...movement, passage, or change from one position, state, stage, subject, concept, etc., to another; change.
Am I never NOT doing this ?? We are born to "transition". From birth to toddler..toddler to school age..school age to Jr. High..Jr. High to High School...and so on! Yet..even after all of my life-long practice...I still find it difficult.
Several years back I was having a conversathion with my dad about "church". My dad is a retired minister (right at 50 yrs.) and then I married a minister. We were in ministry for 20 years. So....if you add that all together..I was in ministry for about 41 yrs...before Doug & I stepped out 6 years ago. A looonnnnggggg time to understand "church". I remember talking to my dad about a church I had visited (non A/G..which is our denomination). I was captured by the "simplicity" of the service. No bells and whistles. In fact...they went to GREAT extreme's to make it "simple". It impressed me. I had become tired of what I felt like was "entertaining" Christians. That's hard to explain if you've never been in full time ministry. But that's how I felt. Almost like..."man, what ministry..program..conference..event..
outreach..worship service..drama..etc., am I going to do now that will top what I just did and still make everybody happy". (yes..for you spiritual people..I know it's God who leads & gives ideas..but that doesn't mean there is any less pressure on you as the tool He is using). My dad looked at me and said, "there are plenty of things that if I had it to do over...I would do it differently". That's exactly how I felt.
Now skip ahead a few years. I still have this longing for "simplicity" in church. Not watered down preaching. Not watered down worship. Just "simplicity". I have always been a "program" kind of person. I like programs. I like things to be involved in...but I was feeling a "transition" happening in me that I couldn't explain.
My middle son, Tyler, has started attending a non-denominational church (Baptist based) and loves it. This just happened to be the church I visited several years back. There are 10,000 people (on three different campuses) and yet..it STILL has to be one of the most "simplistic" churches I have ever been to. I went with Tyler..and have been attending on Sat. nights for the past month. I love that the pastor says "hey..this church might not be for you..and that's okay." I love that he welcomes the atheists and agnostics every service and invites their questions. I love that on Saturday afternoon at 5:00..the place is flooded with people (probably 800)..coming in "just as they are"..shorts, pants, jeans, whatever..bible in hands.. to hear God's word. It's not "what they are wearing" that makes it cool .It's that it doesn't matter..because that's not what it's about. I was thinking...I never saw in scripture where Jesus walked up to call a crowd and someone said "wait a second..let me go put on my Sunday best." I am attracted to..inspired by..the "lack of hoop-la" that I see.
Now comes the "transition". The hard part. I've been A/G my whole life. My beliefs will always follow along those lines..because that's what I believe. But I feel "transition" taking place in me. A time for change..a different step..a new direction. It's scary for me to let go of the familiar...to walk in the unfamiliar. I don't know if this will be forever...or just for a time.
I feel transition taking place....now to only walk in it.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
Me & ShaiAnne (horse) = two peas in a pod !!
Horseback riding...why not? It's fun ! I use to ride all the time when I was little. It would be good for me & Ty..a bonding mother/son experience. Of course...the only riding Ty had ever done was someone guiding a horse by the reigns and walking in a circle..or the kind you feed a quarter to at Walmart.
As we were sitting around..waiting on the wranglers..I spotted this pretty tan horse. I pointed her out to Ty..and decided to take a walk down to get a better look. I petted..she looked at me..we bonded. I don't know if it was fluke or fate..but who do you think the "wranglers" matched me up with to ride? (and they were no where around to have seen our earlier bonding) That's right..the pretty tan horse..ShaiAnne. They gave me simple instructions..but told me nothing about her temperament =) Even when we were suppose to just follow the other horses around the corral..she was raring to go. The wranglers kept telling me to "not let her get in the behind" of whatever horse was in front of me. I would later find out "why" !
We started on the trail..everything was fine..except she REALLY wanted to go. She had her own mind about the "pace" she wanted to walk..and it was as if she was getting VERY impatient that the horses in front of her were not noticing her agitation (at this point..I'm thinking "who does this sound like? It's like..if you're not going to go already..get out of MY way =)
I had to keep a tight reign on her just to keep her in her assigned spot !
Our first challenge was as Ty and his horse passed this branch that was sticking out..it got caught on his foot..and as he passed it left his foot just in time to slam into ShaiAnne's face. Do you know how skiddish a horse can be? She immediately starting backing up with me..which did I mention we were right along a ravine that if she stepped back too much..her & I were most likely going to tumble into the stream below. I didn't panic as she just kept backing up and rearing away..I held on..started talking to her..patting her...calming her down..until she realized it was safe to move forward. Whew...crisis mastered !
We walked..we trotted (fun by the way)..just going along..I was feeling pretty confident & relaxed..when all of a sudden, Tyler's horse Buckshot was NOT happy about ShaiAnne being "up in his business". He literally reared around and went after her.(I could see his teeth) No warning at all..I thought Ty was going to come off..our two horses were going at it..both of us trying to calm them down. Now..can I stop just a moment to say...NO OTHER HORSE..out of the 8..were seeming to have any problems. No personality squabbles..just doing their thing. This happened like 3 more times !! Buckshot would look out of the corner of his eye and before you know it..he was on us. Finally...Tyler caught on and as soon as he would turn his head..Ty would jerk him back around. It was like having a "family squabble" on horses....no lie ! hahaha All Ty kept saying was, "ShaiAnne started it...just like YOU do ! You push & push...til someone retaliates"...hahaha
Memories !! I will never forget =) When we got back to the stable..the girl asked me how ShaiAnne was? I said, "her and Buckshot DID NOT get along..I don't know WHAT the problem was." She just looked at me and said, "yeah...ShaiAnne's a bully..and they don't like it!" hahahaha
I had a horse friend who told me recently....we tend to bond with horses that have our SAME personality traits ! Hmmmm.....I'll leave you to figure that one out. =)
As we were sitting around..waiting on the wranglers..I spotted this pretty tan horse. I pointed her out to Ty..and decided to take a walk down to get a better look. I petted..she looked at me..we bonded. I don't know if it was fluke or fate..but who do you think the "wranglers" matched me up with to ride? (and they were no where around to have seen our earlier bonding) That's right..the pretty tan horse..ShaiAnne. They gave me simple instructions..but told me nothing about her temperament =) Even when we were suppose to just follow the other horses around the corral..she was raring to go. The wranglers kept telling me to "not let her get in the behind" of whatever horse was in front of me. I would later find out "why" !
We started on the trail..everything was fine..except she REALLY wanted to go. She had her own mind about the "pace" she wanted to walk..and it was as if she was getting VERY impatient that the horses in front of her were not noticing her agitation (at this point..I'm thinking "who does this sound like? It's like..if you're not going to go already..get out of MY way =)
I had to keep a tight reign on her just to keep her in her assigned spot !
Our first challenge was as Ty and his horse passed this branch that was sticking out..it got caught on his foot..and as he passed it left his foot just in time to slam into ShaiAnne's face. Do you know how skiddish a horse can be? She immediately starting backing up with me..which did I mention we were right along a ravine that if she stepped back too much..her & I were most likely going to tumble into the stream below. I didn't panic as she just kept backing up and rearing away..I held on..started talking to her..patting her...calming her down..until she realized it was safe to move forward. Whew...crisis mastered !
We walked..we trotted (fun by the way)..just going along..I was feeling pretty confident & relaxed..when all of a sudden, Tyler's horse Buckshot was NOT happy about ShaiAnne being "up in his business". He literally reared around and went after her.(I could see his teeth) No warning at all..I thought Ty was going to come off..our two horses were going at it..both of us trying to calm them down. Now..can I stop just a moment to say...NO OTHER HORSE..out of the 8..were seeming to have any problems. No personality squabbles..just doing their thing. This happened like 3 more times !! Buckshot would look out of the corner of his eye and before you know it..he was on us. Finally...Tyler caught on and as soon as he would turn his head..Ty would jerk him back around. It was like having a "family squabble" on horses....no lie ! hahaha All Ty kept saying was, "ShaiAnne started it...just like YOU do ! You push & push...til someone retaliates"...hahaha
Memories !! I will never forget =) When we got back to the stable..the girl asked me how ShaiAnne was? I said, "her and Buckshot DID NOT get along..I don't know WHAT the problem was." She just looked at me and said, "yeah...ShaiAnne's a bully..and they don't like it!" hahahaha
I had a horse friend who told me recently....we tend to bond with horses that have our SAME personality traits ! Hmmmm.....I'll leave you to figure that one out. =)
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