Beautiful Mess

Heading to Rochester tonight, then to Appleton tomorrow. I am telling you, by the end of the summer, I will have been ALL OVER Minnesota!

We fly back home two weeks from today. And I must admit, I am a little sad at the thought of leaving. I have decided that although there are still SO MANY things I want to do while I am here, places I want to go, things I want to do/see, I am NOT going to do them all. I want to have a reason (or two) to come back. Bob and Nate are still trying to convince me to move here. Just today, we were talking about seminaries. I admitted to really considering Truett, with the main reason being that they have a pretty cross. (Don't deny it, you know it's a beautiful symbol-thing. Afterall, if I ever got a tattoo, I would want that cross... but I feel like I can't get that cross without going to Truett...) I was saying that when I look into seminaries, I always look at what kind of lifestyle statement students much adhere to. Nate brought to my attention that at Bethel (a seminary here in the cities) you can drink. Thanks for making me sound like an alcoholic Nate! haha! He also said that even though Bethel is not a "Southern Baptist" seminary, the MWBC has kinda latched onto it, and if I am a member of a Baptist church up here (like the church plant that Nate is starting on campus) I can get a significant scholarship to Bethel....just a thought...

So I am reading "This Beautiful Mess" right now, by Rick McKinley. He is the pastor at Imago Dei, where Donald Miller goes to church. I am only a little ways into the book, but I must say, it is a GREAT book. It is all about the "kingdom of God." A little excerpt, just for you:

"In the genius of Jesus we find ourselves grasping aspects of the kingdom through a living definition that is growing and changing all the time. Not neat (that's dogma), not reduced (that's formula), not disassembled (that's dead).
But beautiful."

That's the kind of life I want to live. A beautifully messy one.