(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
Sunday
I've got words in my head, so I sing them....
Monday
Bad day
Ugh. It's been one of those days. You know the kind I mean, right? First of all, it's Monday. I was awakened much too early this morning by the phone. Naturally, it was a wrong number. I'm out of toothpaste. Even though I got up on time, I was VERY LATE in getting out of the house; the lateness carried over and permeated my entire day. I was stressed out at preschool, trying to do too many things at once and handle too much responsibility. I almost got hit three times driving to the community college for an observation. I had to leave the observation, which I was truly interested in, early in order to get to class on time. I DIDN'T EVEN MAKE IT TO CLASS ON TIME, due to construction, two busses (sp?!?!) and two wrong turns. For the first time ever, I had the displeasure of walking in to classs and slinking into my front-row seat while the prof was talking. Nice job, MMSG. Urgh. Doors were locked when they shouldn't have been; I forgot my gloves; I didn't have time to eat anything until just NOW; I almost ran out of gas and spent way too much filling up the tank; computer repair guy was supposed to come fix my keyboard this afternoon and so far, he hasn't even bothered to show up; I have a test on Wednesday which I haven't studied for and I also have a paper due which I haven't even started....
You get the picture. It's just been one of those days. The days that make me hiss at people (yes. I'm totally serious here. Ask the Lil' Bro. He's been on the receiving end of an awful lot of hissing lately. Sorry, Lil Bro!). The days that make me want to throw things. The days that make want to crawl in bed with a long book and say "Heck with you, you big stinky world! I DON'T want to deal with you anymore!"
Sidebar: Heh. As I'm sitting here griping, I'm reminded of a line from Notting Hill (*confession* This is currently one of my FAVORITE MOVIES EVER. Something about it...maybe it's Hugh Grant's [who plays William] adorable accent....just makes me go weak at the knees. I cry every time I watch it. Pathetic, I know...*sigh*)...
Spike: You couldn't help me with an incredibly important decision, now, could you?
William: This isn't important in comparison to, say, the decision over whether or not we should cancel Third World countries' debt, now, is it?
.....
William (to Anna): Can't we just laugh about all this? I mean, seriously, in the hugh sweep of things, this is nothing! This stuff doesn't actually matter!
Spike (to Anna): What he's going to say next is that there are starving children in the Sudan.
William (to Anna): Well, there are! And this is nothing compared to that!
So yeah. I know. I know I know I KNOW!!! So maybe my problems are inconsequential, in the grand scheme of things. And I know that, gosh darn it! I really do!! I really DON'T want to be reminded of it again, thank you very much; I'd much rather wallow in my own self-pity and moan some more. Leave me alone, Hugh. *glares*
And yet. Somehow, after He rolls his eyes and shakes His head, God always reaches down and touches my heart and helps me get myself back on track, and refocus my thoughts and attitude. Today He did so through a song, as He often seems to do with me when I'm in moods like this. And it wasn't a new song. It was a song I've heard a bazillion times in my life; a song that, admittedly, I sometimes grow tired of and change the station when it comes on, looking for something newer or more interesting. But today, it spoke to me in a way I didn't expect.
It was "How Great is Our God" (<-- sung here by Hillsong. This video gave me goosebumps!)
It really just jolted me out of my I'd-really-like-to-pick-up-my-Statistics-textbook-and-chuck-it-at-this-nincompoop-who's-STILL-tailgating-me-cuz-maybe-THAT-would-get-him-off-my-butt thoughts and made me think.
How great IS our God? How incredible is it that we have a God who loves us even when we're not loving Him, when we're not loving life, when we're not loving all the blessings He's given us? How amazing is it that our God will forgive us for our grumpy, selfish, textbook-throwing thoughts and welcome us back with open arms? How wonderful is it to know that even when I'm having a bad day, God is in control? How blessed are we to have a God this great?!
(Funny how on bad days, everyday knowledge often feels like stunning epiphanies [sp?]).
Wednesday
10 Most Recent Music Downloads
Just in case anyone's curious. It's quite an amusing mix of genres, really....
Cemetaries of London -- Coldplay
Rainy Day -- Coldplay
Cinderella -- Steven Curtis Chapman [this song makes me cry every single time I hear it]
Fingerprints of God -- Steven Curtis Chapman
One Step at a Time -- Jordin Sparks
Walking in Memphis -- Lonestar
Come Unto Me -- Nicole C. Mullen
I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) -- The Proclaimers
Angel -- Aerosmith
It's Hard to be Cool in a Minvan -- Go Fish
Monday
One Life to Love
So...one lesson I've been learning a lot lately is that life is short. As you know, I am workaholic and a perfectionist to boot -- it's SO easy for me to get consumed by making sure every little detail is not only perfect but above and beyond expectations. This translates into doing intense amounts of extra credit homework, doing double assignments, studying and restudying obsessively...you get the idea. And while that's all well and fine, I'm finally starting to learn that there's more to life than striving for perfection.
When I get to Heaven, and Jesus asks me what I've done to further His kingdom, do I really want to be saying, "Well...um...well I DID get all 100's while I was in school! Perfect A's, every single year! And check out all the extra credit points I racked up!" Somehow...I don't He'll be that impressed.
My goal this year has been to shift my focus to the things that really matter in life. Don't worry -- I'm not saying school isn't important. I know that God wants me to work hard and get an education, because He's going to use that to His glory in whatever situations He places me in later on. I'm going to need that. (So even when Algebra seems pointless, I remind myself that somehow, this WILL glorify God, in the end...!). What I AM saying, though, is that priorities are important. I'm learning that sometimes, you have to skip a class to go vist your amazing youth leader Amy, who needs a lift. You might need to skip the extra credit homework assignment because your friend has just called you, sobbing. You might need to give up studying that chapter for the 13th time because your brother's club needs extra volunteers at a bake sale. Life is about loving; above all, we are to glorify God and spread His Word and His Love to all whose lives we can touch.
I'm learning that being so wrapped up in my own goals is selfish. I'm learning that I don't need to worry about the "what ifs" because if I'm following God's will, I know it's all gonna be OK. I'm learning that this is our one chance to spread the joy and life is too short to squander it on things that won't matter.
Will my SAT scores matter 10 years from now? Heck no. Will the fact that I was there to help my best friend out when she needed me matter? Oh, yeah. You bet it will!
When I get to Heaven, will God give a hoot about all the study hours I put in? Maybe. Maybe not. Will He be more concerned with the time I spent serving others, loving others and leading others to Him? Oh yeah, baby.
This song has been influencing my thoughts a lot lately, too.
Posted by Emily at 4:45 PM 2 comments
Labels: Amy, busy, goal, God's love, Heaven, important, lessons, life, priorities, serving, songs, time, video
Sunday
Watch this
I've loved this song for years, but this weekend, I saw the video for the first time. It gave me goosebumps. It brought tears to my eyes. It's amazing.
Watch it.
Posted by Emily at 7:23 PM 1 comments
Labels: change the world, courage, goosebumps, heroes, make a difference, Nickelback, songs, tears, video
Help Help Help!
Yikes. I know, it's been weeks. My apologies.
Life has been pretty topsy-turvy lately.
First and foremost, I'm begging for your prayers and good thoughts for my dear friend and youth leader, Amy. Amy's been having some pretty serious medical issues lately and has spent the last two weeks getting a plethora of tests done. Some of the results have been really scary, and we're in desperate need of prayers for her and her family. Amy's one of my favorite people and this has been really hard on me. Amazingly, though, she has somehow managed to remain unbelievably positive throughout all this; even in the midst of insane situations she's still teaching me life lessons! The longer it stretches on, though, the more things there are too worry about.... She is scheduled to have surgery (a biopsy) sometime this week, and hopefully that will finally give her some definite answers...so please pray for her and her family and the doctors and everyone involved in the situation. Thanks.
That situation has pretty much been consuming my thoughts lately, so I haven't had much time for any deep soul-searching ponderings or amusing anecdotes. I've been squeezing in schoolwork and doing homework at the last minute and just barely surviving my many college classes and averaging about 4 hours of sleep each night, so, well, I'm managing :)
For Speech Communication class I'll be giving an informative speech about the effects of sleep deprivation on young adults/college students in a week or two. If anybody's got any great examples or anecdotes, I'd be thrilled if you shared them with me! email: mismatchedsockgirl@gmail.com Muchas gracias!
I'm also looking for interesting news articles that I can **briefly** analyze for my Intro to Ethics class. Post links if you stumble across anything!
Because I've been in such a somber mood lately, this is my current playlist:
Whatever You're Doing -- Sanctus Real
Empty Garden -- Elton John
Even Angels Cry -- Jars of Clay
Mighty to Save -- Laura Story
Amy's Song -- Switchfoot [ironic, eh?]
Unchanging One -- Todd Agnew
Hallelujah -- Krystal Meyers
In Better Hands -- Natalie Grant
The Economy of Mercy -- Switchfoot
Daisy -- Switchfoot
Oh My God -- Jars of Clay
I Still Believe -- Jeremy Camp
Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone) -- Chris Tomlin
Thursday
OH JOY!!!!!!!
I am in the world's best mood today!!!! YAAAAAAY!
I tend to be pretty jumpy and rather delirious when I get in moods this good; so this is going to be one of those wonderful disjointed random BRILLIANT posts that we all know and love so well :)
REASONS FOR THE TOTAL JOY:
- MY BEST FRIEND FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY GETS HOME FROM VACATION TOMORROW, WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
- I had the GREATEST MOST FABULOUS weekend with my youth group this past weekend; we went camping and amusement park-ing and it was AWESOME! If I have time later I'll post more on that topic; but it was a grand adventure!!!
- But now that it's over, summer is really feeling over and done with (HALLELUJAH! I hate summer!), which is an AWESOME FEELING! I've been working really hard this week on school and gold award (for girl scouts) stuff and I'm making major headway (not to be confused with major headACHES, though I've also had those this week) which makes me pretty darn giddy, too!
- School starts on the 25th. College classes, baby; I'm PSYCHED!!!!!!!!
- Preschool open houses next week; it's the official beginning of the preschool year which is just plain WONDIFEROUS!!! It means I managed to survive the over 100 days of blasted summer!
- College visit next week which also includes a sleepover at friends' house which is AWESOME!
- I RAN THIS MORNING...after WEEKS of putting it off and making excuses I finally just did it this morning and yeah, it hurts, but I feel so GOOD!
THE RANDOM SONGS I AM CURRENTLY SINGING OUT AS LOUD AS I POSSIBLY CAN:
- My Beloved Monster-- Eels
- Bohemian Rhapsody -- Queen
- I'll Make a Man Out of You -- from Mulan
- Dance with Me -- Jump5
- Hallelujah -- Krystal Meyers
- I'm a Believer -- Smash Mouth
- Paperback Writer -- The Beatles
- Brown Eyed Girl -- Van Morrison
- No One Like You -- BarlowGirl
- Livin' On a Prayer -- Bon Jovi