Where I have been...

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Where have you been?

It's Mine

I want more.
I already have a lot of stuff, but not enough.
It is really ridiculous how many t-shirts I have.
I collect books that I have not read, and I really like electronic toys like computers and iPods.
I also collect guitars, drums, and other instruments.
Why?
I am not really sure... I just like stuff.
Maybe it feels comforting to have stuff that is mine, even if it is junk Sorta like I am building my own personal empire.
What is interesting is that even with my surplus of stuff I still desire for more stuff.
At the same time, I see that there are so many people without even the basic needs of life.
I feel bad for them, but I am at the same time insulated from their situation by financial prosperity.
If I was poor, I wonder if I would be more concerned?
I know I could do more...
but I struggle with valuing stuff more than people.

Some God's are better than others

This comic is funny and scary to me.
Are we really just to search for a random god who we cannot know; who we cannot be certain about?

Or...

Is there A GOD out there who is bigger than all of us, and who is reaching out to us.

I think that God wants to be known... and so he reveals himself to us so we can find him and know him...

WHAT do you think?

What effect do your WORDS have?

Words are a dangerous thing.
They have so much more power than we think about.
Words start wars and end them.
Words can express songs of joy, or the painful sonnets of a broken heart.
Words can contain a cry for help or can express rotting hatred buried in our soul.
When you really think about it words are so much more dangerous than cars, or voting, or even than guns...
it is amazing that we do not require a license for speaking.
Words can heal and hurt,
They can bring life, or take it
They can plant seeds & bring hope
They can kill dreams
They can define us
They can limit us
They can escape us.
Words reflect our soul
Words express the invisible inside of us
Words are more than the sum of their letters

Words hold the power of life and death.
They are how we express our most secret desire and hope,
They are the weapon we use to hurt those who we are angry with.
Words are a matter of life and death.

What are your Words doing?

More on Ainzley

I loved this picture of my niece Ainzley. You can check out more about her at my sister in law vicky's blog which is listed to the right. Ainzley is really beautiful, and is growing so fast! Makes me want to structure life so that I get to know my nieces, Gracie & Ainzley, and not just know about them.

Tomorrow... (More on Proverbs)

Tomorrow.
Tomorrow I’ll start... I’ll stop.
Tomorrow I will begin...
Tomorrow I will quit.
I will love more tomorrow.
I will be healthy tomorrow.
Tomorrow I will take God seriously.
Tomorrow I will go to college.
Tomorrow I will start life.
Tomorrow.
Elusive as the wind, so much rests on this destination that we will never reach in life.
It will never be tomorrow;
always will we live today, only reaching in our dreams to tomorrow.
Tomorrow is the subject of so many proverbs.
For those on the run from the path of wisdom, tomorrow exists as an excuse to avoid responsibility.
For those running toward wisdom, Tomorrow is the dawn of all hope for.
The ultimate day where faith is fulfilled and things are perfectly as they are promised.
What am I waiting until tomorrow for?

Invisible Children...

This is a new website which I have discovered. My Friend Caleb alerted me to this cause, and the more I read about it and watch the videos the more it makes me sad. I hate how blind that I am to all of the suffering in the world. I go to sleep everynight without even a concern about waking up safe in the morning. That is not the world that these thousands of children live with. Take a minute and check out the website:

http://www.invisiblechildren.com/

"Every night in Northern Uganda, as many as 40,000 children, afraid of being
kidnapped, tortured, and forced to slaughter their own family members, flee
from their homes in rural villages. Holding tightly to blankets and straw
mats, endless rows of children walk several hours to urban centers like Gulu,
where they sleep in relative safety. In the morning, they retrace their steps
in hopes of returning in time to attend school and do their chores, before the
sad procession is repeated."

Any Questions?

Proverbs... Lady Wisdom & the Fool

I am starting a new series with my Middle School students on the book of Proverbs. We are doing it in march because there are the same number of days as their are chapters in the book. Maybe you should check it out as well. My friend Kelly drew a bunch of pictures for me to use with the series. They are artistic renditions of good or bad attributes found in Proverbs. Proverbs portrays Wisdom as a woman who is of the highest nobility and honor. In her dignified regality she calls out to all who would listen and embrace her. Their are of course mockers who will not follow her ways. The "leader" of these mockers is pictured as a suductress. She seeks to lead the "fools" away from the path of wisdom and into the path of folly. It is a real interesting read, full of age old wisdom which has servived thousands of years and still reads like it was written for today.

iTie... Formal attire

My friend Mathias sends me the coolest links. This one is worthy of passing on. Enjoy!


http://www.techdigest.tv/2006/02/the_ipod_tie.html

The Fish...?

Weird coincidences today.
I finally broke down and bought another Peco fish to eat the algae in my fish tank... my other one had died a while ago...

and then....

then I got a strange email....

Someone emailed a friend of mine and wrote this,

"I heard Margo on the Fish this morning talking about their new youth pastor, with the shaved head look goin' on, and how he did a back flip off the platform or something?"

The whole universe is trying to tell me something about fish...


Pic from: http://www.absolutelyfish.com/PicturesFresh/RedFinTigerPeco.jpg

Things we cannot see

How do you view the world? Seems like a simple question, but so much of how we think of things happens subconsciously. We just react to the world, without thinking. For the Christian this is even more important. The core ideas of our faith are all invisible. We cannot see Jesus or God. We cannot see a hypostatic union, the joining perfectly of a man and God without loss of either. We cannot even see love, and yet it, and all of these others are necessary aspects of our faith. If we are going to live for Jesus in this all too visible and tangible world, with physical opportunities to doubt and sin surrounding us every day, we will have to learn a new way to see. We have to learn to close out eyes to ourselves and to our surroundings and open the eyes of faith to the glimpses of glory hidden in between the seconds of our life.

60 years

My good freinds Kel(log)ly and Lu(cille) just celebrated their 60th anniversary. They are a really neat couple who are living testaments to a life of faith. It is awesome that they have maintained their marriage through wars, and depressions, and having kids, and health issues, and much more. They are a model of Christian marriage that needs to be lifted high for lots of us young-un's to see!

Photo by my friend JIM G.

the ACM, dancing baptists, & personal redemption

Wed was Elmbrook's Annual Church Meeting. It is sorta like a business meeting and part of the meeting is voting on the budget for 2006. This year Elmbrook really went all out and turned it into a celebration event with a Bistro, a special dessert, & Choreographed pastoral dance team. Anyone who knows me, knows the dancing thing is a stretch. At one point the person teaching us the dance told us that we should do the electric slide. When I told her I didnt know what she was talking about, she asked me, "What... did you grow up Baptist?" "Actually I did" was my response which sent the entire staff, many who also grew up Baptist, into hysterical laughing. I laughed to. I laughed because for the first time in so long I feel free to be myself. Elmbrook loves me for exactly who I am. I do not have to put on a mask, or try to fit in. It is enough that I am trying to love God and serve him. That feels really good. I love being a part of this church!
The meeting was also awesome & positive. It excited me that there are so many things that Elmbrook is trying to accomplish all over the world that are great. It is a big church, but still remembers that it exists to love God & to love our neighbors whether they live in Brookfield, or in Beijing.

Pictures from John Suder: http://sudar.smugmug.com/gallery/1213291/1/56753593

Pearls & Blogging

Blah, Blah, Blah, Whatever!

I love Pearls Before Swine & I love Blogs... so when Pearls actually deals with Blogs, it is a must have!

http://www.comics.com/comics/pearls/index.html

Who are you looking at...

ok so I know that dogs are not people...

that said, my dog sure seems like a people...
she has so much expression and personality... she has habits. she has preferences and is really stubborn.

She even seems to really feel affection toward us...

of course that could be because we feed her...

The faces we ignore

We were all made to shine, made in His image... but our sins stain our lives. Our thoughts and actions are so short of the Glory of God. How awesome is it then to hear that all is not lost. Even though our lives are stained with sin, that we can be shiny and new again. When God’s Glory shines on our soul through His Grace, we are made to shine again. We are again under the canopy of God’s acceptance. Strange how we are slow to apply the same grace and acceptance to others that we receive for ourselves. Even though we know how imperfect that we are and how much we need the grace and acceptance of God, we forget that others need it too. We are ALL created in his image, so when we live life judging others, we set ourselves up against God. God wants everyone to know his love and acceptance and in living a judgemental life we fight against his work in the lives of people who we will do not consider worthy of love and respect.

"He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live to please themselves. Instead, they will live to please Christ, who died and was raised for them. So we have stopped evaluating others by what the world thinks about them. Once I mistakenly thought of Christ that way, as though he were merely a human being. How differently I think about him now!"
~Paul of Tarsus (2nd Corinthains 5:15-16)

Confessions of a Pot Dealer...

Ok, its a little silly, but when you drink as much coffee as I do, it is a big deal when you get a new coffee pot. I liked this one so much, I just had one shipped to my parents. My Dad is a little maniacal about his coffee... he doesnt think his coffee maker makes it hot enough, so he pours a cup of coffee... then microwaves it... then when he takes the first sip... he swears because he just burned his tongue... He actually has a similar ritual regarding soda.... he takes it out the the fridge and puts it in the freezer for 20 minutes before he drinks it... then he takes it out, (when he remembers.... my freezer still had frozen remnants of his last visit!!!) and swears because its frozen... OK... all that to say, I just made his life a litte easier... He now has a coffee pot that makes the coffee hot enough to burn him without the extra step. Isn't it great to live in America!

Biscuits & Blessings... thoughts on playdough

Growing up I learned all about God. I learned how he could give me what I wanted.... I learned how he could make me feel better when I was sick... I learned how he give me blessings if I made him happy... I learned that he loved me and wanted to be my friend... I learned how he would always forgive me because of his grace, even if I was not really sorry... I learned all of this and more, and I learned it well. I knew that anytime I needed God, I could rub the lamp and he would show up and make me feel better and fix the mess I had created...
.... But I don’t think that is really God. It resembles him in some ways... but not really... if he really is the creator... if he really holds all power... if the Bible has any truth at all ... then he must be an awesome and terrible and dangerous and scary and good, yes good too, GOD. All of those lesser god’s are nothing but sophisticated stuffed animals which we create because they are cute and make us feel safe and in control... they are no more God, than I am... and we are not in control...

We all want to shine...

I think that we all want to shine... only maybe we do not know it. I think we were created in the image of God... to reflect his glory. Like the moon shining brightly in the dark of night, we too reflect the blinding Glory of our God. The moon does not own any of the light, which it reflects, yet when it is full, its dark and dirty surface is concealed in the pure white reflection of the sun’s light. Even the darkest canyons cast the faintest shadow across the moons face.
We too shine. We shine when our face is turned full into that of our creator. We shine when we let his light shine in our hearts. When we face him, even the deepest scars, and darkest stain are mere shadows... our features are transfigured... Joy and Glory in Christ have replaced the dull complexion of normalcy. Our souls were made to shine!