In honor of New Moon's midnight movie premiere, let me point you in the direction of my personal take on the whole super-popular vampire frenzy.
http://jewelsoftruth.blogspot.com/2008/12/christians-response-to-twilight.html
Yes, I did extensive research on the subject. Read. Studied. And prayed for God's perspective on Twilight. I don't claim to have all the answers. And while I realize that popular opinion swings in the opposite direction, I don't think God's ways were ever popular. So I leave you to your reading.
http://jewelsoftruth.blogspot.com/2008/12/christians-response-to-twilight.html
Yes, I did extensive research on the subject. Read. Studied. And prayed for God's perspective on Twilight. I don't claim to have all the answers. And while I realize that popular opinion swings in the opposite direction, I don't think God's ways were ever popular. So I leave you to your reading.
My life is filled with abnormalities... What is normal anyway?
I spent 6 hours last night programming my new laptop.... me, two laptops on the dining room table, 5 program discs, 3 recovery discs, 1 external hard drive, a multitude of paperwork and an annoying mess of cardboard. Most of those hours, I just stared at a screen that said, "Updating... 33% completed." And 15 minutes later, "Updating... 42% completed." RAWR. But honestly, it's my. NEW. Laptop! Complaining is not an option. :)
Then I saw a mouse in my kitchen cupboard. Not scary. I did not scream. I simply clanged pans together and shouted, "THERE YOU ARE, WRETCHED CREATURE! YOU WILL DIE SOON!" He ran away. But I will keep that promise.
(honestly, you would have to live in my house to understand that this stuff really happens!)
Then I started out making devilled eggs at 9:30 p.m. to take to the work potluck... and then changed my mind and made homemade potato salad instead. And every 10 minutes, I would walk into the living room and ask my roommates if I could use some of their food. :) They're nice and let me have the food... Usually, I am better prepared!
Then one roommate walked in the door and nearly scared me out of my skin!! I jumped! Because I thought Caspian the kitty was opening doors by himself... He pushed open the bedroom door earlier in the evening.. it made sense in my mind... I am now recovered from my fright.
Then I was cleaning the kitchen about midnight. Listening to beautiful Christ-exalting music, scrubbing pans and singing to the Lord. Living out Pastor's message about doing the carnal things and being spiritual. But I didn't try - it just happened. Hmm. Food for thought.
Then... writing in my journal late in the night. Finally writing poetry again. After a lull of months and months. I guess, when God moves in my heart --- lyrics just happen.
And I want those abnormalities to become my normal reality.
I spent 6 hours last night programming my new laptop.... me, two laptops on the dining room table, 5 program discs, 3 recovery discs, 1 external hard drive, a multitude of paperwork and an annoying mess of cardboard. Most of those hours, I just stared at a screen that said, "Updating... 33% completed." And 15 minutes later, "Updating... 42% completed." RAWR. But honestly, it's my. NEW. Laptop! Complaining is not an option. :)
Then I saw a mouse in my kitchen cupboard. Not scary. I did not scream. I simply clanged pans together and shouted, "THERE YOU ARE, WRETCHED CREATURE! YOU WILL DIE SOON!" He ran away. But I will keep that promise.
(honestly, you would have to live in my house to understand that this stuff really happens!)
Then I started out making devilled eggs at 9:30 p.m. to take to the work potluck... and then changed my mind and made homemade potato salad instead. And every 10 minutes, I would walk into the living room and ask my roommates if I could use some of their food. :) They're nice and let me have the food... Usually, I am better prepared!
Then one roommate walked in the door and nearly scared me out of my skin!! I jumped! Because I thought Caspian the kitty was opening doors by himself... He pushed open the bedroom door earlier in the evening.. it made sense in my mind... I am now recovered from my fright.
Then I was cleaning the kitchen about midnight. Listening to beautiful Christ-exalting music, scrubbing pans and singing to the Lord. Living out Pastor's message about doing the carnal things and being spiritual. But I didn't try - it just happened. Hmm. Food for thought.
Then... writing in my journal late in the night. Finally writing poetry again. After a lull of months and months. I guess, when God moves in my heart --- lyrics just happen.
And I want those abnormalities to become my normal reality.
Weekends in Review help me remember the little things.. and big things... that change my life. Because weekdays seem a little mundane. Get up. Go to work. Go to the gym (when I'm good). Go home. Go to church. Go home. Go to bed. That's pretty much everything.
But weekends... Oh man, weekends are da BOMB! Yes, I'm a youth leader. Yes, I say weird things and use random outdated urban-ish language like "da bomb" and "WORD." Because I just think it's funny. And apparently, my youth think it's funny too. We are easily amused. :)
ANYway, back to important stuff.
Friday. I leave work at 4:00 pm and go straight to the lil' Starbucks cafe in Barnes & Noble. Good coffee and free wi-fi = other computer work, photography related. Except my laptop decided to be stupid. Major stupido. And we battled for about 1.5 hours. The computer won. Your time is short, my stubborn technological friend! .... onward to the Penn State ice pavilion for youth group activity. Slight snag on the times of free ice skating, but we had some major fun making short jokes, helping the bad skaters, twirling, spinning, mimicing the "Ice Princess," mocking (in a nice way) the 'lifeguards,' screaming over little children that fell down in front of us, doing psuedo-hockey-body-slams into the walls (middle school guys are so willing to get violent!) and making silly videos... And no, I did not fall down. Not once. Boo-yah! Then walking 7ish blocks up Penn State campus for the world-famous ice cream. Best flavor: Death By Chocolate! *Sigh* I (heart) Penn State.
Saturday. Another day for senior portraits... Only this one was a road trip. I love willing subjects. The Curly Girl just laughed and went along with me whatever I asked her to do... "Oh, a forest!... Oh, can you climb into that tree?.. Oh, a roof! Will you get onto it?.. Oh, look at those rocks!" LOL And it was wonderful that she was so willing. Because we had enough trouble trying to FIND locations. We ended up in a town 15 miles past where we needed to be, drove in an entire circle (for 15 minutes), decided to detour for the World's Best French Toast (not kidding), then went back 15 miles, through mountains, up gravel roads, still listening to that crazy GPS system, and finally, when the GPS told us to drive on a little bumpy, grassy, deep-tire-ruts trail, I refused. It knew nothing. It pretended to know where it was going... but that little GPS system was crazy!! Finally, we ignored it. Completely. And after about 7 calls to my parents (not joking), I made it to our portrait location. Which was a cool state park and awesome railroad tunnel. Worth the crazy drive? Hmmmm, maybe so! You can tell ME in a few weeks when the portraits are up on the photo blog! :) .... after that 6-hour-long senior portrait fiasco, I was beat. Saturday afternoon/evening positives included: Penn State winning the football game, a little nap, inspired to cook ridiculously great Italian food, then a British movie and chocolate chip cookie dough made with dark chocolate chips. MMMMMM. It's all about the details!
Sunday. And here, things get serious.
I don't know what to say... God is pressing on our hearts. He is challenging me to regain the spiritual fire that I once had. May I say again, "The zeal of God has consumed me!" During Pastor's sermon this morning, he talked about the marks of revival. Including deep repentance, the spirit of prayer, the spirit of expectation, total surrender, spontaneity of meetings, the absence of fleshly elements and Christ being pre-eminent.
What hit me the hardest was absolute surrender, and the word "abandon." Have I abandoned myself to God? Given myself, my future, my desires, and all that I am to Him? Without wanting to take back control of this life? Have I trusted Him with everything?
There is so much more that God is speaking... There was a new hunger for Christ, His Word and His Spirit rising in my heart again. There was a seriousness in our youth meeting tonight... and so I have nothing else to say.
Except.
No more mundane.
God is now reviving His people.
God is now reviving... me.
But weekends... Oh man, weekends are da BOMB! Yes, I'm a youth leader. Yes, I say weird things and use random outdated urban-ish language like "da bomb" and "WORD." Because I just think it's funny. And apparently, my youth think it's funny too. We are easily amused. :)
ANYway, back to important stuff.
Friday. I leave work at 4:00 pm and go straight to the lil' Starbucks cafe in Barnes & Noble. Good coffee and free wi-fi = other computer work, photography related. Except my laptop decided to be stupid. Major stupido. And we battled for about 1.5 hours. The computer won. Your time is short, my stubborn technological friend! .... onward to the Penn State ice pavilion for youth group activity. Slight snag on the times of free ice skating, but we had some major fun making short jokes, helping the bad skaters, twirling, spinning, mimicing the "Ice Princess," mocking (in a nice way) the 'lifeguards,' screaming over little children that fell down in front of us, doing psuedo-hockey-body-slams into the walls (middle school guys are so willing to get violent!) and making silly videos... And no, I did not fall down. Not once. Boo-yah! Then walking 7ish blocks up Penn State campus for the world-famous ice cream. Best flavor: Death By Chocolate! *Sigh* I (heart) Penn State.
Saturday. Another day for senior portraits... Only this one was a road trip. I love willing subjects. The Curly Girl just laughed and went along with me whatever I asked her to do... "Oh, a forest!... Oh, can you climb into that tree?.. Oh, a roof! Will you get onto it?.. Oh, look at those rocks!" LOL And it was wonderful that she was so willing. Because we had enough trouble trying to FIND locations. We ended up in a town 15 miles past where we needed to be, drove in an entire circle (for 15 minutes), decided to detour for the World's Best French Toast (not kidding), then went back 15 miles, through mountains, up gravel roads, still listening to that crazy GPS system, and finally, when the GPS told us to drive on a little bumpy, grassy, deep-tire-ruts trail, I refused. It knew nothing. It pretended to know where it was going... but that little GPS system was crazy!! Finally, we ignored it. Completely. And after about 7 calls to my parents (not joking), I made it to our portrait location. Which was a cool state park and awesome railroad tunnel. Worth the crazy drive? Hmmmm, maybe so! You can tell ME in a few weeks when the portraits are up on the photo blog! :) .... after that 6-hour-long senior portrait fiasco, I was beat. Saturday afternoon/evening positives included: Penn State winning the football game, a little nap, inspired to cook ridiculously great Italian food, then a British movie and chocolate chip cookie dough made with dark chocolate chips. MMMMMM. It's all about the details!
Sunday. And here, things get serious.
I don't know what to say... God is pressing on our hearts. He is challenging me to regain the spiritual fire that I once had. May I say again, "The zeal of God has consumed me!" During Pastor's sermon this morning, he talked about the marks of revival. Including deep repentance, the spirit of prayer, the spirit of expectation, total surrender, spontaneity of meetings, the absence of fleshly elements and Christ being pre-eminent.
What hit me the hardest was absolute surrender, and the word "abandon." Have I abandoned myself to God? Given myself, my future, my desires, and all that I am to Him? Without wanting to take back control of this life? Have I trusted Him with everything?
There is so much more that God is speaking... There was a new hunger for Christ, His Word and His Spirit rising in my heart again. There was a seriousness in our youth meeting tonight... and so I have nothing else to say.
Except.
No more mundane.
God is now reviving His people.
God is now reviving... me.
{True joy is passion in action.}
I've always been a passionate person. About many, many things. For me, loving something meant that I was passionate, intense, zealous, overenthusiastic, determined, immoveable in conviction, exciteable and always VERY emphatic!
Passionate about my sweet, adorable little kitty...
Passionate about blogging...
Passionate about roomie fellowship at midnight...
Passionate about talking to my sis...
Passionate about photography, new locations, sparkly eyes and cloudy semi-sunlit days!
Passionate about Christmas.. music.. in early November while baking...
Passionate about cooking for a crowd..
Passionate about why I hate the smell of Subway (personal quirk)...
Passionate about Penn State football.. and losing...
But all these things I'm passionate about... are simply noise. Noise that fades when the name of Jesus is spoken. Noise that becomes unimportant, insignificant and pointless.
On Sunday morning, I remembered Who I am passionate about. During a regular normal Sunday morning worship service, as we sang songs that we have sung many times before, as I played the same keyboard and looked at the same faces... something happened. Like rivers of rushing waters, I felt the moving of the Spirit. We worshipped, we sang, we were hushed, we prayed, and we waited on the Lord.... and through it all, I was stunned. I thought, How did this happen? And then, It must be God.
We listened to teaching... challenging us about past revivals, awakenings and spiritual movements. From the 1st Great Awakening and the experiences of great men like John Wesley, Charles Finney, and others, to the Pentecostal movement beginning in Cherokee County, North Carolina and extending to the Azusa Street revival, we started to see the marks of the Holy Spirit's moving. How He is not limited by time, He organizes how He desires, He always convicts sinners in a dramatic, life-changing way, He moves upon hearts that are diligent in prayer and holiness and His presence is heavy, sobering, and unlike any of the modern charismatic imitations of revival.
When God revives, He returns the Church to its intended state. Read Acts and you will know.
So my passion is challenged... and this evening, in talking around the kitchen with my roommates, I felt the stirrings of God's heart in mine. And began to ask myself serious questions.
Why don't I have revival in my own life?
Am I willing to pay the price? Be wholly consecrated? Totally surrendered? Instantly obedient?
Am I genuinely, fervently, wholeheartedly seeking God's presence?
Answer these questions and act upon them... and I know, this is true passion.
I've always been a passionate person. About many, many things. For me, loving something meant that I was passionate, intense, zealous, overenthusiastic, determined, immoveable in conviction, exciteable and always VERY emphatic!
Passionate about my sweet, adorable little kitty...
Passionate about blogging...
Passionate about roomie fellowship at midnight...
Passionate about talking to my sis...
Passionate about photography, new locations, sparkly eyes and cloudy semi-sunlit days!
Passionate about Christmas.. music.. in early November while baking...
Passionate about cooking for a crowd..
Passionate about why I hate the smell of Subway (personal quirk)...
Passionate about Penn State football.. and losing...
But all these things I'm passionate about... are simply noise. Noise that fades when the name of Jesus is spoken. Noise that becomes unimportant, insignificant and pointless.
On Sunday morning, I remembered Who I am passionate about. During a regular normal Sunday morning worship service, as we sang songs that we have sung many times before, as I played the same keyboard and looked at the same faces... something happened. Like rivers of rushing waters, I felt the moving of the Spirit. We worshipped, we sang, we were hushed, we prayed, and we waited on the Lord.... and through it all, I was stunned. I thought, How did this happen? And then, It must be God.
We listened to teaching... challenging us about past revivals, awakenings and spiritual movements. From the 1st Great Awakening and the experiences of great men like John Wesley, Charles Finney, and others, to the Pentecostal movement beginning in Cherokee County, North Carolina and extending to the Azusa Street revival, we started to see the marks of the Holy Spirit's moving. How He is not limited by time, He organizes how He desires, He always convicts sinners in a dramatic, life-changing way, He moves upon hearts that are diligent in prayer and holiness and His presence is heavy, sobering, and unlike any of the modern charismatic imitations of revival.
When God revives, He returns the Church to its intended state. Read Acts and you will know.
So my passion is challenged... and this evening, in talking around the kitchen with my roommates, I felt the stirrings of God's heart in mine. And began to ask myself serious questions.
Why don't I have revival in my own life?
Am I willing to pay the price? Be wholly consecrated? Totally surrendered? Instantly obedient?
Am I genuinely, fervently, wholeheartedly seeking God's presence?
Answer these questions and act upon them... and I know, this is true passion.
Time is short. And I will write quickly… I love the imagery of that phrase: The Scarlet Thread. If our lives could be compared to a strong, rough rope, there would be a vivid scarlet-colored thread weaving itself throughout. And as our lives intersect with others, the scarlet thread continues to bind us together…
Because that scarlet thread is Christ.
Conversations happening everywhere... while driving, in a museum, in a church nursery, in a foyer, while waiting, while eating, while walking, riding in a car, at a house party, by a piano, at the dinner table, after a youth meeting, at home, away from home, on the road… quietly, passionately, wonderingly, happily, intensely…
It’s simple. When you love someone, you talk about them. It isn’t forced or even intentional. You must tell the world about this love. You talk about them. You. Just. Do. And we love Christ. We love His name, His character, His love, His person, His works in our lives, His power, His glory revealed. We love all that He is and all that He does.
So over and over. All the time. Without question, the scarlet thread is ever-present. Challenging us, exhorting us, encouraging us, flowing from the deepest parts of our beings and moving the hearts of others.
This weekend was wonderful for many reasons… a little road trip, sight-seeing in DC with my lovely friends, joking on the Metro “If I jump into the air while the train is moving, will I slam into the pole?”, wide-eyed while learning history, surprise greetings with friends at the church of the ‘southern saints,’ girl-time, reveling over a beautiful old book, pie-baking, making choices at the pumpkin patch, catching up on sleep, singing in the kitchen at a house party, late-night pretty piano music (with a little Christmas music), being able to lift my hands in worship—woohoo!, good teaching, relaxing and delicious dinner with friends, long cell phone conversations, a carrot cake for pastor appreciation and a perfect weekend end—my birthday surprise awaiting at home—a kitten! Now named Caspian! :)
Through it all, I am most grateful for the scarlet thread of Christ uniting my heart with other saints. Sometimes I would simply stop and smile. God is glorious!
Because that scarlet thread is Christ.
Conversations happening everywhere... while driving, in a museum, in a church nursery, in a foyer, while waiting, while eating, while walking, riding in a car, at a house party, by a piano, at the dinner table, after a youth meeting, at home, away from home, on the road… quietly, passionately, wonderingly, happily, intensely…
It’s simple. When you love someone, you talk about them. It isn’t forced or even intentional. You must tell the world about this love. You talk about them. You. Just. Do. And we love Christ. We love His name, His character, His love, His person, His works in our lives, His power, His glory revealed. We love all that He is and all that He does.
So over and over. All the time. Without question, the scarlet thread is ever-present. Challenging us, exhorting us, encouraging us, flowing from the deepest parts of our beings and moving the hearts of others.
This weekend was wonderful for many reasons… a little road trip, sight-seeing in DC with my lovely friends, joking on the Metro “If I jump into the air while the train is moving, will I slam into the pole?”, wide-eyed while learning history, surprise greetings with friends at the church of the ‘southern saints,’ girl-time, reveling over a beautiful old book, pie-baking, making choices at the pumpkin patch, catching up on sleep, singing in the kitchen at a house party, late-night pretty piano music (with a little Christmas music), being able to lift my hands in worship—woohoo!, good teaching, relaxing and delicious dinner with friends, long cell phone conversations, a carrot cake for pastor appreciation and a perfect weekend end—my birthday surprise awaiting at home—a kitten! Now named Caspian! :)
Through it all, I am most grateful for the scarlet thread of Christ uniting my heart with other saints. Sometimes I would simply stop and smile. God is glorious!
