Month: March 2015
Where Everything’s Made Up and the Points Don’t Matter
Whose Line is GOLD!!! It NEVER fails to send me into hysterical laughter…especially when the audience members are exceptionally bad. Here is a classic!
Caution: May lead to tears, urge to pee, and lost hours clicking more Who’s Line clips.
HE Goes Before Us
Today, just some verses. My week has had a lot of ups and downs. Learning to take the good with the bad.
Deuteronomy 31:8 The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
Isaiah 41:10 Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah 42:6 And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.
1 Peter 6-9: In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Millennial Minds Part 1
Millennials- those who entered adulthood in the 2000s. To some of you that may be young, to most of you you’re probably there with me. Now I am 25- a quarter of a century old (WEIRD!). I have reached the last “rite of passage” into adulthood, yep that’s right getting a rental car! No, I haven’t actually done it (no need), but it’s the age where you’re told there are no more birthdays to look forward to because nothing big and special happens. Despite that fact we aren’t exactly “all grown up”. Now I don’t mean to say that we should have it all figured out by now because I believe no one ever reaches that milestone. However, we are a much more transient generation than any before us.
As Millennials, our world looks pretty different than that of our parents. We are the products of a post 9/11 world. Our parents also grew up and maybe even fought during a time of publicly denounced war; but its effect on our nation’s stand on security was much different. We’re the generation with more non-nuclear families than nuclear. We watched our parents struggle through the economic recession back in 2008. We are a generation that gets bounced around knocked down and picked back up.
The major difference is technology is at our finger-tips. We were fortunate to go to school in a time we could Google answers we didn’t know instead of countless hours in the library going through catalog cards (does anybody do that anymore?). Because of the hard work of generations before us, we live in a very privileged society. Now we have opportunities to reach anywhere in the world with our ideas and innovations. This all sounds fine and dandy but many of us are struggling to paint ourselves in that picture. What has this privilege we’ve grown up with brought us to as young adults?
There are many studies that have been done looking into the lives of millennials and what the world has in store for us. Ask any one of us and we’ll give you the same answer WE HAVE NO CLUE! We have so many possibilities however, many seem out of reach. Our minds are trying to adapt to this face paced instantaneous environment and it isn’t easy. We have a lot of questions and few answers. The black and white seems a lot more gray. So how do we define our world and ourselves now? How do we process this non-stop information? What effect does it have on our abilities and our happiness?
This is part 1. Part 2 will come next week!
How do you define Success?
Life lessons from a little one
We’ve all been there, don’t deny it! This makes me laugh so hard I tear up every time!!!
When you feel stuck in the middle..
Rejection, disappointment, and fear are feelings we all encounter and they can cause a lot of hurt. The good news God is bigger than all of those things. God has created this enormous universe with stars that are hundreds of thousands times bigger than our planet down to every molecule in our body. We ourselves, have been created in His image. He undoubtedly cares for us no matter how small our problems seem in comparison or how heavy they weigh on us.
Right now, I am in a season of rejection, disappointment and fear. This is where the trust and faith are more challenging. When I can use what’s happened and what’s happening and make sense of things I feel more confident in God’s plan. But when I start to think about the next steps, the parts I can’t see yet, I feel anxious and uncertain.
What I’ve been hearing lately is to focus on my strengths. What has God equipped me with and how can I use that to serve Him? Am I willing to take those steps?
One of my favorite verses is 2nd Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity and fear, but of power, love and self-discipline.”
Someone Give this Man a Round of Applause
It is no secret that school shootings seem to becoming more and more frequent. I think they are the most unnecessary tragedies in our nation. Thankfully this threat had been stopped before the headlines read very differently. The father of an Edmond H.S. student wrote a letter to the would be attacker. You may have already read the headlines and or the letter itself.
Our culture is incredibly quick to judge and find something to blame. Columbine sparked the debate of violence in video games and the effects on young players. Sandy Hook recently has been in the news wanting to sue the shooter’s mother’s estate for negligence (although she was killed that day). As much as we delve into the why these things happen, and what triggers people to take these actions I believe that there many of our highly emotional experiences are difficult to relate unless someone has been in the same or very similar situation. Often those who are going through trying times are resentful to those who think they understand.
What Mr. Martin did sets a great example. He recognizes the would be attacker as a person, not as a monster or someone who is out of control. He also doesn’t pretend to know and understand this boy or what he’s going through. He does reach out to thank him for sparing his family and community a devastating loss. He is also thankful that the boy is also unharmed and now has a 2nd chance. He encourages the boy to listen to those who are trying to help him as he faces these charges and goes through therapy. Can you imagine the profound effect that would have for a troubled young man who faces drastic and grim changes in his life to see that someone he could have hurt deeply is not angry with him? Instead of harassing him, degrading him, and threatening him which we see as a more frequent response; he told this boy everything will be ok.
Will this letter inspire this boy and help him turn around? We don’t know. I sure hope so, but if it doesn’t maybe it can help other people to keep from causing harm. Whether it be another kid wanting to bring down his school or a community member that wants to take punishment for wrongful acts into their own hands by harming the person responsible, this could make them rethink their decision. Even better is that this letter is receiving so much attention. This is something positive and good in what is typically the opposite. I hope there are more people out there like this that are willing to make the effort.
alwaysalli 