IntenseDebate - Kristen

15 years ago @ The House Studio - Nostalgia, Film Theory... · 0 replies · +1 points

I miss the UK so much. Sometimes I forget how homesick I was for friends and family when I was there. If only I could move back and take with me my job and all those I love. A girl can dream, right?

If I had moved there planning to stay indefinitely, I think the adjustment might have been more difficult. I felt perfectly fine being an outsider and taking everything in in that way because I knew I would be there a year, finish my program, and go back home. Perhaps I had it a bit too easy.

I arrived in Scotland just in time for the Rugby World Cup in 2007. I tried--and failed--to understand it. In 2008, I found myself in an American pub watching the Super Bowl. At around 3:00 a.m., my friends and I left at the end of the third quarter, just in time to miss the Patriots' historic loss--which I would have enjoyed seeing very much. :)

15 years ago @ The House Studio - Nostalgia, Film Theory... · 0 replies · +1 points

Thanks, Michael. I've always had a fascination with Asia, but at the same time, it's SO different from everything I know that the thought of going, even for a visit, quite honestly terrifies me.

I never witnessed kindness to that degree in Scotland, but I did notice that the people there were generally warmer than we Americans are. I wonder if it's because we're always in a hurry and alone far too often. Maybe if we bumped into each other on the street rather than passing them in our enclosed cars on our way to our next thing, we'd view life a little differently. Just a thought...

15 years ago @ The House Studio - Top 10 Non-Christmas C... · 1 reply · +1 points

Love Actually! I guess it's a Christmas movie, but it's good all year long.

15 years ago @ The House Studio - Moving Beyond the ABCs · 0 replies · +1 points

No, I don't think the conversation on Christianity is only for Christians. Certainly our perspectives on our faith will differ from those who don't subscribe to that faith, but at steps along the way, I've found myself most challenged by non-Christians, even atheists. Outsiders can offer fresh perspectives we can't always see from inside our tight-knit circles.

15 years ago @ The House Studio - Is church to be consumed? · 0 replies · +1 points

This thought process began for me when a friend told me about a church sermon podcast he sometimes listens to in which the pastor said something along this line to the congregants, "If you're here simply to consume church, this particular gathering and gathering time aren't for you. This is for people who want to do the work of the church." Which made me realize, he would've been speaking to me if I attended that church.

I'm realizing church isn't really a place at all. It's the work we do as a community of believers.

15 years ago @ The House Studio - Is church to be consumed? · 0 replies · +1 points

Thanks, Andrew. I agree. It seems we have similar ideals about the Church's purpose and our collective role in it.

15 years ago @ The House Studio - 21st Century Salem? · 0 replies · +1 points

Agreed, Scott. Christians will undoubtedly disagree. My problem is with the approach some are choosing--when people begin to point fingers, to make their own, public lists concerning who's in and who's a heretic. The mob mentality can be strong and dangerous (i.e. the Salem witch trials, the Holocaust...the list goes on).

15 years ago @ The House Studio - Monday morning is for ... · 1 reply · +1 points

Do you have a spreadsheet of all your junior high school supplies? Or perhaps did you etch in "Scotty" with the year? I'm wondering how you know how long you've had said mechanical pencil. Either way, just an FYI, you'll never get back the brain function required to reach your conclusion. See you tomorrow, Scotty 1992!

15 years ago @ The House Studio - The "Greet Your Neighb... · 0 replies · +1 points

That's how I operate in friendships too. I have a handful of very close friends to whom I'm loyal to the death. I don't enter into friendships lightly or recover quickly when one falls apart. Maybe that's why doing church is difficult for me. I know most relationships there won't become friendships.

15 years ago @ The House Studio - The "Greet Your Neighb... · 1 reply · +1 points

Thanks for the affirmation, Herb. :) I really love my church, and I have connected with one of the pastors and learned the names of some of the people who sit near me each week. Besides communion, my favorite part of the service is always the benediction, when the congregation holds hands and sings the same song. It's during that time, not the meet and greet time, when I feel most like the body of Christ with the rest of the congregation.

By the way, I have no idea how you survive leading a church as an introvert. That, rather than the small talk and icebreakers, would be my worst nightmare.

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