REBLOG: hello, life.

Sarah, an old friend I've reblogged from before, posted this today. Food for thought. How do you tell the difference between a growth spurt and a time of discouragement and struggle?

hello, life

Today I woke up to a friend's text message canceling early morning coffee, and thanked God for an extra hour to sleep. Today I gulped a cup of black coffee and then sipped a cup of black tea, and chose to linger long over the Bread of Life, the Word of God, savoring every ounce of life it would give me... read more

Holiness...

A few weeks ago I joined one of the women's Bible study groups at Grace. After hearing about The Amazing Collection for several weeks, I decided to buck up and do it. :) It's only a 10-minute drive to church for our hour and a half study on Wednesday evenings, I love the 11 other women in my Year One group, and I'm excited about going through the entire Bible in 3 years! One book a week is a pretty fast pace, but the daily homework and the teaching video we watch as a group help bring out just the highlights in each book.

This week was Leviticus. Yes, that long book of random laws, tons of blood, and weird sacrifices and feasts. I've read it twice before--as part of reading through the Bible in a year--but never stopped to really think what, if any, relevance it held for the modern Christian.

Then a quote in today's homework caught my attention. Maybe I'm sinking a little too far into the whole healthcare field! :) Read the bottom of page 38 from J.I. Packer's Rediscovering Holiness. (I love Google Books)



What do you think about Packer's statement? Do you think it's true?

REBLOG: Stop Serving Jesus Breakfast in Bed

Do you think she's right?
Stop Serving Jesus Breakfast In Bed

Watch this video...

OK, so I have no idea who this guy is, but I found this video shared on my friend's Facebook profile.

This guy has a lot of incredible things to say. Just give it a listen. Please.

I wish I had the courage to say what he does. He wrote this for an open mic night at Pacific University, then obviously recorded it on a busy street in the not-so-good part of town with everyday people walking by... and yet I can't say anything to my close friends, classmates, and lab partners...



(discretion advised, he talks pretty openly)

Psalm 31

I just needed to re-read this tonight... I think my Bible just flips open to this Psalm, I've read it so much...

Psalm 31-A David Psalm (The Message)

 ^1-2I run to You, God; I run for dear life. Don't let me down! 
      Take me seriously this time! 
   Get down on my level and listen, 
      and please—no procrastination! 
   Your granite cave a hiding place, 
      Your high cliff aerie a place of safety. 

 ^3-5 You're my cave to hide in, 
      my cliff to climb. 
   Be my safe leader, 
      be my true mountain guide. 
   Free me from hidden traps; 
      I want to hide in You. 
   I've put my life in Your hands. 
      You won't drop me, 
      You'll never let me down. 

 ^6-13 I hate all this silly religion, 
      but You, God, I trust. 
   I'm leaping and singing in the circle of Your love; 
      You saw my pain, 
      You disarmed my tormentors, 
   You didn't leave me in their clutches 
      but gave me room to breathe. 
   Be kind to me, God— 
      I'm in deep, deep trouble again. 
   I've cried my eyes out; 
      I feel hollow inside. 
   My life leaks away, groan by groan; 
      my years fade out in sighs. 
   My troubles have worn me out, 
      turned my bones to powder. 
   To my enemies I'm a monster; 
      I'm ridiculed by the neighbors. 
   My friends are horrified; 
      they cross the street to avoid me. 
   They want to blot me from memory, 
      forget me like a corpse in a grave, 
      discard me like a broken dish in the trash. 
   The street-talk gossip has me 
      "criminally insane"! 
   Behind locked doors they plot 
      how to ruin me for good. 

 ^14-18 Desperate, I throw myself on You: 
      You are my God! 
   Hour by hour I place my days in Your hand, 
      safe from the hands out to get me. 
   Warm me, Your servant, with a smile; 
      save me because You love me. 
   Don't embarrass me by not showing up;
      I've given You plenty of notice. 
   Embarrass the wicked, stand them up, 
      leave them stupidly shaking their heads 
      as they drift down to hell. 
   Gag those loudmouthed liars 
      who heckle me, Your follower, 
      with jeers and catcalls. 

 ^19-22 What a stack of blessing You have piled up 
      for those who worship You, 
   Ready and waiting for all who run to You 
      to escape an unkind world. 
   You hide them safely away 
      from the opposition. 
   As You slam the door on those oily, mocking faces, 
      You silence the poisonous gossip. 
   Blessed God! 
      His love is the wonder of the world. 
   Trapped by a siege, I panicked. 
      "Out of sight, out of mind," I said. 
   But You heard me say it, 
      You heard and listened. 

 ²³ Love God, all You saints; 
      God takes care of all who stay close to Him, 
   But he pays back in full 
      those arrogant enough to go it alone. 

 ²⁴ Be brave. Be strong. Don't give up. 
      Expect God to get here soon.

Passion2011 Ft. Worth...

Passion was amazing!

Four of us left from College Station (me, Melissa, Jonathan, and John) and we met up with Peter in Coppell where we stayed with a sweet family that my family met in homeschool group when we used to live there (2001-2005). We quickly made sandwiches to go, dropped our bags off, and hit the road to Ft. Worth!

I knew there would be a lot of students there, but I wasn't expecting 10,000+ students and over 1,000 volunteers!

courtesy of 268blog.com

courtesy of 268blog.com

Worship was amazing! Chris Tomlin, Charlie Hall, Kristian Stanfill, Christy Nockels, and David Crowder*Band!

courtesy of 268blog.com

David Crowder

courtesy of 268blog.com

Chris Tomlin

Christy Nockel's "Carry Your Name"

I wasn't really a big fan of the David Crowder*Band until I saw their "Shine" music video a few months ago...

So, Friday night, first session. We're singing "Shadows" and all of a sudden Lecrae runs out on stage and starts rapping in the middle of the song! :) Gotta love CCM meeting Christian rap!

courtesy of 268blog.com

Friday night was a David Crowder*Band and Lecrae concert... so epic! But by the time we got out of there about 1am we were all pretty hungry, so we stopped at Denny's for their $4.99 Grand Slam! :)

Saturday morning I kick-started my day with coffee and then we stopped at Target for Melissa to grab a mocha and for all of us to buy towels/socks. A big part of Passion is doing something for the community and around the world. Every participant was asked to bring a towel and a package of socks to restock the shelves of Ft. Worth homeless shelters.

courtesy of 268blog.com

We started off the morning in our "Community Groups". Mine was orange and I met up with my "family" that I'd met last night. We spent some time digging into Philippians 2, discussing what we'd learned from the night before, and praying. 

My "family"

Then main session, more worship, and Francis Chan speaking. I'd only heard of Francis because a friend recommended his book "Crazy Love" (which I am just now reading). But this guy was amazing! At one point he was so overwhelmed with wanting us all to fall in love with Jesus like he has that he broke down at the podium... all 11,000+ of us are like "ummmmm...." but it was really cool.

courtesy of 268blog.com

Lunch was out on the grass behind the convention center (we're over on the very far right if you really zoom in!) 

courtesy of 268blog.com

The afternoon main session is where we learned about the main cause that Passion2011 Ft. Worth was working for: raising $220,000 to support a 5-person team to translate 90 Bible stories into the language of the Koso people in Mali, West Africa. The video they showed us was just incredible... wow... that session got to me.

Dinner break during which we wandered through the "Do Something Now" area to learn more about the Koso people, see all the towels/socks ready to be donated, give money to the translation project, pray for the Koso people, and sign up for more information about short term missions opportunities around the world. 

courtesy of 268blog.com

all the people waiting to donate!!!

courtesy of 268blog.com

Then dinner. Thanks to Melissa's iPhone we found a Dickey's BBQ, another Target for its Starbucks, and an elusive McDonald's for a $1 dose of caffeine--we never found that McDonald's in the midst of random 1-way streets in downtown Ft. Worth.

Then back for another main session: John Piper this time. (That guy is way over my head) 

This time we were asleep at a more decent hour. :)

Sunday morning also started out with gratutitous amounts of coffee, devotions with our "families", and more incredible worship!

We said goodbye to people, met up with John and his luggage, found a CiCi's pizza (and a Starbucks for a venti sugar-free vanilla iced coffee for me), and got on the road back to College Station. Then a stop in West, Texas for kolaches.

We listened to the CD that was recorded at Passion2011 Atlanta all the way home and I will say that after singing those songs live I will never think of them in the same way! You should definintely buy it... like I mean, you HAVE to buy it! 

We got back to town about 7pm, dropped everyone off at their dorms or cars... and 10 minutes later I was on the way to the ER with my roommate. We finally got back to the dorm about 3am... 

What a weekend!

courtesy of 268blog.com

(Did I mention that I drove basically the whole way there, back and forth from Coppell to Ft. Worth, and all the way home?)

Here's an article about Passion that appeared in The Battalion, A&M's student newspaper: http://www.thebatt.com/features/finding-your-passion-1.2133433

Helping up...

taken 8-13-2009 at The Children's Park

"Two are better than one... if one falls down,
   his friend can help him up." Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

Comfort...

Have you ever just opened your Bible not really sure what you're looking for, knowing that God is only one who can supply it, but not really knowing where to go?

Today is one of those days. I'm sitting here in the Starbucks right across from campus, savoring my venti triple peppermint mocha and I just opened my Bible to 2 Corinthians. No particular reason, except that I hadn't read it in a while.

And I got stuck on chapter 1:3-11

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.  For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.  If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

I needed a little comfort this morning, I guess. I wasn't really sure what I was expecting. In fact, I was skeptical that I would feel any better by reading in the Word... but I feel kind of guilty that as a Bible study leader I tell my girls to go to God with their worries and troubles and yet I rarely do so myself. So today I was like, whatever... I guess I'll try it... And God had something to show me this morning.

I think I'm supposed to be comforted today. And oddly enough, I am.

Psalm 31

This psalm has become one of my favorites over the last few months. Below are selected phrases from the NIV

"I will be glad and rejoice in your love for You saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul...But I trust in You, O LORD;  I say, "You are my God... "My times are in Your hands... How great is Your goodness which you have stored up for those who fear You... In the shelter of your presence You hide them. Praise be to the LORD, for He showed His wonderful love to me... In my alarm I said, "I am cut off from Your sight!" Yet You heard my cry for mercy when I called to You for help... The LORD preserves the faithful... Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD." Psalm 31

The first week of school I got a little stir crazy after doing so much over Christmas break and then facing so much free time! I went to Walmart, bought some paint and brushes, and started right in... :-) I had no idea what it would look like when it was done so I had fun seeing it take shape!

Here's the finished product (well, it was finished the second week of school but I didn't actually take pictures until today... )

(the whole thing)

(top right)

(bottom right)

(bottom left)

(top left)

Haiti...

Haiti... it's something that we're all thinking about. We've seen pictures all over the media. I've personally seen three different A&M student organizations looking to raise money, received four emails from ministries whose newsletters I email-subscribe to asking for donations, seen two different blog posts on people's desires to go serve there, read two missionaries' pleas for help, seen at least eight signs around campus saying "Pray for Haiti," and been invited to a worship/s'mores/pray for Haiti night.

I understand that something horrible happened in Haiti. I realize that there are people dead and that more are dying and even more are left homeless or orphaned. I understand. I care. I pray.

But what about the other atrocities that never make it to the headlines, the front page, the internet sidebars, and the breaking news RSS feed emails and popups? What about the people in South America dying from malnutrition? What about the over 1 million girls sold into sex slvery each year? What about AIDS that ravages the African continent? What about the orphans in Ecuador where my friends are serving at a babies' orphanage? What about the civil war veterans in Liberia and Sierra Leone that are left amputees? What about....?

Why?

Why these tragedies?

Why the devastation?

Why the chaos?

Why the sadness?

Why the death?

Why, God?

I've recently been reading "Captivating" (girls, it's a wonderful book, but the workbook really makes it hit home!) and came across these thoughts from the chapter entitled "A Special Hatred."

We ask why? Because Satan is wreaking destruction on the glory of God in the earth like a psychopath committed to destroying great works of art. Satan was a beautiful angel (Ez 28:12-15) but he fell because no longer wanted to be "best supporting actor;" he wanted the Oscar all to himself. Now he seeks revenge on all that is beautiful and good. As women, I believe that he targets us especially because we are the ones who give life, who nurture, who allure the world to God. History is full of such examples. And they cannot be explained away by inherent evil in man, greed, or the lust for power.

"For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms." Eph 6:12 NLT

The only way to fight that is to pray; at this point, all I can pray is "Come quickly, Lord Jesus!" (Rev 22:20)

Praying for and supporting Haiti is a good thing, don't get me wrong... but won't you step back and look at the big picture?

Friends...and God...

When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares. — Henri J.M. Nouwen (via kari-shma)

I came across this quote on another girl's blog called I Am Blessed, (P.S. I do not necessarily 100% endorse the blogs or sites I link to) and felt like passing it on.

I can't stand it when people try to solve your problems before they listen all the way through.

...and God says, "I can't wait to hear every little detail.

Talk as long as you need to. I'll still be here."

I can't stand it when friends jump in and make a to-do list for you based on their perception of what your prioroties are.

...and God says, "Spend time in My Word and I'll help you

get refocused on My priorities."

I can't stand it when guys cannot contain their "problem-solving, damsel-in-distress rescuing" mindset.

...and God says, "Let Me walk alongside you and carry

you through."

I can't stand it when people don't cut you any slack, but demand it for themselves.

...and God says, "Cut it out. Get real with Me. Let's deal

with the excuses you keep making."

I can't stand it when friends take what you say at face value and don't realize that you're not yourself.

...and God says, "I will never leave you or forsake you

and nothing you say, do, or think will make Me love

you any less."

I can't stand it when friends pretend nothing's wrong and hope you'll snap out of it.

...and God says, "I love you too much to let you go on like

this. I'm stepping in to pull you out because you can't

even move you're so stuck."

I can't stand it when friends assume you remember all the Bible verses you've always told them and don't remind you of the verses.

...and God says, "I can't wait to show you again all the

promises that I've written to you! Open up your Bible

and let Me show you."

I can't stand it when friends say, "call me if you need to" but you know they really hope you won't.

...and God says, "I woke you up in the middle of the night

so that we could talk. I really want to spend some time

with you!"

I can't stand it when friends immediately try to relate with you and tell you all of their stories.

...and God says, "Let me hear your heart. And then let

Me show you how My heart breaks over you."

I can't stand it when friends don't give you a hug because they're afraid of getting in your space.

...and God says, "I don't care how much you try to push

Me out, I'm still going to be here.

I can't stand it when friends just say, "it'll be OK."

...and God says, "I will work things out for good. But in

the meantime here's an extra measure of My peace."