Because beautiful fall Mondays matter a little bit more... Make them matter for someone else too.
There are approximately 2.1 million active and reserve men and women in the US military with hundreds of thousands of troops deployed indefinitely to remote parts of the world. The most requested item by military men and women is a letter. Grab a pen, paper, and envelope and send the letter. Simple things like this can encourage and support total strangers.
If you need help getting connected with somone to write to: visit anysoldier.com.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Top Five
Top Five: TV characters I wish were my friends in real life
***shout out to Joey Willis for this amazing idea***
1. Sheldon- from the Big Bang Theory
2. Krammer- from Seinfield
3. Jack Bristow- Alias
4. Chandler- from Friends
5. Hodgens- from Bones
Think of all the interesting conversation!
***shout out to Joey Willis for this amazing idea***
1. Sheldon- from the Big Bang Theory
2. Krammer- from Seinfield
3. Jack Bristow- Alias
4. Chandler- from Friends
5. Hodgens- from Bones
Think of all the interesting conversation!
Monday, September 21, 2009
Because Mondays still matter...
3 things to do for the 2 Mondays I've missed and for today:
1. Prepare for an emergency- Diasters are never planned, but happen anyway. Readiness will reduce fear, anxiety, and potential loss. Prepare today for any kind of tomorrow.
2. Eat healthy- French fries are the most widely eaten vegetables (PROBLEM!). 400,000 people die per year from complications due to laziness and poor eating habits. Just start making changes...and take it one day at a time.
3. Get rid of junk mail- 500 pieces of mail per person per year...what a waste junk mail is. By decreasing your junk mail, you'll save trees, save waste, decrease pollution, save time (the average person spends 8 months in their lives opening up junk mail), and save the postmen time and effort!!!!
1. Prepare for an emergency- Diasters are never planned, but happen anyway. Readiness will reduce fear, anxiety, and potential loss. Prepare today for any kind of tomorrow.
2. Eat healthy- French fries are the most widely eaten vegetables (PROBLEM!). 400,000 people die per year from complications due to laziness and poor eating habits. Just start making changes...and take it one day at a time.
3. Get rid of junk mail- 500 pieces of mail per person per year...what a waste junk mail is. By decreasing your junk mail, you'll save trees, save waste, decrease pollution, save time (the average person spends 8 months in their lives opening up junk mail), and save the postmen time and effort!!!!
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Top Five
Top Five: five nonsensical sounds that make me happy
1. ice cream trucks
2. my Dad when he talks like Daffy Duck- made me laugh when I was five, still has the same effect
3. The ringtone I have set for my youth group (Peter Pans "I Won't Grow Up)
4. wind chimes
5. the sound of typing on a keyboard
1. ice cream trucks
2. my Dad when he talks like Daffy Duck- made me laugh when I was five, still has the same effect
3. The ringtone I have set for my youth group (Peter Pans "I Won't Grow Up)
4. wind chimes
5. the sound of typing on a keyboard
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
I've been thinking alot about sin lately.
Strange? I kind of thought it was.
But I've been tossing so many ideas surronding the idea of sin in my head that if I don't write them out I might drown in them.
For so long, I've tried to atone for my past mistakes. I've tried to be kind, compassionate, loving, sweet. I've tried to make things as easy for everyone as I can. I've tried to be as much as I could be, hoping that it would make up for the times when I missed the boat completely.
Granted, I never really thought about it in that light. I never realized what exactly I was doing. I never realized that when I always took the backseat, or offered to buy dinner, or do the dishes- that what I was really trying to do was even the score. Right all the wrong I've brought into the universe.
I knew- theorectically and logically- that I was forgiven. I have been told and told countless others that when God forgives, He redeems. He makes it better than we were before. But I honestly have to admit that I was never really living into that truth in my life.
So I've been grappling with sin. And here's where I've landed.
Sin is not a list of rules that I've broken. Sin is not a list of specific actions I've done to wrong my brother. Sin is not a score card.
Sin is when I live outside the boundaries God has placed for me to keep me safe. Sin is when I act in ways that is disrespecting of the love that God has given me. Sin is when I forget who I am and Whose I am.
And because sin is so much more than broken rules, there is no way I can ever make it right. There is no way I can repay the debt. There is no way that I can live like I deserve what I already have received.
That's the beauty of grace. When we've wandered out past the barriers God has placed around us for our security, grace is what comes out to get us. Grace is what ushers us back in- telling us that we have been missed. Grace is what makes it seem like we have never wandered at all.
Sin isn't about breaking rules. Sin is about actions that break God's heart. Sin is about living in a way that is in contrast to the beauty God has planned for us.
Strange? I kind of thought it was.
But I've been tossing so many ideas surronding the idea of sin in my head that if I don't write them out I might drown in them.
For so long, I've tried to atone for my past mistakes. I've tried to be kind, compassionate, loving, sweet. I've tried to make things as easy for everyone as I can. I've tried to be as much as I could be, hoping that it would make up for the times when I missed the boat completely.
Granted, I never really thought about it in that light. I never realized what exactly I was doing. I never realized that when I always took the backseat, or offered to buy dinner, or do the dishes- that what I was really trying to do was even the score. Right all the wrong I've brought into the universe.
I knew- theorectically and logically- that I was forgiven. I have been told and told countless others that when God forgives, He redeems. He makes it better than we were before. But I honestly have to admit that I was never really living into that truth in my life.
So I've been grappling with sin. And here's where I've landed.
Sin is not a list of rules that I've broken. Sin is not a list of specific actions I've done to wrong my brother. Sin is not a score card.
Sin is when I live outside the boundaries God has placed for me to keep me safe. Sin is when I act in ways that is disrespecting of the love that God has given me. Sin is when I forget who I am and Whose I am.
And because sin is so much more than broken rules, there is no way I can ever make it right. There is no way I can repay the debt. There is no way that I can live like I deserve what I already have received.
That's the beauty of grace. When we've wandered out past the barriers God has placed around us for our security, grace is what comes out to get us. Grace is what ushers us back in- telling us that we have been missed. Grace is what makes it seem like we have never wandered at all.
Sin isn't about breaking rules. Sin is about actions that break God's heart. Sin is about living in a way that is in contrast to the beauty God has planned for us.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Its time for our Sunday Special.
Since I've been away on vacay- I thought we'd do a vacation top 5 this week...
Top Five Things I Love About Being Away-
1. Turning my cell phone off- and just not caring who calls or texts
2. Being able to take time each day just to think
3. Not having a set schedule
4. SLEEEEEEEEP
5. Good food
Simple things, but so very good things.
Since I've been away on vacay- I thought we'd do a vacation top 5 this week...
Top Five Things I Love About Being Away-
1. Turning my cell phone off- and just not caring who calls or texts
2. Being able to take time each day just to think
3. Not having a set schedule
4. SLEEEEEEEEP
5. Good food
Simple things, but so very good things.
beauty and terror
Alaska is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. It has landscapes that literally leave me breathless. From the majesty of a soaring eagle or the power displayed when the glaciers calve, this is a place that is full of adventure and wonder. Its overwhelming and awesome. Everything about it encompasses you and you give in to the sheer delight of this wilderness.
As beautiful as this place it, it can be sly and deceptive. The same glaciers that enthrall could very well kill. The mountains that paint the horizon with points of inspiration can very well be someone’s path to destruction. It’s a beautiful place, but its also a terrible place.
How is it that something so beautiful can be so destructive? That living amidst the wonder and majesty can come at such high a price? That living in a place that oozes with life and zest could very well be the catalyst for your untimely death?
Things of such beauty and power are always a gamble. You never know whether it will end up in exhilaration or terror. You never know when you choose to enter and interact with a place like this whether you will come out triumphant or broken. It could be oh so good, but it could also go so wrong.
Love is the Alaska of the heart. You never know when you choose to love people whether it will end up beautiful or terrible. You never know whether you will come out the other end whole or in half. You never know whether love will be a live giving event or a life taking event. Love is a gamble. It can be majestic as the mountains, as calm as the coast line, and as enduring as the horizon. However, it could also be terrible as the brutal Alaskan winters or as cruel as one of natures creatures in the middle of winter.
It can leave you feeling amazed and enthralled, or it can leave you feeling beaten and alone.
It it, and always will be, both beautiful and terrible. Love is a gamble. Love is a wilderness. But you always come out the other side changed. And wiser. Which just might be the point of it all anyway.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Saturday Morning Madness...
Some people I know have started a discussion centered around what they call "the problems about Jesus".
The problem of Jesus is defined as this- Jesus declared Himself as the way, the truth, and the life, and some people have trouble accepting that this is the only way to "salvation."
I'm sure that once I give the theology and logic behind this problem a bit more thought, I will have more intelligent things to say.
But for now- this is what I have.
The things that create problems and cause us to stop and struggle, usually these are the things worth struggling with and figuring out.
That the important thing about the problem of Jesus is that it gets us thinking, reflecting, and searching out the truth.
That even if its a problem for you to claim Jesus as the only way, at least you are admitting that there is a way to find.
Its important to not get so wrapped up in finding the answers as in gaining the experience and wisdom that comes with living your way into the answers.
Long story short: enjoy the problems. They create the interesting tension in life.
The problem of Jesus is defined as this- Jesus declared Himself as the way, the truth, and the life, and some people have trouble accepting that this is the only way to "salvation."
I'm sure that once I give the theology and logic behind this problem a bit more thought, I will have more intelligent things to say.
But for now- this is what I have.
The things that create problems and cause us to stop and struggle, usually these are the things worth struggling with and figuring out.
That the important thing about the problem of Jesus is that it gets us thinking, reflecting, and searching out the truth.
That even if its a problem for you to claim Jesus as the only way, at least you are admitting that there is a way to find.
Its important to not get so wrapped up in finding the answers as in gaining the experience and wisdom that comes with living your way into the answers.
Long story short: enjoy the problems. They create the interesting tension in life.
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