Reading and Writing Week

I'm up north at my mom's place with the kids this week... they are enjoying a fun filled week with their grandparents while I enjoy the quietness of this place to get a lot of writing done! I'm hoping to get a research paper for school finished and get a few sermons done for the spring. Both projects are a blast but are really frying my brain! :) That's why I'm thankful for the quiet, forest surroundings here... and the hot tub (which I'm going to jump in as soon as I'm done writing this!)

A part of me loves getting into the books and studying some tough stuff that Scripture brings out... but there's another part of me that wants to write my own book and call it "Who Cares??" I'm writing my paper on 1 Timothy 2:12 (Google it if you don't know it and you can imagine the arguments that this stirs up!) With all the opinions on egalitarians and complementarians I just can't help but wonder if it really matters... I mean... really... am I going to go to hell if I allow a woman to preach in my church... or will I go to hell if I don't??? Will God cast me out of his kingdom for not landing on the proper side of this issue? Will he cut my church off and remove his spirit from us???

I don't think so... I've seen great churches with women leaders (pastors or elders) where God is doing fantastic stuff through those leaders. I've also seen wonderful churches that hold to a "men only" structure of leadership... and God is going great stuff there as well! So which is right? Does it matter?

So a part of me wants to throw all these books in the lake (and it's not that far from here!) and just go out and hug all these authors for the great work that God's has called them to and for working so hard on this issue. I would also love to hug the ones who critique the other side's view point in a loving and humble way! Those guys and gals really make me respect them with that Christ-like attitude! That should be at the heart of any debate.

And another strange part of me wants to learn as much as possible about both sides of the debate. Why? So I can love them both even more! :)

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