Ridiculous Things That Never Should Have Been Invented

This is the abridged version of a list I've been making all morning. It has no deeper meaning other than the fact that I honestly don't understand why ANY of these things exist. I mean, seriously. Every single one of these items just begs the question, "WHY?!?!?!!?!?"


1. Pantyhose




2. Sauerkraut




3. Skinny jeans



4. Twizzlers




5. Hummers




6. Inflatable furniture



7. Tissue Box Covers



8. Paperweights




9. The entire teaberry flavor


10. These lawn ornament things



Feel free to add!

Thought for the day

One of my professors posed this question to our class earlier this week; it's a quote from David Copperfield. Days later, I'm still thinking about it.

"Will you be the hero of your own story?"


Out of curiosity, what kind of thoughts does this question generate for you?

My own take on the question? I think it's equally as important to consider, "Should I be the hero of my own story?"

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference has never tried to fall asleep with a mosquito in the room."

(I positively love that quote and it's the only thing that comes to mind when I think "mosquitoes").

I hearby award major bonus points to Edge for knowing who Jump5 is in my last post :)

I read this article today and felt the need to post it just so I could say, "HA!" The world keeps telling me to de-stress, but I'm not very good at it. Maybe stress has its perks........????

I've got words in my head, so I sing them....

(major bonus points if you know the song/artist that I stole the title from WITHOUT Googling it....)

Yesterday I attended Revelation Generation 2009, which was, in a word superawesomeamazing :) I spent the day there with some friends and we had right-up-against-the-stage views of concerts by BarlowGirl, Relient K, Switchfoot, Needtobreathe, Flyleaf, and lots of others!

As such, here are some of the songs that are still resonating:

The Lining is Silver :: Relient K

Oh, Gravity :: Switchfoot

And my new favorite (just listen to it. The piano/vocal combination is amazing):
Beautiful Ending :: BarlowGirl

If you're not here, raise your hand....

Just a little techinical note. The whole "import blogs from Google Reader" thing didn't work the way I wanted it to, and as a result, quite a few of you are missing from my excellent blogs list on the left. If you're not there, please let me know!!!!!

This Little Light of Mine....

So, as I was driving home tonight, I had a most interesting encounter with the guy driving the SUV next to me. Picture it: I'm in my little raspberry colored car (Ok, so it's not technically mine. Thank you, Nana, for letting me borrow it!!), all the windows rolled down (because we had the most perfect September weather today!), singing along at the top of my lungs with the song on the radio, which is tuned to the WordFM. I'm stopped at a notoriously long stoplight. Seriously. The kind of stoplight that would be created by an evil genius bent on revenge, because it stays red forevvvvvvvver and is only green for about a tenth of a millisecond.

Anyway, Guy in the SUV in the lane next to me must also have his windows rolled down. Now, let me just point out that, had I known this, I most definitely would have stopped singing. OR at least rolled up my windows. I do feel kind of bad for the innocent strangers who are forced to listen to me squawk, after all. However, I didn't realize it.

He, naturally, did. And he must have had exceptionally good hearing, because even with the sound of my squawks, he was able to discern the song I was listening to.



Guy in the SUV: Hey! Sounds like a good song! What station you listening to?



Me (after turning the music down and trying to pretend I have no idea where that awful squawking was coming from): WordFM....88.9!



Guy in the SUV: "Word"...sounds like one of those Godly Christian stations...



Me: It is. And it's pretty awesome. You should check it out!



Guy in the SUV: You know, I don't know that I believe in God....



Me: Check it out anyway. Maybe you'll hear something....maybe it will help answer your questions.



At this point, the stoplight must have sensed that we were actually enjoying ourselves and getting into a conversation. Naturally, being designed to bring everlasting frustration upon the world, it quickly changed to green, forcing us both to move. However, and I swear God was smiling, we hit another red stoplight a few blocks up. Once again, I'm stopped next to Guy in the SUV, and we both still have our windows rolled down.
And I hear the same songs I'm listening to in my car playing from his radio. And he's tapping his fingers along on the steering wheel. He looks over and notices me and says, "I might keep listening to this. Thanks." And I replied, "You're welcome!" and then we were off, going our seperate ways.

Even now, hours later, I can't even explain how blown away I am by this encounter. It was so completely unexpected and wonderful....but furthermore, it makes me aware of the fact that every part of my life is a testimony to God and His faithfulness. Every single tiny moment.

In Philippians, Paul writes: "Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel..." [Phil. 1:2-28] We are called, then, to live a life worthy of the Gospel of Christ. Of God Himself. That is a hugely daunting order, isn't it?! But Paul doesn't just say that we should live this way "while you're in church" or "when people are watching you" or "during work hours"; we are to act this way all the time. Our whole lives. Every moment of my life, every little thing I do, from the way I dress, the language I use, the words I write, the choices I make, the conversations I have, the music I listen to, and the way I treat others around me all reflect the values that are central to my life. And those values need to be Godly ones!!

Sometimes I forget that my faith can influence people outside of Sunday mornings or my circles of Christian friends. Sure, it's easy to see how having deep discussions in Sunday school or praying together with friends is meaningful....but I really had no idea that the things I do or the way I act outside of those situations meant anything to anyone. But God's been making me aware of it lately, and I wonder if it's His way of encouraging me to be more aware of what my actions are saying about me (for better and worse).

One of the reasons I've had this renewed interest in blogging is due to a recent conversation. A few days ago, a friend told me that "Yours is one of the only Christian blogs I read." I am so surprised and honored by this! (I am FLATTERED, dear!!) She may not agree with what I believe, and yet, she reads it anyway. In some way, I might be influencing her life...God is using me for a purpose! It's a pretty amazing feeling to think that God Himself is using me for some part of His plan!

So, morals of the story?
1. Even the tiniest, seemingly insignificant parts of our lives might be changing the world and affecting people.
2. Stoplights might serve a higher purpose after all.
3. Always leave the windows down. Who knows what opportunities you might miss otherwise? :)

Abracadabra...make MMSG reappear!

My dearest bloggers,

Many apologies for the bizarre and unexplained disappearance. I think two and only two of you will understand when I say "monkeys". I'm afraid to even look at the date of my last post, but I know for sure it was eons ago! But, at the suggestion/command issued by our own dear Madison, I agreed it was time to start blogging again. And September first seemed like an excellent day to do that, so here we go again...!
History, for anyone who's curious:
Life got a little crazed this summer....I spent the last few months working like crazy! My summer job entailed spending my mornings entertaining children and trying to avoid the inter-camp wars that kept popping up at a day camp, and the afternoons were filled with working at a community center and taking the kiddos to the pool. Fascinating moments of this job included when one child asked if I was married, another informed me I look like his 74 year old grandmother, a third tried to break into my car, the discovery of what we're fairly certain was an alien caterpillar, a plot which involved running in to a dumpster with a car to simulate thunder, and way too many wheat crackers for snack. I don't know if I can eat any more wheat crackers.
I also spent a healthy amount of time playing in the rain, making music videos with my cousins, playing my guitar (if any of my neighbors are reading this, I really am sorry. I really DIDN'T know the windows were open....), babysitting, working my way through an online summer class, and eating way too much chocolate.
The other two big highlights were, without a doubt, my trip to New Orleans for the National Youth Gathering as well as my week at Worldview Academy. More on these subjects soon, too.

What about y'all? Any exciting summer developments?

The big news? I, the homeschooler, am here at college and loooving it! We're only on Day 2 of classes and already I'm up to my eyeballs in homework, but hey, it's part of the experience ;) Most of my classes are awesome, most of my professors are awesome, I mostly know my way around campus and I definitely have the great on-campus job EVER, so life is quite good :)

More posts coming your way soon. Pinky promise. Right now, my history book is threatening to run away if I don't read it soon. I think it's feeling jealous because of all the time I've devoted to Spanish lately. Poor thing.

P.S. In case there is anyone out there reading this without an RSS feeder (I know, slim chance), like the new look? And for everyone else, come check it out. I'm still tweaking, but do comment.

HAILSTORM
[written for a friend in need]

Hail-storms of hurt-words
Come barreling down;
Warm rays of sunlight
No longer found.
Unexpected and whirling;
Hardened and cold;
Invaded by dark clouds
Angry and bold.
A bruise here, a scar there
Salty rain-tears descend
Lord, strengthen me;
Lead me to the storm’s end.

Anyone have a piece of fleece?

I'm afraid to even look at the date of my last post. I'm sure it was years ago. Accept my full apologies!

A lot of what has been consuming me lately has been this big crazy college decision part of life. The scholarships. The interviews. The research. The thinking. The letters. The credits. The majors. The programs. The distance from home. The campuses. The admissions counselors. The professors. The students. The food (hey, it's an important factor). The costs. Etc.
It has been a MAJOR source of stress and pure terror for me over the last few months (years?) and yet, I can feel God teaching me things through this process.

One thing that's been sticking out at me lately has been, as a dear friend put it, "The Classic Christian Mistake".

I keep looking for factors that will make this decision easier for me, and one of those was financial aid. I prayed and prayed and prayed and found that my top two schools were basically the same in every respect -- I loved them both and they had so much to offer and both are great choices. And so I thought the only factor left was financial aid; I prayed that God would use scholarships and grants and such to point me in the right direction. And I waited. And I waited. And for a few weeks, it looked like even the monetary awards would be almost exactly the same, leaving me very undecided and unsure of what God was doing.

Then I got a letter in the mail from one school, and the scholarship money was significantly higher than I expected. Woo hoo, happy dance, life is good. This was a sign, I knew it; this was God pointing.
I was thrilled for all of about two hours.

Then the doubt set in.
"I should wait until I get the official statement from the other school. This really isn't a sign. This is just unexpected. What if this isn't really God? What if God hasn't really spoken yet, but I'm just trying to force everything to fit into MY own will instead of His? How do I know this is a sign? This can't be what answered prayers look like..." etc, etc.

The next day, knowing most of this, my friend talked to me about my big mistake. "You made the classic Christian mistake," she said of my doubt. "You prayed and prayed that God would speak to you about this decision through finances. And He did exactly as you asked. And then after you got that, you looked at God and wondered if it was enough." She's so very right; that's EXACTLY what I did!

I haven't been able to stop thinking about this conversation since. How often do we want God to just drop down a sign straight from Heaven to point us in the right direction? But even more interesting, how often does God DO this, but instead of following his sign, we second-guess it and doubt Him and ask for a billboard. THEN we'll be sure. And sometimes God has enough patience to drop us a fairly obvious billboard...and we have the gall to look at him and go, "Could ya just add some flashing lights to it? I'm not sure if this is the sign I need yet...I'm waiting for something more obvious...."

It reminds me of the story of Gideon, which you can also find in Judges 6-7. You gotta love Gideon. He's out in his field threshing wheat, and an ANGEL of the LORD appears.(First sign: There's an angel standing in front of me.) And Gideon says, "Whoa, baby. Are you really an angel? If you are, hang on just one second." Gideon goes inside to prepare an offering and the angel waits, just as he asks. (Second sign: Angel does as he asks and waits with heavenly patience). Then, Gideon comes back out and asks for ANOTHER sign. So the angel touches Gideon's altar offering with his staff and BOOM! instant flames. (Third sign) Ok. So, now, Gideon has an ethereal being standing in front of him who has just made fire appear out of nowhere....pretty obvious, eh? Gideon's still skeptical. He comes up with this elaborate test for God, involving fleece and dew and very specific instructions (Seriously? If this is not an illustration of how patient our God is, then I don't know WHAT is! Because if it was me...I'd be a little peeved at Gideon and I'd been ready to smite the guy.) And God, who has created the heavens and the earth and can do ANYTHING, has the patience and goodwill to accommodate Gideon's silly requests about putting dew on the fleece. (Fourth sign, anyone??) Gideon wakes up the next morning and goes, "Alright! You did exactly what I wanted, God! But...well, just one more thing...." and he goes and asks God for YET ANOTHER sign. And God STILL doesn't smite the guy, but gives him his sign, (Yep, we're up to five signs, now, in a few day's time, if I remember correctly) and thank goodness Gideon finally sees the light and realizes, DUH, this IS God.

And it's so easy for me (us) to roll our eyes at Gideon and wonder how he could possibly still doubt, even when God did exactly what he asked, over and over again.

And yet, here I am doing exactly the same thing.

Thank you, God, for your indescribable patience!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

St. Paddy's day, the Veggie way