Dilema

So is there a certain etiquette for the acknowledgment of your recognition for the person driving behind you? The more time I spend in a small town, the more often I look in my rearview mirror and realize that I know the person behind me. It's not like I just recognize them and can act like I don't see them there, it's like, if I saw them face to face I would know them well enough to stand there and talk a few minutes.





But when I'm driving, I don't know what to do. My back windshield is tinted so if I raised my hand to wave, they wouldn't be able to see it. If I tap my brakes to give them a shoutout with the brakelights, I'd probably end up causing an accident. And what kind of fool would lean down and try to get their attention in the side mirrors - on the off chance they are actually looking in your side mirrors?




Oh, and there's no way they don't know who I am - my Yukon proudly displays an "EI" sticker for our favorite vacation spot, a Summerville Wrestling logo, and the all-time coveted SHS Football "S" - and the highlight? My swirly initials across the back, boldly announcing to the world that Amanda Leviner is driving the car in front of you.

So if you have any suggestions, please let me know - I am either left with driving around town like a stuck-up fool, or I may just look into a horse and buggy.

omigosh

Holy cow - look at this quote I just found online...

“We cannot blink at the fact that gentle Jesus, meek and mild, was so firm in His opinions and so inflammatory in His language, that He was thrown out of religion, stoned, hunted from place to place, and finally gibbetted as a firebrand and a public danger. We have very efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah into a household pet for pale curates and pious old ladies.”

Oak Trees

Thought about something interesting today. As we are meeting on church structure and all the things that along with that, I have thought about GracePointe as a tree being pruned. Matthew talks about how Jesus will come along with pruning shears when necessary. You know how we all love those times...

But if we are a tree, I would pray that we are an oak tree. Oak trees have the most amazing root systems underground. They branch out and provide an unseen strength that lasts for generations. That's what I want to be involved in planting. And while we're on oak trees...I remembered something I heard when I was younger.

My Mom once told me that a tree's branches will never outgrow it's roots. In other words, the beautiful part we see of a tree can never be larger than it's root system underground. If the branches were larger than the roots, the tree would topple over. Maybe that's where we are at in a lot of ways. But as we begin to lay roots and create a system this tree can grow into, I really am praying that the Lord will find favor in what He sees, and that we will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water...who bears fruit in its season...whose leaf does not whither.

And whatever is done, it prospers.