a good church is hard to find

“When we were there praying with them, the Holy Spirit was so thick I was really feeling God’s presence.  This was a big success and the home group was really blessed!  This is what The Bridge is all about.  Connecting and having fun.”

I try to be fair to the churches I’m trying out (did I mention I’m starting again on a new church-hunt?), but when I find statements, such as the above, on their website, I can’t help myself.

“…the Holy Spirit was so thick I was really feeling God’s presence.”  Really?  The Holy Spirit was so thick…  I’m not even sure where to start on that whole statement, theologically speaking.  God’s presence is always here.  The Holy Spirit is also here.  Can the Holy Spirit be here in concentrated form, like frozen OJ or something?

And now we’re going to state that the HS being thick, God’s presence really being felt equals “success.”  Wait.  So if you have an “off” night, you lose?  Damn, I didn’t know faith was a game.

And then… the Bridge group is all about success and blessing others through their success (of getting the HS to show up thickly and making sure you can really feel God’s presence).  And success and blessing equals “connecting and having fun.”  What?  Who edited this thing?  Did anything actually read this statement?  Did they think through the implications of what was being said?

The funny thing is that I’m still going to give this church a shot–they have women on the pastoral staff!  I assume they let some young 20 something write that statement, and they put it up without thinking about it (sigh), but I am hoping the church itself has a better foundation, theologically, logically, etc.

gardens and ants and internet

I did purchase a few plants for my “flower bed,” after all.  I put in a lemon-thyme plant (by the mint I transplanted from the side yard), a few pansies, a couple “wild” strawberry plants, and a couple creeper type plants that I’m not sure what they are because I didn’t pay that much attention.  Along the back of the bed, I have some daffodil bulbs that my neighbor gave me.  They’re done for the season, but will look great next year!

I also purchased a tiny, baby fuchsia.  But that I have planted in one of my own pots outdoors so that I can grow it into a beautiful fuchsia and take it with me when I go.  I’m going to use the skills I learned in my high school horticulture classes from Mr. Jensen.

I’m considering attempting to transplant some moss for the rest of the yard, since it’s too shady for grass to grow.  There’s certainly plenty of moss to steal from other areas where it’s not even wanted.  And a moss yard can look really nice if it’s done well.

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In other news, the ants have discovered my cats’ food bowls.  This is not good.  I can’t tell where they’re coming in this time (the sneaky sonofaguns), so I’m not even sure where to put up the most resistance.  The cats won’t eat if there are ants (I don’t blame them), so this is truly an important battle to wage.  Sigh.  No more ants, please!  Since I doubt my landlord will spring for an actual perimeter spray by professionals (I know it’s toxic chemicals, but we’re talking about ants in my house!), I looked up this stuff, which is supposed to be safe for pets and kids and is a perimeter treatment you can do yourself.  I mean, seriously, whatever works.

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And in other-other news, I am changing my internet providers (again).  I started with Clear for $49.99/month, but when they went up $5/month, I went shopping for a new provider.  (Since then, they have been eaten by Sprint and don’t even offer the same deals anymore.)  Then I went with Frontier for $29.99/month.  But… apparently Frontier doesn’t have the technology to support the number of customers they have in my area, which means I frequently have internet issues and my internet drops/shuts off/is a pain in the ass.  There’s nothing for them to do, so obviously that meant I had to find a new provider.

If you can believe it, I have a two year contract with Xfinity by Comcast for $34.99/month, price-lock.  All I can suppose is that they are competing with everyone else.  I didn’t want to go with Xfinity because usually 1. you don’t get a contract and you have to call every 6 months to get the price to stay reasonable, or 2. you get a contract with a low price to start, then a jacked price to end (and you can do nothing about it).  But this new deal is a promise of a low price for two years, even if I move locations.  I mean, it sounds like a lie to me, but the guy insisted it wasn’t.  So I bit and next weekend I’m getting Xfinity installed.  Hello, fast-internet!

Life is a mixed bag lately, but mostly good, I think.

yard work

Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous day.  I was in the kitchen, finishing a batch of baked goods, when I noticed two of my neighbors outside, doing yard work.  It turned out that one of them has been hired by our landlord to maintain the two properties here, which made me feel a little better about my laziness.  But still.  It is our home, right?

So I donned clothes I could work in and borrowed a rake.  According to one of my other neighbors, it has been at least a couple of years since anyone raked out my “backyard.”  From the massive pile of leaves I created, I can believe it!  I was outside for almost three hours.  But my backyard is mostly raked, I cleared off my porch area, and worked the soil a little in a small flower bed area by the porch.  (It’s mostly surrounded by a line of rocks, so it feels like it ought to be a bed of some sort.)  I even pruned a tree and this huge bush that is now not so huge.

I’m considering buying a few plants to put in, to make it look nice.  Even if I’m only here this one year, I’ll still be here this spring and summer, so I might as well enjoy my backyard, right?

I’ll say this: my cats did not like that they could watch me through the screen, but couldn’t join me.  I think they were jealous.