Camp '05!

So, now you know why I haven't written in awhile! We had a phenomenal time at Redwood Glen in Half Moon Bay with kids from all over the west coast. What started as a few friends saying "let's take the youth camping" became a group of 90+ from Los Osos, Monterrey, Novato, Santa Rosa, Kirkland WA and various other states in the U.S.! (The group pictured is less than half the actual number of campers!)

We left with minimal bug bites (I only have 3), tired muscles and sleepy eyes... but also with countless memories and most importantly changed hearts! The Lord met us last week! I know I for one will never be the same again.
Thank you Lord!

Life as a Branch

John 15:5 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing."

Living in "wine coutry" has shaped my walk with the Lord in ways I cannot count.

Is it just me, or can the aroma of a vineyard at harvest time be just as intoxicating as the wine it becomes? I can't inhale that fragrance and not get zapped back in time to my childhood playing in my great-grandparent's (the Bacigalupi's) vineyard. What a privlege!

For my baptism at age 12, my aunt and I sang my favorite song at the time: "You are the vine, we are the branches, keep us abiding in You." Three times this week alone, I've opened to John 15 (above) and been brought to my spiritual knees.

What kind of fruit am I bearing?
Is the scent intoxicating like the all-satisfying fruit of the Spirit? Is the fruit sweet and full of flavor? Does my life reflect the refining of the wine-press like that of a fine wine being poured out?

I've really been pondering what it means to be "grafted in". Apart from Christ, I can do nothing. I cannot drink His cup. I cannot exprience His baptism. I cannot become a servant of all. To do any of this, I must abide in Him and He in me.

Truly, my life is not my own. My purpose as a branch means nothing outside of my Precious Vine. He is my Source. My life completely depends on Him and I have no destiny apart from His.

Love in Liquid Form.

My wonderful husband makes latte's every morning!!! Mmm. My Saturday morning gulp was especially delicious. (Enough to make the blog ;) Not to mention, we just got a new camera and therefore have pictures documenting every single thing we did, ate or saw this weekend!

Feeling Like the Oyster Who Swallowed The Sand.

Will this become a pearl?
I'm agitated today... lately, really. How is it that I can LOVE the Lord Jesus so much, love His people so deeply, love drinking in the Word.... and yet truthfully, be very bored with Sunday church?

Shouldn't it just be more ADVENTUROUS???? Is this big building, structured meetings, one teacher thing really what we're supposed to be doing?

I recently shared an evening with friends that was more ALIVE than the last 6 months of sundays. NOT because church was so horrible, or my pastor can't teach (boy, can he!).... but because the natural, flowing, Holy Spirit led conversation is so FULL OF LIFE! That's really what the disciples experienced, isn't it? We were just boucing off eachother's words, linking verses and experiences.... AHH! A deep breath of fresh air.

If Jesus is still teaching in the temple - and WE are the temple (nod to Clint).... what's He saying today to His body?

yconform?

My husband's website in the works... yconform .

so fresh - so clean clean

CLEAN - I call you clean
I came to clean you and it’s done

Here’s a call to all who’ve felt disqualified to run

Pleasures flowing here and there from My right hand

What’s mine is yours ...
Come behold all of who I am