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You are here: Home / Archives for neighborhood

The Magic of a Smile

November 14, 2018 By admin

When I first moved to California, I felt like a fish out of water. I had moved from New York City to begin graduate school in a very small town located about an hour and a half drive east of Los Angeles. Prior to living in New York, I had been living in Seoul, South Korea. So as you can imagine, coming from two of the largest cities in the world to a small town took some getting used to.

During my first week in California, I decided to take a walk around my neighborhood. I saw people watering their lawns, picking lemons and avocados from their trees, and pruning their rose bushes.

“Wow!” I thought, “I’ve only seen this stuff happen in movies!”

As I rounded the block, I saw a jogger that was making his way in my direction. As he approached me, all of the familiar city-living internal warning sirens went off.

“Can you see both his hands? Remember, you can use your keys as a weapon. Why didn’t you take that self-defense course when you had the chance!”

As my mind raced, the jogger stopped, asked me how my day was, welcomed me to the neighborhood and went on his way.

“Well,” I thought. “This is new.”

You see, living in a big city had taught me that on some level I was supposed to mistrust everyone around me. And for good reason, there are a lot of bad people out there. But there are also a lot of good people in the world, many of whom would love to be smiled at and asked how their day was. The jogger had every reason in the world to mistrust me. He didn’t even know me. But the small gesture to say hello made me feel good!

The experience with the jogger popped into my head this afternoon as I rode the train home from work. I decided to put down my book and look at the person in the seat across from me and smile. She smiled back. And you know what? That felt pretty good.

“A joyful heart is good medicine. But a broken spirit dries up the bones,” (Proverbs 17:22, NASB).

Jael Amador write’s from New York, New York.

The post The Magic of a Smile appeared first on Answers for Me.

Read more at the source: The Magic of a Smile

Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Answers for Me.

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Filed Under: News and Feeds, Vegetarian recipes Tagged With: afternoon, angeles-prior, answers for me, begin-graduate, california, direction, familiar, in-between, jogger, neighborhood, rode-the-train, world

My Journey Out

October 8, 2018 By admin

I write music; always have. Since I was four years old and teaching my sisters the lyrics to my first hit, “sister came and popped a wheelie,” I’ve been writing and arranging songs here and there and everywhere. Have a bad day, write a song, have a good day, write a song. Miss my family, write a song, sister gets married, write a really, really good song. No matter what, I always had music to keep record of things.

What’s funny is that I never really started sharing my music with the people outside of my bedroom until I was finishing high school. Even then it was maybe once or twice a year—like for graduation or something. Being a very private person on the inside, I guess I felt music was my way of talking to myself and sharing that would be terrifying.

All through college I sang and wrote. I’d go to the chapel in the dormitory I lived in after evening worship was over and I’d play and sing and sing and play and write and cry and grin; on and on for hours at a time. It was a most cathartic and freeing tradition. And for all my love of music none of my college friends ever guessed I could even carry a tune.

After college and then Seminary and then ten years of working hard, I decided it was time for me to drag myself out of my little hidden music world. I quit my job and downsized my little apartment so I could take voice lessons and record some of my music for at least a year or so without having to get a job at one of the five Starbucks in my neighborhood. I was elated, scared to death, but mostly determined.

Singing my own music publicly was not fun at first. I had so much fear. I had so much insecurity. Most times I’d end up not singing like I did when I was alone. Instead out would come a sound I’d heard on the radio down through the years or worse yet, a sound I hated because it didn’t sound like anything at all—what I came to call my beige-voice.

Basically I had to bring myself out in pieces, performance by performance. Sometimes I’d rock the song with my natural voice, only to forget the words I’d written or the arrangement I’d practiced a million times. Other times I’d get all the music out as planned but with the emotion of a mud puddle. It seemed there was always a part of me that refused to show itself. This made me feel bad, ashamed and defeated—even if everybody was clapping and smiling. I was sure they could see I needed encouraging—oh, those generous people.

But then, alas, there came the day when all of me showed up at the same time. I sang, I felt, I played and all at once. A few weeks later it happened again. Then again and again. This was the most wonderful place to be. No more pulling the carpet out from under myself onstage. I could actually plan on the music being what it was—and then see it through. Exhausted by my own very public version of Russian roulette, I was relieved. I could actually count on myself no matter what the venue, the sound system or the audience might throw at me. None of me was hiding.

I’ll never forget the day this realization sunk in. I was on stage belting out the second verse and pounding (yes pounding—my weakness) on the piano, when suddenly it was like I was watching myself play in my mind. And I was watching the people in the room and seeing their emotion and thinking about how simple and real this all was and how connected I felt. I don’t even remember finishing the song. I had moved beyond it, after all, to experience its purpose.

And in those moments where I hung suspended in time, I could see all the way back to me singing alone in the woods or scribbling rhyming words down in a book. I could see how far I had come. And even more than that, I could see for the first time how the journey out of isolation and hidden-ness can play out, what it will cost, and that it is really, very worth the effort.

So how about it? I don’t know what your journey is. What part of you is hidden or unknown—maybe even to you, but I do know that it’s your birthright to explore and express all that God has put in you so you can share it with the rest of us.

Clarissa Worley Spruill writes from the Pacific Northwest.

The post My Journey Out appeared first on Answers for Me.

Read more at the source: My Journey Out

Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Answers for Me.

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Filed Under: News and Feeds, Vegetarian recipes Tagged With: answers for me, arrangement, count-on-myself, emotion, family, journey, music, neighborhood, people, self confidence, songwriting, years

Attention, Please

September 27, 2018 By admin

Several times this week I have asked for opinions on the appropriate response to the practice of texting messages during church services and small group meetings–as if many of us aren’t already totally vexed with those who indulge in cell phone usage while driving on highways. My last two worship experiences were distracted due to members next to or near me who numerous times turned on their phones to check messages and send texts. I am one who is easily distracted visually, and the screen light from current technology is something that I cannot ignore. I attempt to re-focus and look ahead or re-join a conversation, talk sternly to myself or pray. I realize this may be a sign of my own lack of sustained attention. However, I see it as another symptom of poor brain hygiene in society at large.

By brain hygiene, I mean disciplining oneself to be mindful — to be as present as possible while with another person or situation, worshipping, etc. Paying attention for more than a sound bite or the video length between commercials. Women are especially talented at multitasking, and the pride in having the longest dovetailing checklist can be a personal or social competition; perhaps even a chemical rush from attending to several functions at once. Yet studies have shown that trying to attend to more than two activities at once produces very poor results. Some of my cooking can attest to that. I am also embarrassed to admit that I am guilty of talking to a family member on the phone while sorting or folding, or even checking my e-mail. Technology is the supreme enabler for multitasking.

I have noticed mothers pushing strollers in my neighborhood while they talk on cell phones. The baby or toddler is no longer the object of attention with meaningful observations that contribute to their learning words for passing places or the rhythm of conservation. Even a baby may early start to feel, “What am I, chopped liver?” I can feel invisible on my neighborhood walks when those on the sidewalk have their ears plugged with ear buds. Could they hear me say “Hello,” or scream if I needed help? Then there are the restaurant or doctor office phone conversations that are extremely loud, way too personal or involve business deals. Yuck. My all-time-least favorite are cell phone conversations in restroom stalls.

There has been a lot of discussion about the loss of civility in the world. Certainly respect for the thoughts, words, and presence of other human beings is part of that larger dilemma. A whole world exists outside the invisible bubble that we pretend protects us and allows for phone reception. Then isolation occurs as we move around in large groups of people and we wonder at the intensity of our loneliness.

You may hear or see this on a phone application. For that and other technology, I can be truly thankful. I am just asking for us to consider becoming more fully present — eye contact and heart content. I think Jesus understood this when He said, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other. or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other” (Matthew 6:24 NIV). The description of Laodicea, the lukewarm people in Revelation 3, may fit much of post-modern life.

Was that a distant trumpet or my e-mail ping?

Questions for personal journaling or group discussion:

1. How would you recommend handling distracting technology in a small group setting or during worship?

2. Find a time each day when you can totally focus on a friend or loved one for at least five minutes. Sit facing each other and talk about your day or what you appreciate about your relationship. At the end of a week, what has happened to your feelings about that person/people?

Karen Spruill writes from Orlando, Florida.

The post Attention, Please appeared first on Answers for Me.

Read more at the source: Attention, Please

Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Answers for Me.

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Filed Under: Dear God, News and Feeds Tagged With: cell-phone, hate, karen-spruill, learning, life notes, loneliness, myself-or-pray, neighborhood, personal, technology

Adventist Pastor volunteers as a security guard at Islamic Mosque

February 16, 2017 By admin

Pastor Ignacio Goya Iglesia shares his recent story of how he served as a volunteer security guard at his neighborhood mosque. “While driving through Annapolis, I felt convicted that I needed to pull out and enter into the local mosque.

Read more at the source: Adventist Pastor volunteers as a security guard at Islamic Mosque

Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Vimeo / NAD Adventist’s videos.

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Filed Under: Adventist Sermons & Video Clips, NAD Church Resource Center (Vervent) Tagged With: adventist, current, driving-through, mosque, nad adventist, neighborhood, pastor, pastor-ignacio, preparation, protection, seemed-immersed, sincere-prayer

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