My Life as a Novel

This past weekend was The Amazing Race for Hope with the Journey Church. SUCH a fun time! Kyle and I teamed up with the Jernigans to make our 4-person team. There were 12 other teams "competing" for first place in a Race event that took a GREAT deal of planning and coordination. I mean to tell you, those Cinnamons mean it when they say "Go Big or Go Home!" They did an AWESOME job!!!

We all met up at the church on Saturday at 12:30, received instructions and our first clue and we were off for 24 hours of racing/pit-stopping madness!

Several of our tasks were lighthearted competition, but the majority of the event was about serving the area. We collected a LOT of boxes of food for the Lowcountry Food Bank, bought lunch for at least 25 random gas station employees in the area, sorted, tagged, and shelved over 2500 articles of clothing at the Lowcountry Orphan Relief Center, landscaped the lawn at Sangaree Intermediate School (some of us in the pouring rain), and gave out a BUNCH of bottles of water to unassuming pedestrians in downtown Charleston.

I have more pictures to upload, but this is all I've got for today. I was racing, so I didn't have time to take pictures every step of the way.

Day 1:

Our team, all packed and ready to go!!




Kyle with our 2nd clue.

There's a big gap of no uploaded pictures here, so I'll fill you in on what happened.

The last clue of the day sent us to our Pit Stop location, where our team came in 4th for the day!! We were pleasantly surprised as my pessimistic teammates thought we'd be coming in 7th. (I guessed we would be 5th and they scoffed [yes, scoffed!] at me!) And Clay and Kyle deserve all the props in the world for setting up tents in the pouring rain. Unfortunately, we didn't get to use them because "rain" is too gentle a term for what we were experiencing. "Monsoon" may be a tad strong, but ... it was very close! Our tents flooded and the four of us ended up sleeping in cars -- the Jerns in theirs, and us in the back of the Brownings van. (Sleep may be too strong a term for what actually occurred as well. That actually implies rest and whatnot. What actually happened was very far from that. Made for an interesting Day 2.)

Day 2 opened with us going to Isle of Palms (the beach) for our first task. We watched the sun come up on our drive down. It was very nice, actually, despite being completely exhausted. We finished a few other tasks and headed back to the campground for the final leg of the competition.

Then we had a worship service in one of their buildings.




The winners were announced - The Pretties! :)

And finished the weekend with a baptismal service in the Edisto River. (And yes. It was cold!)






All the CSU students who participated in the Race and/or attended the worship service

Going into this weekend, I really had no idea what to expect. But it exceeded all of my expectations, and I really feel like the impact of what we were able to accomplish will be felt for a while. In ourselves, and in the community.

Labels: Journey Church, photo

Piper & Ethan's pumpkins




What could've very easily become the Middle School Make-Out Corner ... remained a roasting (and occasionally tossing) marshmallow corner. I also watched one of these kids pull a small pack of Pop Rocks out of the edge of the fire pit. He really wanted those Pop Rocks.





Last night, our small group hosted a Halloween Party at Leslie and Katherine's house. They have the perfect lot for a party like the one we had. We had a small fire pit for roasting marshmallows and hot dogs, hot chocolate, sodas, and, of course, CANDY! And we also showed "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" on the side of their house. I believe it's safe to say the party was a hit. We met lots of their neighbors, saw all kinds of cute costumes, and had a LOT of fun!!

Labels: holidays, Journey Church, photo

We had a PJ Party at church last night!

We have partnered with Lowcountry Orphan Relief and, as our first effort since teaming up with the organization, we collected pajamas for kids. LCOR provides clothing for kids who have been taken from their homes. Whether due to abuse or neglect or other reasons, when children are placed in emergency foster situations, most of the time, they do not have clothes or school supplies or anything with them. LCOR provides five outfits per child, but they often run low on pajamas. So we collected PJs to donate for this cause.

(These are my roommates. Aren't they cute?)


(They're getting married in a month!!)


(Sleeping Mask = Awesome.)


(Favorite!!)

Labels: Journey Church, photo

Yesterday was Journey Out Day for the Journey Church, meaning we "Journeyed Out" of the church building, had no worship service and just had a good afternoon with lots of our friends. We reserved a shelter at Wannamaker Park. The Grillmaster, John Mills, served up a feast of hamburgers and hotdogs. And we expected an afternoon of shorts and sandals for our wiffleball/volleyball/ultimate frisbee games. What we got, however, were wintercoats, gloves, and scarves, and very chilly winds -- and a very mini-bonfire! But the afternoon was a success. LOTS of fun, and a very welcome break from the typical set-up/tear-down process! :)

lots more photos here: The Journey Out photoset

Labels: Journey Church, photo

This is the video that we used to kick-off our church service last night. Yesterday, Easter Sunday, was the official 'kick-off' for the Journey Church. If we hadn't already, we have now officially hit the ground running.

Let's just be honest, it wasn't our first time seeing/using this video, but I love it. It speaks exactly what I would have our church say - week in and week out - to those who find themselves in our services. People often come in to church their with guards up and their expectations down. I think this video is a good reminder to those of us who are doing the reaching out that we have to create an environment that disarms people and allows them to be who they are while we point them in a certain direction and aid them in discovering truth.

I hope your Easter weekend was a good one, filled with time with your family and remembering the event that shapes our faith, and ultimately our lives.

Labels: Christianity, Journey Church

Anyone who went to NGC in the year 2000-2001 will understand that title. Those who didn't ... you're not really missing anything.

“Sometimes I fear maybe this is all just a game
Our friends and our families all play too
To harness the young and give some comfort to the old.”
(more...)

Labels: Christianity, Journey Church

Monday, February 11, 2008. The Anniversary of the day that The Polks set out on a proverbial hunt: The Church Hunt. On Sunday, February 4, 2007, Kyle played his last drum beat and I MediaShouted my last MediaShout as members of First Baptist Church. And on Sunday, February 11, we struck out for the often-elusive "something more".

And two months later, we met our destiny in the persons of Clay Jernigan, Will Browning, and Chris Cinnamon.

And one year after our scheduled departure, I am here to confess that we did the right thing. Confirmation after confirmation (some more serious than others) have sealed the deal. And it's not just because they put a new roof on our house, but it's because they cared enough to put a roof on our house. And it's not just because they helped us throw Polkapalooza 2008, but because they're also going to help with Polkapalooza 2009. And it's not just because our small groups rock hard, but because the small group wouldn't rock quite as hard without the hard-rockin' people in them. And it's not just because the people are awesome, but because they've helped us to realize that Jesus is important enough to recapture and reinvent The Church.

And for millions more reasons, and reasons I don't even know yet ... I am grateful every single day that we did what we did, despite confusion about the next step.

What is God calling you out to do?

Labels: Church Hunt, Journey Church

I work in a church office. Lately, we’ve been doing a lot of renovations to the facilities at this church. Today, even as I’m typing this, there are guys with welding torches, saws, hammers, drills, and big vacuums replacing the door to my office.

The process of removing the door thus far has not been an easy one. There have been a couple of surprises that I’ve been able to witness first hand from my position at the desk. Cement blocks where there was believed to be wood surrounding the doorframe. Cement having been poured into the doorframe years ago, making it very difficult to remove. There have been several reasons for a heavily-tattooed, ear-pierced, hard-working young man to wanna say swear words. more ...

Labels: Journey Church

This past weekend was our first Journey Church Mission Project. And when I say that it was a success, you can accept my word for it. (read more ... )

Labels: home, Journey Church

First, I must say that that blog post yesterday was less a criticism for those who read as for those who write ... me! I haven't written anything of any consequence in a long time.

I think I've put it off for so long that I feel like I should have LOADS to say. I probably don't, but I'll give it a go.

Here's the official update:

• The Journey Church is off and running. The past few weeks have seen us starting small groups (of which mine is the best, if I'm being perfectly honest), changing to a more suitable location, and actually having our first service. It was pretty amazing. I don't know what the exact count was, but, lots. And ... I don't know if this bears repeating, but ... we love this church!
  
  
• I designed some signs for the church. This is what one of them looks like:
  
  
  
  

  
  There are others, but ... I really don't feel like uploading them, so ... use your imagination! :)
  

  
  
• I was a photographer's assistant for a little league soccer photo shoot at the YMCA in Summerville last weekend. I have never seen so many soccer-playin' youngins in my life! Seriously! There were SO MANY PEOPLE out there!! I've come to believe that Summerville is the origination and the sustaining power for the term "soccer mom".
  
  
• The theme of my life these days is 'busyness', I think. But the healthy kind of busyness. I'm learning a lot, have plenty of time for reflection and self-evaluation, have been trying to build some new relationships and re-kindle some old ones, have never had more time with Kyle than I have these days, and ... life is just feeling pretty good right now. I'm glad.

It seems like the fall always brings a season of busyness with it as we hurry towards the holidays. But this is easily my favorite time of year. I welcome the cooling temperatures, the fading light, Thanksgiving, an annual October trip to the mountains, long sleeves, rival football games, coughmy birthdaycough, time with family and close friends, and all the fun things that come with the last quarter of the year.

Labels: family, Journey Church

I'm feeling not-so-inspired on the blogging front this week. I've been exhausted from what was QUITE a busy weekend. And this week has not really "let up" either. So hopefully this weekend, I'll do some catching up on some much-needed rest and ...

until then. I'll borrow from someone else's blogging greatness. Chris Cinnamon hit a HOME RUN on the Journey Church blog this week.

How far would you go?

Beautiful!

Labels: Journey Church

The Journey Church has affected our lives in a lot of ways and one of the less spiritual effects of joining up with this group has been the introduction of Harry Potter into our lives. We've borrowed the books from the Mills and have been devouring them over the past few weeks. We've rented all the movies. And since we both had Monday off, Kyle and I went to downtown Charleston to the IMAX theater to catch the newest movie, The Order of the Phoenix. (more...)

Labels: Christianity, Journey Church

From an email exchange with friend/Journey Church person, Tarah:

Hasn't this been the theme of Journey Church so far: that God provides more than we can imagine !! I am not a crier. But I get all misty-eyed just thinking of how God has used this church to be such a blessing to us.

The Polk Family was definitely hanging on a precipice in early 2007. My prayer was that God would provide a place where we could find a couple to be our friends. Just one. Someone to encourage us at a church where we could go and be marginally involved without completely stressing ourselves out.

What. A. Joke.

I can imagine the conversation going something like this:

Rita: God, give us just one couple. One really solid couple. (Meanwhile thinking that this would be a "church friend" situation like others before, where I would find a close girlfriend with a husband/boyfriend who Kyle would tolerate when I asked him to.)
God: One couple? How about six and some singles?
Rita: And God, show us a church where we can get some rest. Something that meets our needs without a great demand on our time. Some place we can proudly take our friends on Sundays.
God: You dream of a church where you can find rest for your physical weariness. I have a church where you can make peace with your qualms about church. (And you can sleep in on Sundays! BONUS!) I am giving you the chance to recreate the church and make it into a safe haven for your friends. Church should be about more than yourself. Think bigger, Rita.

And if you'd asked me in January to be a part of this church planting process, I'd have told you "Noooo, thank you!"

And when I talked to Hal (as my boss) when Kyle and I had decided to leave FBC in February, he said, "Rita, I'd like to suggest that you guys check out the Journey Church. I think they're going to do good things." My first thought was, "Noooo, thank you!"

But by April, we were sick of being disappointed and not finding what we were looking for. I began to think we were being too picky and we should just pick something and commit to it. Boy am I glad we didn't!!

All this really long email to say ... I am so looking forward to what God has in store. Because I have already seen my expectations just BLOWN out of the water. I can't even think of what must be coming. My mind can't even conceive!!

Labels: Christianity, Journey Church

My sister was recently married. Last Saturday, to be exact. It was a very nice wedding and took several months to plan – as weddings often do. And as the more organized sister in the Moss family, I helped a lot with the details of planning The Big Day. I was constantly telling her, "Make a list. No, now. Get out a pen and write down what I'm telling you." It became a joke that when anyone would ask her direction about a specific wedding detail, she would say, "I dont know. Ask Rita." read more ...

Labels: Journey Church

Today (approximately 30 minutes ago), I was walking from the parking lot into the building, returning from my lunch break when my phone rang.

A good friend of mine was stranded with a broken-down vehicle about 25 minutes from where I work. If I were about to take my lunch break, she said, she could really use a ride home! Being that I was just returning to work, I knew it would be difficult for me to be there in a timely fashion.

So I called upon The Journey Church Network of Awesomeness. And as I type this, the good friend is in the great care of a Mister John Mills who left his workplace with absolutely no hesitation to help out my friend. The friend of a friend, yes. But a stranger to him.

Excuse me? Did you catch that? That's friggin' awesome!!

My church rocks.

Labels: Christianity, Friends, Journey Church

Gain more Rita Polk wisdom & insight simply by clicking here.

Labels: Journey Church

Last week, we started experiencing some trouble with our air conditioner. I called the A/C repairman. He told us to turn the unit off, that it sounded like we were having some major trouble. And he came by and checked it out on Saturday morning. The report I got from him as I was driving back into town on Sunday afternoon was that we needed to replace the unit. The compressor was about to "throw a rod", the freon lines were leaking and needed welding, and it was more work than was necessary on an old machine.

This was bad news. As you remember, we are in the market for a car. The reason is because the week before last, Kyle's Blazer went kaput.

In the meantime, while I was out of town, Kyle told Clay we were having some A/C difficulties. Clay told Chris Mattingly and Chris called Kyle and said, "I'm coming over to fix your A/C. When's good for you?" Since we didn't exactly know what was wrong with it, Kyle told him we hadn't heard back from the repairman, but we would talk with him at church that night to let him know what we found out.

So after talking with the repairman, I cried a little, and then just sucked it up. And because I could feel the tears ever-present in the backs of my eyes on Sunday night at church, I was probably not my usual self.

And after church, when I started to tell Chris what the repairman had said, I started to cry. Immediately, everyone started to comfort me. Like we were old friends or something. I looked around and some of the people had tears in their eyes - crying with me. And Chris said, "I'd still like to take a look at it, if that's ok."

So he and Jenny followed us home. And after a couple of hours, the A/C was up and running again. Still, I was skeptical. I didn't really believe it had been fixed until I got home from work last night, and the thermostat read 72 degrees! Right where it should be! And when we tried to discuss payment, he wouldn't hear of it. I know people do this kind of thing fairly often - helping people out who are their friends. But honestly, we've known this guy for a month, and he treated us like family.

And what's more?! Handyman Chris thinks that he can fix the Blazer. He's coming over one night this week to have a look at it.

Maybe I'm getting a clearer picture of what The Church is supposed to be because right now they're being that to me. And in the future, we'll do this for the community ... together.

But for right now, I'm going to just be grateful. They've given us such a great gift. And I'm not just talking about air conditioning.

Labels: Friends, Journey Church

While at church last night, Will, Clay, Kyle and I were having a conversation about some of our friends, several who are excellent musicians.

Kyle(to me): "It would be cool if we could get Jeremy to come in and play lap steel on some stuff every now and then. (to Clay and Will) He doesn't exactly like church, but he's a good musician."

Will: "Well that's the kind of people we want to get to know. We need to find some people who hate church and make them our friends."

Kyle: "I know one in particular. I sleep with her every night."

Labels: Christianity, Journey Church

1. Positivity on Monday mornings (this is two weeks in a row!)
   
2. ... fed by Journey Church on Sunday nights (So much J.C. Positivity.)
   
3. This song. You should like it too. Because really ... Wilco. Does it get much better? I submit that it does not.
   [How is it that I have not heard of this "vox"? Because this song, this song, and, oh especially this song are also (a) there and (b) GOOD! What a happy Monday morning discovery!!] [About that last song: am I the only one who hears that song and thinks, "Oh I’ve got reservations About so many things But not about you"]
   
1. We're going to see Wilco in Charlotte in June. And we're excited. It's Kyle's birthday present. And we got decent seats and did NOT pay $98 for them.
   
4. Spiderman 3: I liked. Kyle hated. "Too girly", says he. " :P " says I.
   
5. Friend Emily is coming for a visit this weekend!
   
6. The Explorer's Club is playing the Map Room this Friday night. They're opening for The Clientele, which should make for a good time. A very good time, indeed.
7. I got some bubble wrap in my office today that is loud and very easy to pop. And I love it. And there's LOTS of it! A good time will be had by me! :)
   

Labels: Church Hunt, Journey Church, Music

In no particular order ...

1. I love Journey Church. And I love that it meets at night, so I can sleep in on Sundays ... guilt free!


2. I love Kyle Polk. He's a fabulous drummer and now you can hear what he sounds like by going here: www.myspace.com/apologyhymns.
   
   Also, he played "auxiliary percussion" for John Vanderslice this weekend. Which basically means that when John invited everyone on stage with him to sing "My 424", the drummer threw a tambourine at Kyle and he got to play along instead of singing
   

   
   
   

   
   My husband wants those drums. He can't have them.

   Add that to the resume of awesome drumming things in my husband's life. Because he was really excited about it. (Also, ridiculous, RIDICULOUS, how good that girl (the one playing bass) was. She is St. Vincent. She is ... wow. Just wow.) Also, John was overheard telling a friend at the merch table that this show was the best of the tour so far. I believe him.

3. I love my dogs. They're bad, but I love 'em.

4. I love my future flower garden / current pile of sand, mushroom compost, and topsoil. Kyle and I bought pretty things this weekend that will be planted as soon as the area in my front yard has soil that is suitable to sustain growth and life and prettiness. :)
   

   
   
   
   
5. I love my friend whose knowledge and strength helped / helps to make this future flower garden possible! She is a pal, indeed!

Labels: flowers, Friends, home, Journey Church, Music