Last week, I watched Jesus Camp and have been slowly mulling the documentary over in my mind trying to figure out how to describe my response.

Since I grew up in an environment similar to the documentary and went to a school like the one in Saved! (but stricter and more insane), I understand the perspective of the individuals, but at the same time feel ashamed of how they portray Christianity. Christianity is no longer a religion, but a subculture in our society that alienates almost everyone else. It wasn’t until I left that sheltered environment and went to college that I began to understand. Actually, I think it’s impossible to see it unless you break from the Christian bubble and engage in our post-modern world.

Pastor Mark writes about this much better than I ever could. Check it out, especially if you’re in the Bible Belt.

Friday night I was reminded of the huge technology gap that exists in the communications world. Since I work in netroots and am writing my thesis on the topic, I’ve encapsulated myself in that little world and forget how everyone else is just catching on to things.

Recently, I joined the Ebenezer’s events team to help with their concerts. I did a bit of concert promotion in Chattanooga with A Song for the Children  and have missed it. Plus, it’s nice to have a communications outlet that doesn’t include the words legislative, strategy or thesis.

Friday night, I found myself discussing social media at Ebenezers and jotting down a few ideas for a communications plan. Despite having amazing graphics and “trailers” to introduce sermons, NCC is just starting to capture e-mail addresses. While Pastor Mark has a blog and they podcast sermons, the church really hasn’t used any social networking to promote activities.

During the concert, the manager mentioned that she needs to put together a street team to promote concerts. Immediately I went into what Bekna has named “my scary planning mode” and started thinking of ways that the coffeehouse could use all the free stuff out there to announce events.

It just floors me that this giant gap exists between traditional communication plans and the web people. It’s not just politics, it’s really everywhere. PR Squared commented on this topic in the corporate sector this week. Should we slow down and wait for our publics and stakeholders to catch up or should we encourage them to try these new methods and push them along?

BTW, check out Bo Rains. She played Friday night and is great. I downloaded her album , Scarecrows from iTunes and Among the Clouds is my new favorite song.

When you’ve run from the Promise Land, leaving Canaan for some kind of sin. The long way home is often rough, oh but it’s just about enough to be loved.
-Just About Enough, Josh Bales

Recently, I’ve been thinking about the hand of God in my life, or how the Holy Spirit has used a series of unrelated events to get me where I am today. It’s both scary and awe inspiring. It makes me excited to see how God is using my decisions today to bring about my hopes for the future.

I fervently believe that God has a dry sense of humor due to the fact that irony seems to be a driving force in my life. During the height of my “Tracey Flickness,” I actually put together a five-year plan and laid out the action steps to get there. The funny thing is that five years later, I’m exactly where I wanted to be, but through a completely different sent of action steps that came about through situations that I could not control. The decisions that I thought would land me the big breaks that I fought tooth and nail to get have really done nothing. Strange how God works like that.

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I’ve mentioned on here that this semester has been hard. Actually, it’s been one of the hardest periods of my life. Not only is the work/school/personal life mix hard, but there’s been a  lot of sucky things go on. Some I’ve blogged about and some I haven’t.

However, since my post on Saturday, I’ve spent a lot of time in prayer and thought about my recent actions and decisions. Even though I fail miserably 99% of the time, I’ve been a Christian almost all of my life. Without God to turn to, I seriously don’t know what I’d do. On my own, I just do stupid, stupid things. It suddenly occured to me that there must be some important lessons there.

Being a big picture person, I really struggle with my faith at times. God only gives you small puzzle pieces without the picture on the box to guide you. This really frustrates me because I wonder constantly, “What does this mean in the long-run?” Sometimes, it takes years to find out. Sometimes, you never ever know. I understand this in theory, but I don’t like it very much and constantly fight it.

Saturday, I downloaded Josh Bales new cd, The Washington Circle Home Recordings, from iTunes. (Yay that he finally got on there!) It’s a complilation of previously recorded songs. About half are orginial recordings of songs on previous cds and the other half are acousitic guitar and piano arrangements of hymns.  In addition to one of my favorite hymns, Praise to the Lord the Almighty, he has This Is My Father’s World.

This sounds terrible, but I’ve never really liked that hymn. It was the name of a book that I read in elementary school and fervently disliked. Ever since then, I’ve just connected the hymn with the book and put up with it when I sang it in church.

Sunday, I was listening to the words and was struck by one of the verses. There weren’t any flashes of brillance or insight, but it was an affirmation that God is with me, and this sucky period of my life will be over soon.

This is my Father’s world. 
O let me ne’er forget
that though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the ruler yet. 
This is my Father’s world: 
why should my heart be sad? 
The Lord is King; let the heavens ring! 
God reigns; let the earth be glad!

The truth and beauty of those words have sunk in over the past few days. I’m starting to get some insight as to what I’ve been learning. This has been accompanied by a lot of “d’oh, why didn’t I know that?” moments. Eh, I’m human with a greater propensity than most to make stupid decisions.

1) Trust my instincts about people. This is a no-brainer, but everytime I get a bad instinct about someone, I refuse to believe it. I think to myself, “No GFTS, you’re wrong. In fact, you should go out of your way to be nice to this person and prove your instincts wrong.” Bad move. Everytime I do that, it backfires. I keep relearning this one. Maybe one day, I’ll realize that I have extremely good instincts. I just need to trust them.

2) You need community. To some degree, I shut myself off this semester. I bounced around to different churches and didn’t put roots down in a small group because of “busyness.” I even found myself not turning to my usual support system thinking, “You’re 25, you need to learn to do things on your own.”

Yes, it’s important to handle things on your own, but you also need to share and unburden yourself. The past few months would have been infinetly easier had I overcome my pride and turned to those who love and know me. Furthermore, I refused to put in the effort to build community around me. This isn’t freshman year in college. To get involved, you must make an effort. I can honestly say that for the past few months I haven’t made one much of one. I have proved that John Donnes’ famous words are true.

3) It’s not bad to go to your parents for advice. In fact, I think they actually like it. There’s a difference between asking for advice and expecting them to solve your problems. I don’t think I ever realized that before.

There’s one universal truth in the South: all events, joyful or sad, are accompanied by food. Someone at the airport gave me a Moonpie to welcome me back to the Scenic City, and we’ve been eating ever since. My grandparent’s church had an incredible spread after the funeral with the best chicken salad that I’ve ever eaten (90% of the table had some type of fried food). Since it’s almost Mardi Gras, someone even made a king cake in the shape of my grandfather’s name. The pounds that I escaped gaining over Christmas caught up with me. I’m looking forward to returning to the land of the health-conscious food police.

The funeral went as well as most funerals can go. My 10-year-old godson and cousin, John Edward, served as an alter boy and his sister, Catherine, wrote a poem dedicated to my grandfather that she read during Mass. I don’t know how she managed to read it. We were all crying.

It was really good to see my family. Most of my cousins were there, and it has been years since I’ve seen some of them. We’ve all grown up so much. It’s crazy to think that the oldest one is turning 30 this year! One thing that amazes me is how much we all look alike. Despite different genetics, and the fact that I’m the spitting image of Mom from the South’s side of the family, there’s just something about all of us that shows we’re related. It’s not always present in extended families, but it seems to be on both sides of mine. Maybe it’s a Cajun thing. They are a rather inbred ethnic group.

My great aunt and uncle (my grandmother’s brother and his wife) also drove up from New Orleans. Every time I see them, I’m reminded of what the parentals from the South will be like in about 30 years. They’re a spunky pair who travel all over the world and are just really fun to be around. They brought pictures of their recent adventures, and gave Mom from the South some new destinations for her vacation planning agenda.

Family events are also very interesting because of religious differences. McGuyver Dad’s family is fervently Catholic. Mom and Dad are fervently Protestant, and I’m fervently Calvinist. It’s an interesting situation that can be uncomfortable at times, and we’re faced with the conundrum of being polite and respectful and demanding respect for our beliefs. Politeness generally wins since manners are placed above everything else on Mom’s side of the family, but it has prompted some interesting discussions on the difference between Catholicism and Protestantism. However, seeing that it’s an issue that has caused bloodshed and theological debates for hundreds of years, I doubt we’re going to solve anything.

Last night, instead of vegging out to the Superbowl, we went to Lookout Mountain Pres. and heard Joe Novenson preach. How I miss Joe’s preaching! Chattanooga is so blessed to have him. He spoke on brokenness in your relationship with God. Since that seems to be the 2007 theme, it was really great to hear. We’re 36 days into this new year, and God has shaken the very foundations of my faith. I’m starting to get scared at what He’s going to do next. Every time I think I understand where God is going, something else happens (like losing your grandfather). However, it’s always exciting to grow in the Lord, and I’m appreciating this process. As Joe said, God is breaking the support system that I’ve created and replacing it with His. It’s painful at times, but always, always good.

Girl from the South’s Mission Statement

Jeremiah 29:11-12
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

Girl from the South’s Goals and Objectives

Philippians 4:6-9
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.*

*Not posting this to be a Bible thumper or in-your-face Christian, but because I really need to remember these verses in my life right now, and there are very few places that I can’t access my blog. (Yeah that article on Christian blogging actually made an impact.)