ImprovSpirituality

 My family and friends tell me I'm a bit of a control freak. I'm also a perfectionist, and not surprisingly, the person I'm hardest on is myself. I don't think I was wired this way. I've taken the Myers-Briggs as well as the Enneagram. My Myers-Briggs is ENFP, which is loose and fun loving. My Enneagram is a 7 with a strong 2 and 8. My desire to control comes more from my family of origin. I'm the adult child of an alcoholic and also child of a manic depressive. I grew into the role of family hero.  So, if things need to be done right, you can count on me. I have a strong sense that if I don't hold things together, they will fly out of control. This is the reason, I believe, that I love improv. For someone who always feels responsible, it's great to get on stage and let go. The number one rule of improv is that it's not about you, it's the team. Rules such as "Yes, and", "follow the follower", and "make your partner look ...

  Be Weird Like Jesus Let's face it, Jesus was weird. He was a rabbi, yet he seemed to ignore basic rabbinical laws. He was a holy man, yet he hung around with sinners. He didn't fit into what his culture said he should be. He knew things about people that were beyond explanation. He raised people from the dead. In fact he was, by the very definition of weird, strange, extraordinary, supernatural, and fantastic. So, when scripture calls us to be like Jesus, to pick up our cross and follow him, to be a fool for Christ, it's calling us to be weird. I know it can be hard to embrace your inner weirdo. As youngsters one of the worst names we could be called was, weirdo. Anything that made us stand out from the crowd was seen as bad. Peer pressure, along with some well-meaning parents, told us to stop be so "weird." Be normal, fit it. And so we did. We squashed the unique creative part of ourselves and conformed. As followers of Jesus, however, we claim to have been mad...