Sorry for the dearth of posting as of late. It's been an odd mix of work, personal projects, and trying to eke out some time at Church as well as being buried in a book or by prayer. But a few quick points to share after yet another great Tina Underwood class last night. Tina has a great way of illuminating points we've probably heard a million times before, but finding a way to make it sink in. Last night's class was sort of a roundup of the previous four. A bit review, a bit filling in some blanks, a bit summarization.

One of the points that I felt compelled to write down and think about a bit was Tina's comment that "Humans leak." Sounds kinda odd, doesn't it? But it's really another way of stating how we overflow with God's goodness as we gain and increase in it for our own lives. I relate to that a bit by those moments when I feel tired, beat down, and frazzled, but realize that I also need to get ready to head out to church. Not in an obligatory sense, but in the sense that whether I know what the sermon topic is or not, I know I'm going to gain something from it. Even if it's something I just have to store in the back pocket of my brain for a day, a week, a year, a decade, or longer.

When we replace the bad things in our life with the positive things that make us better followers of Christ, it inevitably comes out in a variety of ways. I find myself offering a thank you to the bus driver to and from work, lending a smile where I might have been a bit more self-focused many many moons ago, quicker to greet a visitor at Lakewood, more assured in inviting friends to a service, etc, etc, etc .... Those are all very simple, relatively minor ways in which that goodness "leaks."

The opposite is that when we keep beating ourselves up with negative feedback, pouring negative thoughts and images into our minds from television, conversation, or whatever ... that stuff leaks out as well. And we all get some ounce of it from time to time.

That point ties into another item that Tina covered that I hope I can faithfully echo from her teaching. When I first set foot in her class, my intention was merely to get a glimpse of some of the Recovery Classes going on at church and see what there was that I might be able to share with others. Maybe they'd need it more and I'd just have a ready reference about the availability as well as the applicability of a class or two. But, as Tina tells it, her class isn't just for those who are on the ropes of life ... or on their deathbed (spiritual or physical). Though the class is entitled "Captive No More," it may seem as if the material only applies to a subsegment of us all. But I think there's someting more universal to the nature of what Tina teaches - and she readily offers as much, too.

So I hope that whomever this little blog post lands upon remembers that for the next time the class begins anew. I may have to put in a phonecall to find out more about the last three classes. Tina mentioned the word "workshop" and I'm hesitant to suggest anyone just walk in off the street if those workshops don't benefit a newbie as much as they do those of us who've made this series of the class a habit. I'll update when I get an answer.