we had planned on sunning ourselves at the pool, the rain in Medford allowed Shirley's (Grammy's)  home to be a pocket of rest for our fatigued souls. I guess that's why intergenerational stuff is so good. We all create different kinds of pockets for humanity to sit in and every pocket of life has value. The 5-year-old pocket is full of wonder and play, the 15-year-old pocket is full of becoming and questioning, the 20-year-old pocket has semi-trained, inexperienced energy to take out on the world, the 30-year-old pocket is energy controlled by wisdom, and the 70-year-old pocket slows down the pace, asking for presence over product.

On the adventure God has called each of us to, He provides for the pockets we need along the way. He also calls us to create pockets for others. Don't miss an opportunity to sit in a pocket, or to create one for someone else.

Our Mission (what on earth are we doing?)

I hate it when I think I have a good idea and then when I share it with someone they shoot it down either by lack of enthusiasm or by asking me questions regarding details that I haven't yet thought through. I'll never forget the first time Beth and I talked about missional community. We were driving home from some event and she began sharing about people living together to create a better society and planet through the message of Christ's redeeming love. She was pretty jazzed about her idea and I hate to admit it, but I totally tried to shut it down. Two different families living in the same house!? Four families committing to living in the same neighborhood for 10 years?! Sharing each other's stuff?! Sharing each other's money and resources?! That's appalling crazy talk. Fortunately, Bethany was not afraid of my questions and completely embraced them even though my ulterior motive was to shut out her insane idea. She, in true gracious form, thanked me for challenging her with all my questions and I was left with an idea, a seed, planted in the back of my brain. Little did I know that that specific conversation would be one among many that would begin to stir a fascination with this idea of what it looked like for the Church to live in true, Christ-centered Community.

Fast forward four years. Here we both are, college grads, Masters in hand, two years of teaching under our belts, 25 and still single. We have taken our college education that focused on service and community and have begun to apply it to the real world. Let us just say right now that we don't really like the real world. It is full of broken systems designed by broken people who tend to break each other more. For both of us that has meant seeing that though we have the best intentions and hopes for our students, we fight against habits and thought patterns that are far from the way God intended the world to run. Where am I going with this?

We believe that God intended and designed much, much more for the human race than we are currently living into. As we have faced the brokenness, God has begun to dream in us how He could heal our fallenness if we claimed the power we have in Him through Jesus.

In college we both read a book called Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne who tells some pretty incredible stories of communities coming together to radically love like Jesus loved. We were both inspired and in awe and itching to get out into the "real world" and do the same. This has not been as glorious or easy a task as it seemed at the outset. For real, its been hard work. However, after three years of working, learning, and attempting to be adults, we decided that we weren't gonna let the man get us down. We'd seen the problems and it increased our conviction that it was going to be through community coming together, loving Jesus, loving each other, and loving others that would open the way for God to bring healing to our brokenness.

So what on earth are we doing? Well, at the end of Claiborne's book was a list of "missional communities" that were also intentionally living the love of Jesus to their surrounding communities. We decided what better way to learn about the community we want than to visit them and experience life with those who are already doing it? So we're going. Yup. (and now its late so Beth is strongly encouraging me to stop editing and turn off the light so we can both go to sleep...and I have to say that I strongly agree.)

1 - 2 - 3      SLEEP

Wow.

We leave in 4 days. Holy Smokies.