Thursday, October 30, 2008

My Favorite Things of the Week

Lately, all I've wanted to do in life is browse through Martha Stewart catalogs and do every single craft she's ever made as well as learn to sew my own clothes. So! In light of the fact that crafts are the LAST thing I have time to do until after finals (6 weeks and counting!), i've decided to do a weekly favorite things list (Martha Stewart style!). Here is the first one (don't you feel special that you get to see this!)

1). Music played solely through different sized conch shells.
2). "I'm a fermata... hold me."
3). Heidi Seifert (Thanks for being a great friend, and laughing at my jokes when no one else does!)
4). The fact that Sunday holds the possibility of rain.
5). Diet A&W Cream Soda
6). My green sweater
7). Meeting Heidi's parents and hanging out with them
8). Red Shoes that were never meant for walking in but are oh so cute
9). Laughing a lot because everything is funny when you're this tired.

Have a fantastic weekend friends!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Stories

I never thought I had a story or a testimony. I was raised in a Christian home with fantastic parents that really showed me what life in community and life as a Christian looked like. I never walked away from the Lord, I've never even had the desire to. Of course my relationship with the Lord has not been perfect, but it has always been there. I don't have a dramatic story of how God saved me from a life of drugs, sex, and alcohol, nor do I have broken relationships with my family.

I thought accepting the Lord at the age of 5, being baptized at 8, being involved in youthgroup from 6-12th grade, and being on worship teams for the last 5 years meant that I didn't have a story. My life was to good. It wasn't until a recent conversation with a fellow classmate that I realized that God did rescue me from a broken life; he just did it before it happened.

From the day I was born I, as a sinful person, was separated from God and needed redemption. By God's grace I was born into a family that loved Him and raised me to love Him, but this did not and does not diminish my need for a savior. My story may be much less broken than many others, but it still has moments of brokenness and the feeling of God being so far away. Once again, by God's grace those moments of feeling like He had given up on me pushed me to search for Him harder, not to throw in the towel and decide that He must not be there if I don't feel Him all the time. My story is a story of God's grace to perpetuate my life in Him, rather than to pull me out of something else and draw me to Him. It is the story of a good Christian girl who has realized lately that her testimony is exactly what she thought was not a testimony at all. I don't have a past without God, but my family before me does. God delivered me from what would've been a very different life with a completely different view of God had He not used some very interesting tactics to eventually bring my parents to Him.

The truth is we have all been delivered from somewhere or something, we all need a savior, we all need His grace in our everyday lives, and we all need His strength to persevere to the end. I am no better because of my life than the Christian with a "past". We are both sinners in need of savior, His grace is still sufficient in both stories, and He is more than able to accomplish whatever He desires.

"I need thee every hour..."

Thursday, October 09, 2008

To List or Not to List...

I have a question for you all.

Should single people make lists about qualities that they would like in a spouse as well as qualities or actions that are absolute deal breakers? Is this actually helpful or does it set people up to constantly fail us? As a natural listmaker I deeply enjoy the ability to cross something off my list, but is that how we should approach relationships? "Good relationship with his mother" -Check!

I am definitely not talking about the lists that consist of:
1). Must have dark hair and blue eyes
2). Must drive a truck
3). Must look like Brad Pitt (except with darker hair).
4). Must make at least 8 Million dollars a year

These are NOT helpful. However, I will admit that I can be kind of a car snob. I do pay attention to the kind of car that a guy drives, but hopefully I would never let it stop me from dating that guy (my father is partially responsible for the car snobbery. He's taken me to way to many car shows over the course of my life and talked about cars a lot as well... Thanks Dad! By the way, we haven't been to a car show in a while.)

I'm talking about character qualities. Should we need to make lists to know what kind of character qualities we should be attracted to or avoid? Shouldn't we be able to tell as thinking people that a guy who disrespects his mother is going to disrespect his girlfriend/wife, and a woman who bats her eyelashes and talks in a baby voice to her dad to get money is going to do the very same thing to her boyfriend/husband, without consulting our previously made list? "Hmm... is being a complete jerk on my list of deal breakers?" It might be a different story if she bats her eyes and talks in a baby voice and her dad simply looks at her and says, "Seriously?"

What do you think? Lists: necessary or unnecessary? Talk to me people! I'm trying to get dialogue going about these kind of things!

Thursday, October 02, 2008

Don't Go Breakin' My Heart

Alright my loves. It's time to get your champion rear-ends in gear. WIN! You are NOT the Padres! You HAVE talent! (Sorry Padre fans, I just couldn't resist).

The play-offs are NOT a completely different ball game. They are the exact same ball game in fact. It's all mental!! You need to stop telling yourselves "holy crap we're playing Boston in the first round of the playoffs...AGAIN" and start telling yourselves "We beat their over payed, injured, hindparts 8 TIMES THIS SEASON!! By george we can do it now!" Than you should all start jumping around, slapping each other, and screaming (in manly voices of course) "THE RED SOX SUCK AND WE ROCK AND WE CAN CRUSH THEM WITH OUR PINKY FINGERS!!!!*insert manly grunts here*"

My heart is full of love for you and faith in you. I know you can beat them and take this series. It's time that you know that.

So, put your game faces on and WIN WIN WIN!!!!!

Oh, and what's with Youkilis' batting stance? Seriously... icky elf!

P.S. I apologize for all of the capitilization. I'm slightly passionate about this.