Joel is not what I want

For those who don't know, I've spent the last week and a half in Houston and will be here for another week and half more. The state of Texas is very different than other states...on my way from the airport I say a billboard for a talk show that read "Liberals Hate Us" and haven't seen a Kerry-Edwards sticker anywhere. I also went to the Houston mega-church "Lakewood" this past Sunday with my parents. The pastor of Lakewood is Joel Osteen, and he's your typical Sunday morning TV preacher. In fact, I've noticed that most TV preachers come from Texas.
This church is located in the former Compaq Center, once home to the Houston Rockets. The church has 3 services and when we went on Sunday, the place was pretty packed out.
The preacher and his wife look so perfect that they almost look fake:

and the people in the church look like the most difficult choice in life as of late was deciding between generic coffee and Starbucks. I have no problem with people going to churchs like this, in fact my parents really like Joel Osteen and his style of preaching, but it's a little odd to look up at the pulpit and see a big gold spinning globe in place of the cross. It's also a little disconcerting to see a church that spend all its money and energy on a tiny section of the world (and might I add, one that really needs no monetary help) while forgetting the poor and homeless outside of Houston and around the world. I'm sure Joel Osteen does a great job of touching non-believer's hearts all around the US...but to me, it seems like he is only preaching half of the Truth. Yes there is joy in the Lord, and yes He will bless us, but I don't think becoming a Christian means that we will automatically live and walk the comfortable life or that it is God's desire to see us excel at our careers...yet this is what he preaches to his congregation every Sunday.

I think I'm learning that it's really important to pick a church whose goals and interests align with mine. What I mean is, although I agree with all of Lakewood's statements of faith...I also want a church that is involved in the needy areas of the world. And these "extracurriculars" are often not found in the church's faith statements. One of the things I like most about Church of the Open Door (my church in Minneapolis) is its purposeful goal of reaching the poor of Minneapolis and its involvement in giving help to those with AIDS in Africa. I don't think I will ever find "the perfect church" as it is made up of imperfect people with imperfect theology and mindset, so I think it is best to judge a church by its "extra-curriculars" rather than by the basics since 90% of the Protestant churchs out there seem to have the same typical statements of faith.

My toothbrush story

Like Laura, I have had blogger's block for the last few weeks; so this isn't the most exciting of posts.

So my toothbrush fell in the toilet last night when I was getting ready for bed. I was feeling a little frustrated right before this incident happened and so I decided to reach down into the toilet with my bare hands to grab the toothbrush. I usually like to wear a rubber glove or use a plastic bag to retrieve things from the toilet, but last night I was too tired and aggrevated to care. Which means my care for oral hygene has been slipping.
A few months ago my headband fell in the toilet, instead of throwing it away I just rinsed it and rewore it a few weeks later...yuck
Yesterday I almost considered reusing the toothbrush. I bought the toothbrush less than 3 weeks ago and it was kind of expensive because it vibrates. I've never used a vibrating toothbrush before (and I'm not sure how I feel about it still) and was kind of sad to see it go into the toilet. So last night and this morning I had to use this monsterous toothbrush that I got for free from NWA and the dang thing barely fit inside my mouth.
Oh, I also believe in only taking one shower a day...and I don't usually make exceptions to this rule.

Already bored...

Today is day 2 of my life as a bum...and I'm already starting to get a little bored. All my friends are either in school or at work and I still get up at 6 in the morning. Today I woke up and saw sunshine for the first time since the first day I got back from China. I was so excited to see the sun that I assumed it must be after 9am, afterall why would it be sunny at 6 in the morning? I decided that since its most likely 9, I can now get out of bed...boo- it was only a little after 7. So now I'm back in bed.

Yesterday I went for a run in my aunt and uncle's neighborhood. I got lost and had to ask for directions and wound up running/walking over 6 miles....another boo.

I also watched part of Anchorman yesterday--dumb movie, part of Kingdom of Heaven--too long, and part of In the Good Company--bad acting.

The only exciting highlight from yesterday was that my friend Laura called up with free tickets to see Shawn McDonald. He's got a really great voice and can play the guitar--very attractive qualities. I had to miss 24, but Anne's mom taped it for us, so I will get to watch it this Friday--yay.

Today's goals: find my purple sneakers, call up my loan officer, move crap out of my car from when I moved on Saturday, pick up photos from Target, and find a bookstore...all this to do and I only have 8 hours! I better pace myself.