In our world today it is estimated that there are more than 143,000,000 orphaned children.
wow.
wow.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
the eyes of the beholder
I feel like an emotional rollercoaster sometimes. Ugh, how obnoxious! Sometimes i'm ok with where I am in life. Sometimes i'm not ok with it. Overall I would like to say that I am quite content. I have 2 great jobs I love, i'm going to school for something I love, it's been a quiet/peaceful summer, I am perfectly fine without being married and having kids, I have some amazing friends. However, although I am working 2 jobs I feel like I am barely keeping my head above water, I still have a loooong time until I graduate, the quietness and peacefulness of the summer has begun to turn into boredom, I feel like the rest of the world my age is married making me feel like i'm out of the circle and hard to make friends my age without becoming the awkward 3rd of 5th wheel, although my friends are amazing most of them don't live near me or are moving even farther away in the way too near future (virginia is only 20 hours away. not bad, right?)
I've really begun to see a more in depth view of how beauty really is in the eye of the beholder. I could sit and throw a pity party every other night about how my life stinks, i could run from the things I don't want to face, or I can look life straight on and say bring on the beauty.
God is the Jehovah Jireh, God has a plan for my life, although this plan isn't like the rest of the world it's unique and that's alright (i often taking a different route than everyone else), and if I can't be ok with myself then how am i supposed to be ok with someone else. Sometimes I think it would be easier to revert to my old ways and choose to run and throw a pity party, but then it's almost as if God knocks me upside my head and says "really? do you remember what happened last time you did this?"
Moral of the story:
In the long run it's better to stop and smell the roses and realize the true beauty in everything!
I've really begun to see a more in depth view of how beauty really is in the eye of the beholder. I could sit and throw a pity party every other night about how my life stinks, i could run from the things I don't want to face, or I can look life straight on and say bring on the beauty.
God is the Jehovah Jireh, God has a plan for my life, although this plan isn't like the rest of the world it's unique and that's alright (i often taking a different route than everyone else), and if I can't be ok with myself then how am i supposed to be ok with someone else. Sometimes I think it would be easier to revert to my old ways and choose to run and throw a pity party, but then it's almost as if God knocks me upside my head and says "really? do you remember what happened last time you did this?"
Moral of the story:
In the long run it's better to stop and smell the roses and realize the true beauty in everything!
Friday, July 9, 2010
Top 9
Since I can't decide what to write about, i thought I would enlighten you on a whole list of things going on in my head right now. Since it's July 9, I think the list should consist of 9 things :)
1. The downfall of not having roomates right now is that there is no one to help me tackle the killing of bugs in the apartment. I can usually handle this task on my own until they start jumping and flying ... Last night I was innocently sitting on my bed and a cricket comes flying across my room and heads directly for the disaster-laundry mountain corner of my room. He then reappears but the disappears into my printer. It was 1am, and I was sitting on my bed armed with 4 shoes and in a standoff with a cricket.
2. My good friend, Sami got married a little over a month ago! It was so fun being her maid-of-honor! Her and her husband, Kevin, are currently serving as missionaries in Kyrgyzstan, teaching baseball. They recently informed me that the Lord has another child in His kingdom!
3. I went to Colorado with my aunt to see some of my cousins who I hadn't seen in years. It was so refreshing to experience cooler weather and be reminded of how big, beautiful, and creative God our maker is!
4. I went to a Landon Pigg show in Houston with my friend, Mikey and his sister, Preslie. Despite my massive amount of sleep deprivation, it was a fun evening! We learned that Landon's girlfriend does indeed wear a red cape!
5. I went to the church David Crowder leads worship at. It was the coolest looking venue and reminded me of one of my favorite coffee shops in CS. However, looks can be deceiving. Typically when I go into a church or attend some form of a service I can feel the spirit of God. Whether it's reflected in the joy on people's faces, the passion in the voice of the pastor, through the actions of the worship leader, or just simply experiencing the warmth and fragrance of the Lord. Well, not so much that particular Sunday morning. It was so sad! There was no joy, no spirit of God, no life, no nothing! Thankfully the Holy Spirit lives inside of me so I don't have to rely on someone or something else for Him to show up!
6. That same night I went with some friends to a Shane & Shane concert in Austin. They're some of my favorite musicians! The presence of the Holy Spirit was so thick and real! It was so evident that their lives were completely saturated with the living God! Amazing night of music and worship!
7. I've realized I have a tendency to want to "keep up with the jones' " Not necessarily with tangible possessions like clothes or shoes, but other things. Over the past few weeks God has slowly been revealing this to me. First He reminded me of some specific promises he has for me, then tells me to wait ... be patient and faithful and joyful during this waiting period! He has slowly revealed these things to me, bringing them into focus, and shows me how they're interwoven. It's clearer now more than ever before!
8. I'm currently listening to "Go Outside" by Robbie Seay Band. I highly recommend that you check it out! I love music so so much! I cannot imagine not being able to not hear music!
9. It's almost 1pm, i'm still in my pj's, and need to decide what i'm doing with my weekend. Peace out.
1. The downfall of not having roomates right now is that there is no one to help me tackle the killing of bugs in the apartment. I can usually handle this task on my own until they start jumping and flying ... Last night I was innocently sitting on my bed and a cricket comes flying across my room and heads directly for the disaster-laundry mountain corner of my room. He then reappears but the disappears into my printer. It was 1am, and I was sitting on my bed armed with 4 shoes and in a standoff with a cricket.
2. My good friend, Sami got married a little over a month ago! It was so fun being her maid-of-honor! Her and her husband, Kevin, are currently serving as missionaries in Kyrgyzstan, teaching baseball. They recently informed me that the Lord has another child in His kingdom!
3. I went to Colorado with my aunt to see some of my cousins who I hadn't seen in years. It was so refreshing to experience cooler weather and be reminded of how big, beautiful, and creative God our maker is!
4. I went to a Landon Pigg show in Houston with my friend, Mikey and his sister, Preslie. Despite my massive amount of sleep deprivation, it was a fun evening! We learned that Landon's girlfriend does indeed wear a red cape!
5. I went to the church David Crowder leads worship at. It was the coolest looking venue and reminded me of one of my favorite coffee shops in CS. However, looks can be deceiving. Typically when I go into a church or attend some form of a service I can feel the spirit of God. Whether it's reflected in the joy on people's faces, the passion in the voice of the pastor, through the actions of the worship leader, or just simply experiencing the warmth and fragrance of the Lord. Well, not so much that particular Sunday morning. It was so sad! There was no joy, no spirit of God, no life, no nothing! Thankfully the Holy Spirit lives inside of me so I don't have to rely on someone or something else for Him to show up!
6. That same night I went with some friends to a Shane & Shane concert in Austin. They're some of my favorite musicians! The presence of the Holy Spirit was so thick and real! It was so evident that their lives were completely saturated with the living God! Amazing night of music and worship!
7. I've realized I have a tendency to want to "keep up with the jones' " Not necessarily with tangible possessions like clothes or shoes, but other things. Over the past few weeks God has slowly been revealing this to me. First He reminded me of some specific promises he has for me, then tells me to wait ... be patient and faithful and joyful during this waiting period! He has slowly revealed these things to me, bringing them into focus, and shows me how they're interwoven. It's clearer now more than ever before!
8. I'm currently listening to "Go Outside" by Robbie Seay Band. I highly recommend that you check it out! I love music so so much! I cannot imagine not being able to not hear music!
9. It's almost 1pm, i'm still in my pj's, and need to decide what i'm doing with my weekend. Peace out.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Tales From The River - Part 2
One of my favorite places to spend my free time in San Marcos is by the river. It's pretty, peaceful, and interesting. Here are a few of my recent encounters.
A High Jump Competition ...
One evening I went for a jog along the river and learned that there was a concert in the park. Of course I stopped and listened for a while then ran back to my car to get my camera. It was a South American/ Flamenco type band. Very talented! Near the front of the stage was an older gentleman, probably in his 70's, cutting a rug! And yes, the girl is wearing a red cheer leading outfit with leggings.
And of course, some guys giving juggling lessons
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Grace-Driven Effort
I read this on The Village Church's blog and really identified with it. This particular quote actually came from "For the Love of God" by D.A. Carson.
I encourage you to not just skim over it like I did the first time...Take a few minutes to sit with it, pray over it, walk through it with God.
“People do not drift toward holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, and obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.”
I encourage you to not just skim over it like I did the first time...Take a few minutes to sit with it, pray over it, walk through it with God.
“People do not drift toward holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, and obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.”
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Cell Phone ... Community
In my absence of blogging over the past month I have observed a few things. One of the main things that sticks out to me is how obnoxious we have let our cell phones become. Wow, it's bad. I remember when I got my first cell phone; I was 16 and had just started driving. My parents wanted me to have it in case of an emergency. I hardly used it. Now a days it's unheard of for a person under 16 to not have a cell phone. People think they cannot live without it and the whole world will come to an end if they do not have one, or if something happens to theirs. 10+ years ago hardly anyone had a cell phone and they survived and are still surviving today.
Now, there is nothing wrong with cell phones, I have one myself and am very thankful for it. However, I think cell phones have caused us to loose a true sense of community and real communication. I can remember back to when I was growing up. If I went down the street to a friend's house I didn't call my parent's cell phone, I left them a note taped to the door or on the counter of where I was. If I wanted to talk to someone, I would talk to them in person or call them, not text them. Although I am guilty of texting I do not consider it a real form of conversing. To me, this should be done in person, or via voice to voice communication on the phone. It's hard to know what the text really means sometimes and the real message can get lost in translation so easily.
Since we do insist on using a cell phone or texting I think we should be courteous about it. Please use cell phone etiquette...
TEXTING:
~ if you're in the company of others, please refrain. You should be focused on the people you're hanging out with. If you would rather be focused on your texting then leave. If you're hanging out with me and are texting regularly, then based on your actions i'm going to think you don't really want to be around me.
~ if you're with a group of people (more than 2) do not text someone else in the group. if you have something to say, say it out loud. And if you can't say it out loud please save it for later. How do you feel when you walk into a room and learn that you're being talked about.... not the best feeling in the world; well that should go for texting as well
PHONE CONVERSATIONS:
~ if you're with other people, please refrain from talking on the phone, especially if you're in a small area like a car. Either leave the room or talk to the person later. You're full attention is not going to be on either person, and that tends to get annoying at times.
~ if you're talking on a phone in public, please, lower your voice. You don't have to yell into the phone, the other person can hear you just fine as well as everyone else around you.
I am guilty of doing all of these things. It wasn't until I started noticing them within other people that I started noticing them within myself and was convicted. Did I really have that bad of cell phone manners? Probably. Thankfully, I have grown up and learned that my life does not revolve around my cell phone and that there is more to life than my cell phone and better ways to communicate with people.
Do you think cell phones help or hurt true community? I think both. They help connect us, yet distract us. Community, the word, is from the old french and latin meaning "with/together" and "gift". If we are living in community, as I think we should, we should be with each other, together, and it is a gift. I like that. I'm praying to build community, real community, this summer. I have no clue what it'll look like or what it'll consist of, but I know it will involve limited cell phone use and i'm excited! :)
Now, there is nothing wrong with cell phones, I have one myself and am very thankful for it. However, I think cell phones have caused us to loose a true sense of community and real communication. I can remember back to when I was growing up. If I went down the street to a friend's house I didn't call my parent's cell phone, I left them a note taped to the door or on the counter of where I was. If I wanted to talk to someone, I would talk to them in person or call them, not text them. Although I am guilty of texting I do not consider it a real form of conversing. To me, this should be done in person, or via voice to voice communication on the phone. It's hard to know what the text really means sometimes and the real message can get lost in translation so easily.
Since we do insist on using a cell phone or texting I think we should be courteous about it. Please use cell phone etiquette...
TEXTING:
~ if you're in the company of others, please refrain. You should be focused on the people you're hanging out with. If you would rather be focused on your texting then leave. If you're hanging out with me and are texting regularly, then based on your actions i'm going to think you don't really want to be around me.
~ if you're with a group of people (more than 2) do not text someone else in the group. if you have something to say, say it out loud. And if you can't say it out loud please save it for later. How do you feel when you walk into a room and learn that you're being talked about.... not the best feeling in the world; well that should go for texting as well
PHONE CONVERSATIONS:
~ if you're with other people, please refrain from talking on the phone, especially if you're in a small area like a car. Either leave the room or talk to the person later. You're full attention is not going to be on either person, and that tends to get annoying at times.
~ if you're talking on a phone in public, please, lower your voice. You don't have to yell into the phone, the other person can hear you just fine as well as everyone else around you.
I am guilty of doing all of these things. It wasn't until I started noticing them within other people that I started noticing them within myself and was convicted. Did I really have that bad of cell phone manners? Probably. Thankfully, I have grown up and learned that my life does not revolve around my cell phone and that there is more to life than my cell phone and better ways to communicate with people.
Do you think cell phones help or hurt true community? I think both. They help connect us, yet distract us. Community, the word, is from the old french and latin meaning "with/together" and "gift". If we are living in community, as I think we should, we should be with each other, together, and it is a gift. I like that. I'm praying to build community, real community, this summer. I have no clue what it'll look like or what it'll consist of, but I know it will involve limited cell phone use and i'm excited! :)
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Find a Bible and get Ready...
Find a bible and get ready...
I think one of the hardest things for me is to see my friends, people I care so much about, not see and live up to their potential.. To watch them live a mediocre life and settle for less than what God has for them. I’m not ok with this. It breaks my heart and breaks the heart of God. He wants us to commune with Him … to intimately talk to him, listen to him, to allow the Holy Spirit to dwell in us and guide us. Ultimately, God tells us that the greatest commandment is to “Love God with our heart, mind, and soul.” (Matt. 22:36-38) The most important thing for us to do is love God with everything, in everything, and through everything. I don’t think this love should be a distant or casual love. Although “love” has become a casual word/phrase we throw around the definition is not casual. (Look it up at dictionary.com) I believe if we really and truly love God then we will actively follow him and do anything for him. If you think about it... if we love a certain kind of food or restaurant then we will find time to go to that restaurant or find a way to incorporate that food into our regular diet. if we love a pair of shoes or cute shirt we’ll work hard and save up money to buy that item. if we love visiting a certain place we’ll save money, make plans, take off work and go visit that place. if we love person we’ll do almost anything for them. if we really love God what do we do? do we make sure he’s incorporated into our regular diet, do we work hard for him? are we diligent with our finances to help further his kingdom? do we set aside time to spend with him? are we willing to do everything we can to make sure we communicate with him on a regular basis? Jesus says “if you love me, you will obey my commands” (john 14:15) We can’t take our favorite food, clothes, shoes, people to Heaven with us. They do not matter! What matters is that we get to Heaven because we have a relationship with Jesus. “Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things.” Colossians 3:2
Read James 2:14-26…
How can we enter the kingdom of Heaven if we’re dead? If faith (belief) in God is not accompanied with deeds, it is dead. If we believe in God but do nothing about it we are dead.
By the same token, our deeds alone will not save us (Titus 3:5, 2 Timothy 1:9, Ephesians 2:8-9) That’s why we celebrate Easter.
“I know your deeds that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” -Revelation 3:15-16
Also check out Matthew 7:15-23 …
I've been praying about this for a few weeks, and this is what the Holy Spirit has put on my heart to share with you .. please don't take it too lightly or too harshly. i'm not pointing fingers, i'm just passing the message on...
I think one of the hardest things for me is to see my friends, people I care so much about, not see and live up to their potential.. To watch them live a mediocre life and settle for less than what God has for them. I’m not ok with this. It breaks my heart and breaks the heart of God. He wants us to commune with Him … to intimately talk to him, listen to him, to allow the Holy Spirit to dwell in us and guide us. Ultimately, God tells us that the greatest commandment is to “Love God with our heart, mind, and soul.” (Matt. 22:36-38) The most important thing for us to do is love God with everything, in everything, and through everything. I don’t think this love should be a distant or casual love. Although “love” has become a casual word/phrase we throw around the definition is not casual. (Look it up at dictionary.com) I believe if we really and truly love God then we will actively follow him and do anything for him. If you think about it... if we love a certain kind of food or restaurant then we will find time to go to that restaurant or find a way to incorporate that food into our regular diet. if we love a pair of shoes or cute shirt we’ll work hard and save up money to buy that item. if we love visiting a certain place we’ll save money, make plans, take off work and go visit that place. if we love person we’ll do almost anything for them. if we really love God what do we do? do we make sure he’s incorporated into our regular diet, do we work hard for him? are we diligent with our finances to help further his kingdom? do we set aside time to spend with him? are we willing to do everything we can to make sure we communicate with him on a regular basis? Jesus says “if you love me, you will obey my commands” (john 14:15) We can’t take our favorite food, clothes, shoes, people to Heaven with us. They do not matter! What matters is that we get to Heaven because we have a relationship with Jesus. “Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things.” Colossians 3:2
Read James 2:14-26…
How can we enter the kingdom of Heaven if we’re dead? If faith (belief) in God is not accompanied with deeds, it is dead. If we believe in God but do nothing about it we are dead.
By the same token, our deeds alone will not save us (Titus 3:5, 2 Timothy 1:9, Ephesians 2:8-9) That’s why we celebrate Easter.
“I know your deeds that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” -Revelation 3:15-16
Also check out Matthew 7:15-23 …
I've been praying about this for a few weeks, and this is what the Holy Spirit has put on my heart to share with you .. please don't take it too lightly or too harshly. i'm not pointing fingers, i'm just passing the message on...
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