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| Xanga is very different from when I last left it! Does anyone use xanga anymore? Well, I have some very vague comments and thoughts to make. Feel free to comment. Have you ever heard the saying in Christian circles that when you think you're doing fine, watch out, because you're the closest to falling...? I'm re-learning a great deal. Humility, for one. Realizing that I have to leave everything in God's hands no matter what. I know I'm being intentionally vague. But I doubt anyone is really going to read this, and even if they do, that they might have any clue what I'm talking about. Or what prompted me to write these things. I guess it's just one more outlet for my quandry I find myself in. It won't feel as much like I'm harping on something. Let me just say this: God is good all the time. All the time, God is good. Blessed be the name of the LORD. I am choosing to trust God, even though I'm pretty clueless right now. | | |
| It feels like a very long time since I have updated my Xanga. It took me about 4 tries to get my password right! That's what happens when you rotate your passwords. So... school is over for the summer, and I'm anxiously awaiting a job. I don't need one for the summer, but I do need one for next school year. My options right now look like: going back to where I was this past year with an hour drive (or move into an apartment closer to the school) and applying at a Christian school which is closer to home where I know some people. My summer has only been here for a week, but I've had a blast already. Wednesday night bowling - check out Limerickbowl.googlepages.com! Friday, I went to the beach with Scott, Katy, Tim, and John, and it was so much fun! We played volleyball and attracted lots of visitors to our net, body surfed/swam, played games, and just had a good old time! Saturday, I went to Lancaster with a bunch of people from my church: Scott, Velma and Gerry, Ricky, Tim, John, Kat and Ramon and Suzanne. That evening, I went swimming. I went swimming again last night, and had a meeting for Ireland. I leave in just over a month. (Let me know if you didn't get a letter and want to support me!) I'm having BASIC SOL over for Bible study tonight. I spent the whole morning cleaning and moving stuff around, doing laundry, making butterscotch brownies, and relaxing here and there in between. My sister is upstairs playing around with her new electric guitar - my parents are spoiling her rotten! I'm not terribly jealous about it because I know my parents' financial situation was different when I was younger, but it's definitely not the standard of fairness that they always used with me and Ricky. If one got something, the other got the same amount for something else. I know my parents have paid for my college and car and car insurance for a lot of the time, but chances are, they are going to spend that and more on Lisa when she gets to the same point in life. So it's not fair. But I'm not bitter... :) Summer is fun. I can hang out and do what I want. That's exciting. :) | | |
| Well, I really only have one that I know I'm sticking to, and that is to spend more time with people. Of the good things that have come out of my relationship with Dave, one thing that means a lot to me is keeping my friends. That means I need to let them know that I care by spending a little extra effort and time with them. So today, from about 9:45 AM to 3:45 PM, I was with a friend, first having breakfast, and then lunch, and all the while chatting about life and such. We had so much fun just catching up, since it was since her wedding that I had even really seen her and June or July that we had hung out together. And tonight, we'll see about doing something with Eryn... she's the one who dyed my hair, and I'll get a picture up (here, or on facebook) if I can get a decent one that actually looks good and shows the color. So far, I haven't had much luck. Mostly because of the color - pictures make it look darker, so you can't see the red. And maybe something fun will happen tonight! | | |
| It appears I changed my xanga password without realizing it, so that's why it's been so long since I have posted. Oh, and the fact that I have a job which requires me to work so much that I barely have any time for myself (or anyone else, for that matter). But this break has been absolutely glorious. I graded quizzes on Saturday, December 22 and haven't touched my work since then. I've only moved it around to make room for a friend. I can't remember a better holiday break. Even the time with my extended family on Christmas was fun - we did a white elephant gift exchange, and I really liked seeing the crazy "gifts" that came out, and who actually wanted them! I ended up with a Michael W. Smith "Worship Again" CD, and I am quite happy. Ricky brought home a stack of DVD's, some of which we already had, but a few good ones I have yet to see. Lisa had a box full of Scooby Doo paraphernalia, including two big Scooby stuffed animals, a towel that you could stick over your head and look like Scooby and a vanity plate for the front of a car. My mom got a gift card for a sandwich place not so close to home, but I'm claiming it so I can go out to eat with a friend for next to nothing. Dad got a bag full of candy with two candles and a cheese ball made by my aunt. Good stuff! The day after Christmas, my mom and I went to Kohl's to exchange the KitchenAid attachment my dad accidentally bought two of. He bought two shredders instead of the shredder and a grinder. So I got some fun stuff as well, and I have money to spare for another trip to Kohl's at my leisure. And mom treated me to lunch, too, so that was a sweet deal. The next day, I spent most of my time cleaning up the house. I cleaned the bathroom floors (something that rarely, if ever, happens in my house), scrubbed sinktops and toilets, vacuumed, rearranged some furniture/junk in the basement, did laundry, and made up two beds for myself and Joy, who came that evening to visit me for two full days. My mom and sister came along with me to pick up Joy from the airport and keep me awake on the drive there. Joy and I went to sleep around 3 AM. After we slept in, ate breakfast, and played my favorite card game of 3-13, my mom had the great idea of taking us to the thrift store because everything in the whole place (clothing, variety, furniture) was 50% off. So I got a rack full of clothes and picked out only two things, a purple dress shirt and a black purse. We had Chinese buffet for dinner and drove to a game night with Basic Sol friends. Highlights: Oreo cookie cake, cheese curls, Catch Phrase, and Mafia. We were out late again! Saturday morning, my dad made omelettes AND pancakes, so we had a little of both for breakfast. We enjoyed playing 3-13 again, then went ice skating for a couple of hours. We ate dinner at Caruso's across the street from the church, and my brother really wanted to see a movie, so he treated Lisa, Joy, and myself to see I Am Legend at the theatre. I don't normally see movies that cause me to scream, but this one did it about 3 times. Joy and I managed to sleep without any crazy dreams (well, we both had interesting dreams, but not nightmares - mine had a student from the school year before who I saw walking on the sidewalk as we drove by that day and he was at the new school I teach at. The funny thing was that I was teaching French, and since the students didn't know any French at all, I taught them how to sing the Hokey Pokey because it was easy enough for them. My mentor teacher came in the room and scolded me for writing on the chalkboard rather than facing the class, and it was one of those green chalkboards even though my school has black chalkboards. Weird!) Joy and I got up at 5:30 so we could get to the airport in time, but my dad was making sausage gravy! So we were delayed about 15 more minutes than we had hoped, but made really good time and I even got back home in time to clean up before going to church. At church, I got to see a former youth pastor and his wife with their two kids and ate out with a friend after going to two places that weren't open. I was so exhausted from the weekend activities that I took a nap in the living room for two and a half hours, even sleeping through the football game that was on TV and a phone conversation my brother was having with a friend. He wanted to go out for a movie, so I called a bunch of people and got no takers, so it was just me, and Ricky, and Tim. We saw "The Great Debaters", which was way better than "I Am Legend". I truly enjoyed the movie. When I got home, Dad was rooting around in the basement for some furniture he is donating to a young family from church, and I managed to sleep through that, too! To anyone who has managed to read through my whole post: I am grateful to you for reading! | | |
| Popular Christian culture is interesting. Most people know the recent hit "Blessed be the Name of the Lord" and that it encourages us to praise God in both good times and bad. But when that song fades away from pop Christian culture, I think it is important to still sing it, and to sing other songs that may have faded from the forefronts. If a song makes you say, "Wow, that really touches my heart and brings me closer to God through worship," then it ought to continue to do that even after the "coolness" of the song has gone away. I love hymns. I love songs from the 80's and 90's. I love a lot of current songs that I hear on the radio and become familiar with enough to sing and know by heart. Just because certain songs don't come up on the radio anymore (or however it is that one judges new songs) doesn't mean they are no longer valid. A note: Dave, this thought was because of your comment about my church's worship. I hope you don't take it as a "cut" towards your preferences in worship, but another way to look at worship to round out your view. I hope everyone else that reads this feels compelled enough to comment so I have more things to go on. And what all that has to do with theology and practice, I have no idea. I guess I was thinking about writing something else because of the book I'm reading (which is considered to be theological) and also comments on life the way I see things. | | |
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