Take your burden...

I just thought I'd share a little bit about church this morning. I haven't said much about my church before. We go to Bluff Park Baptist. It's a small church with a dedicated core group of believers that inspire us. We probably have about 70 people there on a good Sunday. Most of those people are above the age of 60. Our members who are middle-aged are the most active, and we love to sit in on their Sunday school class when nobody shows up to ours. =) The church has seen some rocky times lately. Our minister just resigned, and he didn't leave on the best of terms. Honestly, its been a pretty tough place for us to be. We're not alone in feeling that way. Those of you who serve in small churches and wear tons of hats might know what I'm talking about. We give a lot of time and attention and emotional and physcial energy, and sometimes it feels like we receive very little in return. We've sought the Lord about this, though, and we know that He has not released us to move on yet. We are called to serve. I am selfish. I'd like to think that if I give a certain amount, I should receive a certain amount in return. I keep a debit account in my head and my heart, and I know when I think withdrawals are seriously exceeding deposits. It's easy for me to feel quite self righteous about this. I think that others should notice and praise me and reach out to me when I reach out to them. That would sure be nice, and I wish it was Biblical, but drat, its not. Instead, I am to give the man who takes my cloak my tunic also. God's goal for me is that I give in His name to others. I am to trust Him to take care of those needs that humans are not meeting in my church. Yes, I know that it is good to be in a church where other believers are feeding you, and we will be when we move this summer. But at this point, I am learning some important lessons about the meaning and sacrifice of Christian service. I am learning that, surprise, my life is not all about me and my needs. It's about Him. If nobody on this earth ever thanks me for the time I spent teaching them the Bible, He will. His glory is the goal. A pat on the back for me is not. Do I need to learn this lesson over and over and over again? Oh yeah! I don't think I'll ever completely get it until I see Jesus. But I'm learning a little bit now, and I'm thankful for that. But I started out intending to write about something else. This was one of the Sunday mornings when I felt really blessed by our church. It may be small, but the choir is amazingly good. Today were were singing the spiritual, "Take Your Burden to the Lord and Leave it There." I know we don't have much soul in our church, but we have one lady who does. She's white, but she can belt it. Her name is Judy Price, and she recently found out that she has spinal cancer. She was singing the solo this morning, and when she sang, "When your body's racked with pain...He can save, and He can heal....Jesus knows the pain you feel, and His love for you is real. Take your burden to the Lord, and leave it there," there was not a dry eye in the church. I felt the Holy Spirit so sweetly in the choir loft as the chords swelled, and we all sang in harmony, "Leave it there. Leave it there. Take your burden to the Lord, and leave it there. If you trust and never doubt, He will surely lead you out. Take your burden to the Lord, and leave it there." It's the truth. It's true for Judy, and its true for me. He loves us all. We just need to take that burden to the Lord and leave it there.

Our nephew is born...

Baby Isaac Nathaniel Whitaker came into the world today at 3:49 p.m. central time. He weighed 7 lb., 7 oz. (the Biblical number of completion, by the way), and he was twenty inches long. At the moment, he has dark blue eyes and what my brother describes as "brown/gray" hair and a bald spot. He sounds perfect to me. And that is what he is. He's medically quite perfect. I love writing those words. About a month ago, Terri went in for an ultrasound, and it detected a kink in the aortic valve to Isaac's heart. His heart wasn't able to pump blood well, and the doctors were telling Vance and Terri that it was almost certain that he would have to have heart surgery shortly after he was born. Well, my brother is a prayer warrior, and so is his wonderful wife. I know few people who serve God so consistently and faithfully. They prayed, and we prayed, and several churches prayed. Everybody was praying. And God chose to answer the prayers of two of his faithful servants. They got a miracle. When he was born, he was immediately taken to the neonatal ICU for intensive testing. After about three hours, the doctors pronounced him "perfect." There is nothing wrong with his heart. There is nothing wrong with him at all. Praise the Lord. He still works miracles. He is a God who hears.

Gypsies...

Now that I'm trying this blog thing, I started thinking last night about what I wanted to tell you. I guess this is kind of a an online journal for family, friends, and complete strangers. My first thought was to edit myself a lot, and I will be doing that to some extent. I'm a little worried about how I share things, about how I come across. But this seems like a good way to keep a lot of people updated on our life without writing 50 emails each time something momentous occurs, so I guess I should just dive in. I thought I'd tell you first about the life of a wandering gypsy. Once upon a time, there was a little girl who grew up in Oak Ridge, NC. She lived on a farm with horses, and it was the same farm that her daddy and her granddaddy and her great-granddaddy had lived on before. She had a great appreciation for local ties, family roots, and the family soil. One day, this little girl went off to college. While she was there, she fell in love with an Air Force brat. He didn't have those same ties with local things and family soil, but he had an ability that she didn't have to be able to move as a answer to God's call on his life. She married him, and she's been trying to get this sense of excitement and purpose about moving ever since. =) David and I married in the summer of 2001. I've figured it up recently, and it looks like I will have moved and changed lives 4 times in the 5 years we've been married. Our first move was from North Carolina to Charlottesville, VA for him to finish his last year of law school at UVA. Our second move was from Charlottesville to Washington, DC for him to work as a law clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals, DC Circuit. The third move was to Birmingham, AL to start life here as a lawyer in private practice. And the fourth move will be back to DC for his clerkship on the U.S. Supreme Court starting this summer. It sounds kinda glamorous to me when I write it that way, but anybody who has moved a lot knows that its not. Each time, its packing up life and starting over again from scratch. New home, new church, new jobs, hopefully new friends. I'm a girl who doesn't like change. Boy, am I a traditionalist. I was thinking it over a few months ago, and I realized that if my life had gone the way I'd planned, I'd be living 5 minutes from my parents, and I would've been in that house since I graduated from college. I thought it was such a good idea at the time. There are lots of appealing things about that idea for me still. But I can see God's hand in all the moving and changing that I've had to do. He shoved me out of my comfort zone, and I've learned so much about His care for us. I have learned that He is there, and He will provide in ways that I couldn't have known if I hadn't become a gypsy. I can look back on each place that we've lived and remember ways that we've served God there. I can think back and see blessings that He provided just for us in that particular time and place. I am stronger in Him because of our moves. I have been stretched so that I can serve Him better, and I wouldn't trade that at the end of the day for a house with a white picket fence and some stability.

Hi, everyone!

Well, I guess I'd better introduce myself a bit. My sister-in-law got me thinking that a blog might be a good idea, so here goes. My name is Ellen , and the other cornball in the field with me is my wonderful husband, David. We currently reside in Birmingham, AL where I am finishing up my M.A. in History. I work as a preschool teacher on the side, since I enjoy blowing bubbles as much as I love reading about British 19th century Evangelicals. David is working as a corporate litigator. We are members to the point of exhaustion (active?) at a small Baptist church where we enjoy teaching Sunday School to teens and young adults, singing in the choir, helping with children's church, etc. Life has been full of joys and sorrows for us lately, but we have learned that when you're trying to follow God's will for your life, that life will never be dull. If its what He wants, it's always worth it. Ultimately. Even thought it doesn't feel like it every day. Hey, I have lots of failings, but honesty about my feelings is not one of them. I'm thankful that He has grace for all of it.