The Land of Oz Blog Has Moved.

Sorry - I guess the short version of that last long winded post
is that I'm no longer posting here. My new blog's address is
http://notinkansas.wordpress.com/.
I hope that you will readjust your bookmarks and follow me there. You can still make comments there, too (in a spot right under the post title), so follow the yellow brick road out of OZ...The title of the new blog is "NOT IN KANSAS!" See ya there!

HAPPY NEW BLOG!!!!!!!!!!

http://notinkansas.wordpress.com/
I'm mad at blogger for making me switch to the new blogger...but then when I went to switch, I wasn't one of the lucky few who was allowed for the five hours I was trying to do so. (Apparently, my blog is too large or complicated or something like that, because I recieved a message from blogger saying that even though they're officially out of beta testing and the new blogger is available to everyone, it's NOT actually available to everyone and so if you're not one of the few who have the 'switch now' button on your home page, "Sorry! You'll just have to wait.")

http://notinkansas.wordpress.com/
SO! I've been contemplating switching to wordpress for MONTHS now, and today just clenched it. Even though five or six hours late, I guess blogger finished their background check and decided to let me into the blogger beta club, and I was able to switch to the beta blog (which i didn't want to switch to ANYWAY because it offers no features I want and is in essence, a wordpress ripoff!), I'm pouting and so I'm going to switch to the other service now. PHLBPHHHHH!!!!

http://notinkansas.wordpress.com/
I hope that you will kindly adjust your bookmarks accordingly and learn the few little tweaks with me. The new blog is cool. It has multiple pages! A page for posts like these - a page for devotions, a page for pictures (which right now just has links to pictures), and a page for "about angie, which right now is kind of blank!). The blogroll had to get reordered because it only lists it alphabetically...so if you're one of the people who comes here to get everywhere else that might take some getting used to. But overall, i give it an A!

So! This blog will stay up indefinitely! (you never know)... but in case you haven't caught it by now...
http://notinkansas.wordpress.com/

London is bursting at the seams...

We saw "The Holiday" yesterday at the theater, and since half of it was set in London, I was reminded of our trip thereearlier this year and thought I'd post the pictures from that trip (six months later)! The thing is - London looks in the movies JUST like it does in real life. I think that we should have to live there at some point in the future...

London Photos

Dear God. Please let Granny live. Amen.

My Granny (my mom's mom) is in the hospital, very sick. The thing she is sick with - the doctor's told her last time she had it that the NEXT time she were to get sick with it, she wouldn't make it; that her heart and lungs had undergone too much damage from it too many times. That "next time" is this time.

Granny can't die yet.

"Please and Amen."

Christmas Lights, Pt. 2

We went to see the Christmas lights mentioned in the post below, (turns out they were really close to my apartment), and it also turns out, they were JUST as FANTASTIC as they look in the video! It was great!

No, Aunt Bethany, those are the Christmas lights.

You know how you see video of crazy guys who sync up their house's Christmas lights to music? Well, one of THOSE guys goes to our church and the resulting light show is FANTASTIC! Take a look for yourself!

Roman's Christmas Video One


Roman's Christmas Video Two

Like the Spokes On a Wheel

Detoxing From Church

The link above will continue the excerpt below, so be sure to click on it, because you NEED to read it...I stumbled on it today and liked it. You know that GOING to church is not where it's at. We are the church and there's something a lot bigger in being the church than going to church, right? This article speaks to that.

I need to worship. So I go to my local church, which, if it’s cutting-edge, has a worship pastor on staff that prepares an inspiring "worship experience" for me on a weekly basis. One local church I know advertises its worship services on its marquee, "We worship five times, three ways, one God." (Hello! Is it me or does that just sound wrong?)

I also need to fellowship with my fellow Christians. So I go to my local church to attend a programmed version of community that provides a surface-level contact with people around some form of activity at my convenience. If I need more fellowship, I go to a small group, usually focused on the dynamic personality of the small group leader or on the subject matter I feel I need to better my life. But again, this is at my convenience and fairly optional if my schedule becomes too demanding.

I need discipleship and Christian growth. So I go to my local church to attend Sunday services, Bible studies and small groups where someone opens the Bible and tells me what it says and how it should apply to my life. I also have the option of learning "practical" topics such as how to be a good spouse, parent, employee, leader, steward, etc.

I need to serve. So I go to my local church and participate in a program where I use my time and skills in a fairly convenient manner to help others. For the most part, it’s fairly safe. And if I'm a volunteer, my participation is completely based on my schedule.

I need to be engaged in mission. So I go to my local church to connect to their evangelistic ministry and their missions program. Every so often I might volunteer to hand out sodas or serve coffee in a convenient and semi-relational form of "reaching people" for Christ. I might also give money to local missionaries the church supports and maybe participate in a weekend mission trip.

I need a children's program to educate my kids. So I go to my local church to place my children in the care of Sunday school teachers and youth pastors who will provide the spiritual and moral foundation for their Christian growth via an age-relevant program.

I need purpose for my life. So I go to my local church, hoping to find a leader with a vision big enough to inspire me. Then I sacrifice my time, energy, and money to become involved in the leader’s vision so I can build something big for God with him. New programs. New buildings. New projects. New groups. New services. New converts. New church plants. New missions. More and more and more vision to give my life a reason to exist.

Now strip all of that away. Imagine what you would have left after you remove from your life everything connected with the organizational church. I mean everything. I’ve discovered the hard way that living most of my adult life in cultural Christianity has formed my entire identity as a Christian. And when everything in my life connected with the church is gone, including sixteen years of professional ministry, I’m confronted with the true raw status my personal faith.

Click here to read the rest.