As a life-long WVian, I want to say that my heart truly goes out to the families of the 12 miners who were killed this week in Upshur County.  It is a tragedy that these men died doing their job, nobly trying to put food on the table by working unlike so many in our lovely state today.  My prayers are with you.  God's peace be with you.

Meanwhile, I have a bone to pick with national mass media.  I suddenly understand why all those so-called "backwoods hicks" want to be left alone by the outside world and why they are suspicious of outsiders.  I don't condone it, but I understand it.  I am apalled that the news media is actually pressuring the families--the already bereaved and distraught families--of the deceased miners to sue the mine company.  As if this state isn't sue happy enough as it is, first of all.  Has anyone noticed the exodus of doctors from our borders.

Secondly, anyone who has grown up in or near a mining town knows that it is a dangerous business.  It's right up there with deep-sea fishing.  You don't see the families of the victims depicted in "A Perfect Storm" suing the makers of the boat they used or the retailers of sea food that cause such businesses to be lucrative.  Those men knew what they were getting into when they signed up for the job.

As for the OSHA violations, it's the nature of the beast.  All mining companies receive scores of OSHA violations every year.  It's not a good thing, but it's a fact.  And it's not like they're not trying to fix them.  However, the deadlines they are given are just not realistic.

Furthermore, there are few other ways to obtain that coal.  And until someone comes up with a more or equally efficient way of mass producing energy, someone has to obtain that coal.  That, and as long as people like flipping a switch and turning on their light, or their television, or their computer.

Oh, and maybe this will change some people's tunes about mountain top removal.  I really see both sides of the story, because I LOVE the mountains in WV.  I fully intend to climb some of them this summer and thoroughly enjoy hiking on them.  But what mining companies do to the landscape is no worse than shopping centers. In fact, I'd rather it was the mining companies than the shopping centers, because the outlets and malls have more options for location than the mining companies.   They have to mine where there is coal. Shopping centers can be located anywhere.  How about some of those rat-infested former crack houses in Huntington, or some of the abandoned downtown buildings in Charleston? No parking?  Tear down one of those condemned buildings and add a parking garage--not a parking lot.

Those of you in the media: get your facts straight.  Live here before you cast aspersions and ill-got opinions.  And the last time I checked, journalists were supposed to be watchdogs informing the public--objectively--of what is going on.  Stop pressuring the families to sue.  If they feel the need to do so, believe me, they will.  But it is not your place as the reporters of happenings to decide how a situation is handled.  Leave that up to the public.  Keep your opinions to yourself.  That's why I got out of journalism.

With that, I'm putting my soapbox away. 

I can't go to Passion '06.  A) It's sold out. B) I can't take the time off of work.

I went to Passion '05.  It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life, and led me to Paint the Town, and even Phusebox.  I am broken hearted that I cannot partake in the blessing that is Passion.  So now I'm looking for conferences that I can go to.  Maybe a weekend Women's thing.  Beth Moore (B-mama) is coming to my state in September, and you bet I'll be there, but I would like something a little earlier than that.  I need refreshing.

Passion is great.  It is this amazing resource for the college generation.  It's my generation.  But what happens when my generation graduates college and becomes the working generation?  We have all these tools for reaching the colleges of the U.S. and of the world, but I have found nothing for the Passion-withdrawal generation, i.e. those of us who graduate college, still have a fire for Christ, want to reach the world around us, but have no idea what to do.  I can go to "adult" conferences, but they are a disappointment a lot of times.

Don't get me wrong.  I don't want to be a conference junkie.  You can't just go to conferences and never use what you learn.  But I need some refreshment.  Has the church completely forgotten the young, unmarried professionals who have yet to start a family, who still get excited when they hear Crowder (New CD in March!), who have a fire and passion for God, but don't quite fit with the college crowd or the "adult" crowd?

I can't hang with the college ministries that changed--and in many ways, saved--my life as much any more because I just don't run on that schedule.  Every event starts at 9pm, but I'm in bed by 10 because I have to wake up at 5am, the time at which many of my college friends are just discovering the comfort of their pillows (especially the ones with the last name "Taylor"!).  I can't do the whole adult ministry thing because they're all talking about their marriages and their kids--two things I don't have.  I have a job, but I am not completely sure where I'm going to live next year, or whether I'm going to stay in this job forever.  I would like to keep it, but that just might not happen.  My future is little more stable than a college student, but I don't have the same things to talk about.

There just aren't a lot of people like me.

So those of you going to Passion, promise me that when you graduate and get out into the "real world" that you will not lose that fire and passion for God.  And maybe those of us who are single, passionate, non-parents, with jobs will start to make waves, come together, and minister to one another.  Maybe we can be a forgotten demographic no longer.

Meanwhile, enjoy every second.  Open your hearts.  Drink in every word that Louie, B-mama, and Piper say.  Sing praises at the top of your lungs--Make a LOUD noise...as Crowder says, "not a little bitty quiet, quiet noise, but a LOUD noise."  Lose your voice, and in doing so, find it.  Raise your hands and hold them high until your fingers turn blue because they have no circulation.  Cry.  Let loose.  Be changed.  And then GO.  Because what good is a conference if you don't GO with it.

I'm reading this book called Practitioners about the church in today's culture.  See, Jay, the campus minister at my church has a subscription to Relevant magazine.  They did a promotion recently and sent out a bunch of extra mags and books.  I picked this one up because the forward was by Erwin McManus, the barbarian that helped take over the Bronx with us this summer.

I'm on this chapter about prayer.  The Moravian church way back in the day did an entire year of 24-7 prayer.  It really shook up Western Europe and launched a lot of missions.  Why aren't we doing this?

One of the essayists wrote that his church attempted it because prayer was--as it is for so many of us--the thing that they were bad at.  Relationships were good, hospitality was good, zeal for Christ was good, but the prayer thing just wasn't there.  They created a space for prayer.  It was hard at first he said, but they ended up praying for months on end.  They did so by creating a space for prayer.  Why aren't we doing this?

My campus ministry (although I'm more alumni now than anything, and rather a prodigal member because I have not been able to attend for a while due to my school schedule and my illness and my grandmother's illness) has created a beautiful prayer room.  But we're not using it.  Why aren't we using it?

Here's the thing: every story I've heard about God taking a place by storm is prefaced by the Christians in that area praying--fervently, explosively, constantly.  This is not like a week-long thing, like Passion.  This is coming back from Passion and making time every day to fuel mission's flame.  We as Christians, in my neck of the woods anyway, just don't worship individually.  We're really good at the collective thing.  But we stink at the one-on-one communication with God thing. 

My small group Bible study delved into the subjects of prayer, fasting, and meditation last fall (and I began reading Hunger for God by John Piper, which I still haven't finished because I have to read every word at least three times to understand what he's saying).  We started experimenting.  Only a few of the girls really went through with it, but those that did really got something out of it.  Prayer is the hardest thing for me, because I don't know what to say.  Go figure: me, speechless...

Look at scripture: James said that the "effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much"--which means that if you are seeking God and are His redeemed, you have the ability to pray and have a huge effect.  You must mean what you say--have a passion.  But that's not hard, is it?  We all have a passion for something.

"If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray"--HUMBLE OURSELVES and ask for HELP--He will come and HEAL us.  I think we need healing for this generation.  I don't know about y'all, but I have had a lot of pain in my life.  I know a lot of people who have had a lot more.  Ask one of my students who has been sexually, mentally, emotionally, physically, and in all other ways abused.  She needs healing.  So do I.  So does everyone.  Life sucks.  We need to recover.

Paul urges us in Ephesians to pray at all times in the Spirit and to pay attention to what is going on around us and pray for our fellow believers--that's intercession, by the way, not "Lord, gimme..."--and again in II Thes. to "Pray without ceasing."

Why aren't we doing this?

I have an hour commute both ways every day.  I'm on the road from approximately 6am to 7am.  I'm going to start setting aside at least 15 minutes from loudly and obnoxiously listening to my amazing car stereo (it really is amazing, folks.  Graduation gift--and it pumps!) and PRAY.  I'm asking for someone to read this blog and hold me accountable.  Message me.  Ask me if I'm holding to it.  Anybody with me?  We have this great random network of believers--granted, not all phusers believe in Christ, but many do, and Lord-willing, many more will if his people will humbly pray.

Anybody with me?

Well, I wrote a blog about a month ago about how I was happy being single and would everyone please leave me alone (mom).  So a week later, God decided to make me into a hypocrite by dropping into my lap a wonderful man who suddenly became the other half of my  pair.  Yes, indeed.  I paired off.

And I like it.

And this time, the relationship is different than it always has been. First off, we are trying to center the relationship on God, not us (good intentions, right?).  Second, it's kinda long distance, so we have to talk.

But here is the most amazing part:  He hasn't annoyed me yet.  How the heck did that happen?  Or not happen, as the case may be...

I like this whole relationship thing.  I have someone to vent to other than my blog.

On a completely different note:

I have discovered that the words "Christmas Program" and "ulcer" actually come from the same word in Ancient Greek.  Hmmmm...coincidence?  Heck no!

Here's hoping everyone has a fantastic Thanksgiving.  Me, I'm thankful for my job, my friends, my family, my apartment, my roommate, my neighbors, my car, my church, God, salvation, colors, oxygen, little bugs....

So I spend two days a week at my paternal grandmother's.  I call her Nana.  Nana is eccentric, to be sure.  She is also one of the most understanding, non-judgemental people I have ever met.  She has done everything: owned a business, achieved higher education, taught Sunday and Bible school, held political office, written for a newspaper, played on a basketball team, learned an instrument, sung in choir, starred in a play (for which she also made all the costumes), and raised three amazing, successful, and completely different children.  I admire her and her opinion greatly.  Here's a taste of the wisdom that flows from my Nana:

On Youth:

"If you've got it, you might as well use it.  You won't have it forever."

On Friendship:

"How many friends do you have that you like because of how they look, or how clean their house is, or what they have?  I don't have any like that.  I like them because they're people."

On People in General:

"I've learned that if somebody is especially particular about their house, they have something they did in their past that they really regret.  Obviously, I have nothing to hide (referring to the momentary disarray of her kitchen)."

On Uniqueness:

"I say if you don't like it, you oughta let people know.  They ought not make you eat something you don't like or wear something you don't like.  They probably don't want to, so let them know.  I like when someone's picky.  At least I know what they like."

"Be yourself.  Who cares?  They don't like it, they don't have to be around you all the time."

At this point, I should probably add that this is the woman who makes sculptures out of scrap wood that she finds in her yard and decorates religiously for every holiday.  My Nana is fantastic.  She knows what she is talking about.  She has lived life to its fullest.  I want to be like that.  No regrets, no reservations, just simple, all-out living.

Love you, Nana.

I am Jack's sense of total frustration....

Everyone is pairing up. I'm single. I'm happy being single. But those of us who are happy and single often find it a little hard to walk out the front door during fall (or as my friend Joel refers to it, "hook-up season," much like basketball or football season, involving bets, recruitment, an off-season, and of course, "break-up season").

One of my first graders called me Mrs. the other day. I corrected her, explaining that I am "Miss McComas" because I'm not married. The boy in line behind her, shocked, said "You're not married? How can you have a job if you're not married?!"

It was funny at the time. However, when I related the story to my mom (because that was a good idea), she said something (which I have probably forced out of my memory due to trauma) about "why don't you just hook up with someone and get married?" My mother fans the flame that is attached to the fuse that is attached to the very large bomb entitled "WHY DOES EVERYONE THINK I NEED TO BE MARRIED?!?!" Thankfully, my Dad said, "She needs a man right now like a fish needs a bicycle." However unoriginal his statement, it was rather helpful in vidicating me.

I realize that in complaining about being single, I am probably just coming off as desperate for a date, but I'm really not. I'm just tired of the way our society treats singles--like outcasts. Lauren F. Winner addresses this in her book "RealSex" and she is dead on the money. She says that as great as romance and love are, you can't force people to be in relationships, and we as a society can't keep stigmatizing singles. So often--especially in churches, it seems--we treat singleness like a disease with symptoms (alone on a Friday night, going to a wedding stag, living in a single bedroom apartment) that need cured. THIS IS STUPID! I am having the time of my life. I get to spend my extra income on me. I get to save a bunch of money. I don't have to worry about someone else's problems, feelings, or plans with every decision I make. I can hang out with the girls one night and the guys another. This isn't bad.

On top of that, my current state of singularity is a choice. (Three break-ups in six months will cause you to make such decisions!) I discovered some time ago that I was putting too much stock in relationships. I associated a relationship with my self-worth. I was worshipping a boyfriend instead of God. I was doing everything I could to get attention from the opposite sex, and I ended up getting used, hurt, and bitter. I am so much better off now.

Don't get me wrong. I cry during chick flicks wondering why that guy isn't knocking on my door with flowers. I dream about a wedding day (a perpetual symptom of womanhood). I still flirt. I am up for a date. I believe God has someone out there for me. I love him already. I can't wait to meet him. I'm trying to prepare myself for him. But if now is not the time, I have so much else going for me. And for once in my life, I really believe that.

So to all those of you out there trying to set me up on dates, or raising your eyebrows every time I mention a male friend, or thinking "poor thing, I hope she finds a man someday": stop thinking that right this second. I'm free from all that. I'm single. I like it. I'm up for change, but I am content. I do not have a disease. I have a life. And an abundant one at that.

That's my venting moment.

I am Jack's overwhelming sense of vidication.

People say that God doesn't speak audibly anymore. I don't know if I believe this. I think maybe we're just not listening.

I just read "Do You Think I'm Beautiful" by Angela Thomas. One of the chapters is on the noise and clutter in our lives. It spoke to me, and made me think a little further. This noise is why we cannot hear God. The Bible says that He has a still, small voice. When you're surrounded by carhorns, subwoofers, shouting people (because that is the only way, it seems, to be heard anymore), and the noise in our own heads. I don't know about you, but it's loud in there. It may die down for a few moments, but then it starts again. Like rush hour on a busy highway, there is the morning, noon, and evening version, with only a short lull for the dinner hour before the trucks take over. And that is when it is the loudest--at night, when those Mack trucks of doubt and insecurity assail.

And this is my blog, so I can be completely candid, right? Sometimes, I feel that no matter how awesome God thinks I am, that doesn't matter, because human beings don't. What a pitiful sinner I am to think that. And to presume that it matters. Do we realize--ever--that the God of Creation, the most powerful Power, the Force that makes the universal glue of Star Wars fame seem no greater than duct tape (although duct tape is awesome and quite comparable to the Force, with a dark side and a light side and a bond that holds the universe together) thinks we are great? He created us in His image. He makes time for us. We can BOLDLY enter His throne room any time we want! Why don't we?

When you start to realize this, you not only finally get what John Piper has been ranting about for so long, but you also wonder why you are sitting at your computer reading a blog when you should be running through the streets screaming, "Jesus love you!" But then you hear that voice. The one that made its way through all the noise, the stress, the fear, the depression, the confusion, the insecurity. You hear Him whisper to you, "I know what I'm doing. I'm putting you here for a reason. Now close your mouth and listen so you don't miss the ways you can tell people I love them."

I have thought for so long that there was no way I could completely serve God unless I gave up the whole teaching thing and did the ministry thing. Then one day, one of my friends talked about his teaching job and how it was a ministry. He talked about loving kids that got no love at home, and how he could reflect Jesus on them. I realized I've been going about this the wrong way. I wanted to change my circumstances to serve God, when what I needed to do was change my attitude.

Once again, I cry, without concern or inhibition, ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING!
Psalm 45
I Corinthians 13
Philippians 4

That's my random thoughts for the week.

One more addition...

This week marked the inaugural "Waters" of the semester...this is the praise and worship gathering of University Christian Fellowship at Marshall University. Yes I'm graduated, but I'm still involved. God's doing great things there.

Anyhoo, there was a lot of skepticism because we changed to an off-campus location (all the campus ministries got screwed up in scheduling due to a Greek society take-over). Praise God, we had a good turn-out. Plus, Jay brought an awesome message and managed to throw in the Blue Oyster Cult skit from SNL. "I've got a fever, and the only prescription is MORE COWBELL!" I think the point, though, was that we need to be living the life OUT LOUD, because someone out there will hear our cowbell (the Gospel, in this convoluted case) and decide that it's the only cure for their ailments.

Also, Jay has made the theme of the semester "Unleash your Uniqueness," although he says that some of us (and at this point he looked directly at me...not sure why...) need to reel in the uniqueness. I identify with Peter: not always sure I know what God's doing, but I want in on it. And you skeptics out there: Don't pick too much on Peter. He was the only one to step out of the boat that one time.

This week, school started. My first thought was, okay, I have a job. Now what?

I am very blessed to be surrounded by wonderful Christian teachers and principles. (Yay! I can get away with a few sacred Christmas songs!)

Oh, and bulletin boards? Not easy! And I have 2 classrooms at 2 schools. My life has been hanging out with old equipment and bulletin boards....and dusting....lots of dusting!

This is definitely increasing my faith, though. I prayed for one job offer. I had three interviews from 8 bids. I ended up with one job offer. I know this is where God wants me right now. (This is a smiley face moment) On top of that, God is reminding me that He does not call the equipped, He equips the called.

So glad to see Luke and Joey, the Wonder Non-Brothers on here! Miss you guys so much!

Emily and Jess, this is me thanking God that we share a wall (which will soon be torn down and replaced with an accordion divider....I'm gonna run it by Big Green...in fact, Joel suggests busting out your wall with the Taylors, too. We can have a real live compound!).

And to everyone out there, Genesis 3 is SO not just original sin! There is so much more to it than that... More later.

Love to all!

Okay, I told everyone that I would collect quotes on our mission in AZ and that I would post them. Here they are, with much ado and even more public demand:

"Oh, look at the rocks! They look like little turds!" --"Hard Core Bacon" Erin Kelly

"What's wrong? Can we pee?!" --Branden Baker, after a long drive to the Grand Canyon

"You can come in, but I'm warning you: we're not wearing any pants!" --me, after a long day and a lot of caffeine

"I'm completely ignorant!" --Hard Core

"ROCKS!....Rocks, rocks, rocks, rocks, rocks!" --Tiffany "Talks-in-Sleep" Manning

"I'm a lousy expert!" --Rachel Dozier, describing her status after checking all 44 WVians and Alabamans for lice (which, in its singular form is "louse")

"I want everyone to be peeing clear!" --Jay Barrow, on the dehydration situation in AZ, prompting us to then ask if there was a prize for the first clear peeing individual and what process would be used for proof...yikes.

"Carefree Highway...Happy Valley...these people are on a lot of drugs!" --Tiffany Manning, on the geographic locations noted driving from Flagstaff to Phoenix

"I wonder if we can fit one of these coffee tables in our luggage..." --Tiffany Manning, on the amazing hotel we got to spend the night in after a week of roughing it during tarantula season near the Apache rez (thank you, Jamie Waugh!)

Guess what I've been doing the past few days? Painting! Again! Thank goodness nothing is in Caribbean blue!
University Christian Fellowship recently received a much-needed budget to refurbish our campus house at Marshall University. We decided that the off-beige interior was getting old, so project numero uno is to paint the whole building. We have a purple prayer room (my favorite so far), a very green main room, an amazing electric blue kitchen, and a very, very red bathroom that has been the subject of contention for many. Some have mixed feelings. Some, like my friend Jess, think it is "horrid" (but she meant it in the nicest possible way!). I, personally, think it's great! I love red. Next on the list after painting is putting together the computer lab which has been much contemplated and pontificated for the past year, but little progress has been made. The goal is that the campus house will be more of a hang-out (a la "the Max" from "Saved by the Bell"). This way, we will have more of an outreach.
In other news, I am, for all intents and purposes, gainfully employed. I was offered a job teaching music at two elementary schools in a local county. I took the job. I prayed that the first job offer would be the right one, and I am trusting that God granted that request. It's a bit of a drive to work every morning, but I am, nevertheless, excited. :-)
Anyway, that's life right now.

So I just joined the Paint the Town group. It's really amazing how one week affected me so much. Maybe it's not that my life and my neighborhood is so boring. Maybe it's not that anything there was so exciting (though it really was). Maybe it's more that for one week in my entire life, no one had an attitude problem. No one had a bad word to say about anyone. Everyone was just there to work and praise God. Everyone just wanted to do the job. Life is so in the attitude. Why don't people get that? I came back to my retail job (in the middle of back to school season) to find everyone on edge. Everyone was quick to accuse, pass blame, offend and be offended. It was culture shock. The recovery from the Bronx has not been that I no longer have to dodge cabs, live with no air-conditioning, spend the day picking paint from under my nails, or eat nothing but cold cut sandwiches (with Italian dressing). The adjustment isn't in the building size or the routine. It's not in the location or the job I'm doing. It's not even in this intense separation anxiety from people who became my entire world for a week.
The difference is that the attitude is not the same. The difference is that I've tasted a bit of heaven and now I have to go back. This is how I felt after Passion '05 Nashville, only more so because I also have a sense of accomplishment after Paint the Town.
Maybe I think that if I can keep in touch with those amazing people, I can keep in touch with that great attitude. Maybe we all need to go out of our way to encourage each other more. There's just not enough encouragement around. So this is me encouraging anyone that reads this. Eph. 3:20-21 Ps. 30:5 Phil. 4:4
Keep it real.

Here's the deal: I hate putting a lot of info about myself on the net, although I'm sure if I googled my name, I'd eventually find my life story anyway. But I figure this is a fantastic way to stay in touch with some of the greatest, most awesome people I have ever met, namely Team Light Blue (aka "The Hotties") from Paint the Town 2005.
So this is the beginning of a lot of new things for me. For one, I'm trying to find a full-time teaching job. I've had a couple interviews, I've placed a few more bids, and everyone is saying that I have a good chance of getting a job for one reason or another. But through it all, I really kind of want to go back in time to my last year of college and maybe try the whole student thing again. I was really good at that. Can I stay there? But sooner or later, life kicks you in the tail and you have to step out on faith, leaving your huge pile of fear and insecurity behind. Where will I be in five years? No clue. I have no long-term nor short-term plan (for the first time in my entire life), but I have a few options. Meanwhile, I'm praying and trying to focus on the whole job thing.
I'm also trying to live my entire life as if it is a missions trip...because, isn't it? I never really thought of it that way. I always thought that if I wanted to serve God--really serve God--that it would have to be a 24/7 thing, or I just wouldn't be satisfied. I'm an all-or-nothing, front-lines kind of person. I don't think everyone has to give up their regular job and go to Africa or New York or Arizona or Honduras. I just thought that I had to do that. But then I learned that it's all in the attitude. If I start each day the same way I did in New York and Arizona for two weeks this summer, then I will be serving God 24/7 on the front lines. Maybe that makes sense, maybe it doesn't. But I have a new attitude. Ask me how I feel in five weeks! lol