The Hometown Crowd

Are you in the hometown crowd?

I am.

Jesus left that place and came to His hometown.

I became a Christian when I was 11 years old. My early years were spent in Sunday School and Vacation  Bible School, so by the time I took my first independent step of faith toward Him at eleven, He was very familiar to me. I had diligently studied His every expression in the stained glass, I knew what He wore in every flannelgraph set, and many memorized prayers were part of my young life.

And on the Sabbath He began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard Him were astonished, saying, "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?...

Over the years between then and now, I've often encountered a Jesus that does not seem to be the same person that I became comfortable with in the spring of my life. His actions, or non-actions, seem to be uncharacteristic at times. And I'm often shocked, and sometimes a little scandalized, by what I see Him doing in the world.

...Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands?" 

I'm left trying to match the Lord of my Ecclesiastical Youth with the Lord of the Unexpected Now, and my faith-legs seem too wobbly sometimes to make the leap.

And they took offense at Him. 

And He could do no mighty work there...

I do not want to be part of this story from Mark, chapter 6, but this morning, I saw myself there! Do you ever see yourself in the scriptures? Yikes! 

You're in there, too - I  just checked. 

Thanks to the gentle revelations of His Holy Spirit, we have an opportunity to repent and remove ourselves from having a Hometown Crowd sort of faith. Because this -

...He marveled at their unbelief.

is not what I'm going for.

Are you in the hometown crowd?

Invisible Cords

STRAINING

toward the sun

In these chillier and chillier fall days, it seems like that's what we're all doing around here.

The sun looks bright and hot through the glass. But when you get outside, thinking you might get to bask in the heat one more time, the cold air sends you right back indoors. 

I couldn't help but sympathize with these zinnias as they seem drawn, 

almost by invisible cords, toward those morning rays.

Don't we all tend to lean into warmth?

"...the goodness of God leads you to repentance..." Romans 2:4

Dream (almost) Come True

If you've read for a while, or if you know me well, you know that I've 

always wanted to hand feed chickadees. 

Look here and here for some history.

I have no idea where this nature geek-ish desire came from - I just go with it. 

aaaannnnndddd...

It finally happened!

Sort Of

This is a perfect example of :

Things Don't Turn Out The Way You Think They Will

I thought my experience would be like this amazing video.

But that's not how it went. 

You see this poor, confused bird got stuck in our greenhouse.

After beating himself senseless against the glass, 

My Husband scooped up the exhausted and stunned bird and brought him to me.

I love how he tries to help me accomplish my life-goals!

I ran for some seed, hoping he would eat from my hand, but he never even noticed it. 

He's squinting at me in this photo, trying to figure out what sort of tree I might be

while I try to convince him with baby talk that I'm actually his new BFF.

He flew away after he heard a buddy from a nearby tree chirp, 

"Hey, Stupid! You're in a human hand! 

You're in a HAND!"