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RE: Magdaleine's Alabaster Atrium - 5/3/2008 9:53:04 AM
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humbleinspirit
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Hi Zondie, for various reasons that I know about myself now I am not sure if that would have been the best direction for me at all. I do know that I was not a very well disciplined kid at all, and even when I had piano lessons, that tended to be a pain as well. Also, there would surely be that whole stigma of it being a girls thing to do as well.
Just for some background, I grew up in a poor heavy working class neigborhood that was very intollerant of different things from the stereotypes. Now while that area where I have grown up has changed a little bit with the times, it still has a real strong "anti-different cultures" aspect to it.
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RE: Magdaleine's Alabaster Atrium - 5/3/2008 10:10:13 AM
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zondie
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I don't know where you're from or where you were raised. But I certainly know about "anti-different cultures"! We traveled back and forth from Illinois to Kentucky, during my childhood. 'Talkin' bout different life styles! Whew! It's getting some better around here, but you'll still find those who won't budge from their comfort zone. And also those who think, because grandpa & grandma did (or said) it this way, then it's the 'right' way...ONLY! I'm sure thankful that I found liberty in Jesus Christ! Aren't you?
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RE: Magdaleine's Alabaster Atrium - 5/3/2008 10:13:09 AM
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humbleinspirit
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Yes, definitely! When I started going to a new church during the 90's, I was introduced to a real lot of people that were not from the Boston area, and didn't have the working class Boston attitude either. They were much more open-minded, but still very committed Christians and where into things such as Christian dance and arts, etc. It surely widened my worldview.
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RE: Magdaleine's Alabaster Atrium - 5/3/2008 10:24:28 AM
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zondie
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That's great! The church I attend also has dance, art and drama! When I first started attending (since it's such a different way to worship...in this area). The Pastor announced, " How many here knows that different is not wrong...it's just different!" I love it!!! And theres more and more coming!
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RE: Magdaleine's Alabaster Atrium - 5/3/2008 11:44:31 AM
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humbleinspirit
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It took a while to get used to, however it has definitely been good though, with churches that I have been to in general as they are no longer the same body that they once were.
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RE: Magdaleine's Alabaster Atrium - 5/3/2008 8:11:20 PM
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magdaleine
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Hey Catherine! Good to see you logging in here!
Zondie, you have a LONG way to travel to see ballet performed. Wow. Do travelling companies ever get closer?
Mike, in my city, the ballet often performs free in the park a few times in the summer. If your ballet company does the same, it would be worth going.
It sure is nice that churches and Christians (at least some) no longer find themselves boxed in by rigid stereotypes and intolerances. YAY for your pastor, Zondie, who knows that different isn't necessarily wrong!
I'm in a wierd place and I don't know how to express it. I guess I won't try for now.
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RE: Magdaleine's Alabaster Atrium - 5/3/2008 8:41:26 PM
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Focusing
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Hi Maggie.
Weird places are not all that uncommon to find ourselves in.
Happens to me, and certain friends get to really hear about it. I love my friends. Fortunately, they love me too, and can tease me mercilessly once I get back from my visit to Weirdville.
I am really glad to be in a church that is not boxed in. My previous church ... wowzers, if I were to raise my hands over my head in praising the Lord ... well, let's just say I would be all alone in my actions. If I were to feel like swaying to the music, same thing. Well, I would certainly be getting some majorly disapproving looks.
Honestly, I feel sad for those who are stuck in their little boxes. There is such a freedom in my spirit in being able to express my love to the Lord, and while I was receiving amazing mentoring and guidance at that church, and the fellowship was pretty good too, I felt really claustrophobic. Sometimes I found it hard to breath because I really had to force myself to be someone that I really wasn't.
I'm not too ingrained in this new church yet, and I don't know if it's truly because my life right now is so full, and my priorities don't leave a whole lot of extra time to give to helping at church, or if it's because of my experience at the previous church. Do I want to get "sucked in"? I really truly honestly hate to say that ... but I can't help but wonder if that's holding me back. Is it part of the freedom I'm enjoying? I certainly don't feel guilty, I am a single mom who works full time, with an ADHD child who needs to be kept on top of pretty closely, who is in band, but I also don't have a desire to really give much of myself at church right now.
Wow, did that make sense, or was I just rambling on and on? LOL 
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RE: Magdaleine's Alabaster Atrium - 5/3/2008 10:30:31 PM
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magdaleine
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It's good to have loving friends, isn't Sam? Some of my best friends are right here. I love the community here in CW.
I'm in a new church too--since January. I was going to take till June to visit different places and not make a decision until then but the first Sunday I walked into this place it felt like home. Then they had a week of prayer and I went to the prayer meetings each night and well, this has become home. I'm not ready to get really involved in terms of leadership of any sort because I'm simply not well enough at this point, but on the other hand, I need to stay alert for the places God may want to lead me.
This church is awesome. It's in one of the city's worst neighbourhoods (well, okay, THE worst neighbourhood) with an amazing outreach to the neighbours. When the hookers on the corner proposition the pastor, he invites them into the church and helps them get their lives turned around. Same with the homeless, the drunks, the sniffers, the crack addicts and so on. The church even has a residence built specially for neighbourhood people who want to get out of the destructive cycles they're part of and grow in Christ. One of the former prostitutes is planning to study to become a pastor. Isn't that cool?
The church is in an old tractor factory and the interior structure attests to this with the enormous beams and pillars. The stage at the front is very low and very wide. The worship band sets up on one end and the remaining 2/3 of the stage is open to anyone who wants to dance to the Lord. The children love it! Children are an important part of the church and there sure are a lot of them!
Everyone has a voice and if someone has something they believe is a word or dream from the Lord, they are invited to share it with those who oversee prophetic prayer--doesn't matter who they are. Everything is recorded and often themes emerge that show significance to what people have heard and/or seen.
Your life sounds very full, Sam, and I don't think it's wrong to hold back for a while until you're ready to do more. If you are listening to God, he'll show you when the time is right and what it is he wants you to do. And yes, you made a lot of sense. As for rambling, you're in the right thread. Rambling is welcome. I do a lot of it.
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RE: Magdaleine's Alabaster Atrium - 5/4/2008 1:31:14 AM
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humbleinspirit
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quote:
Mike, in my city, the ballet often performs free in the park a few times in the summer. If your ballet company does the same, it would be worth going.
One of the buildings that I used to work in had a "free" event for all the people who worked there, and they had Boston Ballet there performing.
WOW Maggie, sounds like you have a real church reaching all the least of these! Do you feel comfiortable there?
Also, just for clarification, I am not saying that other churches are not real, but just that your church is doing the very thing that Jesus has the heart for.
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RE: Magdaleine's Alabaster Atrium - 5/4/2008 3:48:56 AM
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magdaleine
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It is an amazing church, Mike and Sam, and I love it. Yes, I feel very comfortable there. I have started walking in the neighbourhood of the church to get to know the place and the people better and to pray for them and the community. I've been advised to stay away from the streets that the hookers ply and for now I am complying but apparently the only danger is that the johns will try to pick me up and I'm not too worried about that. Besides, the prostitutes are right beneath the church windows. What I'm hoping is to become a familiar figure walking through the neighbourhood (pray that my knee will cooperate so I can do this often) so that I'm accepted as one who belongs. Once I'm more comfortable and familiar, I'd like to bring little gifts to the girls--a chocolate bar each or a bottle of water on a hot day. We'll see if I actually follow through with this.
I can't sleep. Usually my sleeping pills will enable me to sleep through the night even if I've slept all the day before but lately I've been waking up after only a few hours of sleep, unable to get back to sleep again. Sigh. Maybe some warm milk and peanut butter will help.
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RE: Magdaleine's Alabaster Atrium - 5/4/2008 3:30:27 PM
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magdaleine
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PENGIE!!!!! We've been so worried about you! It's good to see you back. So, what was this hospital visit for and are you okay? I'm glad you found the new thread. I was a bit concerned about that. I'm glad you like the title.
It has been snowing all day long. Trees and cars are covered. Silly weather! It's MAY, time for flowers not snow.
Church seemed half empty today. Even most of the pastors were absent so things were a bit different. Of course today had to be the day that I brought ds4 to this church for the first time. I hope he comes next week so he can maybe see it as it usually is. Mind you, as I told him before we even got there, every week is different. There is no predictabillity.
I took him out for dim sum and then he dropped me off at The Forks where I'll sit until he comes back to get me. He's helping dh sort things out in the basement. YAY! Dh is getting rid of some of the clutter--like his university notes of 35 years ago.
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RE: Magdaleine's Alabaster Atrium - 5/4/2008 8:23:34 PM
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zondie
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Yes Maggie, I agree with the others in saying, that this is exactly the type of people Jesus has a heart for! Our sins may not have been as 'open to the public', (as some of these dear souls, you've described), before we came pleading to the Lord; but it was still SIN that needed to be forgiven! And we (as they) desperately needed a SAVIOR! It seems easier for people to turn their head, rather than get involved winning souls to Christ! Praise God for this Pastor and this church! (Hope your ds4 goes back with you next week.)
SNOWING!!!  As much as I love snow...I can wait for 3 more seasons GLADLY, before I start praying for it again!  BTW: Hope you sleep better tonight.
A BIG hello to you sweet Pengie! I pray you don't have anymore of those mean 'ole seizures! You had us all so concerned! But we knew what to do...  we prayed and prayed and yep, prayed some more! God is good! And here you are with us again!  Glad you got to spend time with your family, in spite of the headache and fatigue. God bless you, sis.
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RE: Magdaleine's Alabaster Atrium - 5/4/2008 8:48:48 PM
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Darcyjo
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Hey, y'all.....popping out of lurk for a moment.
Good to see you back, Pengie, and I'm still praying for you. 
Maggie, you've mentioned a lot about your kids, just thought I'd mention one of mine. DD1 is a professional dancer, and I posted some links to photos of her in action, post 3435 of "Inspired by Awe", if you want to see J.
Okay, going back into lurk..... 
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RE: Magdaleine's Alabaster Atrium - 5/5/2008 4:58:22 AM
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magdaleine
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What? No link to take me instantly to the photos of dd1, Darcy? I have to WORK to see them?   
I've not seen a photo of your daughter before. She's gorgeous! Thanks for the photos! I'm guessing she's with a contemporary dance and not ballet company? For the rest of you, here's the link so you don't have to work as hard as I did to get to the photos: http://forums.crosswalk.com/fb.aspx?m=3391434
Nice to see you come briefly out of lurkdom!
Zondie, we had a snowball fight this afternoon. One snowball landed inside the house. Oops! But the boys know Mom doesn't mind the odd thing like that. I've started water fights in my kitchen. Shocked the girlfriends all to pieces the first time they saw this! And then they joined in. We had a glorious mess when it was all done.
I've just come home. It's 3:30 a.m. Dh made a nice BBQ meal for the family tonight. Ds4 came to the Forks to pick me up (I was enjoying watching the snow fall through the large windows of the coffee shop) and then we picked up ds3 at his place. Ds3 came home last week from a job seven or eight hours away, building a cement grain terminal.
(I wanted to name the kind of construction they used but the name has escaped me even though he's told me several times. It's slip something or something slip. Ah HA! Slipform. And in looking for information about this form of construction, I happened upon the ad for the exact job he's just returned from: http://www.ptcconstruction.com/app.html A huge platform of plywood is built the size and shape of the structure to be created. The platform is held up by jacks and holes--with 12-15 inch sides--in the platform is where the concrete is poured. They dofill in about 6 inches or so of concrete and then raise the platform so they can fill in the next 6 inches. The platform keeps rising and the work does not stop until the structure is complete. Where ds3 was working, they were able to complete 10 feet in a 12 hour shift with crews working round the clock. They built the 130 foot tall terminal--with multiple silos--in 6 days. I've been asking all sorts of questions because this sort of thing intrigues me. I'm looking for a webpage that would show in pictures what ds3 described to me but I can't find anything. Apparently places like the Seattle Needle, CN Tower in Toronto, etc., were built using this technique. It's really cool.)
Anyway, he came home from this job very sick. So, on the way home to dh's BBQ meal, we stopped at the pharmacy to get something to help him feel better. After the pharmacist asked a series of questions, she refused to give us any medication and sent us to Urgent Care (a step below Emergency).
We went to Urgent Care after dinner, arriving there around 7:00 p.m. The triage nurse saw him at 7:15, he was called to the examining room at 12:35, seen by the doctor at 1:35 and out of there by 2:00 a.m. Then I had to bring him to our home where he'd left laundry (that got cleaned by the magic laundry genie in his absence) and his phone, take him to the pharmacy to get his prescription filled, drive him to his place, carry the laundry to his apartment because he's too sick (poor kid) and then drive home, stopping at Tim Horton's on the way for a doughut (lousy selection at that hour of the morning) and hot chocolate. I think I'm about ready to sleep.
It's still only Sunday for me (since I haven't gone to bed yet). What a long day! And I didn't sleep a whole lot last night.
Well, I have to finish reading Sharon's thread now that I'm part way through it having to hunt for Darcy's photos and then I guess I'm off to bed. Hope you all have a great morning! I plan to sleep through it all!
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RE: Magdaleine's Alabaster Atrium - 5/5/2008 8:04:48 PM
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magdaleine
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Yeah, it certainly was an interesting and long day. Were you up late or up early, Catherine? Must have been up late.
One thing that was really cool about Urgent Care was that they had a long desk-high counter with electric outlets so that people could use their computers while waiting. That's so cool! I had thought of bringing my computer but I had drained the battery in the afternoon and not knowing that there would be an easy place to plug in, I left it at home. I won't the next time I'm there. I'll bet they have free wireless as well.
I'm at The Forks with ds4. I took him on a walk around the rivers and bridges and now we're both sitting with our computers in the coffee shop. So much fun!
On our walk we met the woman I had sat and listened to for an hour the other day. She seemed pleased to see me. I introduced her to my son and him to her but we didn't stay long. She bought herself a book on spirituality that was advertised on Oprah. She showed it to me. I'm concerned because it will be full of new age stuff but it wasn't the right time to discuss that so please, if/when you think of it, pray that what she reads there will not take root but that she will stay open to Jesus. My guess is that she doesn't realize there's a difference.
A bit later on our walk we came to a man busking with his voice and guitar--an older man, probably in his 60s. He seemed to want to talk so we stood there for a bit. He had one of his pantlegs rolled up which exposed what I suppose is cellulitis. It was red, swollen and parts of the skin were broken and very ugly. Several places he had round wounds on this swollen leg that reminded me of the cigarette burns I've seen on others. He says he's dying of cancer and his leg will have to be amputated. If it comes to that, he has an old magnum at home he will use to shoot himself.
What do you say to something like that? And how much is truth and how much is posturing? I asked him if I could pray for him but he declined, saying he has no use for religion and yet at one point I saw a tear trickle down his cheek. Was it because someone cared enough to stop and listen to him?
He needed money and tried several ways to get some from us. He pointed to the bit thrown into his guitar case and said he only needed two more dollars before he went home. He had a tape in his pocket, presurmably of him playing and singing, that he offered to sell us for $5 and later offered to sing a song he wrote if we would give him $5 to listen. We declined and he still sang part of the song, eager to know if we thought it could be a hit. Ds4 was very kind in saying that yes, it could be. In my opinion, it might have in the 60s but not today but I kept those thoughts to myself. He truly is good with the guitar. He sang Blowing in the Wind and I joined him with my alto. He tried to impress us with well-known guitarists/singers/bands that he's been associated with in some way but the names were meaningless to me. My son recognized one.
After we'd been there for a bit, he got a bit gruff and told us that since we weren't giving him any money, he needed to get back to work. Ds4 and I agreed that he was probably chasing us away because he was starting to get emotional again and didn't want us to see it.
I'm home now. While we were sitting with our computers, ds2 came online and I was chatting with him when ds1 also came online from Seville, Spain. That was really cool. He's having a great time. Ever hear of couch surfing? It's an international network of people willing to let others spend the night on their couch, free of charge, while they're travelling. Ds1 has already stayed on two different couches, one in Paris, and said his hosts were awesome, showing him around the cities and such and refusing any sort of tangible "thank you." He forgot his camera battery charger at home and had a hard time finding a replacement. He wound up having to go to Madrid, Spain (a city he wasn't going to visit) to buy the right one, over-priced.
Although my day started very, very late, it's been a good day. For the time being I've officially stopped trying to eat to lose weight. I wasn't succeeding anyway. I know I need to find something that will work for me but for now I've decided to not stress about it and wait.
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RE: Magdaleine's Alabaster Atrium - 5/6/2008 12:14:09 AM
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magdaleine
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Ds3 had that job for only six days. It was a one-time deal--work like crazy, get paid well and then go home. He said it is dangerous and apparently there are often serious injuries and even death on the job. The huge platform they work on and through which they heap shovelfuls of cement (there were 50 men and several large "buggies" of cement on the one platform where ds3 was working) can begin to tilt--I suppose because the cement hasn't hardened enough before it was raised. This wouldn't be so bad when they're not far off the ground but when you're ten stories high or higher, it would not be a good thing at all. I can't imagine! I'm glad I learned about that AFTERwards and not before he went.
Thanks for your prayers for my son to get better and for the people on the street I mentioned. There are so many needy people. I wish there were effective and successful ways of meeting all their needs. The pastor on Sunday said we change things one person at a time. So true. It just seems so slow.
I'm feeling twinges of a sore throat tonight. I wonder if I'm coming down with what ds3 has. I sure hope not!
How are you doing, Zondie?
I haven't seen Dove here for a while so I went looking for her to ask her how she's doing. Not so well, it would seem. She's reading here but hasn't had the energy to post. Let's remember to keep her in our prayers. For the new ones, Dove is struggling with cancer that has been taking its relentless toll on her so that she's been dealing with end-of-life issues and preparing for what could come sooner than she or we would like. She has two children and a husband.
{{{{{{{{{{Dove}}}}}}}}}}}
Pengie, how are you doing?
Edited to add:
quote:
Get some rest sis, so you can enjoy some more play-time! 
Thanks. I'll try. Guess I should be in bed already to do that though, eh? But I'm not ready!
< Message edited by magdaleine -- 5/6/2008 12:23:13 AM >
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RE: Magdaleine's Alabaster Atrium - 5/6/2008 1:15:41 PM
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magdaleine
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That's cool, Ray! I used to be so jealous of tap dancers when I was a kid but in my mind only rich kids got to do that because of the cost of shoes. Aren't guys needed for tap dancing too? And if you were an old enough "kid," being the only guy with a pile of girls could have been rather fun!
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RE: Magdaleine's Alabaster Atrium - 5/7/2008 12:06:29 AM
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Hisjoy
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Maggie, this is a wonderful thread! I've read everything from alabaster box, through Chopin, ballet, church being like Jesus, your son's job and sickness, concern for Pengie and Dove, and so much more. Dove is someone I haven't met yet. Is your son doing OK now?
The first and only time I saw ballet was at school when a ballet company performed for the students. I took tap dancing lessons too, Ray, all girls.
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RE: Magdaleine's Alabaster Atrium - 5/7/2008 8:33:26 AM
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magdaleine
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Oh my, Darcy! I didn't realize you're so tall! Nor your daughters! Wow! And yeah, I can see the problems of a tall woman in the ballet. Did she study ballet?
Hi Joy, and thanks! Welcome!
Ds3 is still sick. I saw him last evening and he didn't look or sound so good but he's in an a cappella singing group (they're really cool, using their vocal chords for percussive instruments) that has a big performance coming up in a week or so and because he was out of town for a bit, he can't miss any rehearsals now, poor guy.
I've caught what he has. I spent the night sucking lozenges and blowing my nose (and blowing out my ears as a result). I don't think I slept much if anything. Hopefully this won't last long, though ds3 has been sick for more than a week now.
How's the sale of your house going, Joy?
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