last week of classes

how on earth do you people have time to blog this week? i *must* be doing something wrong.

then again, i rather enjoy the solidarity of having last-week-of-classes meltdowns in the westminster parking lot with friends.

dilemma

i have one. please pray for its resolve, friends.
and that's all i have to say about that.

what makes a church

i go to New Life Northeast, and my church is hurting. our senior pastor has accepted a call to be the assistant pastor at Trinity Pres in Norfolk, Virginia. he said "no" when they first asked him, and then continued to say "no" for two months. he and his wife April asked the Lord to close this door if it wasn't where He wanted them, and when the door didn't close they began to prayerfully consider. after a few more months, Bob accepted the position.
what makes a church? is it the pastor? the worship style? the location? the size of the building? i would say: none of the above. however, this is especially difficult for NLNE because last year was very hard for the congregation; i don't know specifics, but i know there were great injuries suffered to both Bob and April. i find this hard personally because my church and church family is one thing i did *not* expect to change while living in PA for grad school. now what? where do we go from here? to answer my own question, from here we go wherever the Lord leads us. we had a church family meeting this morning instead of sunday school, and we discussed this. basically, we concluded that things are going to be awkward but the Lord truly is faithful, so we can and will and must depend on Him. the Rainsford family is leaving today to continue missions in Kenya, and Mrs. Rainsford confessed that her life has become more complicated since being in the missions field, but that the Lord uses the trials in our life to make our faith in Him stronger. this doesn't the trials easier, but it helps us to understand that they have a purpose. we are simply to immersed in the present situation to see the purpose(s) right now.
pray for Bob and his family.
pray for our congregation to pull itself together to rely on the Lord alone.
pray for the westminster students who need to decide how to remain faithful to Christ in the midst of this.