Some September

Welp, Life threw some more at me.

But God is constant.

This is from my devotional reading the other day.

My Father is the gardener. John 15:1

It is a comforting thought that trouble, in whatever form it comes to us, is a heavenly messenger that brings us something from God. Outwardly it may appear painful or even destructive, but inwardly its spiritual work produces blessings. Many of the richest blessings we have inherited are the fruit of sorrow or pain. We should never forget that redemption, the world's greatest blessing, is the fruit of the world's greatest sorrow. And whenever a time of deep pruning comes and the knife cuts deeply and the pain is severe, what an inexpressible comfort it is to know: "My Father is the gardener."
John Vincent, a Methodist Episcopal bishop of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries and a leader of the Sunday school movement in America, once told of being in a large greenhouse where clusters of luscious grapes were hanging on each side. The owner of the greenhouse told him, "When the new gardener came here, he said he would not work with the vines unless he could cut them completely down to the stalk. I allowed him to do so, and we had no grapes for two years, but this is not the result."
There is rich symbolism in this account of the pruning process when applied to the Christian life. Prunning seems to be destroying the vine, and the gardener appears to be cutting everything away. Yet he sees the future and knows that the final result will be the enrichment of the life of the vine, and a greater abundance of fruit.
There are many blessings we will never receive until we are ready to pay the price of pain, for the path of suffering is the only way to reach them.
J.R. Miller
Streams in the Desert

School Has Sprung

So God is Good. If you all didn't know that, I'm telling you that right now.



This week has honestly been like nails on a chalkboard for me. For some reason, my everyday 'stuff' has been doing nothing but aggravating me, and little, minute things have been putting me on the verge of tears, and to top it off, classes are like a black cloud looming over my head...
Wow, do I sound dismal.

There are a few factors that have influenced my mood this week; the combination of my health being a little off, and that other people's opinions have affected my view of how my classes are going to be, so I've been expecting nothing but the worse.
I'm saying all this because throughout this week, there have been so many shining moments of God revealing himself to me through the patience of others, through my devotionals every night, through the beauty of Athens, and through Him constantly revealing the blessing in my life.

I came into this quarter after an amazing summer of growing in the boldness that God blessed me with; I was on such a high, excited to see what conversations he was going to bless me with, and I still am. I am still so excited and I pray for everyone's forgiveness for my outlook on things recently... I feel like all these little things that have been bothering me so easily have been used as a huge distraction to prevent me from spreading His love, and I hate to say that it worked this week.
But the good news is that I am aware of it now.
I can see what the bad-guy's plan is and I can foil it.
Please pray that I can withstand all the crap (for lack of a better word) that has been thrown at me so that I can complete the purpose that I was made for.

Lord, please help me to remember that my life is not my own, that your plan cannot be ruined by stupid little distractions, and that you are stronger then a stuffy nose and accounting homework.
Lord, please please keep me focused.
Please keep me content.
Please keep my eyes focused on your Love and your words.
Thank you that your Love is worth all this.
Thank you that your patience and mercy is beyond my comprehension and that you help to bear the burdens of us all living in this temporary place. Thank you that you are eternal and that this worry was not meant to happen.
Amen.

pack o' fannies

So I have decided that I am going to try to bring the fanny pack back into style.
I am going to need people to help me.
I am aware that I am going to look like a loony for a while.
I need to recruit people to help me with this fashion-resurrection.
Any takers?

Just to inspire you, I found some pictures.










When mentioning this to one of my friends he said that crust-punks, and bike-punks already wear them but they're kind of anti-fashion/counterculture. My goal is to bring them back into the mainstream; back to the everyday.
Your thoughts?