chick flick

mamma

mia

sophie played by amanda seyfried and her mother donna played by meryl streep

i have another movie i have to see that is coming out this weekend. mamma mia. it looks so good. i do not know if i am going to drag michael to it. that would not be fair because i want to see the “guy movie” the dark knight. i doubt he wants to see the “girly movie” so it would not be a if you go to this one ill go to that one deal. and he did go see sex and the city with me (thanks michael. oh and i am sure you wanted me to tell everyone, sorry) so anyway i might wait and see it with my mom. i know she wants to see it. by the way it is hard to believe the main character is the girl from mean girls. weird.

nappy roots

dark

haired

dyed my hair dark. it was getting way too light for my liking.

in theaters this weekend

the

dark

knight

heath ledger playing the joker

the dark knight comes out this weekend. michael and i are ready to go. we thought it was out this past weekend and i went early friday afternoon to buy our tickets. with my wallet ready i asked for two tickets for the dark knight for a night showing. she was like well it actually is opening next weekend. felt pretty dumb. oh well. i heard heath ledger’s performance is unreal. he really got into character for this film. it is still hard to believe he passed away. very sad.

leah is moving

like the

old days

leah and me

it is official. leah is moving to charlotte and working at capitol. she starts august 4th. i am so excited. it is going to be just like the high school days with ashley, leah and me. or should i say mildred, ethel and gertrude. oh no this could get crazy.

the sacred echo

go get margaret’s new book, the sacred echo. or you can go to her website and order it or any of her other books. she also has audio books. check it out.

http://www.margaretfeinberg.com/?page_id=4

.007 outrageously generous

well work has consumed me for the past couple of weeks. we have moved to our new store. it is amazing, but it has definitely worn me out. i am going to have to take some pictures to put on here so everyone can see. i read a chapter of the organic god last week but i did not have my computer. as i was going on to read the next chapter i made myself stop. i wanted to do it how i had planned. i wanted to read each chapter and then blog about it. i am going to try and finish the book and the blogs soon so i can start with her new book, the sacred echo. 

 

homemade

gifts

so now that i have my computer i am going to talk about chapter seven titled outrageously generous. the chapter begins talking about margaret’s thought of marriage and then she tells how god took her to where she was supposed to be to meet leif, who is now her husband. then she tells a story of one of their valentines days. the night before the big holiday he asked her what she wanted and she said a handmade card (one of my faves) and when she returned the question, he said a red velvet cake. knowing she had a busy day ahead of her, she was kind of stressed of the idea. making the cake took a couple trips the store and last minute icing in the trunk of her car. not sure if the cake would be a success she bought a card from the store and a balloon. after delivering the cake, card and balloon she wondered if leif would feel loved through her attempt of baking a cake for him. because she was not sure she decided to add to his gift through cut out heart paper with expressions of love. a power outage took place before he got home from work which caused him to miss the hearts. they ended up sitting on the couch in the dark that night and realized neither of them really cared too much about the holiday. margaret and leif show each other love every other day of the year, this day just caused them to wonder what the other person was going to think.

this is a lot like our gifts to god. are they forced? does guilt or fear motivate us to give them to him? how do we know when enough is enough for god? how much does he want us to give to him? will he be satisfied with what we give him? does he prefer “homemade gifts” or “store bought gifts”? god owns everything in the world. he will be satisfied with whatever we give him. it is not about what we give him, but it is the way give it to him. it is our attitude behind our gift. he is looking at our heart, not our gift. hopefully it is a joyous heart, not a guilty or fearful one. when we give something joyfully, it is reflecting him. since the beginning god has given joyfully with a cheerful heart. just look at the world he has created. he has made a beautiful world for us, down to every single detail. from the plants, to the animals, to the sky. even the tiny things we can not even see. they are all beautiful and he did this for us. when we give it does not change god, it changes us. 

be imitators of god, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to god. ephesians 5:1-2

margaret tells a story of a period in her life where god would nudge her to give. she let her friend borrow a sweater that she loved. god nudged her to give the sweater to her friend, but she would not do it. the same thing happened with a pair of gloves a friend commented on. instead of listening to gods request to give them to her friend, she kept them. then when enjoying some gourmet baked goods, instead of asking her friends to keep the leftovers she decided not to. she did not think about these things until one twenty-four-hour period when she got permanent marker on the sweater, lost one of the gloves and opened a new box of baked goods that were all moldy. she realized she should have trusted god. given the things away. she prayed and asked god to give her a new heart. a heart that could give joyfully as he does. god does not want us to give until it hurts, he wants us to give until it feels good. margaret makes a great point. when we give freely, we become more free ourselves. we reflect the radiance of our creator.

i feel like gifts to god are not only through offerings at church. i feel like when we give to others or when we talk to others and share the things god has done for us it is a gift to him. we are allowing someone else to start a relationship with him. that is something that he wants and desires. i know i can be selfish sometimes (maybe a lot more than i want to believe) after reading this chapter it has made me realize i really do not listen to god sometimes. there have been many times i have something telling me to give something away. the something was god. he knows a lot more than we do, and i need to remember to listen to him when he tells me something. i have to remember to keep my ears open always because he is always talking.

keep spinning the record

dj tiesto

we went to tiesto at the forum tuesday night. it was my first tiesto experience. it was actually my first “rave” if you will. i am not sure what you call it. anyway it was awesome. it was so packed, but the music was awesome. it was crazy being so close to tiesto. we are now best friends.

i did it

in my

closet

i did it. i bought the stella mccartney dress. this is not it. i could not find a picture of it on the computer that was not tiny. it is the same fabric and style. just longer sleeves and it is long. i am obsessed. i am going to wear it this weekend. so excited.

.008 unbelievably stubborn

constantly drawing

on my heart

getting back to the organic god. chapter eight is titled unbelievably stubborn. margaret talks about midrash which is a practice of deep exploration of the scripture. in hebrew midrash means to search out. margaret explains it perfectly. she says it challenges us to explore that which we do not know in order to better understand the one we want to know.

she read a passage from the bible and though it did not relate to her in the ways the characters in the story sinned, it related her in the areas of being arrogant, overfed and unconcerned (about the less fortunate) i found myself in the same situation as her as she continued to talk about this subject. our pride is shown through the way we shop, dress, eat and talk. we live in a prosperous society. this is the way we have grown up. 

arrogant + overfed = unconcerned

she is so right. that is the way so many of us are. we do not mean to be, it just comes natural. it is not an unchangeable characteristic. we can change. we need to be more aware of others that do not have as much as we do, and care for them. margaret decided she was going to change. though she wanted to go straight to the grocery store once she realized everything, but she had prior commitments and activities that afternoon. the next morning she went to buy a parking pass at the airport for an upcoming trip she had. for some reason she got the pass for free. that was a free fifty dollar pass. so with that money she saved she dashed to the grocery store and gathered products for the local food bank. 

when god wants us to do something or wants our attention he does not let us know once or twice. he constantly whispers to us. he is like an echo telling us over and over what he wants us to hear. he is very stubborn when it comes to his concern for us. being stubborn is usually a negative thing, but in gods case it is very positive. he has an unwillingness to stop trying with us. 

the words of jesus say it all. in his sermons throughout the bible everything he teaches is pushing us toward a relationship with god. he wants us to interact with the living god. it does not matter these sermons were preached a long time ago, they still apply.

as children of god we are all different. we naturally change and influence everything we come in contact with. we are supposed to spread the word of the lord and glorify god. personal relationships we have are affected by our connection with god. he does not just want us to spread his word, he wants us to have an intimate relationship with him. for us to pray and tell him what we want and need. we do not need to babble on and on in our prayers. he knows what we are going to say, so just say what is needed. god will always be with us. he is not just before us, but with us and after us as well. jesus wants us to be with him constantly. he wants us to leave the worry, anxiety and excess concern behind us. everything will be taken care of by god.

charlie bit me

my mom just called me and told me to watch this youtube video. it is so funny. both of their faces are hilarious and the little boys voice is too cute.

now watch this one. it is a remake done by older guys. it is pretty funny too.

numa numa

wake up moment

get up and walk

this morning i read over another sermon from newspring. this one was titled tearin’ off the roof. the main passage used for this message was mark 2:1-11. this is the story when jesus heals a paralytic. when jesus entered capernaum there were so many people gathered that there was no room left. four men carried in a paralytic man. since the crowd was so big they made an opening in the roof, dug through it and lowered him to jesus. jesus saw the man and said “son, your sins are forgiven.” teachers of the law sat there wondering why he talked like that, only god can forgive sin. jesus knew what they were thinking so he asked them why they were thinking these things. he then said which is easier to tell the man his sins are forgiven or to tell him to get his mat and walk. since they did not think the son of man had authority on earth to forgive sins. so jesus told the paralytic man to get up and take his mat and go home. so the man did in view of everyone. they were all amazed and said they had never seen anything like that. they praised god. 

for a wake up moment to happen, we must not only change they way we think about jesus , but the way we think about church and ourselves. we have to focus on jesus and his word. if you do not understand his word, you can not appreciate the beauty of it. during this process you have to tell yourself two things.

1. i will not be discouraged (look at mark 2:4)

2. i will not be denied (look at mark 2:5)

jesus has made everything beautiful in its time. he has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they can not fathom what god has done from beginning to end. ecclesiastes 3:11

it takes time to grow in your relationship with the lord. that is what he wants us to do. hunger to know him more, to want his love. the bible shows his love in so many different ways. it is not the easiest book to read, but that is why it is great to go to church and hear others talk about him. it is also great to be part of a bible study so you can interact and talk to others about him and his word. i have not had the best relationship with him. i have never gotten angry with god because of something that has happened to me. that is life and i understand bad things happen. it is part of his plan and i am thankful that so far in life i have been able to have an outlook like that. also i have never consciously wanted god out of my life, but that does not mean i have not subconsciously asked him to step out. just in my behavior, decisions and lifestyle it was obvious jesus was not on my mind. i have realized that from time to time but never made a huge effort to make sure he was in my life and on my mind every single day. just like any relationship it will take effort for it to work. that does not mean dreadful work. just as simple as reading your bible daily and making time to talk to him. ask him for help when you need it. thank him for the great things he has done.

do not pray when it storms

if you do not pray when the sun shines

i miss it

building castles

in the sky

anglea jess and me building

me playing with the wet sand

jess and me looking at our masterpiece

angela and me about to destroy it

i miss last summer. i had just finished college. i moved home for a month. played tennis and layed out by the pool everyday. i went to charleston and myrtle beach for two weeks with angela and jessica. even when i moved to charleston and got a job i still felt like it was summer time. the beach was just miles away and we were always doing things. the other day i went outside during the middle of the day at work and it was so hot. then i realized it was so hot because it is summer time. it just does not feel like it when you have to work inside all week and when you do not have a beach close by.

ring ring ring

phone calls

from laguna beach

i got a phone call from michael tonight. this is a huge deal. when he goes out of town for business i do not get to talk to him because of roaming and all that good stuff. so tonight i was watching a movie and i get a phone call from an unknown number. i answer being very curious as to who is calling me. and it was michael! i was so excited my eyes actually got a little teary. he and dillion were headed to get dinner in laguna beach. i guess they will be hanging out with lc, kristen, morgan, stephen, trey, lo, dieter, christina the whole laguna beach season one cast. well maybe season twos cast like alex, jessica, jason, taylor, casey and talan will come too. i guess i will have to wait and see who all makes it. but seriously it was great getting to hear his voice and i can not wait to see him saturday when he gets back. and seriously how did i remember the cast of laguna beach seasons one and two. get a life.

do not judge

“do not judge or you too will be judged”

matthew 7:1

when i read my bible every morning i jump around. i tend to open up to where there is a lot of writing or to where old sermon guides are. i have promised myself that soon i am going to stop doing that. i am going to read the bible from beginning to end. i started reading the book of revelation a couple weeks ago but because i tend to jump around so much i never finished it. it was so interesting and i actually thought well maybe i can read the bible from end to beginning like i am doing with the organic god. well one i have never read the entire bible, so no i am not doing that. two i am obviously wanting to finish revelation so this is a way to make sure to finish reading the entire bible.

well this morning i read an old sermon from newspring in anderson, the town i lived in during college. it was titled nothing left to lose. the bible verse that went along with the sermon was john 8:1-11. this passage tells a story of a woman who commits adultery. she is brought to jesus. the men told jesus what she has done and they say in the law moses commanded us to stone such women. now what do you say? they ask him this question as a trap. jesus responded by saying “if any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” all of the men left and jesus told her he did not condemn her and for her to go and leave her life of sin. what can we learn from this passage?

The Woman

1. She was caught

2. She was guilty

3. She was humiliated

4. She was speechless

Jesus

1. He was accessible

2. He was not intimidated by her sin

3. He was GOD

who are we to judge others for sinning, when we too are sinners. the only person that can judge is the lord. after i read this it made me think of a situation i was in yesterday at lunch. i was eating outside at dean and deluca when i overheard this man and womans conversation. there was no way to avoid listening to what they were saying so i tried to make some phone calls to distract my ears. i had no luck with getting ahold of anyone. so i go on eating my lunch hearing everything they say. i am not going to say what i heard but the entire conversation consisted of sin from adultery to sexual immorality to lying. the entire time i was thinking i was so glad i was not them. here they are living these lives of sin and they are happy with it. they were even giving each other tips on how to be worse (they did not think of it that way, but that is how it was) but here i was judging these people. i am not perfect, i sin everyday. maybe not their sins, but sin. a sin is a sin to god. all i needed to do in that situation was pray for them, not think poorly of them or judge them. i find it so interesting that god continues to show me things everyday. my random flipping to a passage to read and think about in the morning, always shows me something i need to see.

.009 abundantly kind

lose

the

attitude

i read chapter nine last night but i was so tired i did not get a chance to blog about it. this chapter is titled abundantly kind and it talks about not only kindness through people but from god as well. margaret tells a story of a flight she took from juneau to seattle. she noticed a woman put her seat back al the way. halfway through the flight the man sitting behind her needed to get up to use the restroom. he became angry and frustrated with her because her seat was in the way. he told her he could not get out of his seat, could she put her seat up already. when the flight landed the woman apologized to him regardless of his efforts in avoiding her. she asked for his forgiveness. he then apologized for the way he handled the situation. not only does kindness change our attitudes and responses but it also is contagious. 

margaret then goes on to talk about god’s kindness. she says his kindness reached down from heaven in the person of jesus christ. just as i was writing this i was thinking about the story of the woman on the plane and all the other encounters we come across when someone is kind in an odd situation. we recognize that and are thankful for the kindness they show. god displays his kindness through people. but we need to try to recognize god’s kindness he shows each and everyday on his own. especially in a situation when we do not deserve it. 

another story told in this chapter is about a houseguest that came and stayed, unappreciative of everything given to them. she was not sure how to handle the situation. when she read the command to “love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back” she realized this meant to everyone. even this unappreciative houseguest deserved to be loved. she made the best point. she said “the times i get the most hurt in relationships, the moments when i am most tempted to pull back, are when my expectations are out of line. when i expect someone to respond one way and they choose another, i get disappointed or hurt.” that is the story of my life. i have gotten so upset countless times in so many different situations, especially with boyfriends. it is because i played something out in my head and i had the outcome the way i wanted or thought it should be. then when it played out in real life it disappointed me. i would get so angry, but the person had no idea what they had done wrong and i could never explain it. though i thought they had done something wrong, in reality they just did not go by my plans, my plans in my head. they had done nothing wrong. she points out a verse in luke where jesus says “drop your expectations.” that is the best lesson ever.

i know i am not going to be able to be kind in every situation i am faced with. i have asked god to help me remember to show kindness. just remember that kindness can be contagious. it can help situations from becoming ugly. just because one person is kind in a situation does not mean that the situation will be resolved, but it will help and be a lot better than if kindness is not used.

but when the kindness and love of god our savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. titus 3:4-5

oh yea

p.s. it has

gerard butler in it

gerard butler

cry baby

p.s. i love you

gerry played by gerard butler and holly played by hilary swank

this was such a good movie. it makes you cry the entire movie, but some of it is happy crying. i saw it in the theater and cried my eyes out. so i decided to rent it because i knew what was going to happen, there would be no crying this time. umm yes there was, possibly more. anyway you should watch it if you do not mind some tears.

eat up

more

peas

please

how cute are these. i bet it is not hard to get kids to eat their peas if they have utensils like this. well actually they might play with them more than consume them.

wish you were here

the worlds a roller coaster
and i am not strapped in
maybe i should hold with care
but my hands are busy in the air