Ack! a thread that has meaning!

Help help, I'm being oppressed!

Phil

My tortillas at lunch had a weird burnt taste to them.

Mama Lisa wrote:

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But I bet you didn't stop eating them, did you?

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  You know me very well.  :)

Okay, whew!!! That was close!!  Now Ace needs me to celebrate with him!!!!

I can't wait until Amy moves to Austin and we get all the first hand gossip of Nathan, Danny & Eric.  Hehehe!

And pictures!  I want lots of pictures!!!

so im sitting at the front desk and i feel something on my back and i reach back and there is a bug inside my shirt, freakin cawling on my back! so i grab it with my shirt.. so my hand is behind my back holding my shirt and im freakin out and this guy comes in and hes talking to my and im trying to be all cool and junk. he starts giving me weird looks and im like ok im sorry hold on and get a kleenex and get the bug and yea..

Amylynn wrote:

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so im sitting at the front desk and i feel something on my back and i reach back and there is a bug inside my shirt, freakin cawling on my back! so i grab it with my shirt.. so my hand is behind my back holding my shirt and im freakin out and this guy comes in and hes talking to my and im trying to be all cool and junk. he starts giving me weird looks and im like ok im sorry hold on and get a kleenex and get the bug and yea..

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  The lesson:  Nathan is everywhere... muahahahaha muahahahaha  

Amylynn wrote:

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i just told someone i work with that story and she laughed at you. I have many many stories. im soooooo dumb sometimes. Go ahead mom, tell my stories. I am not ashamed

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 Alan, Lisa, Teddy...  you heard her!  lol... story time!   :)  She's brave!  

  j/k    love ya Ameeee 

i drove around 4 times thank you very much

Amylynn wrote:

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i drove around 4 times thank you very much

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Don't feel so bad, Amy...

While my dad was first teaching me how to drive, I tried to turn the car into a neighbor's driveway doing FIFTEEN M.P.H.! I wound up putting the car so far into the ditch, that my dad had to get the truck to pull it out of there!

Welcome to the human race!

Jeffrey

So, I don't think I know Teddy or Mama Lisa.  I gather, like many new churches, you have felt the need to try something different from the others.  (You can P.M. me with any details but I won't actively solicit gossip )

If it was a simple case of finding somewhere with the best emoticons ever...then I've got to believe you have found it!

BTW, is "w00t" just like a woo-hoo??

Kenn
 

Thanks Mama Lisa and, may I say, you supportive family members just warm my heart immensely.  To wit, I present something I wrote elsewhere recetly in tribute to my Mom...

(so this breaks the 'meaningless' thread...sorry)

I praise God for Mom!

 

Mother’s Day is not until May 14 but my gratitude cannot wait until then.  I understand that my experience does not match that of everyone here, and so I acknowledge that my love and pride might unintentionally unleash pain in others.  I entrust that pain to God’s love which, in my experience in other areas of my life, is much more than sufficient.

 

Recalling that Mom had just been in the hospital last week at this time, imagine my surprise, delight, pride and – sure – nervousness as Mom told me last night about a very special project she is participating in at her church.

 

Background: The congregation of this small faith community, in a small town (pop. 6000), has been meeting in various committees to decide how to respond to the new reality in Canada – same-sex marriage.  (Although the new government is rumbling about at least appearing to change course, it’s doubtful our courts would let that happen.  I also recognize that there is not unanimity on this issue - neither within the gay community nor the gay Christian community.)

 

Before the congregation decides what to do at the local level (and they are free to refuse any marriage on religious grounds) they are bringing these various committee discussions to a full and open congregational meeting.  Mom has been asked to share her experience of having two – yes two – gay sons, both still involved in the Church.  (Craig and Claude, being of mixed faiths, do not seem to be altar-bound and I am, alas, single.)  In short, this meeting would have, and will, probably go a lot beyond the legalese of “Do we or do we not want to marry same-sex couples” and into matters of Gay101.

 

I am just so proud of my Mom!

 

As we talked last night, and she probably took lots of notes , we recalled how – when Craig came out – supportive people, including church ministers past and present, had been put in place to talk to Mom and Dad.  This was an enormous help.  Mom also recalled last night how when I came out about four years later – 25 years ago this year! – that, although so much groundwork had been done, it still startled Mom and Dad that I, too, would “have to deal with this”.

 

Continuing our review last night, Mom remembered how important it has been to have a church magazine article I wrote – about fifteen years ago now - to refer to over the years.  That article was a tribute to my family – how Mom had just recently survived necrotizing fasciitis (flesh-eating disease), how Dad was recovering from a major heart attack, how two sons were both gay and living with HIV, and how two sisters just chalked it all up to the “unconditional love” we have always been taught by Mom and Dad. 

 

I mention the article only to show that Mom and Dad have not been “in the closet” since its publication (with their consent) and, yet, they have often been met with awkward silence when it comes to discussing Craig and me.  That has changed, slowly but surely, over the years as they’ve found out who their friends really are.  I cannot think of any that has drifted away, and all greet me with love whenever I visit Mom’s church – no more than when Dad died four years ago.

 

For years I have told Mom and Dad how much of an anomaly they are; that so many queer folk are rejected by their families, their church communities, etc.   This is something they have never understood although, as people confide in Mom (such as a former member of the choir Mom used to conduct who spoke about the difficulties her gay son is facing), Mom is seeing how many people do not experience the love and acceptance that my brother and I do.

 

So, as Mom tries to gather her thoughts for that meeting in early April, I lift her witness of love to the glory of the loving God she taught us about!

 

Kenn

 

GCN is another gay Christian message board (GayChristian.net) that most of us were on before or are still on.  I got kicked off!  (Cared a little too much for a certain person and was accused of "violating his privacy" by sending a moderator a phone number I had for him, because everyone thought he was going to commit suicide and I knew he wouldn't talk to me.  This moderator was just biding her time until she could kick me off!)  Wow, again, do I sound bitter?  Anyway, it's a much bigger site, with about 3000 members.  It has some good points, some features we will never have the resources for, and lots of moderators & rules.

So, back to meaningless banter... Don't you think God has a sense of humor?  I was just watching a show about elephant seals.  Funny looking animals!