Ah, it such a good weekend. On Friday evening, I drove two hours north to Columbus to visit my friend Josh. I haven't been able to spend time with him since I lived in Ohio a year and a half ago, so it was really nice to catch up.
I happened to be in town on a game day... I guess I had forgotten how completely out of control the city gets when OSU plays. We went out for brunch before the game, and even the little old ladies at the restaurant were wearing their Ohio State sweatsuits. So we watched the game, of course. (Actually, I watched the first half and then read a novel for a while.)
After the game, Josh took me down toward campus for a concert. Los Lonely Brothers opened... they were really talented, but I always felt sad when they started singing. Their lyrics were terrible. Then we saw Robert Randolph and the Family Band. He is so amazing... and he was just really smiley and happy. The place was packed, and everybody was having so much fun. Lots of dancing. It was a great time.

Yesterday morning, we went to church. It seems like such a long time since I have attended a Sunday morning service. Before I moved to Cincinnati, I had been going on Saturday nights. But I was always with the kids during the message. I experienced the most growth and accountability from our weekly homegroup meetings. And here at the Community House, we also have small church meetings in the home. Rather than listening to one person preach, each of us tries to come to the gathering with an openness to the Holy Spirit. We encourage each other to seek God as individuals (and as a community) throughout the week. Then when we meet together as a church, we have something to bring to the rest of the Body according to the gifts He has given us. Its a whole different experience than what I grew up with. This morning while I was journaling, I realized that I can hardly remember what yesterday's sermon was about, but I can recall quite specifically what we discussed during our house church meetings over the last three weeks. I'm still learning a lot about "the church" and how we should function... but so far, my experiences with small church gatherings have been entirely positive.

Yesterday, I also got to visit my friends Matt and Adrian in Columbus. They were my small group leaders at the church I went to before moving to Texas, and it was great to catch up with them.

...such a good weekend.