Commitment

Laurie recently posed a question that I think would be worth some discussion: "What does Christian commitment look like?" It's one thing to say we attend The Dwelling Place, but are we really committed to living in community with this body of believers? And what does that commitment look like? If The Dwelling Place is going to thrive and grow and impact the world around us, what will that cost each of us? What are you willing to do to make The Dwelling Place the place you dream it can be?

Resurrection Sunday!

Here's a quote from Shane's sermon this morning:

"My hope is fastened to a cave outside ancient Palestine where you hear the shudder of death's crumbling stretching outward and whispering hope to the edges of the universe."

Are you living your life in a way that carries on that whisper?

Our New Site(s)

In addition to our new physical site in Broad Ripple, our website has now undergone a facelift. Be sure to take a look around and check out all the updates and changes. Also, now that the site has been updated, I'm going to attempt to get back to adding posts on a semi-regular basis. So, what are some discussions you'd like to see us have on the blog?

The Great Divorce

I was thinking that reading "The Great Divorce" by C.S. Lewis would be a great way to finish out Shane's series on the Resurrection. I bought a copy today, and would love for anyone who's interested to please join me. You can post any comments, questions, discussion topics, etc. for the rest of us who are reading it on the comments section of this post. I look forward to hearing what everyone thinks!

Teen Girl Assaults Elderly Woman

This is the picture taken of 19 year old Jessica Vasquez as she was arrested for beating an 81 year old woman for aggravating her by driving too slow. She looks repentant, doesn't she?

Apparently, the elderly woman was driving too slowly, so this young gal sped around her and slammed on her brakes to force her to stop. She then walks back to the older woman's car, opens the driver's door and begins to beat on her. The older woman tried to get away, and this little gem pulled her out of the car and continued to wail on her causing the elderly lady, Evelyn Page, to fall into two lanes of traffic. Ms. Page's face was bloodied, her leg was broken in 14 places and she now needs a knee replacement surgery!

I realize elderly people can require extra patience, but I think we need to realize that (unless some tragedy cuts life short), this is the same state we will one day find ourselves in. Don't we want people to treat us with a little dignity at that point? If you want the whole story, visit http://www.theindychannel.com/news/16102256/detail.html.

Fear of Death

People are obviously terrified of dying. According to a recent Barbara Walters special, there are some who are willing to shell out $150,000 per person to be cryogenically preserved with the hope that they can be reanimated at a later date when science is able to grant them a longer life. One family has paid for both parents and all three children to undergo the procedure to the tune of $750,000! According to one man who has signed up both him and his wife for the cryogenic process, "The way I look at it is that cryonics is like the ultimate lottery ticket. If it does work, what you get … ... this extra life in the future, is just incredible. It'll mean more than any jackpot you could win today."

Check out the rest of the story at http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Longevity/story?id=4520397&page=1.

Encourage One Another

"So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing." (1 Thessalonians 5:11)

Sorry it's been so long since there was a new post here. Conversation on the blog died down when we had to switch to a site where people were forced to log in in order to post a comment, and the whole point of having the blog was that it would be a tool for us to continue conversations throughout the week and build stronger community. Anyway, time to give it another shot.

I feel like encouragement is so important to build community, so that seemed like the perfect topic to kickoff our renewed commitment to the blog. Consider this post to be your personal platform to build up your fellow believers. Tell someone how their faith has been an encouragement to you, thank someone for an act of service to the community that you've noticed, show your appreciation for the virtues you've noticed in others. Here's your opportunity...