Tuesday, January 31

Taylor's First Blog - Family 101

Taylor likes the fact that I blog. She also wants to express some thoughts of her own. So I now turn the keyboard over to her...

Your family is better than a $100. Think about it and you will see your family is better than $100. Some people think $100 is cool but your family is better. Like some people have $100 and they think it's cool. But you know what? Your family is better than $100 because money is just money, but family loves you and gives you a shelter and buys you clothes and warm jackets for winter. And your family is better because your family never falls apart, and your toys almost always fall apart and money falls apart too when your dog chews on it or your cat. You should love your sisters and brothers even though some sisters and brothers are evil and violent, but they are your sisters and brothers and you should love them very much. And you should love your dogs and cats and other animals even if they chew up your favorite stuffed animal, like if you have a favorite stuffed animal that is a dog, you should still love it and not give it away because they are part of your family too. Leave me a comment please. But don't write me a comment until you think about it.
- Taylor Nigh, age 7 (yes, I'm a kid) (and a funny and smart kid too) (and have two evil violent brothers)

Sunday, January 29

Sweet Sixteen

1. Exploring the Story... A crew of 22 gather in the 10x10 living room of the Scandrette home to explore the story of Christ amidst the story of creation, the story of the world, our individual stories... We head out on the misty rainy morning to climb the slippery slopes of Bernal hill where more of the story was told through scripture and conversation. We gathered in the playground of a local park to hear even more. It was so powerful that I'm going to be recreating it for a homegroup retreat to Tahoe at the end of March.

2. The ways the Lord tried to talk to me in the way of saving me from myself... the reminder that I was about to go do His work and that I needed to stop dilly dallying, the reminder that I didn't have time to french braid my hair, the realization that I am leaving the house 15 minutes later than scheduled, as I speed up highway 85 there is the thought of how it gets a bit bumpy up a head and that I'm not that familiar with this stretch of highway and that at this speed it could be dangerous. I glance at the guardrail realizing the impact of a crash at this speed. My governer kicks in kicking me speed back down to 100. The story plot from my soap opera of the young reckless girl who unknowingly hit and killed her own brother pops into my mind. The Lord is trying many different to tell me to slow down. And yet I do not let up. So he sends his last warning which is successful. Siren. Lights. CHP. Out of nowhere. No use in denying. I pull over accept my consequence greatful that God got through to me to spare me from whatever could have been next. 96mph is the crime rate. I'm saving up knowing this is going to cost me. But at least it didn't cost me my life. Thank God.

3. Checkstop at Highway... I proceed down the highway to Palo Alto for a visit to the Highway Community, owners of Red Rock Coffee in Mountain View... a center of similiar vision to my own. The sermon checks me on my personal road of service. The pastor talked about the metamorphosis of Peter. He had the ordinary and common name of Simon before Jesus renamed him Peter (the Rock) which was completely an unlikely nickname given his personality. But it was Jesus' promise to mold him and transform him to fill this name that he was given. It was Simon Peter who had the life shaping experience of walking on water with Jesus. He was the only one of the disciples who took courage, trusted his Master, and followed Christ out into the waters. Now fear overcame him and he took his eyes off Jesus at which he began to sink. The point is that LEADERS GET OUT OF THE BOAT. It's okay to be courageous and step out no matter what the outcome is to be. Mistakes will be made and they must not scare you off from making an attempt. Being a leader is a process. Phobias are conquered by facing fears. The other thing to remember was that Jesus IMMEDIATELY caught him. He was right there beside him not letting him sink. And when I step out of the boat as a leader, Jesus will be there to catch me when I am scared and falling. This is his promise to me in which I can trust knowing that I serve a most faithful God. Amen.

4. Cobalt Season... a while back at a Sabbath retreat in the beginning of the month, I met a bunch of cool new people who I have been meaning to link to. Among these are Ryan and Holly Sharp who make up Cobalt Season and are traveling around the world touring and sharing their blessing. I gathered a group to go to a house concert of theirs up in the Oakland hills at Lora and Craig's house. The music was amazing and resignates in my mind daily as I haven't been listening to much else but their cd. And even more amazing was their story. I loved hearing how the Lord has inspired them. If you find the opportunity to see them live, definately check them out. They will be performing at Red Rock Coffee on February 23rd.

5. San Francisco, Lifehouse, Mozella, Filmore, Zac... I'm in love with it all. Caitlin (age 4) today on me kissing Zac... "Ew. Do you love him?" "Yes, I do." "Ew, that's gross." She was thoroughly disgusted.

Wednesday, January 25

Oh! The Places He'll Go!

Mark's beuatiful retelling of one of the most mezmorizing and meaningful realizations from last weekend's Jesus Dojo that is still resignating in my inner realm. More to come on other things sprouting out of this realm soon.

Monday, January 9

3.7 GPA

So I recieved my report card in the mail. I know some of you are thinking... "Gee, Liz. I didn't realize you were in school." Trust me I didn't know I was being graded. But wow. Funny and maybe a bit to honest. I want to make the Dean's List next semester. If I'm going to make it into Stanford then I'll have to start taking some honors classes and working really hard on my essays. ;)

report card

And I say Heeeyeeeyeeeyeeah! Heeeeyeeeyeeey! I say Hey!! What's going on.....

  • Relationship Talks- the question arises... Am I your pastor or just the pastor of the church you go to? If I am not your pastor, then who is? Who have you put in a position of spiritual authority over you? Are they ordained by God for such work? Do they have age and wisdom and experience? Who is sending me out? It stirs up alot of questions for me. Is this my church or do I come here to see the people from my real church community? Was my process started off in a way other than God's way or was I doing it in God's way but just with a different unconventional set of spiritual elders in my life? And do these people of leadership in my life know that they are in that position in my life and are they comfortable with that and feel called as well to be there? Am I suppose to seek advice from somebody so distant to me who knows nothing of my personality, faith, or life circumstances and has no interest in knowing me in that way over those who volunteerily choose to be participating in community with me and have a sincere Christ following love and concern for me? It looks like I'll be digging into Acts and Timothy this week.
  • Rhythm Nation Retreat- ok, so it was just some of the bay area emergent people up in a cabin in the Santa Cruz mountains sipping kool-aid (ok, it was just cider and wine) while we discussed common life practices we could adhere to in our life that would promote community and Lord seeking. What we have committed signed in blood to do for the next month... 1. Read the gospels starting with Matthew one chapter at a time. Today being the 9th, we will read Ch 9. 2. Once a week to spend a meal with "Others" in a process of getting to know them without agenda. "Others" are those who are in dispair in their lives, perhaps in the way of being poor or lonely or outcast from whatever you consider your normal social setting. For some "other" may fall into the category of a wealthy white soccor mom who has desperation and a need for comfort. For some "other" would be the exact opposite. But we are striving to seek out the "other" and draw on getting to know and understand them without agenda. 3. Pray 3 times a day to correspond with meals. The Lord's Prayer for Breakfast. A prayer of your own for Dinner. And for Lunch we agree one of the prayers Adam wrote such as this one:
    Adonia,
    You who dwell among the angels
    Help us to live in rhythm with your Pneuma
    Ever aware of your presence
    Teach us to live in your kingdom
    Walking in peace, speaking in love to those around us
    Unite us Adonia, in your redemptive work
    break us where we need to be broken
    mend us where we need mending
    open us to eternity present
    inspire our hearts to love beyond ourselves
    to live the adventure you call us into
    Shelter and protect us
    You ARE amazing Adonia!
    Thank you for the gift of today.
  • My Castle In The Sky- I attended a CCPY community meeting in which I observed an activity of constructing 10 story high paper castles out of index cards and then switching focuses to a game of volleyball in the same space where everybody in the room needed to participate in touching the ball without letting it hit the floor. The thing that happened though was that everybody was distracted with trying to protect their castles that they weren't focused on the goal of the volleyball game. Protecting the castle was not in the instructions, but it's inately what happens. It wasn't for sometime after all the castles had been incidentally knocked down that the group was able to focus on the task at hand and start to make any progress on successfully achieving their goal. The parallel here is that we all have "castles" that we are protecting. What are our castles? What are we protecting them from? How are we protecting them? What goals are we losing focus of because we are protecting them? Is it worth it? Who in your life do you protect? Who is protecting you? And how did I learn to be protective of these things?
    For me, the castles formed in my life manifests in way of my house, my popularity, my faith, and my dreams. And I'm tempted to throw my feelings in with that mix too. Some are worth protecting, but some are not. And I know that I am guilty of losing focus of my goals in order to protect them. Like the time I moved back home from my life in Newport Beach to preserve my ownership of my home. And protecting my faith and my popularity both have always had conflicting stances. And I notice now that at a lower level I protect others based on who needs it most over who I love most. And that is something I have been aiming to change. Overall I can't help but analysize my life and realize how many life altering decisions I have made based on a need to protect castles rather than acheive my goals.
  • 2005 Resolutions- ok, at first I thought that I had accomplished none of them. But then Lani said something about how living with me she learned from how I didn't live a duplicitous Christian lifestyle (not her exact words- I can't remember exactly what she said) and it made me realize that I had kept one... No Hiding Sin. I'm totally upfront with who I am no matter what because Christians aren't perfect and I'm not going to pretend to be. Duplicitous Christian living only adds to immense misconceptions about what being a Christian is that only frustrate non believers and believers alike. Then there is so much pressure that get's put on people and the loving acceptance of Christ gets lost. I think I'm getting off track now and perhaps that's another post for another day. Or better yet, just ask me about it sometime and let me rant for 15 minutes. Ok, so almost everything else on the list was a bust. But here's what wasn't. I did do marketing for the church. I did very well on paying my debt to Kim. I didn't do any more pricy home improvements. I sorta refrained from over the top wasting my time crushes, but really I just put that on the back burner because he was dating someone else, but now he's dating me so it all worked out. And I did audit some restaurant management courses for a few months.
  • 2006 New Years Resolutions- Are you ready for this? I don't know if I'm ready for this. But here I go...
    Spiritual:
    *tithe 10% of my time= 14 hrs/wk (completive breakdown: 7 daily devotion 2 church 3 home group 2 misc) *listen for god's blessings *bring emergent practices to South Bay & participate *spiritually uplift others *memorize verses *experiment with Bible on cd
    Career:
    *add no more nanny clients
    *logo & business cards (Jan) *create community calendar (Jan) *full website (Mar) *create big book of resources (Feb) *art worship meetings (Jan) *pamphlets (Feb)*establish as nonprofit (Feb) *church visits (Mar)*first art auction (Jul)
    Finances:
    *pay dad rent *clear the remaining credit card debt *tithe to missions & Sampsons *budget living in part time income *begin a savings account *pay car off early *no overdrawn accts or late payments
    Relationships:
    *know how they measure up to the list
    *make sure it resembles Christ's love
    Body/Health:
    *workout 3x/wk *ditch candy habit *eat healthy snacks/dinners *don't finish the kids' food
    Home Improvement:
    *trim tree *regrout shower tiles *add vents to kitchen and bathroom *sprinklers *garden/landscape *cement
    Education:
    *winter - web design, html, emergent
    *spring - acctg, art, anything solitonic
    Family:
    *get to know my dad much better *try to relate to my sister and attempt one on one quality time *talk to mom about mother/daughter roles and expectations (I gag here feeling that this is hopeless and will only initiate arguments). No amount of reasoning with her will change her emotional status towards me. I don't know how to participate in a relationship without opening up. These sets of personal goals are works in progress. I don't know what it will take, but I would like to see different situation than what is currently present. Jerome mentioned that he thinks I shut my family out. Could this be a self-truth that I need to examine? If there wasn't such a bad experience associated to every single time I open myself up and make myself available to them, then perhaps I wouldn't have this need to distance myself and keep them at bay as if they were wild lions after my jugular. Ok, that was quite a detour. Sorry.
  • Community Connecting- So my focus lately has been to connect with as many people as possible. Last week I spent so much one on one time and group time both with people from my church community and I was really thrilled to see then connect to each other. I really feel like there is such a strengthening bond there. And it reminds me of a vision I had months back when my church was going through prayer and fasting. It was us as ropes. Individually we could be used say as a fishing pole and as fishers of men we could bait and catch just one at a time with alot of patience and down time. But when the ropes are woven together strong sturdy and tight together we make an intricate net that when casted out it can catch a motherload if the Lord wills it. It's exciting. Anyways, my laundry list... NYE with Zac, Josh, Lani, Kelly, Tom, and others; "rebel lunch" with jon, mike, andrea, spains, zac; game night with polly, gary, randy, and flora; chior with Crystal; shopping with Aimee; dinner with Andrea; meeting with Dave; Rocco as a newbie to homegroup; mentoring with Zac; retreating with mark, nate and kool-aid clan; movie night with Andrea, Kelly, Sutors, Bluhms, Tanners... so much connecting. I'm in love with it. More please!