You are all sheep!

Editor's Note: For the life of me, I cannot remember where the above quote comes from. I really have no recollection whatsoever. I simply remember that I thought it was hilarious and it seemed to fit this situation.

I went to the Annual Conference for my area of the United Methodist Church last week. In short, 3000 people gathered in a tiny little village and trying to stuff themselves into an airplane hangar with ancient wooden seats. The worship services were really good, of course, but the meetings were incredibly disheartening. People said some incredibly closed-minded things that made me lose some of my hope for mankind and particularly the church. There were things said that were so ignorant that they made me sick to my stomach. I don't understand how people can be so prejudiced and belong to an organization that is based on spreading God's love and understanding! How can "evangelists" ever hope to reach people if they insist on being so judgmental and self-centered that they fail to acknowledge that the people they're rejecting and insulting are "Beloved, child of God, and beautiful to behold." I still don't understand. I felt like the onle person in that enormous auditorium who was appalled by the hurtful things being said. As Mary says in Saved!, "So everything that doesn't fit into some stupid idea of what you think God wants you just try to hide or fix or get rid of? It's all too much to live up to. No one fits in one hundred percent of the time, not even you. [...] Why would God make us all so different if he wanted us to be the same?"

"Where you are is where I belong"

I went to see Dave Matthews Band in concert in St. Louis last week. The music was great, but the people in the crowd were terrible. I went with six friends, but we were surrounded by a hord of idiot high school and college students who were smoking and shoving people and screaming and singing so loudly that we could scarcely hear the band. I really wish they'd come to hear the music instead of coming to scope members of the opposite sex in small clothes. But, nevertheless, the performance was AMAZING and I really enjoyed getting to go out west for a bit.

I'm really enjoying just getting to hang out at home with my parents. I know it sounds weird, but my parents are really cool people and I actually enjoy spending time with them. A few nights ago, for instance, we sat around and played that wonderful elementary school girl game: "Electronic Dream Phone" after dinner. They were really fun to play with, and we gave dad endless ribbing when HE actually won the game. Imagine, if you can, two twenty year olds and two people in their mid-fifties playing a game designed for ten-year-old girls. It was hilarious.

I'm starting to get really nervous, about my upcoming interviews. I have to meet with the people in my church for an interview and get them to approve me if I ever want to have a chance of becoming a minister. That means my fate is entirely in the hands of a few people at my church. If they decide I'm unacceptable, things get really hairy and I may never be able to serve. With me getting nervous the interview will probably go something like this:
"Hello"
"Mrgh.."
"What is it you feel called to do?"
"Serve and...stuff..."
"Could you explain that?"
"Um... *long pause* no."
"Oh. Well then, how did you come to this realization."
"Dunno."
"Right. Why did you choose the Methodist church."
"I like it."
"Why?"
"Because I do."
"Well, I think we've got enough. Ready for a rejec, I mean, vote?"
Sheesh.

Well, I'm off to go prepare for Annual Conference and contemplate how to fit all of the essentials of my life into one duffle bag. Happy and merry.