My friend sent me this link, it's ridiculous beyond reason...
Wikipedia may be normally accurate, but it's got some major issues.
See for yourself....
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Nostalga?
I've officially maxed out my bookshelf. The one I got in 4th grade, that I swore I'd never be able to fill.
And in an attempt to clear some space, I attempted a second round of cleaning it out, to donate books I no longer have a use for.
But unlike last time I couldn't get rid of any of them.
At this point, I've got the following shelf organization:
-religion books/Bibles/hymnals....obviously not going anywhere.
-my row o' classics/ books I really want to read at some point- Tolkien, Lewis, and various
-books from high school
-misc- yearbooks, old textbooks that'll be helpful, etc...also staying put.
So, theoretically, I could regain 1/4 of my shelf space if I'd be willing to knock out that 3rd row. Which I thought would be no problem...all the books I wanted to burn all thru high school, I could finally rid myself of.
But apparently it's not that easy. Even though I shuddered to look at the books on the far right (senior year English project books), and all but dropped a book when I recalled the memories of reading it, I couldn't get rid of them. I just can't. They're too much a part of me.
And maybe it has something to do with the fact that I wrote a lot in those books. A lot. And it'd not be too helpful to give them away. All my notes would make it impossible for someone to read.
But there's a part of me that wants to re-read them. Even Silas Marner. And The Old Man and the Sea. (blasphemy! I know!) Partly to re-read my notes. Partly to see what they're like without the pressures of school. Without the obligation of a project. Just to read them for fun.
And yet these books made my life miserable for 4 years...
Is this me just wanting to live in the past? Or just an excuse I'm making to keep some of my worldly goods? Do I just not want to erase the past? Or is there some part of me that just doesn't want to get rid of something I put so much of me into- even though it was too much?
Perhaps it's like my stuffed animals...I needed to be a few years detached from them before I could donate them....
And in an attempt to clear some space, I attempted a second round of cleaning it out, to donate books I no longer have a use for.
But unlike last time I couldn't get rid of any of them.
At this point, I've got the following shelf organization:
-religion books/Bibles/hymnals....obviously not going anywhere.
-my row o' classics/ books I really want to read at some point- Tolkien, Lewis, and various
-books from high school
-misc- yearbooks, old textbooks that'll be helpful, etc...also staying put.
So, theoretically, I could regain 1/4 of my shelf space if I'd be willing to knock out that 3rd row. Which I thought would be no problem...all the books I wanted to burn all thru high school, I could finally rid myself of.
But apparently it's not that easy. Even though I shuddered to look at the books on the far right (senior year English project books), and all but dropped a book when I recalled the memories of reading it, I couldn't get rid of them. I just can't. They're too much a part of me.
And maybe it has something to do with the fact that I wrote a lot in those books. A lot. And it'd not be too helpful to give them away. All my notes would make it impossible for someone to read.
But there's a part of me that wants to re-read them. Even Silas Marner. And The Old Man and the Sea. (blasphemy! I know!) Partly to re-read my notes. Partly to see what they're like without the pressures of school. Without the obligation of a project. Just to read them for fun.
And yet these books made my life miserable for 4 years...
Is this me just wanting to live in the past? Or just an excuse I'm making to keep some of my worldly goods? Do I just not want to erase the past? Or is there some part of me that just doesn't want to get rid of something I put so much of me into- even though it was too much?
Perhaps it's like my stuffed animals...I needed to be a few years detached from them before I could donate them....
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Don't you understand? He saved me!
A video I don't believe I can watch too many times.
How great is our God. That He comes to us when we are so shameful, so ugly, so evil and claims us as His own. He takes us in His arms and heals our wounds and loves us even when we don't love Him.
How great is our God? Someday we'll be able to fully express it to Him.
How great is our God. That He comes to us when we are so shameful, so ugly, so evil and claims us as His own. He takes us in His arms and heals our wounds and loves us even when we don't love Him.
How great is our God? Someday we'll be able to fully express it to Him.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Closet Skeletons
I had relatives who committed suicide. Far back enough that I never knew them, but close enough that currently-living relatives did.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
"Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." (Matthew 6:34)
So simple, and yet so difficult to accomplish. Especially if you're a control freak. You feel like you just need to be in control, and know what's going to happen.
Thanks be to God that such is not the case!
So simple, and yet so difficult to accomplish. Especially if you're a control freak. You feel like you just need to be in control, and know what's going to happen.
Thanks be to God that such is not the case!
Sunday, July 13, 2008
F minus minus
For starters....yeh, I'm using this account. You all knew it was only a matter of time before I made the switch. Though I will not abandon xanga just yet.
A more grown-up blog for more grown-up thoughts, I suppose...
Its amazing how captivating a little box can be. Nothing but flickers of light and bites of sound, and yet it can draw you in and keep you there. A clever device of satan, no doubt.
A whole day utterly wasted. (Well, from noon on anyway....)
It's so addicting. And it's twistedly so. Example: my parents are huge fans of Law and Order. What a sick show! Yes, I realize that atrocities do occur, but to watch it on the edge of our seats like fans at a sporting event....it's horrible. And nothing good comes of it. And yet, you see the first 5 minutes and you're there for an hour, wading through the violence, the drama, the crime, just to see it resolved.
And I suppose it hit home a lot today, because for the first time in I don't know when, I found myself watching tv by myself. I started with my family, but when people got up and left, there I was: glued to the tube.
Knowing all the while I had plenty that I could have been reading. Verses that I could have been memorizing. Or just chillin with Jesus.
How often do you hear people talk about how they're addicted to reading the Bible, or praying, or meditating on God's Word? Where they just started into something and then found the time flying by without them wanting to stop.
Not nearly as often as so many other things.
In fact, I wonder if I've ever really heard that sort of statement.
Thank God for grace. We would be nothing without it. How many graven images have we carved out for ourselves? When we've pointlessly wasted time that could have been spent in the Lord?
The Gospel for this morning was Matthew 13:
Now I've never been one for gardening, but I've done enough of it to know that it's hard work. You work all day long pulling weeds in the heat of the day, sweat dripping from your brow, knees and back aching from the work. Then you spend the evening watering the plants that you want to grow. And the next day, the blasted weeds are back. Your work is never done.
So it is with our faith, I suppose. We never reach that point where we can sit back and admire our lives/work/faith (which is all a gift anyway, so we should be giving thanks for it) (we will get that chance someday, and it'll be awesome!), because it's at that instant that satan is waiting to pounce. The weeds will grow back rapidly if there's no one tending the garden.
Actually the gardening is a better image than I'd initially thought.....
How do you garden?
On your knees.
How do we cultivate our faith? The same way.
And it's not something that can be done every so often, and then let alone. It's a constant commitment to delving into the Word, worshipping, praying, listening every day. Not just once in awhile.
And that's why we need grace, because that's way too big of a task for us to tackle ourselves.
I don't know if in our fallen nature it's even possible to become addicted to these sorts of things, but God willing, and by His grace, I hope to find out!
A more grown-up blog for more grown-up thoughts, I suppose...
Its amazing how captivating a little box can be. Nothing but flickers of light and bites of sound, and yet it can draw you in and keep you there. A clever device of satan, no doubt.
A whole day utterly wasted. (Well, from noon on anyway....)
It's so addicting. And it's twistedly so. Example: my parents are huge fans of Law and Order. What a sick show! Yes, I realize that atrocities do occur, but to watch it on the edge of our seats like fans at a sporting event....it's horrible. And nothing good comes of it. And yet, you see the first 5 minutes and you're there for an hour, wading through the violence, the drama, the crime, just to see it resolved.
And I suppose it hit home a lot today, because for the first time in I don't know when, I found myself watching tv by myself. I started with my family, but when people got up and left, there I was: glued to the tube.
Knowing all the while I had plenty that I could have been reading. Verses that I could have been memorizing. Or just chillin with Jesus.
How often do you hear people talk about how they're addicted to reading the Bible, or praying, or meditating on God's Word? Where they just started into something and then found the time flying by without them wanting to stop.
Not nearly as often as so many other things.
In fact, I wonder if I've ever really heard that sort of statement.
Thank God for grace. We would be nothing without it. How many graven images have we carved out for ourselves? When we've pointlessly wasted time that could have been spent in the Lord?
The Gospel for this morning was Matthew 13:
Now I've never been one for gardening, but I've done enough of it to know that it's hard work. You work all day long pulling weeds in the heat of the day, sweat dripping from your brow, knees and back aching from the work. Then you spend the evening watering the plants that you want to grow. And the next day, the blasted weeds are back. Your work is never done.
So it is with our faith, I suppose. We never reach that point where we can sit back and admire our lives/work/faith (which is all a gift anyway, so we should be giving thanks for it) (we will get that chance someday, and it'll be awesome!), because it's at that instant that satan is waiting to pounce. The weeds will grow back rapidly if there's no one tending the garden.
Actually the gardening is a better image than I'd initially thought.....
How do you garden?
On your knees.
How do we cultivate our faith? The same way.
And it's not something that can be done every so often, and then let alone. It's a constant commitment to delving into the Word, worshipping, praying, listening every day. Not just once in awhile.
And that's why we need grace, because that's way too big of a task for us to tackle ourselves.
I don't know if in our fallen nature it's even possible to become addicted to these sorts of things, but God willing, and by His grace, I hope to find out!
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