I didn’t realize that “asking Jesus into your heart” and “making Jesus your King” (the phrase my parents used) were probably the same thing, and I remember doing each on a separate occasion, both around the age of four or five years old. I’m involved in the church I’ve been attending for about six years, and joined it about three ago. In light of what has happened in the last year or so, I’ve begun to actually want to read the Bible, more than just knowing that I should, and that’s been a gift. Similarly, since the beginning of the year I’ve felt the need for prayer much more greatly. The psalmist said that his soul longed for God as a deer for water, and I am not that godly. I think I feel that I need Christ like carbohydrates. (--Think about the food pyramid for a minute. No? Well, it made sense to me.) Anyway, I do know that without Christ, everything in my life would collapse in short order, and I often feel that profoundly. Christ is the one I know, and I don’t have a backup plan.
I grew up with an at least partial acceptance of them sort of latent in our home. I’m not entirely sure what this question is asking, but I find that the idea of total depravity, the concept that everything we do is at least tinged with sin, is complemented as an explanation for our world by the idea of common grace; the difficult concept of unconditional election says things about the character of God which should cause very proper fear; limited atonement makes the most logical biblical sense and should not be brought up in ordinary polite conversation if at all possible; irresistible grace is a lovely idea which I think might counter some of the traditional dourness of which Calvinism has sometimes been guilty; and I find the perseverance of the saints to be comforting and unconfusing. (I also want to diagram the previous sentence.) I am still working on understanding grace; I am not very good at it.
I usually read scripture before going to sleep at night. Earlier this year I was reading Jeremiah; it was pressed on me when I returned from a recent trip, and themes or questions from the book have been showing up in my life somewhat. I’m actually motivated to read it, which hadn’t happened with one of the prophetic books before. After that, I realized I’d been wanting to read Judges again for quite a while, which I did, and followed it up with 1st & 2nd Samuel, all of which I quite enjoyed, and understood better than I had when I heard them as a child. I lost my direction after that, and seem to be trying to read a gospel.
Oh my goodness. How about Jael, wife of Heber the Kennite? (Did I get that right? The woman who killed Sisera, when Deborah was judge of Israel.) Honestly, I like Esther and I like Peter, and David’s mighty man Joab. They were all great and impressive people, and human.
Sometimes. I like where I live, how and with whom. I have a couple circles of friends, and love having a more open schedule for them. Once I’d had a relationship, I understood the “blessings of singleness” which I hadn’t, before. But I frequently am not content. (I also sometimes wish for an activities partner: for travel, concerts, dancing or so forth.) As to why not… why is anyone discontented being single? I want someone who loves and understands me. I want to share my life with someone like that, and to share his. Also, I’m aware that I am selfish and that we all are, but I think I want someone to serve, if I can say that.
Whimsy, intelligence, humor and passion.
Truth. Beauty. Family, friends, music, accuracy.
My people (family, friends, church), my immune system, and the ability to read.
This is a pretty intimidating question to try to answer! There are exceptions to most such answers, aren’t there? That said, I’ll try: I tend to get along better with people who are witty. Also I’ve learned that it’s very important to be able to laugh at yourself, which includes understanding why your friends laugh at you. Intense uptight drama is not my thing anymore. I’m also fairly casual about organized things. For example, I love the outdoors but have never been rock-climbing or kayaking; I don’t own equipment. I’d often rather just run around. Also, I’m looking for someone who appreciates beauty and knows that it hurts sometimes. I think if you know that, you’re a little less likely to see God as a pamphlet of correct theology. I’m afraid of guys who do that. Ideally I’d like to talk to someone who finds literature and music (rock! indie! classical! indie rock! rock with classical instruments! electronica?) important, but like I said, there are exceptions to most things. These are probably strong suggestions.
It might be my college roommate, a woman named Hannah. She was the first person to try to prove to me that not all relationships are transitory, of which I was firmly convinced for most of my life. She has showed me grace many times and refused to accept problems I had as inevitable or only mine. In 2005 we were all moving out of our apartment in June. I was trying to go to India and didn't have anyone to move in with and was trying to find an apartment but hadn't yet. My stuff was packed least and moved least. Hannah kept saying "what are we going to do??" and I kept saying, "I don't know what I'm doing, but we know what you're doing. This is my mess, there isn't a 'we'." She never did accept that. *We* found & called a storage place near our apartment and I called various random people and we moved all of my stuff into a storage unit before they closed that night. I have a lot of good friends and lots of them have been good to me at different times, but Hannah forgave me a lot & helped me with a lot & was usually pretty accepting, and then at the end of our career as roommates, refused to accept the idea that the mess I had gotten myself into was my problem. That really struck me even at the time as a very, very gracious act--not even act, but attitude. Any good friend can be gracious or forgiving a couple of times, which is really great, but she lived with me for four years. And then did that at the end.
My last relationship was not long (a month & a half) and has been over for about a year. It ended amicably; we found out we weren’t right for each other, and agreed about why. I learned several things, among which was that relationships can end amicably.
Reams of them; they’ll never fit in this space. Some favorite verses are Ecclesiastes 1:18, Psalm 32:8 and Ephesians 4:32. “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it / Prone to leave the God I love / Here’s my heart, oh take and seal it / Seal it for Thy courts above.” “I want to be wrong, but / no one here wants to fight me.” -Metric “And if ever You come near, I’ll hold up high a mirror/ Lord, I could never show You anything as beautiful as You.” –mewithoutYou Now listen here, I told you I could live on without loving you / I was bluffing then but it seems that just might have been the truth. /Well my dad told me one day son / that girl will think of what she’s done / and hurting you will be the first / of many more regrets to come. And he said if she doesn’t call /then it’s her fault, and it’s her loss / I say it’s not that simple, see / but then again it just might be. –The Avett Brothers “I did not lose my heart of summer’s eve’n, When flowers to the moonlight burst apart; When flags were underfoot and men lay dying In blood and smoke and mud I lost my heart.” “I lost it to a soldier and a foeman, A chap who did not kill me, but he tried, Who took the saber straight and took it striking, And laughed and kissed his hand to me and died.” [A.E. Houseman, from memory] “Terrance, This is Stupid Stuff,” also by A. E. Houseman. “God’s Grandeur” by Gerard Manly Hopkins All of “Someone Great” and “All Your Friends” by LCD Soundsystem.
I’m currently an "administrative assistant," and before that worked for the same company in customer service, and before that was a temp for them. I’ve been with them for about three years, doing this for about two. I don’t particularly enjoy it, because it’s rather dull. But it’s a laid-back, secure job that I know how to do, and I’m mostly grateful for it. .
Not well developed ones, no. What are they?: To go back to Africa. To raise my children near their cousins, and in a church where they can take fellowship for granted for a while. To be honest about myself. To be a faithful friend, and a better granddaughter.
The answer to this kind of question always used to be “read.” Now it’s probably more accurate to say: either talking, reading, running around outside, going out with friends, staying in with friends… oh and I spend rather too much time on facebook and online comics. But I like cooking, and talking, preferably at the same time. And one of the best things in life is praying with people. Also, everything’s better if you go outside. I love parties, and I love camping. I love to talk. Music should be playing during most of this. I love listening to rock/indie/classic rock/indie pop and occasionally classical or Christian music, and going to shows. I also enjoy occasions or events which require dressing up.
I was born in Spokane, Washington. When I was in tenth grade my family flew to Costa Rica for a little over a week to visit relatives. I’ve been to a good number of the other states and several Canadian provinces (mostly on family road trips). I went to school in Seattle and still live there, and this past January I traveled with two other girls to Uganda for a month.
I would be extremely hesitant to relocate. Both my siblings right now live in the same city, which is a new blessing, and my parents live on the other side of the state. I’m already as far away from them as I care to be, and if I moved I would want it to be closer to them. We were always a Christian home, and while we were usually pretty close, things are probably as good as they’ve been, with respect to each of us really enjoying the company of the others. There’s a flavor I don’t get anywhere else which is important to me…
For the “where do you want to live” question, there was no option for “I do love living in the city and like it, but I wither if I don’t get to go camping, play on rocks and jump into rivers in the wilderness. I don’t know if I could raise my children in the city; they’d need grass stains & room to yell.” Yeah, I was pretty conflicted about that question. I grew up in the suburbs & don’t like them. Oh yeah, and I like music. And linguistics and grammar, and irony. IMPORTANT: As my covenant head, it is Biblically proper for my father to be the first contact for you, in relation to me. Please understand, then, that my father is the one who would love to first speak with you on my behalf. For this reason, the supplied email address is his.
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