a little bit of love from God in visual form I went camping this past weekend with my "dixon friends" and I'm still on a bit of a high from the experience. The weather was very sunny, and very hot (which I love) and it was at my favorite campground (which see).
( you might want to get an oxygen tank...because this is breathtaking )Nothing too noteworthy happened, except when a few of us were sitting around the fire (by a few, I mean like 8...which was half of the total that went!) G, ever the fan of deep conversations, wanted us to all talk about what we were thankful for over the weekend. I was able to talk a little bit about how without even understanding what I would mean by saying this, this group of friends has been the face of Christ for me in many ways.
And then mass...Mass this weekend had the "theme" of the Holy Spirit, and Father Lucas in his homily put an emphasis on how we are supposed to be relational creatures. The Gospel reading included John 3:16, and the Old Testament reading even talked about a God of love. It made me realize how badly I wish I could share this part of my life more fully with these guys. It makes me so frustrated that society sees my church as some power-hungry institution that sexually represses people. I know there are a lot of you who read this who are going to think "yeah...and??" but really...man...teachings about sex are NOT the central teachings of the Church! I really feel that if the central teachings of the church (God's love, redemption, forgiveness) were more widely understood, then so many of the "rules" would make more sense. I can see how if you're not familiar with the "whys" how the rules would seem so ridiculous. but that's not the best place to start.
I don't feel like I'm making sense right now. Lol. Maybe I'll try this again another time.
Anyway, this weekend was amazing, the beauty of Oregon definitely makes me feel very close to the One who created it.
Now don't you want to move here?