Well, Why Not?

A Lutheran Church Bell Choir performed at Mission Village Fellowship today! That was a fun way to bring in the advent season! And the pastor gave the first sermon of four, dealing with concepts related to Christmas. The first was a message about "Hope" and what specifically it means related to Christianity. And the food afterwords was good too... veggies, meat - cheese & crackers, wonderful sugar cookies, and even a little pumpkin pie.

I decided that I wanted to take the coaster train an hour up the coast today, to Oceanside. I had been curious the other day and checked out the prices while waiting for the trolley and found that a round trip ticket was only $11... so why not go exploring? So I did! The earliest departure after church was 12:30, so I killed a little time by checking out the free museum on the corner of Old Town, just across from the transit center. That had neat displays about history of the area and several large vintage photos upstairs as well. I was glad I got there as early as I did though, because there were lots of folks on their way to the Charger's game at Qualcomm Stadium in Mission Valley, and parking spots were filling up.

The Coaster came right on time, and continued on a tight schedule. Got an upper-deck seat on the side closest to the ocean. Boy, what a view! It started out on the east side of I-5, cutting its way alongside canyons, but right after Torrey Pines State Park between La Jolla and Del Mar It went under the freeway and ran alongside the ocean! My favorite sight! There was a bit of a drop-off down to the wide beach, but that just meant we had even a better view. Saw dozens of surfers and more people walking or running along the shore.

It took an hour to get to Oceanside, with five stops between it and Old Town. I'd like to visit at least three of them sometime. :) I had no idea about what was in Oceanside, but I was pleasantly surprised. Neat little shops, lots of military surplus/uniform outlets (as it is located just south of Camp Pendelton), nice places to eat, and a lovely beachfront and fishing pier. It was unpretentious, and not at all like a tourist trap. Stopped in a few stores and finished some Christmas shopping, had NY style pizza for dinner along with a dish of spaghetti and garlic bread and I sat and watched the sad Chargers game on the flat screen TV on the wall. Then I walked out to the beach, took a few pictures and returned to the transit center. Had a frozen yogurt treat along the way, flavored mango with little hunks of raspberry, kiwi & strawberry. Neat shop: it's called The Red Cup. You dispense your own yogurt and pick your own toppings then pay by the weight.
(here are the photos, posted to FB)

The 4:33 Coaster was the only one back to SD, though, so I could not miss it! Turned out it was the perfect time. Allowed for three hours in town, a perfect viewing of a gorgeous sunset, and got me back just in time to pick up Laramie from the train station downtown so we could go to small group.

Small group was smaller than normal, but we had a marvelous time anyway. Tough topics on theology. Since we are descended from Adam, we are sinners. Then if we trust Christ, we are spiritually reborn in him, but still live in the flesh. Loved the chapter talking about what that actually is. It's our physical circumstances here on Earth... a person's background and talents. Putting our confidence in it and satisfying its desires is what makes it at odds with God's Holy Spirit. Now that we are saints, purified and perfected by Christ's sacrifice once for all time, we have the choice not to follow the desires of the flesh: putting confidence in our ability to provide ourselves with comfort or education or status, to name a few of the not so conspicuously bad ones. To quote the author: "The flesh is a way to think... it encourages self-effort... it seeks identity and purpose... it is not the old self. We choose to depend on it or the Spirit at any given moment... Before we were in Christ we had no choice but to gain identity and a sense of fulfillment from the flesh. But now, as children of God, there's a battle within us... When we walk after the flesh, we're not being ourselves... depending on the flesh goes against our [new] nature... because of our new identity in Christ, being ourselves and expressing Christ are one and the same... our new self and our union with his Spirit cause us to want what he wants... he has installed within us an intense and never-ending desire to find fulfillment through expressing his life."

Wow! It was fun to talk about. We shared our conversion stories... came up from a quote in a previous chapter: "The real thing isn't about trying hard to act differently. Becoming a Christian is like dying and waking up the next day as a totally new person." Technically, this is true, but it doesn't always feel like it. For instance, I feel as if I have always been a Christian. I don't remember a "night & day" feeling... when I was very young I had nightmares about an animated Bible story, of all things. Got up, talked with Mom, and she said I didn't need to be afraid... I needed to trust Jesus. So I did. I made it my own when as a teenager I took 5 minutes to think over if I really wanted this to be my life. There was no way around it; I couldn't deny it.

Goodness, what a day! What blessings!
Jw