Funny, funny

I saw this in a blog that I occasionally read and I like it.... oh yes.

LOTR

Ahhh, the brilliance that is the Lord of the Rings Trilogy...
The excitement, the terror, the greatest adventure paired with amazing direction, stunning scenery, an amazing score, not to mention the easy-on-the-eyes characters... it's thrilling.

I know that people who enjoy the books and movies are possibly considered "nerds" but if loving these brilliant films makes me a "nerd," so be it. Nerd I shall be.

There was nothing like watching each one in theatres, so exciting.

I started reading the prequel to The Trilogy and unfortunetly became sidetracked, but hopefully this year I will be able to read them all...

The Biblical theme that thread together through out the story are encouraging (I suggest the book, "Finding God in the Lord of the Rings"). The theme of God choosing the underdog, the weak, those unexpected, and gives them amazing opportunities to serve Him, almost always succeeding, gives me a reason to think that, even though I don't feel worthy, God can (and is) use(ing) me to spread His word. That is good news.

C.S. Lewis writes with the same underlying themes. I suggest the Space Trilogy by him; "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" are classics and I truly suggest the entire series. I actually suggest you read all of the things he writes, he is still incredibly relevant and I have learned alot from his words.

Well, I'm going to stop writing this to watch Gandalf save the day.

Wildflowers

So I know the last few posts have been serious, but these are all things I have learned alot from and want to share with people....

I got this at Honeyrock (which also happens to be the best place on Earth) from one of my counselors and really enjoy it.

"I have often wondered about the wildflowers," she said. "It does seem strange that such unnumbered multitudes should bloom in the wild places of the earth where perhaps nobody ever sees them and the goats and the cattle can walk over them and crush them to death. They have so much beauty and sweetness to give, and no one on whom to lavish it, none who will even appreciate it."

The look the Shepherd turned on her was very beautiful. "Nothing My Father and I have made is ever wasted," He said quietly, "and the little wild flowers have a wonderful lesson to teach. The offer themselves so sweetly and confidently and willingly, even if it seems that there is no one to appreciate them. Just as though they sang a joyous little song to themselves, that it is so happy to love, even though one is not loved in return.

I must tell you a great truth, Much-Afraid, which only the few understand. All the fairest beauties in the human soul, its greatest victories, and its nost splendid achievements are always those which no one else knows anything about, or can only dimly quess at. Every inner response of the human heart to Love and every conquest over self-love is a new flower on the tree of Love.

Many a quiet, ordinary, and hidden life, unknown to the world, is a veritable garden in which Love's flowers have come to such a perfection that it is a place of delight where the King of Love Himself walks and rejoices with His friends. Some of my servants have indeed won great visible victories and are rightly loved and reverenced by other men, but always their greatest victories are like the wild flowers, those which no one knows about. Learn this lesson now, down here in the vally, Much-Afraid, and when you get to the steep places of the mountains it will comfort you."

-Hannah Hurnard, Hind's Feet on High Places

Bread

Acts 14:22 (New International Version)
…strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God," they said.

2 Corinthians 6:4-7 (New International Version)
Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; In beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God.

Being the selfish individual that I am, I of course, want everything to go my way, go according to how I plan and get upset when things don’t happen that way. I love the Lord with all of my heart and I want more than anything, to be able to just give my life up and let Him take care of everything, good and bad. I had thought that I did that, being a Christian, I thought that He was going to take care of everything, and to me, that meant that He would make sure that nothing “bad” happened to me. Throughout my childhood, small little things would happen and I had thought that I stood strong when these “hardships” were presented. I thought that I was going through persecution for my faith when someone would tease me, and I thought that having a hard senior year of high school was building up my character…. But in reality, the small things I experienced back then had only clouded the reality of REAL hardships. And when recently, I had been presented with situations just a tiny bit more difficult to handle, I didn’t know how to handle them, and I folded, crumpled under the small weight that was being put on me and in reaction, I just slunk back into self-pity and sadness. This self-pity was doing nothing positive, nothing to help my situation, it just made the world around me all the more bleak, creating more self-pity and sadness and it quickly spiraled into a dangerous cycle that I am still trying to work myself out of.

I get sick when I think of how much time, energy, and effort I put into how “horrible” not only my situations, but my life was. I get sick when I think of how those feelings made me feel about myself, my image, my family, my friends, everything. I get sick when I think of how much I didn’t trust the ONE person who could truly help me through my “hardships” because I was blaming Him for them. Blaming the creator of the universe, the one who created life and love, the one who made this amazing world around me, the one who made me. I was blaming my father who made me, for the situations I was going through. I had nudges from Him of how to make my life better and I ignored Him. I was comfortable wallowing in my pity and was getting attention, even though it was the wrong kind. I feel like a selfish child when I think of the things I have said to people, when I think of the complaints that I had, when I KNOW that the people I was talking to were going through things just like, if not worse then the things I was going through, expecting them to pity me. And then to be angry at God… the one who was beaten beyond recognition for me, for my selfishness…

Coming up here to Eagle River Wisconsin, where the beauty of God is more apparent here then anywhere I’ve ever been, I have had a lot of time to think about everything that has happened recently (because I couldn’t really do much physically, and there isn’t cable television), and God has definitely made himself apparent in my thoughts more then ever. I had not been doing daily devotionals during the year and I thought I would pick up the book and read the one for that day.

~~
June 19

“Grain must be ground to make bread” Isaiah 28:28

Many of us cannot be used as food for the world’s hunger, because we have not yet to be broken in Christ’s hands. “Grain much be ground to make bread,” and being a blessing of his often requires sorrow on out part. Yet even sorrow is not too high a price to pay for the privilege of touching other lives with Christ’s blessings. The things that are most precious to us today have come to us through tears and pain. J.R Miller

God has made me as bread for His chosen ones, and if it is necessary for me to “be ground” in the teeth of lions in order to feed his children, then blessed me the name of the Lord.

To burn brightly out lives must first experience the flame. In other words, we cease to bless others when we cease to bleed. –Ignatius

Poverty, hardship and misfortune have propelled many a life to moral heroism and spiritual greatness. Difficulties challenge our energy and our perseverance but bring the strongest qualities of the soul to life. It is the weights on the old grandfather clock that keep it running. And many a sailor has faced a strong head wind yet used it to make it to the port. God has chosen opposition as a catalyst to our faith and holy service.

The most prominent characters of the Bible were broken, threshed, and ground into bread for the hungry. Because he stood at the head of the class, enduring affliction while remaining obedient, Abraham’s diploma is not inscribed with these words: “The father of Faith.”

Jacob, like wheat, suffered severe threshing and grinding. Joseph was beaten and bruised, and was forced to endure Potiphar’s kitchen and Egypt’s prison before coming to his throne.
David hunted like an animal of prey through the mountains, was bruised, weary, and footsore, and thereby ground into bread for a kingdom. Pail could never have been bread for Caesar’s household is he had not endures the bruising of being whipped and stoned. He was ground into fine flour for the Roman royal family.
Combat comes before victory. If God has chosen special trials for you to endure, be assured He has kept a very special place in His heart just for you. A badly bruised soul is one who is chosen.
~~

A few days after reading this entry, I kept thinking the words “read Job.” It kept repeating in my mind until I decided that I really should listen and I read the first half of the book of Job. It was about how the devil took away Job’s wealth, family, belongings, and health and still did not curse God. He stayed true to his faith through the worst hardships that the devil could throw at him.

Wow, I thought. If Job could still love God even after all those horrible things happened to him, there is no reason why I shouldn’t because of a few small, seemingly insignificant little blips in my life. I should be falling on my knees thanking God for all the blessing I do have, not complaining to Him about my handful of troubles that are fleeting.
Everything happens for a reason and every event in my life is part of a plan God has to shape me into the person that He needs me to be. I see now that through the things that happened to me this summer all have helped me to learn about myself, learn about thankfulness, and are all going to shape my character.
Thank you God, for blessing me. Thank you for your patience with my frustration, and thank you for your ultimate plan.

This is good

This is from a book that I am reading called Hiding in Plain Sight by Molly Wolf. The book is just her reflections about God in her life and in everyday occurances. She says in the introduction to the book that God is "...not locked in the tabernacle, not hiding behind a mass of comples, eye-crossing philosophical concepts, not absent from our pain, not Out There Somewhere, not runing the universe like clockwork automation, but here with us, between and among us, in the laundry, the scutwork, the landscape we walk through..."

So this is the first one in the book and it's called The Rich Folk's Yard...Hope you like it!

Typical Saturday: hit the ground running and keep running until somehow it all gets done. Or most of it gets done. Or at least the bits I can get done, and the rest I’ll get around to later, I hope…
To the city to drop off a child and run some necessary errands. At one point in a great deal of running around, the most intelligent way to get from Point A to Point B in the inevitable tearing hurry was to take the parkway through The Rich Folks’ Yard, the area of the city where live the Mandarins and Ambassadors and People in High Places and People with Lots and Lots of Money. It’s a very handsome area, and the parkway that winds through it is both scenic and great fun to drive. But what gave me the giggles, what made my morning, in fact, was the realization that this area had the same—I don’t know if you’d call it a problem exactly; more a condition, like dandruff—as my lowly un-mowed back yard and every roadside and field I had passes this morning.
Dandelions.
The parkway verge was awash with horticultural bastards. And most cheerful they looked, too, swatches of butter-yellow against the tender green of young grass.
The dandelion cocks a snook at propriety and beams a sort of wicked grin back at creation. The dandelion is the floral equivalent of a short sharp blast on a kazoo. And there within sight of meticulously groomed, ever-so-proper, lovingly tended upper crust yards and gardens, the little buggers were whooping it up, Cheered me enormously.
We can wallow in the Painfulness of Reality, and reality is in fact painful as hell at times—just as dandelions really are weeds. We can and should be ever aware of our status as very real Miserable Offenders. We do need to be careful and disciplined and honorable and integral and good in our daily lives. This is all true and important, because the alternative is chaos.
But.
Look at an average abandoned city lot and you’ll find life upspringing, invading, taking over, breaking down the grim order we have created. Saplings spring up in the gutter of a roof, drawing nourishment from dead leaves. Weeds invade the pavement, breaking it up. Wild vines swarm and, with their fingers, reduce our work to rubble. Some people find this discouraging, because it says something about the transience of human works. I find it greatly cheering, because it speaks to me of life’s abundance. It also appeals to my wicked side.
But it’s more than that: it says to me that life doesn’t have to be perfect to be glorious its sheer aliveness. Love has nothing to do with perfection. After thinking about dandelions and how fond I am of the silly buggars, I begin to suspect that maybe God loves us because we are sinners, not in spite of that fact. I think of the people I love, and I know that I love them all the more for their humanity, not in spite of it. Knowing that a person is unsure and vulnerable and much less than perfect makes me love that person more, not less.
If human love is a reflection, however pale, of God’s love for us, then maybe that says something about how God sees our faults and failings: not with blind-eyed indulgence, not minimizing the problems, but truly and with love. We are all such vulnerable children doing our best in a hard world. We are not perfect, weed-free lawns, and no matter how hard we work, we barley seem to stay ahead of the mess.
But we are loved, wholly and completely loved. And that’s where the joy comes from, sneaking up on us, blooming like an upstart glowing dandelion, breaking through like daylight, lighting up the sun.

Stars and Docks

I wrote this one night while I was thinking about my summer up in Wisconsin. I hope you like it!

You've never seen stars like the stars over Eagle Lake.
Streached out on the dock, hearing the cool water underneath, taking it in, breathing it in. Breathing the vast sky in so deep it seems to fill my very core.
The pine trees seem to be reaching to the beauty of this sky. Even the trees seem to understand the beauty of this.
There's nothing like laying on the dock, looking at this dome of a sky. It seems to be made just for me.
Although a sky like this can make one feel small, I like feeling small while looking up at the night sky. There's a comfort that comes knowing that if God cares to make giagntic stars beautiful and fuctional, then it is certain that he will care for such a small person as me.
I used to want to study astronomy. I wanted to be a part of the cosmos that surround us. But for now, admiring the breathtaking beauty from here on the dock is right where I should be at this very second. Even down to my smallest cells are filled with peace, laying in this crisp night, releasing myself to someone so big, giving up my worries for this night so that all I have to think about is breathing in the night and admiring this beauty.

On Judgement...

So I wrote this one night at three in the morning after a few incidents of extreme judgement and criticism that I had witnessed that week during the winter. I don't mean to go against peoples opinions on this subject but I feel strongly about the things I wrote.

Now, I’m not saying by any means, that I am better than anyone else, and I’m not condemning anyone and I hope that it doesn’t sound like I am, I know that I commit these follies everyday but I think I need to write this out to collect my thoughts on it because it’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while.

A sin is a sin.

Forgiveness and love are given no matter what the sin is.

Damning and condemning anyone who commits a particular type of sin is wrong when a group of people committing a “different” sin are told they are forgiven. It’s all the same. The band Emery says “It’s all the same…With sinning hearts that make us equal”

Example, If I lie, I know that I am forgiven because I believe that Jesus died to repay all my sins (Matthew 26:28, Luke 1:77, Numbers 14;20). Sexually acting on homosexuality is a sin (Leviticus 18;22) but completely damning someone because they are homosexual is going against the basis of Christianity...which is the fact that Jesus died for our sins, not for a particular sin, or a certain category, but ALL types. I think the world, especially Christians, (especially Christians in leadership positions) need to be more accepting and loving of each other, of everyone, because we are ALL loved children of God, no matter what sin we commit.

Reaching out to those who need God’s love is important for evangelism and Christianity. Judging before even getting to know someone is not going to help them get closer to God, if anything it will push them away, or make them closed off from the idea of God because the God that is portrayed to them is a judgmental God (when God is nowhere close to being a judgmental God when it comes to people's differences)…. And that is the LAST thing we (and God) want to happen.

Like the old saying, you attract flies with honey, not vinegar.

A homosexual friend in my high school religion class said that he felt more distant from God after taking it because the priest teaching and the other students in the class were not very open to him. It hurts me when I hear about people slipping away from the Church or from God because they felt like they had been judged…by Christians.

Christ’s life was based on complete, understanding, forgiving love. As Christians, our goal should be to live as closely to his example as we can. Christ did not judge (look at his apostles, one was a liar, one was a murderer, the list goes on) he LOVED. That’s what evangelism, friendship, basically everything should be about.

"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” -Luke 6:37

“If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.” –James 2:8,9

“These also are sayings of the wise: To show partiality in judging is not good:” –Proverbs 24:23

“In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” –Matthew 5:16

“Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.” –Romans 12:10

I don’t mean this to sound attacking in any way, and I don’t want to offend anyone because I know that I am guilty of judgment as well, its just something that I needed to write out.
Makella

America

I saw this in myspace and thought I'd share it...

Unconditional Love is What We Have

This is great....

"But the thing we are searching for is not somewhere else. It is right here, And we can only find it when we give up the search, when we surrender, when we trust. Trust that God is already putting us back together....It is trusting that I am loved. That I always have been. That I aways will be. I don't have to do anything. I don't have to prove anything or acheive anything or accomplish one more thing. That exactly as I am, I am totally accepted, forgiven, and there is nothing I could ever do to lose this acceptance."

~Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis

I highly suggest reading this book if you either want to futher your faith, want questions answered, and/or want an incredebly easy and relatable read about the Christian faith.

Long Car Rides

Well, just made the journey from Northern Wisconsin to my home and it was a successful trip once again, albeit long (aprox. fourteen hours). We only stopped a couple of times for traffic, and on the other side at one point was a crash that involved a camper, a tractor-trailer, and a car that looked like it was put in the grabage compactor.)

I'd like to thank the followng:
-My mom, for driving most of the way
-My Ipod, for supplying me with hours of entertainment
-My friend, who gave me a bunch of new music to listen to on the ride
-The friends I talked to on the phone, it was nice to catch up
-Arby's, for providing the sustinance.
(I have always thought the Arby's is the classiest of the fast food chains, if fast food can be "classy")
-Kia, for making a car that is not only comfortable (for the most part), but fun to drive.


Have you ever been in Arby's and seen the bell thats on the wall that you're supposed to ring when you've had good service? I usually want to, but Im a little nervouse. The Arby's that we stopped at in Northwestern Ohio, however, did not derserve the "good service bell" I'm sorry to say. I only got two ice cubes in my ice-water, and my rueben was only slightly melty (Im complely kidding, although I did want a little more ice)... The people were nice, so there's that.

Good Things At The Moment

(In no particular order)

1. Organic Food
2. Underoath
3. Eyes
4. Light
5. Airconditioning
6. Lakes
7. Water Skiing when the lake is calm
8. Watching children grow up
9. Watching babies do funny things
10. My Grandma's rings
11. The smell of food grilling
12. Rob Bell
13. The birthday cards my baby cousins drew me
14. Freckles

thinking

If God hadn't created music, the world around me would be shades of grey and sepia. My thoughts would be straight lines and planes. My daydreams would be short and uninteresting. I would be suffocating in a stuffy world becuase everything is made of music. Everything needs a rhythm to live, to move, to create.

Thank you God for this gift.

Things Recently Learned

1. Wisconsin can get hot (see previous post).

2. People rarely answer phones.

3. People can ge angry when their food isn't timely.

4. People still tip well if their food isn't timely.

5. Stretch-marks are depressing.

6. Kids are getting married.

7. Cicadas in large numbers sound like radio static over the phone (according to my mom).

8. People change when significant others are involved for the worse and better.

9. People who should change usually dont.

10. The resort pool is empty on sunday.

11. Haircuts are much more significant happenings to the person recieving the haircut then to their friends.

12. Wild turkeys are funny.

13. C.S.Lewis is smart and still relevant. Everyone should read his entire collection.

14. Weddings are lovely.

15. Sunburn is usually fun while being acquired, but no fun to deal with later.

16. I am loved.

landmines in the cheese state and sweat

Up at my cabin I've been starting to get back to running... after having mono for a good seven weeks and not being able to work out (taking a shower constituted as "working out" where I would have to go lay down immediatly after) I've noticed some areas getting a little... 'less trim.'
As I'm running one particular morning, I notice as an extremely large amount of chubby green caterpillars trying to cross the road. I write "trying" becuase from the look of the road and the amount of splotch marks, quite a large number are having a hard time getting across. So I went on my morning run and the intesity is hightened as I leap and bound over the inch and a half long green caterpillars. I shudder to think about what would have happened if I were to step on one of there landmines of green guts. Some questions are raised: Do Caterpillars have organs? Would their spleen rupture? Are they just green bags of blob and puss? How do they digest?
After the run I was talking with my mom (who is also a daily runner) and to my horror says something like "yeah the brown ones are tricky, they look like the road" WHAT?! Brown ones? I don't remember any brown ones.

Anyways...
Its hot out:

I've been sweating becuse it's hot out. I had a dream about sweating last night.

If my facial features were not securly fastioned to my head, they would have slipped off hours ago.

If I stood under a hose while standing in the pool, I would be the same degree of "wetness."

If a bunch of people were perpetually dumping water on me while standing in my own personal rainstorm, it would be the same.

Northern Wisconsin is not supposed to be this hot. People shouldn't have to work in the un-airconditioned kitchen of a seafood restaurant when it's this hot.

The First of Many

So.. Ive been thinking of starting a blog for a while, Ive been reading some that have really entertained me and it's just people writing about their lives or things that come into their heads and I thought "I could do that..." plus I've always kind of liked just writing down thoughts and happenings... also, usually almost everyday, something happens to me that is either funny or awkward and so instead of trying to tell my friends the funny/awkward thing that happend (in which the story usually ends up with me saying "and then I found 20 bucks" which is what you do with bad stories) I can just write it all down here and leave the stories to those who just happend across this blog. If anything, it could help me with my 1st person writing skills... hmm?

Im just here to share my thoughts about things. I'm not going to intentionally offend anyone who might read and I apologize if that ends up happening, which I hope it doesn't. Time will tell if this "experiment" of sorts turns out...

Blog-ahoy!

(could that have been cheesier?)