Today was more of...you guessed it....job hunting! Josh's job situation is progressing in a positive direction- yeah! so continue to pray it all stays positive! I applied to more jobs today- some at the YMCA and the Union Gospel Mission. Applying for jobs is exhausting- I think I want to develop a universal application for every single employer because they all want to know basically the same thing...so come on America lets get this thing going!
We decided that we were going to attend a 5:30 Mars Hill Good Friday service downtown (one of their 14 campuses in the Seattle area) and then see about purchasing a mattress. We set out with the Garmin telling us we would be 30 minutes early to the service. Well let me tell you we ran into some heavy traffic from a small accident, AND little miss Garmin does not know everything and does not always communicate clearly- so we hit some construction and ended up being 15 minutes LATE to service. Ekk. Thankfully there was a spot left in the lot- though it was at such an angle I thought the car was going to tip over and start rolling.
Side note: if you have never been to Seattle/Washington there are some CRAZY roads here. I heard someone say once that when they were mapping out the roads here that they were drunk, well I am starting to believe them. And the hills- oh boy, I have never driven so close to vertical in my life- you literally pray your car makes it up because you are not sure if it is even designed to get up at such an angle.
Anyways- Mars Hill was interesting. We walked into a VERY dark sanctuary with only a few groupings of lit candles. They had a creepy/eerie video playing- it was dark and shadowy images of the crucifixion, super loud bass that pounded your body and a narration that sounded like they were telling a horrifying ghost story- but they were actually reading a translation of the bible. Josh and I made it to our seats only by touch because seriously you could not see a thing- awkward! The band played a song, showed more video and then did a worship song as a church. The pastor came out and preached for 10-15 minutes which lead into a time of communion.
Now this might sound weird but I have always enjoyed when a church serves those stale square crackers versus bread. One of the reasons being is that I do NOT like eating a small piece of really soft bread- eww but more importantly it is because of something I learned at Menomonie Alliance. While at Stout I helped out with the Youth Group at Menomonie Alliance Church. One time when the youth group was taking communion Pastor Brent talked about when his dad told him something that has stuck with me about communion. Brent's dad told him to take the cracker in his hand and to feel the sharp edges and pointed corner on his fingers. By feeling its sharpness it was to be a reminder of the pain Christ experienced on the cross with His body. From then on I have always taken the small cracker and rubbed my fingers along the edge and then squeezed it between two finger so i would feel the sharp corners and remember Christ suffered for me.
While this Good Friday service was not my favorite, Jesus still shared truth with me despite my judgmental attitude. While driving around the valley Josh and I have seen this advertisement on the back of buses that says "Jesus is ___________" Josh asked me what the first thing I thought of when I saw that and I said "Jesus is Lord". We saw it enough times that we finally looked it up online. It is this website put out by a local church that you can go on and fill in the blank. It is constantly updating and is really interesting to read what people think. I have been struggling with homesickness the past few days and counting down in my mind the months until we move home. But during this Good Friday service I felt like God was telling me that Jesus is Lord in Seattle, Jesus is Lord in Minneapolis and Jesus is Lord no matter where you live- that FACT never changes. To put it simply "Jesus IS" and my life should reflect that. So no matter how I feel and no matter where I live, Jesus IS and I need to live because He gave and PAID FOR my life!
Jesus paid it all
All to him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow
Oh praise the one who paid my debt and raised this life up from the dead
After service Josh and I had a mission to go check out this box spring and mattress he found on craigs list. Lets just say like all things pertaining to craigs list- it was an experience! BUT BUT BUT we got a good clean mattress and box spring for 20 bucks- BOO YAH! Thanks to Chris having a truck- we got it back to the Renzelman's in one piece. Thanks to Rebecca and her love of things being clean- she sprayed it down with Lysol for us :) woo hoo!
okay well I have written a lot and its getting late- so I hope you all had a reflective Good Friday. It is one of my favorite Christian holidays- the chance to be reflective and quiet as a body of believers- mmm beautiful!
sleep well dear friends and family because its the weekend bbaaaabbbbbbyyyyyyyy! 'night
oh p.s. mom I did see the moon and it was HUGE! so cool we can see the same moon- love ya!
oh and you all should check this out:
Jesus is_______
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