Weekend Update - Monday, November 8

I had another great weekend. Woke up early Saturday morning to go to a men's breakfast at the church with my brother. We got some free food, and hang out with the other active members and pastors from the church. It was a pretty cool experience to hang out with other men who were all after a relationship with God. No one was rude, or judgmental about anything. They all welcomed us with open arms and gave us a great opportunity to make new friends.

I had some discussion with the new youth pastor at the church about volunteering in the youth department. We had a pretty good chat about what I wanted to do and how I was going get there. He was really nice and showed genuine interest in helping me meet my goals. I really look forward to working with him and hope that he can give me direction so I can accomplish some of my goals.

Sunday we attended a interesting and very humorous church service spoken by the same associate pastor that leads our small group. He did a really good job and although we were disappointed that George wasn't there we were impressed with Kyung's message.

George made it up to us later that afternoon at the baptism. That's right, I was baptized yesterday! It was such an amazing experience. Most of Brooke's family was there to witness and share the occasion. This really helped me realize how huge this was. Brooke ranks this right up there with getting married. It was really important for both of us and I'm so glad that we did it. Afterwards we all went to lunch for celebration. It feels really good to have so many people supporting our spiritual journey.

The Purpose Driven life also taught me about restoring broken fellowship. The chapter focused on repairing damaged relationships (with anyone). One of the key points in this chapter really struck me and make me realize that I have a relationship that needs repairing.

It doesn't matter whether you are the offender or the offended: God expects you to make the first move. Don't wait for the other party. Go to them first.

I have been holding a grudge against my mother since July for some pretty trivial stuff. My mom has never been a religious person to my knowledge and doesn't have a problem speaking her mind about anything. Without going into too much detail, she basically hurt me too many times with empty promises and a few harsh words. She set me off when I told her about buying my house and instead of the expected excitement and congratulations, I received the opposite. So instead of working it out, I disowned her. I still haven't spoken to her and refuse to answer her calls or let her see the inside of my house.

The fact is, she is my mom and I miss her. I refused to believe that I had any fault in the situation and insisted that she come to me with an apology before I would forgive her. Unfortunately I just made the situation worse and with every day that passes that I don't do something about it, my heart gets heavier. I wish we could just go back to being best friends again. Although it will probably take a long time for our relationship to build back up to what it was, it won't go anywhere unless I do something about it. So I'm working on the words and building up the courage to go talk to her and end this thing.

I'm tired of having a one sided family.