Oh, so it's been a few months. My goal was to finish off my friends list and be done with this blog in a year. It's coming up so I'll need to step it up to complete it but I think I can pull it off. Or I can just delete people from FB ha!
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| This is the first picture I took of Seth |
So, Seth, he's my brother in Christ. I often tell people and remind him that I treat him like a brother simply because I view him as a brother. I pick on him, Celia and I gang up against him, and overall I just really enjoy joking around with him. When I talk to people about him I light up. I've noticed it and I'm sure others have as well but it's because he is a really good person and kind of a breath of fresh air when it comes to the crazy people I've met as an adult. He's a great husband, a great father, uncle, friend and Pastor. He's certainly flawed just like the rest of us and he's usually the first one to point it out but he's genuine and it's difficult to find people like this. I'm always shocked that there are still people who are humble and who were raised with such love and care that they want to make the world a better place, they believe they can do it and they do their damndest to follow through.
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| He knows what's going on here, he probably called me out on it |
I met Seth along with Celia (his dope ass wife) while volunteering at Breakthrough Urban Ministries. I was invited to volunteer by my uncle and I had heard about the church he attended but I had never visited. I could be totally wrong about where I met Seth, I could have met him at a Prayer Night, in fact, now that I think about it, I am 100% sure I met him at a prayer group but I know for sure I met Celia at Breakthrough so I'll just lump them together because they're married and one flesh anyway. If I recall correctly, we were discussing Chili that night and how he cooks his and I was amazed at how quick he was to share all of his secrets with me. I'm incredibly secretive about my recipes but he was so excited to talk Chili and we just hit it off. Now, I think about his approach to recipe sharing and aside from the tortilla that's supposedly a company I've formed, I don't have a problem sharing my recipes anymore. I've wondered if he was open to sharing because he wanted others to enjoy it as much as he does or if it was because no matter what anyone does, no one will ever be able to perfectly duplicate it. I'm of the latter frame of mind :). Aside from that Prayer night and random Breakthrough nights I didn't really know much about him until I started to attend the bible study that I'm in now. Somehow, I became somewhat of an organizer of said group and it's worked out pretty well. I send a text twice a week and set up a meeting time and place that works for everyone. I enjoy what I've learned and I love our group. Reading the Bible is a struggle for me but this group made it easy. I still get a little anxious but there aren't very many expectations except we try to be timely when we show up and even that is lax because we do recaps every meeting. Our Bible study is small, in total there are about 6 of us that attend regularly so it's easy to just ask what's going on if we've missed. Seth has a wealth of information. So much so that it's taken us about 9 months to get through the 5 chapters in the Book of James. We took it apart piece by piece, were given lots of background which really helped me to understand how and to whom it was written but also, it's just a heavy book and it was important to read it the way we did. I will say, yes, it took us months and I like to remind him and pick at this fact at almost every meeting we hit up but it's been worth it. He's a fantastic teacher. Also, we did have a bit of a hiatus when it came to holidays and birthdays so it wasn't a full 9 months but it's been a long series for 5 chapters. I appreciate that he is the type of Pastor that is actually willing to take the time for anyone who has questions and that makes it all the easier for us to attend I think. If it were a very stuffy conversation I think I would have checked out a long time ago. I need structure, but not too much and I need to ask a million questions and Seth's Bible Study provides just that. I'd also like to mention that out of the 6 of us, 3 of us don't attend his church regularly and I think this is important to note. When it comes to churches and memberships I've always thought there was a heavy expectation to be associated with your church home and with the groups they've established. I do have other groups I've been a part of but I didn't feel like I've gotten quite that much of a connection to what I've read as I have during these last few months. So much so that after the second meeting I was able to immediately apply what I had learned to assist someone in crisis. There is a hell of a lot of accountability but the expectations and pressures are different. His teaching style is laid back but very well thought out. He uses analogies that work for everyone and can dumb it down if the situation calls for it. He also likes to use his amazing vernacular to enhance lessons and will stop and explain it in other ways so everyone understands. I can ask him anything and he's like an encyclopedia, he can just toss out the information like it's nothing. I think he's one of those weirdos who enjoys reading or something because he's always doing research. If ever I've asked a question that he doesn't have an answer to, he's pretty good about following up and giving me the answer by the time I see him at group again. These are all fantastic attributes for a Pastor to have, especially one who is leading a group of people who are all at different parts of their walk, who attend different churches or don't attend church at all.
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| Martin and Seth, I was trying to sneak this photo |
Speaking of, okay, so I'm sure you're wondering why I haven't left my church to attend theirs after all of the above mentioned, my answer is easy, I fell in love with my church. I will say I've been heavily tempted to try out there church but I also love my church family and I'm not prepared to uproot my family, no matter how amazing the teaching of the Pastor leading is. I want to visit on days when I'm running late to my church but we've actually done a pretty good job of showing up on time when we attend so there hasn't been much of an opportunity. I do attend a lot of their church functions though and I guess have to thank Richard for that because he's always inviting me. Celia reaches out to me now about functions and so does Aaron but I usually see Rich a few times a week so it's likely to come up during conversation before I'm invited via other MPC peeps. Overall, church has never been something I've been excited to go to. I do it out of obedience to God. I am interested in the McKinley Park Church but the time frames are too long for me to commit to. I love my church but I'm always looking at the phone trying to get out. MPC service breaks down for worship, specific prayer and then a message. These are all very powerful parts and I don't doubt the impact that those parts have but I know it goes long. Plus we are pretty established and my kid is happy in his group as well. I'd hate to mess with that more than we already do.
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| Yep, Goof Ball Bro In Christ, his wife is the same way |
So, if you know me at all, you know I'm the type of person who likes boundaries, rules, fairness and structure. I've been pretty careful in my Christian walk to not get too close to the opposite sex because I'm conservative with all of my relationships and was taught that women should mentor women and men should mentor men. Somewhere along the way, it translated to I shouldn't have any new guy friends which I now can look at and make better decisions based on the relationships I have as well as my walk with Christ. I know that temptation and idols exist. I'm not stupid to this fact and I do my best to always make sure that I'm never alone with a guy but if I'm being completely honest, I feel very safe meeting with Seth. I do my usual prayer I do when meeting almost any of my friends to make it edifying to God and make sure that things don't get too gossipy or lead into just complaining but I've also prayed for him to be a brother to me. In real life, I have 2 biological brothers. I don't have contact with either of them so I wasn't sure what it would be like to pray for a brother but I think I found it easily in Seth. The couple of times I've met with him alone (at a coffee shop) have been awesome because there wasn't a little guy tugging for our attention. And the few times we met and I've had my kiddo with me and my kid was acting a fool, Seth has always been gracious and understanding with him. He's shown endless love to my kid, has been quick to forgive and redirect him when he stole a magnet from his house and that's not something he needs to do. He's a good role model of how to be with other people's kids and I appreciate that. He's also easy to talk to, he bores me with baseball facts (like I assume a real brother would do) but I've accidentally learned a lot about baseball and am happy about the knowledge he's shared. He talks about literature and schools me on the Bible while discussing coffee and asking opinions from me or anyone who is around while simultaneously finding a way to intently listen to the answers that I or anyone else gives. I wish more people were like this.
Below are some of the more important lessons I've learned from him:
- The book of James is about a lot of different ideas but the image of God refining us and building our character through tumultuous times is what helps to bring us closer to Christ and closer to what He wants us to be - this stood out for me, especially the analogy that involved molten gold and the refining process... considering I've done metalsmithing
- When Jesus was baptised in the River Jordan, The Word, The Holy Spirit and The Father were all at the same place at the same time. It's an amazing image. I'm still holding on to it.
- Pastors swear, especially Seth! Especially when discussing sports!! And, Rubbish is the equivalent of shit.
- I can, in fact, have new guy friends. I have been unsure of this for almost 10 years but now with lots of prayer, discerning my situation and my Brother in Christ, I feel comfortable with it. It's really cool to not be locked in to only relationships with ladies. I enjoy them but I've always been really comfortable with guys and I'm happy to welcome that part of life back- with wisdom of course.
- The Cardinals lock out the Cubs almost every year and they are mortal enemies. This is great.
- I'm in love with his wife. I thought I was friends with Seth but it turns out it was just God's way of leading me to Celia :)
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| Taking pics on the creep |
Somethings I'd like to share about McKinley Park Church
- It's a small home church mostly composed of family and friends that derived from a broken church that I used to attend
- They actively work within the McKinley Park community to build relationships with people in the area as well as have a great love to help the homeless in the area
- They do a backpack ministry where they provide backpacks filled with toiletries, foods, etc. to homeless people and make it a point to make relationships and talk with their homeless friends
- They participate in volunteering at Breakthrough Urban Ministries once a month where they create a menu, provide the food and serve 30 women at the shelter
- The church as a whole is small but they all share the same heart, the need and love to serve and a wonderful love of Christ that shows in every person's actions and being.
So, this is my blog about Seth.
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Playing with a slinky today at Bible Study... we were all in deep
conversation... |
I've been listening to U2, Led Zeppelin and Elliott Smith. I couldn't find anything that reminded me of Seth or anything that we necessarily had in common music wise so I just listened to Aaron's copy of Houses of the Holy which is actually a pretty funny title for this post considering he's a pastor of a home church and perhaps some might consider him Holy. Also listening to INXS and Ini Kamoze because I'm a lyrical gangster.
