Sunday, April 30

I totally cheated.


I'm Eponine!


Spunky, resourceful, and fearless, I don't take a lot of guff from the world, and sometimes I'm kind of freaky. Secretly, though, I just want to be loved in spite of my attitude and my goofy hat.

Which Les Miserables Character Are You?



Yeah, She's always been my favorite character, and these quizes are so hard to figure out. I totally cheated. When I took it the second time, I came up as Jean Valjean.

Tuesday, April 25

Yes, I'm sure you are

Seen on the side of my gmail account:

Eternal Security
Eternal security thoroughly refuted in biblical and simplistic manner
www.evangelicaloutreach.org


Simplistic (dictionary.com)

sim·plism n; sim·plistic (sm-plstk) adj.
The tendency to oversimplify an issue or a problem by ignoring complexities or complications.

Friday, April 21

Friday Photo - (Roommates are invaluable at times like these)



















What a great photo!

For those of you who live in MN, if you need any professional photos taken, be sure to check out my college roommate's site. She's obviously REALLY good at what she does, and has also been blessed with a darling, precocious child - The little girl in the photo!!

Thursday, April 20

Conversation today with co-worker

"They're a pretty sizable church, aren't they?"
"yeah, about 2000 members, I think"
"So a mega church."
"yeah, but one of the smaller mega-churches. He preaches reformed theology, so that gets rid of some of the attendees. Want to keep your church attendance down? Preach a little calvinism!"
"Ohh, there they go! Wave to 'em as they leave!"

Tuesday, April 18

Tuesday Quote

If you can count your money, you don't have a billion dollars.
J. Paul Getty (1892 - 1976)

Monday, April 17

Peeps

Oh, the drama of the peeps!

Funny thing about peeps - they are one of the most recognizable of Easter treats, and literally TWO people in my extended family of 30 or so like them. BLB and my cousin, M. (All of a sudden I felt like saying, "Bond. James Bond." But anyway, I'm keeping my cousin's name a mystery.) M wasn't at Easter this year.

So, yesterday, as the moms and Grandma were passing out candy (Oh. My. Gosh, SOMUCHCANDY!) into the Easter baskets, one of my aunts plops the entire box of Peeps into my brother's basket. Yes, I know. He's 21. Somehow the age of "getting Easter baskets" and "way more Christmas money from Grandma and Grandpa than we got then" has seemed to continue through the college years. I SWEAR we were cut off when we graduated high school.

Anyway, I love my grandma. After having 6 kids, I suppose you get a 6th sense about fairness:

Grandma: "Why is BLB Getting all of the Peeps?"
Various members of the family, "Because no one likes them, except M and BLB."
"Well, shouldn't we at least GIVE the other kids some of the peeps?"
"No - No one else likes them."
"But what if one of them wants one?"
"Grandma, if we give anyone else a peep, they'll be in BLB's basket by the end of the day. And he'll have to trade for it. So, he'll give anyone a peep, if they want one. But they won't."
"Oh. Ok."

The only comment about BLB getting all of the Peeps? My HUGE Cousin-that-Plays-College-Football: "They're Pink."

Sunday, April 16

How would you finish this?

Today during our Pastoral Prayer time, the leading elder opened the time up for individuals to finish this statement:

Because Jesus rose from the dead _______________.

I finished it this way (though I wasn't one that shared publicly):

Because Jesus rose, I can sacrifice all of my wants and desires at his altar and know that he will satisfy me wholly.

How would you finish it?

Saturday, April 15

For those of you....

...Who do not read Divine Miss M regularly - She also linked to this:

Jesus didn't die, He was crucified. (By our pastor, Alfred)


This is the paragraph that gripped me:

There is no other remedy for removing God's curse but by Christ's death - for God doesn't grade on a curve. He doesn't accept 80 percent love and 20 percent hate. Not even 99 percent love and 1 percent hate. God requires perfect and complete obedience.

Read the rest - this paragraph only talks about the penalty of sin; Alfred goes on to give the hope of the gospel. But the Gospel is shockingly beautiful when look at against the backdrop of sin....

Friday, April 14

Good Friday

On the day on which we remember that Christ suffered most for us, I ran across a timely word on suffering by David Powlison through girltalk (Carolyn Mahaney is one of the blog authors and is CJ Mahaney's wife):

"How does God’s grace meet you in your sufferings? We can make the right answer sound old hat, but I guarantee this: God will surprise you. He will make you stop. You will struggle. He will bring you up short. You will hurt. He will take his time. You will grow in faith and in love. He will deeply delight you. You will find the process harder than you ever imagined – and better. Goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life. No matter how many times you’ve heard it, no matter how long you’ve known it, no matter how well you can say it, God’s answer will come to mean something better than you could ever imagine."

Pastor Piper and Justin Taylor gave permission for the ladies to reprint parts of their book "Suffering and the Sovereignty of God", to be published September 06.

May you praise him with unceasing praise tonight, as we remember his sacrifice - Praise him through tears, faith, love, contentment or suffering; Know that he is the God of all of those things and more - and that he is worthy of our praise.


For the Men out there!

Girls, this is the funniest thing I've seen all week.

Better than chocolate, I guess!

(click on the "Download Milk.wmv" link on her page.)

Tuesday, April 11

She's (kinda sorta) back!

Actually, I'm still in Minnesota. (You're in MINNESOTA?) yeahh...Sorry about not updating that on the blog. Last week, I had a mediation meeting on Monday (gathering data and the story of both of the parties), my midterm on Tuesday, and flying out to oversee an event for work on Wednesday for the event that occurred Thurs - Sat. Today and yesterday I got a bit of time off to spend with friends - although every work event also includes some of my best friends!

I finally have access to a computer for a few moments, so I thought I would update you. Many things happened out here, but the best was the reminder to me that I have a whole 'nother church that I love dearly and that shows grace and kindness like no other! I was telling most of the staff at Bethlehem that I can't wait for heaven, because my Presbyterian church and my Baptist church will be together, praising God. No "hundreds of miles" and difference in views will separate us!

And with that, I'll leave you with the verse(s) I read this morning in my devotions:

Peace I leave with you, Peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." John 14:27

Tuesday, April 4

Creation, Fall, Redemption, Constipation

My Professor has a sense of humor! I took my Midterm test today and I think I did fairly well on it.

As for the post title, the question on the test asked about the biblical storyline or narrative:
  • The introduction (Creation)
  • the conflict (The Fall)
  • Resolution of the conflict (Redemption)
  • and then the conclusion (Consummation)

Consummation is the regeneration of the fallen earth into the perfect creation God intended it to be. It seems obvious to me that Professor Williams must have had someone accidentally write the answer as "Constipation" and found it funny enough to add it as an answer in our multiple choice. It gave me a good laugh midway through my test.

Monday, April 3

By the way,

I got the LG 8100 - the tunes are pretty good!

ETA: We were so close to being able to get both a LG 8100 AND a Razr in a "2 for 1" deal, (I was going to give it to BLB) but then the guy got all "you can't update your hardward for another year." We're still trying to figure that one out, because our family has swapped hardware before - twice!

Morbid?

I did not think "horse" when I first read the following on a personalized plate:


HRSE LVR


Monty Python: Bring out your deeeaad!"
With octaves of a mystic depth and height