Chapter Closed

It strikes me as quite ironic that the lobo basketball arena where all students graduate is called “The Pit”. I had to walk into the pit to graduate… hmm.

Dressing in cherry red gowns and graduating with my mother was an experience I’ll never forget. She was up with the master’s students, all excited she got to walk the line with me, and I was walking down the stairs knowing that this was not the last “graduation” chapter I would close. (While I’m searching online for M.Div. programs and looking for a good church and a group of people to ground me while on a break between degrees and the wedding…) I know that I have a lot ahead of me and I am more than excited to get started on it. I’m happy to close my time at UNM, only to be excited for a wedding planning course offered… oh yeah… at UNM… I’m taking it on-line! I swear… you’d think I’m addicted to this school thing, while really, I’m more than excited to get a break and actually be able to play the wii and write a blog!

Another miracle, was actually getting a few things on my “to do” list checked off. I had a few religious topics I wanted to research while in school that I simply didn’t have enough time for, such as fasting/ studying organic food, reading a couple books given to me by a coworker, and watching a few movies. I actually got time to watch “The Golden Compass”. I was pretty curious about it since I had heard so much about it bashing Christianity. I read a couple articles on it and some comments by the author… more than anything, I think it’s a representation of an outsider opinion of Christianity where the outsider believes that it brain-washes people, which it doesn’t…. if you combine Christianity with reality. The “evangelical” influences may have outsiders thinking otherwise, but I’m sure every non-Christian has met a rational Christian who apologizes and tries to make up for the rest… I’m one of those. If you haven’t, you’re meeting the “obsessed ones” who brainwashed themselves. You know how teenage girls get when they discover make-up and boys… they did it to themselves, concentrating and thinking only about their topic and following friend’s advice blindly, without questioning and researching for themselves. The Christians that walk into church on Sunday and look at the new wide screen TVs and wonder how much they cost and how much of their tithe went to that TV screen…or remind themselves that’s why they didn’t tithe to that church… those are the Christians you should talk to. I promise you they weren’t thinking about Poor Granny in the back row who couldn’t see the screen before it was wide, even though it was about 5 feet across before it was wide screen…sigh….

And then, how it affects me… we have to pick a pastor to marry us… there is the big church with the big screen TVs, God forbid the one who marries us is the one who picked them out! Or the small, humble church we go to, where I’m embarrassed to ask because I can’t seem to wake both Mike and I up to get there on time. (Except maybe, once every month and a half!) But of course, you’d rather have the small church pastor marry you, where there is community and true relationships instead of materialistic ceremonies that cost a lot of money because they’re big and they can do that. Oh, that’s why I’m getting married outside again…I had forgotten for a bit… but I’d rather be close to the air and the spirituality of the outdoors, even on a golf course, because in the church, the building holds the energy of the leadership, and I don’t always trust the leadership… seems like I’m starting to look for an M.Div. because I’m going to write books and start my own “Mars Hill”…hmm :)