Where He goes, there I follow

It's been a good day, ... fitting for a Saturday. Between Wii tennis with Christy and Evan, a party/barbecue with Adam, and some random shopping and such, it was a definite good weekend. Not quite as fun as last weekend, but you can't take a fun trip with a 3-girl "harem" [as my grandmother termed it] every day.

I used to be a wall flower; I'm not anymore. I can remember growing up being a "social retard" [coined by a few of us from NY at a youth retreat in Grand Rapids way, way long ago], though I've gotten better. It's a good feeling to come to the realization that you'd actually rather sit and talk with the people you've never met than talk to someone you already know. It's not all that spectacular, but yet it's a place that sadly not everyone comes to.

Several of us ran into Adam Schultz and his wife and son the other day at the Durham Athletic park and were invited to a barbecue at their home this evening, which as it turns out was in partly celebration of Heather's 30th b-day and partly a neighborhood gathering that Adam had set up. It was a great evening, largely spent out on his bricked in back porch and in his kitchen after it started raining a bit. Apparently there's a mailing list now and some things they're planning on organizing, from biking and basketball to poker and such. It should be an exciting social experience to say the least, and hopefully an opportunity for the gospel under the blessing of God. They don't seem irreligious, but are most likely the ambivalent type like so many people of this age.

There are many times I end up thinking, God why can't I have lived _there_ or known _that_ person better, but there are also times when I can clearly see why God has placed me where He has. Most people know the saying "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you," but few remember the words that Jesus says far more often "...and come, follow me." Seeking the kingdom isn't seeking for something; it's following the game-plan of the One who runs the kingdom. In the words of Ruth,... where He goes, there I'll go. Where He puts me, there I'll stay.

Just 9 hours and I'll be refreshing myself in a lesson drawn from Ryle's Holiness... it's been far too long since I've read that amazing book.