Chain Emails and Rounds of Applause

This was written in early 2011 and I am resurrecting it from the drafts folder. 

If you have an email address, then you've probably received a chain email with a threat like this:

"If you don't forward this to 13 people, you will be attacked by a madman at midnight and all your friends will hate you and you'll have bad luck for the rest of your days."

And if you're anything like me, you shoot the email a challenging look, and press delete.

It's annoying and not really that much of a threat, right?

So anyway, something similar to this is something that happened to me last week. I was in chapel, and the worship leader was talking and said something to the effect of "If you love Jesus, you'll clap your hands right now!" And the room was filled with clapping and cheering immediately.

I couldn't help but wonder if that was really the way to do worship. Sure, it's not really a big deal or anything, but I sort of felt like it was just silly manipulation. What will happen if we clap? What will happen if we don't?
I'll tell you what: Nothing. I didn't see the point in clapping for that reason and so I didn't. Pretty sure my eternal state is still secure. Pretty sure I haven't lost fellowship with Christ for not clapping.

This sort of approach to the Christian life bothers me. If our faith is nothing more than a round of applause at the name of Jesus, what does that say about Him? In my opinion, we come off as idiots. "I love Jesus" bumper stickers, with no substance.

I'm sorry, but that isn't the kind of faith I want to have. I want a living, vibrant faith that has a foundation. I want to know what I believe and to allow those things to influence my worship.

I have nothing against raising hands in worship or rejoicing in our Savior. I just think that we need to let our faith be solid and not carried by our emotions. As Christians, we represent the name of Jesus.

Are we making Him out to be much less worthy by our actions?

Carolina People

When I went to South Carolina, I was there for a week, which was the perfect amount of time for a trip. More time with friends and with family than the usual rush-around-to-barely-see-anyone sort of trip we tend to have. Here are the people pictures.

Graceanna and Jillian came over one day, and I had fun playing with the baby. She's been a little shy in the past, but this time, she had fun.

Graceanna seems to really like dogs, even crazy Oscar. 

I am loving her smile in this picture. And loving this picture with her other "aunt" and I.

The Sunday I was there, my good friend Isabel came down from Charleston and I showed her really just about everything that there is to see in Beaufort. Isabel lived in the same building we did in Spokane. Her dad was one of our pastors and we got to be quite close with her many family members. She recently got married and moved to Charleston, which is only a couple hours away, so I knew I'd get to see her in the South at last! We matched unintentionally. I could have, should have changed, but I didn't.
This is at the Sands in Port Royal. Used to love coming up here in high school, kidnapping people and taking pictures.

Such a lovely view from the top

Took her over to Cat Island for purely selfish reasons - I wanted to see the house I grew up in. It's been raised a little bit so it doesn't look the exact same, but brings back so many memories.

Then we went to the Waterfront Park. My dad proposed to my mom on one of these swings.

We walked to the "Cannons", a mini-park so named because it contains Civil War cannons. Original. I love this peaceful section of Beaufort.

There's a view of the bridge downtown, which opened to let a boat pass through as we watched.

I remember going on one of these carriage tours when I was little and we had family in town; I think it would be fun to do as an adult to learn about Beaufort's rich history.

We walked around looking at the big homes on The Point, and happened upon The Chocolate Tree, an absolute must. We were sucked in by the amazing smell.

Love this quote - some of Forrest Gump was filmed in Beaufort, so it's appropriate.

One of the many beautiful downtown homes.

We turned a corner and saw this house, and Isabel said "Ooooh, it's like a castle!" Which was funny because it's called "The Castle". I love it and the tabby wall in the foreground.

We ran into Emily down there and she and Isabel got to meet! They had previously met when I was Skyping with Emily in Spokane and Isabel came into my apartment. Great to have worlds collide. My first experience with my Spokane-Beaufort worlds colliding was two years earlier, when Jillian came to Spokane for 9 days. Here's a picture of when Jillian met Izzy.

And I love the "low clearance" signs on trees.

Last, we went to Old Sheldon Church, where Carson and I got engaged.

And when we turned around to go back to my parents' house, we discovered this gem of a spot.

I went to Granddaddy and Grandmamma's on Monday night and we had Frogmore Stew (or Lowcountry Boil, but we've always used the former name)

And then Jillian hosted a fun tea party for friends at her new home in Savannah (very new - she bravely hosted even though she'd been living there not-quite-two weeks. Now that's hospitality!). We crossed the Tallmadge bridge to get there, which my siblings and I always called the "H Bridge" because it's shaped like the letter H.

Jillian had a lovely set-up on the porch, complete with a gluten-free menu since a few of the guests are gluten-intolerant. Very thoughtful!

Graceanna and Emily matched. Gracie was ready for a nap, so I think that explains the face.

Caterpillars kept finding their way to Katherine, so she delicately removed them with a spoon.

Maymay, Momma, Baby.

These ladies have all been so impactful in my own life in Beaufort. It was a blessing to sit down to tea with them and talk about life.

The after-party was all about the baby.

Mom and I

Em and Katherine

Katherine and I

We went to the beach at Tybee after this little party.


I left to go home the next morning, so Dad and I sat in my sister's old room and talked computers. Oscar was obviously a big help.

We got up at a not-too-early hour on Wednesday to go to the airport. Since I hadn't gotten a picture with both of them in... a really long time (not sure how long), I made my parents take this shot with me when we were waiting for me to go through security. The timer on my camera made that beeping sound which should have alerted security, but it didn't.

People make traveling worth it. And the overjoyed Carson on the other end made the journey home great.