Random facts about Charity Bates

I was thinking about this yesterday, and I realized that most of the people who read this blog don’t really know me that well. There is actually someone who has me on their blog roll and has misspelled my name. Charity Bates. Yeah, I'm not naming names, but maybe, you should fix that. So that thought concerned me, and therefore, I decided to compile a top-ten list of mostly random, totally true facts about myself. Kristine can attest to all of them, they are all true. So, I hope you enjoy it, and if you think that I am a pretty great person, then maybe we could actually get to know each other outside of the ‘blog world.’

1) I love old books. I went to the library yesterday and got the most amazing books, old classics for $0.25 a piece. I was so stoked. I bought 13 of them! But hands down the best one was ‘Modern’ English drama. (In quotes because all of the plays were pre-1800’s). Including: Dryden’s ‘All for Love,” Sheridan’s ‘School for Scandal,’ and Goldsmith’s ‘She Stoops to Conquer.” Words cannot describe how happy these books make me. This leads me to my next point.

2) I am a total Theatre Nerd. I say this unashamedly. I love theatre. I love theatre history and dramaturgy. I am just a sucker for a good play. In fact, I have over 200 plays at my house right now!

3) One more point about theatre is that I love musicals. My favorite musical is Urinetown: the Musical. This is not a joke. It is HYSTERICAL! It is a self-referential play, brechtian in style, a satire on the adverse effects of monopolizing corporations on society as well as a shameless a parody of Les Mis. Come on, it’s just wonderful. My favorite quote goes like this: Officer Lockstock – “People hear lots of things about Urinetown of course, and that’s just the way we like it. For example, a little boy once asked me, ‘Is Urinetown actually a nice place to live? Gingerbread houses along golden frothy canals, like Venice? Only different?’ I didn’t say yes, but I didn’t say no either.”

4) During my senior year of college, I go so burnt by my church that I switched churches and started going to a church that meets under the overpass of I-35. The congregation was mostly made up of homeless guys, hippies and bikers. It was awesome.

5) I am 25 years old and I still sleep with a stuffed animal. His name is Holzwarth and he is a 1 ½ foot tall penguin.

6) When I was growing up, I went to a French Immersion School. What does that mean? It means that when you get to school on the first day of Kindergarten, the teacher only speaks to you in French. I took all of my classes in French: math, science, social studies etc. We only took ½ an hour of English a day to study reading, writing and spelling. I did that for 8 years and then I moved to Texas where everyone speaks Spanish.

7) I have this one prayer that I found in a book and loved and so I pray it everyday.
Father, grant me the grace to never loose sight of:
the exceeding sinfulness of sin,
the exceeding righteousness of salvation,
the exceeding glory of Messiah,
the exceeding beauty of holiness,
and the exceeding wonder of grace.

8) My car’s nickname is “The Chariot.”

9) I absolutely love food. Lots of food. All types of food. I know that this flies in the face of all that the ‘fasted lifestyle’ stands for, but there is nothing I can do about it. However, there are two things that I cannot tolerate, coconuts and popcorn.

10) I am the oldest of 5 kids. I really love my family even though I haven’t lived at home for the past 7 years. Here is a picture…an old-y but a good-y.



That's it. I hope you enjoyed your 'random Charity facts day'!

Day 65

Today we started our third module - The Book of Revelation - with Dave Sliker. It should prove to be an informative and entertaining venture. So, for the next three weeks, most of my 'beholding' verses are probably going to come from Revelation. Actually, Sliker made and interesting comment today in class. He said that the book of Revelation is actually the main way that Jesus wanted to be revealed to His people, not the gospels. I don't know if I buy that completely, (actually, I would like to see Sliker vs. Venable on this subject...) but I know that there are descriptions of Jesus in the book of Revelation that I could stare at for days. So I am just going to start at the beginning, it's a very good place to start. Rev 1:7,

Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will mourn on account of him. Even so. Amen.

I know that as I begin to gaze at the person of Jesus and the events surrounding His second coming that two main things are going to happen in my heart. Or at least this is what I am praying for. I am praying that as I gaze at the leadership of Jesus, that I will fall even more in love with Him and truly begin to long for the day when He splits the sky. The second is that my love for Him and the 'urgency of the hour' will drive me to the place of prayer to cry out for people to know this man. Seriously. the day is coming when every eye will see Him, whether they want to or not and I want as many people standing with Him on that day as humanly possible. Yep. Jesus is coming back and millions of people don't know it yet. Pray for salvation. Pray for a unified Bride. Pray for messengers to be sent to the entertainment industry. The message has got to get out.

Day 63

Tonight at the Night watch meeting, Clay encouraged us to remember that we are still in a time of consecration and to remember why we are doing what we are doing. Ouch. I have certainly let the solemnity of the Solemn Assembly slip from my consciousness. One of the things that I set out to do for these 90 days was to make it a habit to daily behold and bless the Lord. However, in the last month, I have certainly become slack in my endeavors. But one great things about the HOP is that we are constantly given chances to 're-sign-up-again.' So, I will try my hardest to daily 'behold the man, the lamb and the branch.' He is so beautiful. It is amazing how quickly we can become distracted from the only thing that really matters. The necessity of 'setting my mind on things above' cannot be overstated. I need to keep my eyes glued to His face no matter what other good things demand my attention.

So keep me accountable. If you don't see me consistently writing, then I expect a barrage of emails reminding me of my commitments!

Day 59

Here are some updates of life in KC:

1) Last week we had a mini-revival break out in our Introduction to Revival and it's leaders class. Since then we have been having Solemn Assemblies every night in the Prayer Room to fast and pray and seek the Lord's face. Hosea 10:12, "Break up your fallow ground until the Lord comes and showers righteousness upon you."

2) This weekend we have the Passion for Jesus conference. This means that I have been spending every available moment hanging and re-focusing the lights in FSM. I have to say though, I absolutely love my new job and I wouldn't trade it for anything! If you are coming to the conference, watch out for the new spin-ny lights!

3) On a personal note, I have been going through a hard time lately. The Lord has been bringing up some deep issues and old wounds that need to get dealt with. The interesting thing is that I think that the Lord is going to use two of my friendships to bring forth this healing. This means that the three of us need to get together and seek the Lord, because I have this funny feeling that unless we do it together, it won't get done. So pray for me and my two friends. We need the Lord to break in for us.

4) Finally, one of my favorite people in all the world is now blogging. She is an ex-ihopper and is the person who convinced me to come to KC in the first place. KRISTINE DAVIS! I love her, I love her, I love her. She is wonderful and verbose and I can't wait to read what she has to say.

So that's it. Consider yourself updated.

Day 54

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. (Rev 19:11-16)

Jesus you are the only one who has been faithful to my heart. All of your ways are just and true. I ask that in the midst of accusation, pain and fear that you would defend my heart. Oh, Judge of the earth, would you judge the enemies who make war against me. I need you to fight for me. I need you to protect me and to bring restoration to my soul. I thank you that you have decreed to make all things new and I know that you will be faithful to complete the work that you have begun in me.