People ask me often what’s on my list.  You know “the list,” right?  Single people have them… it’s the imaginary requirements one person has for their potential mate.  I won’t give you my whole list right now because I don’t think I’m ready for the flood of e-mails that would follow.  However, I do want to question one thing.

I’m looking for “purity” in a potential mate.  Since it’s one of those wishy-washy words, I mean that I’m looking for someone who is a virgin, having not gone farther than kissing with a previous boyfriend.

Immediately upon saying that to people, they will almost always say, “What if God has worked in her life since then?” or “You know God forgives, right?” or “What if she’s changed?”

If I said that I wanted a girl who has red hair and freckles as part of my list, no one would balk because that’s just preference.  God apparantly will allow me to choose superficial things like hair color.  But when it comes to the big stuff, like purity, I’m not allowed to include that on the things I am looking for in a mate?

I wonder why people have a hard problem with that one?  Are there that few virgins left?  Am I the only one who’s waited 25 years?

I just returned from a week long cruise to the Mediterranean.  We made the 11-hour homeward journey Wednesday, and my body clock has still not adjusted.  We visited a number of places on our trek through the Med: Rome, Pisa, Lucca, Naples, Livorno, Taormina, Sorrento, and Pompeii (Italy), Valletta (Malta) and Dubrovnik (Croatia).  We had a great time, and we had the opportunity to see some amazing sites.

Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.  Click any picture to be taken to the Picasa Album.

I’ll be away for a little over a week.  I’m headed to Europe with Holland America, this time as a guest.  I’ll be cruising aboard the ms Noordam. It’s a charter cruise with a non-standard itinerary, so I really don’t even know where we’re going, and I can’t find it on HALs Web site. The only thing I know for sure is that I am flying in to Civitavecchia (Rome).

Anyhow, I’ll be having fun and I won’t be checking my e-mail. Don’t feel like I’m hating on you, I’m just not around. I will however leave some Web goodness to auto-post in my absense.

June is apparently a time for introspection because I have been thinking non-stop about my life, the direction I’m headed vs. the direction I thought I’d be headed, and my future.

[Pause: Craig, don't read too much into this post.  There's nothing to be afraid of... I'm not jumping ship... just need to work some things out.]

In about a month, I turn 26.  Realizing this made me start thinking about a lot of other stuff.  That means that I started working ten years ago.  That also brings to mind all of those people who asked me, “Where do you see yourself ten years from now?”  I’ll tell you this, I never would have believed that in ten years I would be working as a church IT professional.

In high school, I always told people that I did not want to work with computers because they frustrated me too much.  Wise adults in my life would say things like, “God gave you a gift with computers, and I’d be surprised if He didn’t want you to work with them.”  Boy, that got under my skin.  By the way, I always saw myself as a radio DJ.  In college, I said the same thing - I don’t want to work with computers.  I have a bachelor of arts in communication for crying out loud!  I wanted nothing to do with these silly machines, and yet, here I am.

Looking back over my working history, I have done a lot of things.  I have been a youth ministry assistant, sign shop worker, newspaper reporter, camp counselor, radio DJ, youth minister, youth pastor, bus driver, semester missionary, waiter, assistant cruise director, and IT Manager.  I’ve done more than most people have in their first ten working years, partly because I wanted a lot of experience and partly because I am so ADD!

By this point in life I had always envisioned that I would be married and working in ministry.  While most would argue that church IT work is ministry, it doesn’t feel like ministry… it doesn’t feel like I am supporting the advancement of the Kingdom.  It feels like I’m answering the same question for the thousandth time.  That’s my challenge in this juncture of life - not knowing if I’m making a difference in the Kingdom.

Today, before my glorious Sunday nap, I watched this chick-flick on TBS, “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.”  In it, a young girl (Bailey) has leukemia and is dying.  Tibby asks her, “Are you scared,” and the 12-year-old (albeit Hollywood) reply was profound.  Bailey answers, “Not of dying, really It’s more that I’m afraid of time. And not having enough of it. Time to figure out who I’m supposed to be… to find my place in the world before I have to leave it. I’m afraid of what I’ll miss.”

While I don’t have a terminal illness, let’s face it, time is limited for all of us.  My fear is similar, that I won’t be all I can be in the Kingdom of God, that I’m somehow missing the calling He has on my life.  How have you wrestled with these things in your life and ministry?

Last night was the karaoke night at the ACS Convention. What a fun experience. I sang a couple of songs and led a dance. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the singers. It was so cool to see the human side of the people that support our ministry on a daily basis. I already knew Dean was a goof-ball, but the others are pretty goofy too. Just check out the photo above of the ACS girls “singing” It’s Raining Men.

Click to see all 64 photos from Karaoke Night.