Life Partners

While I am posting sickeningly sweet “awww shucks” pictures I thought I might as well continue and share one more. This one is in honor of Ted’s and my celebration of our anniversary this week.

On the 11th of August we celebrated 7 years of marriage. We both agreed that it has been an adventure, but one we would sign up for all over again if we had to. It is a good thing we both feel that way, because partnered relationships only grow with mutual and continual recommitment to the relationship. I often say in wedding sermons that love in Christian marriage isn’t just a “mushy romantic feeling” (though it can be mushy and romantic at times). Christian love often is a commitment to do the loving thing, even when you don’t feel like it. Whenever I have the privileged opportunity to share those words at a wedding, I too appreciate the reminder about the loving commitment that it takes to nurture and strengthen a relationship. Happy anniversary to us and to all of you partnered folks out there, in the hope of celebrating many many more anniversaries!

who knew what it would lead to?

Awwww… this is a picture of Ted & me taken over 10 years ago, on the day we first met. The date was April 26, 1998, but it is not like I am counting or anything. We met because we had both just happened to have been given tickets by a mutual friend to the Georgia Renaissance Festival. In this photo we are on the way to or from the festival, along with Melissa who was also on the back seat of the minivan.

Jeff, a good friend of Ted’s and the owner & driver of the minivan, just found this picture in his collection. After hearing about this continually “lost” picture’s existence for years I am very happy to see it, though I am surprised by how much younger both Ted and I look. Ted’s t-shirt is a funny reminder that his science fiction interest is nothing new.

It is really nice for a picture of such a significant occasion to turn up unexpectedly.  Thanks a lot for sharing this picture, Jeff!  The picture also reminds me that I have known you, the Vinson family, and Melissa for as long as I have known Ted.  Wow!

Catching up…

Sorry, for the dearth of blog posts. I am terribly sorry for the much delayed posting! Lots has been going on and I guess I have been busy enough living life that I haven’t had any time to write. Some of the things that have occupied me, besides normal work, include: ordination, visitors from the States (4 sets of folks already this summer), holidays/vacations, and saying goodbye to a congregation which will be in pastoral charge of another minister beginning in Sept. There is much to say and I thus recommit myself to posting (both on the events of this summer, but also about things as they happen) to share with you my meanderings.

Blessings,

Mindy

Olympic Competition: the race for gold

I wrote this for July/August edition of The Link, Hanslope’s Methodist & Anglican Magazine. Due to its timely nature I am sharing it with you here. Mindy

2008 Beijing Olympics

Are you also excitedly awaiting the opportunity to watch the 2008 Summer Olympics? I am looking forward to watching the Opening Ceremonies tomorrow afternoon from the comfort of my own couch. I am awed and inspired by the athleticism of all those who compete in a myriad of events within this years selection of 28 Olympic sports. I also love the pageantry, music, and dancing of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. After all, only once every four years do we have an opportunity to watch this spectacle.

The Olympic athletic competitions have been described by Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser as “the most compelling search for excellence that exists in sports, and maybe in life itself.” For athletes, participating and medaling in the Olympics can be the height of achievement. Jeff Fenech, an Australian boxer, said, “An Olympic medal is the greatest achievement and honor that can be received by an athlete. I would swap any World Title to have won gold at the Olympics.”

There is a great competitive drive to win a gold medal, or any medal, which causes all to do their best. I have heard it reported that Team Great Britain is under more pressure than usual to win medals this year, in preparation for being the host nation in 2012. I do hope that Team Great Britain does well, but we could all do to remember the words of Pierre de Coubertin, founder of modern Olympics, “The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part.”

Competition is fine and can spur us on to greater achievements, but it is important to remember we don’t need to compete in all areas of our lives. It is important to remember this in regards to our relationship with God. We don’t have to compete for or earn God’s love by winning a competition. It is truly good news that God is generous and has enough love to share that it won’t run out; there is enough for all of us. We all are loved by God, just as we are! We don’t have to win gold, silver, or bronze medals to gain God’s love. All of us are loved - those who win medals in competitions, those who don’t win medals when we compete, and those who watch the competition from the sidelines are loved. As we watch the Olympics, let us all remember that God’s love is a freely-given gift we don’t have to compete for.