Cheers...Eh?

Forgiveness is Grand...is it not? So...lets raise our glasses ( or a hot latte ) to God for his forgiving grace.

This song is dedicated to a certain someone that shall remain nameless (in order that we both are not embarrased)...hee hee:

From a distance the world looks blue and green,
and the snow-capped mountains white.
From a distance the ocean meets the stream,
and the eagle takes to flight.

From a distance, there is harmony,
and it echoes through the land.
It's the voice of hope, it's the voice of peace,
it's the voice of every man.

From a distance we all have enough,
and no one is in need.
And there are no guns, no bombs, and no disease,
no hungry mouths to feed.

From a distance we are instruments
marching in a common band.
Playing songs of hope, playing songs of peace.
They're the songs of every man.
God is watching us. God is watching us.
God is watching us from a distance.

From a distance you look like my friend,
even though we are at war.
From a distance I just cannot comprehend
what all this fighting is for.

From a distance there is harmony,
and it echoes through the land.
And it's the hope of hopes, it's the love of loves,
it's the heart of every man.

It's the hope of hopes, it's the love of loves.
This is the song of every man.
And God is watching us, God is watching us,
God is watching us from a distance.
Oh, God is watching us, God is watching.
God is watching us from a distance.

...AND SCENE!

This shall be a slur of numerous thoughts…so grin and bare it with me:

1. This past Sunday (yesterday) was the second half of the series “The Body” at my church. I thought that the preacher did an AWESOME job of pointing out different ministries within the body of our church and spurring on others to become ministry minded. Yippee…I’m excited to see what God will do. Come on people…lets hop to it.

2. I’m reading a couple of books right now. That’s right…I said it…I’m reading a couple of books. This is a rare occasion…so take notes.

Book A. “The Ragamuffin Gospel” by Brennan Manning. Unfortunately, I’m loosing interest quickly. I don’t know if I’ll be finishing that one. Maybe so…I don’t know.

Anyway...

Book B. “The Marriage Builder” by Larry Crabb. BRAVO!!! Finally a “how to” book on marriage that is REALISTIC and not flowered with the “generic love scriptures” that you hear over and over again, nor is it filled with poetic verse on wonderful sex. This book gets down to the nitty gritty of the crappy part and day to day choices and struggles of marriage. The introduction alone FLOORED me. I kept finding myself saying “YES…YES YES! I totally get it!...and totally agree!” Hooray Hooraw for this book.

And Finally…THE BEST ONE…

Book C called “Do You Think I’m Beautiful” by Angela Thomas. OH….MY…GOSH! Have you ever read just one chapter of a book and become so mesmerized by it and TOTALLY into it that you end up face down on the floor weeping? Well…that was me last night. I had some MAJOR “come to Jesus” moments last night…all alone in my house. It was simply perfect. This book is for women that have felt or still feel ugly, un-appreciated, un-loved, un-noticed, or anything else that makes us as females feel shitty. I read “Wild at Heart” by John Eldridge and remember thinking “why is it that a GUY totally “gets it” but women don’t? We need a chick book version of ‘Wild at Heart’”. Well…THIS IS IT. I know that there is that book “Captivating” which is supposed to be the counter part of “Wild at Heart”…but I haven’t read that book…I’m reading THIS one…so, that’s all I can say about that. Anyway…IF YOU HAVE BOOBIES…READ THIS BOOK!!

3. This weekend was Amy Hansons wedding to Eli Roberts. BEAUTIFUL!!! Loved it! Amy was (of course) gorgeous and Eli was SO sweet when he played and sang “If” on the guitar. Whoa…the tears…they were a flowin’. And, as usual with Amy, a dance party DID happen. My hubby is one funny guy on the dance floor. Neither of us have been blessed with “mad dance skills”…but, we LOVE to have fun. And we did…oh yes…we did.

Aheet…I’m out.

ITS FALL!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE THE FALL!!!!!!!!!

ITS FALL ITS FALL ITS FALL!!!!!

I love fall!!! I love the leaves…I love the smells…I love the fashions…I LOVE the temperature…I love football…I love Starbucks “Pumpkin Spice Latte”…I love school supplies.

I LOVE FALL!!!!!!! What is YOUR favorite season?

ACTS 2 CHURCH...HMMM....

I’m still thinking about this past Sundays sermon at my church. The sermon was on “The Body” and how to mold ourselves into and be lead by the model church found in Acts Chapter 2.

I think that we are far from being "close" or "on our way" to an Acts 2 church. Like our pastor said (and this is a horrible paraphrase) "if you think that you are doing good and are a great Christian...YOU'RE WRONG!!" This attitude also needs to be applied to our church body. I think that there is SO MUCH MORE that our church could be doing...but, unfortunately...the lay people are getting so exhausted.

We really need a revival in our church. We need a HUGE breath of fresh air (fresh faces, feet and hands) to step up and take a leadership role. So many are serving...yet, they are the same "many" that have been serving for SO LONG.

I think that the majority of our church body think that we are just existing and that these "jobs" that people do on Sundays, are paid and not a true service to the church. I try not to get angry about this...but, its really starting to bug me. Especially when I have a wonderful husband on staff that works his BUTT off every and Wednesday (when they rehearse).

Let me give a quick shout out to our WONDERFUL leaders:
Brett, Kent, Aaron, Jason, Justin, Dave, Elise, Bronson and Matt. YOU GUYS and GAL ROCK!!!!!!!

Ok…back to the spur…

As far as community service goes...there is one thing I would like to say in our churches defense...I think that we present a MUCH more "safe" and "welcoming" atmosphere to the lost and lonely. True...I think we could do MUCH MUCH more...but, compared to some stagnant churches, we are leading in this area.

“…am I buggin' you...I don't mean to bug ya! Ok Edge...play the blues!”
–BONO U2: Rattle and Hum, Live

DID YOU GIVE UP CABLE FOR JESUS????

DID YOU GIVE UP CABLE FOR JESUS?...hmmm...

This was the question posed to me today. I was moaning and groaning about how we don’t have cable (the good cable) anymore. Sure…we have the “basic package”, which consists of 3 shopping channels, 2 Christian channels, 2 PBS’s, 1 spanish channel, 2 CBS’s and 2 ABC’s….and we only have 25 channels total…so, yah…IT SUCKS.

But…

Did I give up cable for Jesus?

The person who asked me this question knows that someday, my hubby and me, are indeed planning on going into the mission field. He knows that we are on a strict strict strict budget to get out of debt. Once we are out of debt…we will have the freedom to do SO MUCH MORE with our money…

LIKE…MISSIONS.

So…YES…I could say that we gave up cable for Jesus. But…we haven’t given up SO much other stuff that we SHOULD give up to honor him.

LIKE…our tendencies to complain about not having cable, when there are SO many more people in the world, who don’t even have a TV or radio…let alone an Ipod or High Definition flat screen.

I’m selfish…yuck yuck yuck.

Running to my fortress in prayer...

Someone I love is hurting.

Someone I love has cried a lot of tears and is now cold towards emotion.

Someone I love isn’t laughing right now because of the pain.

Someone I love needs to feel love and emotion more than ever before in her life.

Someone I love is opening up to me, confiding in me.

…I don’t know how to feel, deal with, or love her right now.

…Heavenly Father, I need your wisdom more than EVER before in my life. I want to say the perfect words to to her…words from you.

JESUS...CAN OUR BABY BE THIS CUTE?? Please??

...Could Suri Cruise BE ANY CUTER???? Oh my goodness...I just can't believe how gorgious this child is.

I pray that someday she finds Christ because she is DEFINITELY a reflection of his beautiful creation.

I can't wait to read the full page spread on this story. I've got to admit...I've been addicted to this story since the beginning.

Photos by Annie Liebovitz w/ Vanity Fair.