bigger than this

I would just like to note that it is about 7:30 and it is still daylight. Bless you, Daylight Savings.

I almost didn't go to bible study tonight because Mom came by for a little bit, but she needed to leave at 5:00, so I went on. I hadn't read the chapter, but I'm getting ready to. Turns out, I missed the best chapter in the book. We sat outside beneath some flowering tree this afternoon. That was nice. And so was the discussion. And I wrote down a few quotes from Jeff that I thought were great / profound / funny.

"Sincerity has nothing to do with truth or reality."

"God, you sure as hell better be bigger than this."

"I smoke. You drink caffeine. He eats fat. We're all pretty jacked up."

[Talking about John 13:34-5 in which Jesus tells his disciples that people will know them because they love one another. In an analogy about a blind date wearing a purple flower so the person will recognize him in a crowd.] "You can hold up a big sign with her name on it, but she won't know because that's not what she's looking for. You discussed a purple flower on your lapel, and without it, you can be all shaven and hot, but she won't see you. You can try other things, but without the purple flower, they won't freaking know!"

[While discussing three step evangelism training.] "How about two steps? Yeah, I took one away. Make friends and be yourself. If your friends are Christians, it's discipleship. If they're not, it's evangelism."

"If there's any training we need, that's it. Love those around you, and the circle grows."

"Salvation is letting someone love you like no human has ever loved you before. It's scary. We ask, 'You're really going to love me even if I screw up?' and they say 'Yes.' 'You're sure you're going to carry the weight of me and all this crap?' 'Yes.' Letting someone love you like that is scary. But that's salvation. It's letting go."

[During a discussion on drinking, Adam and Jeff had this exchange about the miracle of turning water to wine.] "Jesus brought the liquor to the party." "I wonder how many people got trashed after that wedding." "Yeah, and afterwards, Jesus was like, 'That's the last time I'm doing that miracle...'"

[In response to the question "What would things look like if we lived a life of love?"] "Hope would look as good as it really is."

So um, I'm pretty sure I aced my philosophy test this morning. Oh, and I got my BarbCobb paper back. It was a good paper, and she tore it up. I still haven't calmed down enough to read the comments. Women's lit was good. And in Spanish, Dawn and I decided to do our poster presentation on El Salvador. Interesting.

Going to read now.