The Eyes Have It: A Tribute to My Last Days in Optometry

I've loved working here at the Spectacle Shoppe. It's been a fun opportunity to learn a new industry and a whole new set of skills, and I have loved watching this practice grow the past year! In order to commemorate my last couple of days here, I thought I'd share a comedy routine recommended by a patient and also by my dear ol' dad. Check it out!




So there you have it. A peak into my life this past year :) Also, I thought I'd mention that Real Simple did a great feature last month (proudly displayed in our magazine collection here at the office--yes, I realize I'm a huge nerd) about eye health. You can read it here.





Keep Your Eyes Healthy
7 Ways to Protect Your Vision






I'm passing the torch to my sweet friend Robin--a Tri Delta sister from U of R! So come see her if you're in the market for a great pair of glasses! And schedule an appointment here if you need a new eye doctor!

Following the Cloud: An Update

Friends,

It is with much excitement (and also a twinge of sadness) that I write to tell you I have taken a job at a church in Fairfield County, Connecticut just outside of NYC! This e-mail is mostly to make you aware of my change in location, but I also want to take the opportunity to brag on my big God :)

As most of you know, I have been looking for a ministry job for more than a year. I've been super blessed here in Nashville to be near so many dear friends, and God has lavishly provided work, freelance writing gigs, the opportunity to begin my Masters of Divinity at SBTS, and two amazing living situations. Even so, I think I've learned a little something about desert wandering! I've clung to the image of the pillar of cloud leading the Israelites through the desert: when it settled, the Israelites encamped. When it moved, they moved (Numbers 9:15-18). And so I've encamped here in Nashville, a place that I love for so many reasons, but where I have been unable to find the kind of job I'm after. It's been a fruitful season because, after all, the "cloud" is the very presence of God.

In December I applied on a whim for a high school youth pastor position at Walnut Hill Community Church in Bethel, Connecticut. As you've probably noticed, I am a lover of warm weather and Southern culture, so living in New England seemed like a stretch. But the job description read: "if you're looking for a place where it's safe and easy to be a Christian, this isn't the job for you." I was hooked. I sent my resume that day and promptly received a reply from Craig, the pastor emerging generations (children, youth, and young adults), saying that they were looking for someone more qualified. I wrote back and, expressing my confidence that I could do the job well, asked him to please pass my resume on to the search committee. He wrote back within the half hour and said that he was impressed with my response and would pass my resume along. I heard from Craig a few days later, and he told me that unbeknown to me, some dear friends of my parents, the Shockleys (some of you Vale-ers will remember them!), were church members. Scott and Denise were on the search committee, and although my family hasn't been in touch with them since I was eight, they recognized my name in the stack of resumes! (It has been so much fun for my family to reconnect with these sweet friends!)

Craig and the Shockleys were kind enough to let me interview for the position, even though it's a big enough ministry that they really do need someone with more experience than I have. But as we continued to talk, they asked me how I would feel about taking a different role at the church. It's taken several months for the pieces to come together, but they have tailored an existing job to fit my gifts/interests. As the "Emerging Generations Team Coordinator," I'll be planning events and executing communication for the whole team (youth, children, and college students), plus developing curriculum and doing some teaching and discipleship specific to youth ministry. It's really a dream job for me; I'll get to use my degree, develop my writing, and best of all, spend time with students! How good of God to make me wait all these months so that I couldn't boast in my own chutzpah, but only in His perfect timing and plan for this next season of life :)

I'm so excited about this move, even though I know it is going to be a big adjustment. Walnut Hill is one of only two churches in all of New England that has surpassed 2,000 members. Its size and resources have uniquely positioned the church to equip smaller churches in the area that desire to be a beacon of light in the Northeast. I'm going to miss living in the South, and the sweet fellowship that this place has yielded, but I'm truly thrilled to be joining a ministry that desires to proclaim the gospel in the Northeast!!

I leave Nashville today and will be at home in Bloomington until Wednesday, when I drive to CT. I'm hoping to see lots of you B-towners while I'm home!

Thanks for walking with me in this new adventure! If you're ever in NYC or New England, please holler at me--I'd love to see you.

With love!
Chelsea

Pray for Japan

Here's a quick little morning plug for my homepage, Operation World. I've recommended the "Pray Today" feature before; it highlights a different country of the world each day and gives specific direction in how to pray for missionaries, native Christians, and the lost. Last week Japan was highlighted, and it's been helpful in reminding me of specific ways to pray for Japan.

Check it out here. (And if you want some motivation to pray for the need that's in the world, make it your homepage!)

Pls txt me l8er

My most recent article for myMISSIONfulfilled.com, an opinion/how-to piece on texting, has been posted to the website. Read it here. This one won't go down in history as my favorite assignment, but I love the concept Mary and the other editors had for this issue: How can we use the technologies available to us to further the Kingdom?

Texting, Facebook, and the blog sphere all require a certain thoughtfulness on the part of Christians, and I love that myMISSIONfulfilled has taken on the role of prompting young women to consider the impact of these everday things.

What about you? How do texting and other technologies affect your everyday life? Your ministry?

Real Sex

I got to spend the holiday weekend in Richmond for my sweet friend Goodie's wedding. Y'all know how I love Richmond. I feel blessed to the sky each time I get to go back and visit my alma mater, spend time with dear friends, and dwell in rich community at Third Pres (and Tikvat Yisrael, though, sadly, not this weekend). I love it, love it, love it!

On Sunday night I got to fellowship with a wonderful couple from church (and their four sweet kids--my cup runneth over!). They mentioned a sermon given several weeks ago by Corey Widmer, a pastor at Third and truly the best teacher I've ever had the privilege of learning from on a weekly basis. (Serioulsy, y'all--he rivals some of my favorite famous Christian teachers, and he teaches at my little church in Richmond!) The sermon is titled Real Sex: Biblical Wisdom for Sex and Sexuality, and you can listen to it here. It's part of a sermon series on the book of Proverbs, and each of the messages in the series are outstanding.

I wondered throughout the sermon if perhaps the message was named with Lauren Winner's book Real Sex: The Naked Truth About Chastity in mind, and Corey did mention the book toward the end of the sermon. What a concept for our Christian culture--where sex is often diminished in Christian circles as something to be avoided and even despised! That we could "get naked" (read: honest) about the topic of chastity (sexual purity by the standards of a given culture, ours being dictated by the gospel of Christ) is pretty revolutionary. And it's needed.

Lest you listen to the message and say I didn't tell you...this sermon is not for the faint of heart! It is actually a little graphic, but it's a holy sort of graphic, fitting for those who desire to be chaste. And what I love is that Corey not only addressed married people and single adults, he seized the opportunity to speak to teenagers very candidly about their bodies and sexual desires. Winner's book is much the same. It addresses the sexual issues of single and married people and offers a Christian ethic to glorify God in and through sexuality.

So here's my little plug for my very favorite pastor/teacher and my very favorite writer on a subject that is taboo in many Evangelical circles. Check them out--and don't be surprised if they make you blush :)

Help IJM Abolish Child Trafficking

Recording artist Sara Groves and husband Troy Groves meet with their Member
of Congress to Advocate for the Child Protection Compact Act.

I received an interesting e-mail yesterday afternoon from International Justice Mission. It's an organization that I'm passionate about, so I try to keep my readers (all 10 of you, haha) abreast of current IJM happenings and specifically, to let you know how you can be involved with this amazing ministry.

IJM's Justice Campaigns Department is currently coordinating an effort to pass a bill called the Child Protection Compact Act of 2009. According to the IJM website, the legislation is "designed to increase U.S. support to eradicate child trafficking in countries that have the will to end the crime but lack resources." (You can read the bill summary here.) Those of you who are familiar with IJM's work abroad know that this is one of the primary ways IJM seeks to bring the Biblical concept of justice to the two-thirds world. By providing foreign government and police officials with the necessary training and support, IJM has successfully begun a revolution of justice in Asia, Africa, and Central/South America. Additionally, equipping foreign nationals to lead the efforts maximizes IJM's influence and resources.

But the point of yesterday's e-mail wasn't just to inform supporters about the bill or to ask for their prayer support. Rather, it was to mobilize action on the part of the Western Church. IJM is asking Christians to be willing to speak personally with members of Congress. Boldness is called for. Sometimes being part of the justice revolution can feel so painfully out of reach, but IJM is taking the steps to make this small act of courage accessible to the average-Joe Christian. They'll schedule the appointment. They'll even train you (over the phone unless you happen to live in D.C.) how to speak candidly with your Member of Congress about the modern day slave trade and how this bill can help eradicate it in our generation. Sign me up!!

If you are moved by the plight of thousands of young women and girls sold into brothels every year, or by the widow and her starving children whose land has been seized by someone more powerful, or by Indian children in bondage at a brick factory, then I urge you to join with IJM (and with me!) in this endeavor. You can sign up for a meeting here. To read IJM stories of liberation, check out the casework bulletin. (A note of forewarning: these stories are not for the faint of heart! They will leave you moved and deeply convicted to get involved.)

"I take courage—I determine to forget all my other fears, and I march forward with a firmer step in the full assurance that my cause will bear me out, and that I shall be able to justify upon the clearest principles, every resolution in my hand, the avowed end of which is, the total abolition of the slave trade."
William Wilberforce, British Parliamentarian, slave trade abolitionist, and Christian hero
1759-1833

Lenny Kravitz and Celibacy

As I was listening to the radio on my way to work this morning, I heard a plug for an article about Lenny Kravitz. The DJ mentioned that Kratvitz's father, an agnostic Jew, came to know Christ toward the end of his life (y'all know I love a story that includes a Jewish family loving Jesus). What's amazing about the article, written for a UK based paper, is that the reporter was able to talk candidly with Kravitz about a decision he made in 2005 to abstain from sex until he remarries. Obviously, this is a radical choice for anyone, celebrity or not, but especially for this rock icon known for plenty of drug use (he's resolved to quit that, too...).

Here's the hook:

"No one nailed the rock idol act like Lenny Kravitz. Love god, guitar hero, wild thing, he lived the life – multiple women, homes and Grammys. Then he revealed last year that he had been celibate since 2005. The Telegraph visits him at his Bahamian retreat and discovers the roots of his newfound purity."

You can read the full article here.