I rejoice - but not enough

I feel like I ought to write, but in reality I am at a loss as to what exactly to put down on here. God has been teaching me a lot lately, but to even begin to try and articulate it on a blog would only serve to scratch the surface and not do justice to the lessons I seem to be learning.

All I know is that God is so good. He is good, and he is sovereign, and because of those, I rejoice. I rejoice because he is glorious, even when I can't even begin to comprehend the magnitude of it. He gives so many good gifts - In reality, all we deserve is punishment, so anything good or anything made good is a gift from our most merciful God.

So....yeah. Nothing funny today, just some introspection. Hope that's ok :)

Ikea. My obsession.

Does everyone know about IKEA? The great Swiss-based store that sells TONS of nifty things (furniture, home items, gadgets and gizmos a'plenty)?!? I sure hope you know what I am talking about, because if not, you are MISSING OUT. Believe you me.

IT'S FINALLY OPEN IN CHARLOTTE.

I found out that ikea, that mecca of shopping fun, is now open and selling their wares within a few hours of me. It's finally within my reach....

Anyone? Anyone? I know SOMEONE must want to go visit with me! Come on...I'll even treat you to some tasty Swedish meatballs at the food court.

Help Teran go to Australia!

Hey friends - My dear friend Teran has applied for a job that is right up her alley - doing a video tourism blog for an organization in Queensland, Australia. If you've ever checked out her blog here in NC, you know she has a great camera presence, a spunky personality, and the skills to make people want to go where she suggests!

So, now take MY suggestion and help her get the job by viewing her video and rating her high! You can watch it and rate her video entry here!

She is getting married in June (I'm in la boda) and her fiance' JJ is game to take his crime-fighting skills to Australia (he's a Raleigh police officer). Help this fantastic couple have the opportunity of a lifetime! Thanks!

Tagged: Photo 4

This is a fun-ish tag!
1. Go to the 4th folder where you keep your pictures on your computer.
2. Post the 4th picture in the folder.
3. Explain the photo.
4. Tag 4 people.


This picture was taken inside a mosque in Amsterdam. While we were there for a work/study/mission trip, we were able to go inside and talk with someone about Islam and watch the call to prayer and prayers. If you think the building is beautiful inside, you're right. Ironically (sadly) enough, this is actually an old church that shut down and was later bought by a Turkish Islamic organization to be used as a mosque. The front door of the church faced Mecca, the direction Muslims have to pray to, so they now worship with their back to what used to be the altar and choir loft (the direction you see in the photo). So telling - they have turned their backs on the One True God to worship Allah. This should be such an impetus to us to get going to tell people about the God who saves and loves us...Anyways, I didn't actually take this photo, our photographer did.

I tag people who read the blog:
Kathy
Julie
Ginny
Shae

Love, love, love, loooove

I hope as you were reading that, it was to the tune of Jason Mraz's new song, which I can hardly remember any words to, but which has such a catchy tune. That's what's in MY head currently.

Just wanted to share a few pictures from yesterday....Valentine's day. It was my first time to have a valentine, and I am SO thankful that I don't have any bad valentines in my past to mar it...He's great, and I am so blessed by him, VDay or not. Literally, after the gifts of the Lord and my salvation, Adrian is one of the biggest blessings of my life.

He and I drove halfway and met in Lumberton, which is a podunk little town with an Outback and a mall that is approximately 100 yards long. Seriously. We went to both places, then ventured over to UNC Pembroke, where we did a mini photo shoot and walked around campus, drank some coffee and enjoyed being with one another.

After several attempts at getting a good shot on campus, we finally got a decent one. The campus is really pretty, with an outdoor amphitheater, a pond with a fountain, lots of trees and benches and a clocktower that literally went off every 10 minutes.

I love cheesy photos. Never underestimate the power of cheese! Haha. What better place for a cheesy Valentine's Day photo than in a mall in front of an exceedingly cheesy Valentine's Day backdrop?! You can tell I am excited.....Adrian's not so big on the pictures :)

I know red roses are cliche on VDay, but for someone who has never been given a dozen red roses on Valentines Day by a man she loves...They were perfect.

To know Him and make Him known

This has been a crazy week, both for me and for the organization for which I work. On the heels of last weekend's excellent 20/20 Conference (with Danny Akin, Bill Brown, Mark Driscoll and C.J. Mahaney) has come a lot of deep thinking for me and a lot of brouhaha for the SBC.

The speakers all personally challenged me in my walk with the Lord, causing me to examine my heart, see deep-rooted sin in it and ask forgiveness for my self-worship and idolatry. I have FAR too often acted out of a self-focused heart and mind, instead of being focused on the glory of God...It has been a good challenge, but a challenge nonetheless. Seeing my own wickedness is never easy, but it is so good because it causes me to reflect on the goodness and fullness of Christ. My desire is to continue to know him and to make him known to others.

With that said, I see a lot of those same desires (to more fully know God and make him known) reflected by the leadership of this great institution where I work. I am especially honored and thankful this week for Southeastern, as lines are drawn in the sand over the hateful treatment of Mark Driscoll, after having him speak at this conference. Never have I been more thankful for the leadership here than this week. Led by Dr. Akin and others, this school is falling firmly on the side of Christ-like love to those who may hold differing views on minor issues. Instead of joining the fray about all of this (there is enough going on in the blog world about it), I just want to express my thanks to the Lord for raising up sound leaders such as Dr. Akin for such a time as this. I also want to say that I am SO thankful for men who will take a stand for fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, rather than attacking their character over "every jot and tittle."

I don't know where the chips will fall on all of this, or if it will just die out eventually, but I am so grateful to God for the opportunity to learn, grow and be stretched by these issues under the leadership of Godly men. May we ALL unite under the Godliest of men - Jesus, God in the flesh - and and look together at how to know Christ and make him known.

Creative Mood: Here and Gone

Occasionally I get in crafty moods and just feel like CREATING something. Last weekend was one of those times. After a delicious (NOT healthy) breakfast at Waffle House, Lindsay and I were off to A.C Moore and Michael's to buy paint and scrapbooking supplies. While my little foray into scrapbooking (continuing one A started for us) basically stunk, I am semi-pleased with my painting excursion.

I wanted something that would bring more colors than just red and black into my apartment, so I wanted to incorporate some oranges and golds into some wall art for my dining room. Behold: My 3-panel painting. It's not great, but my creative juices stopped flowing. I was ready to be done and have it hung!

Pretty paint colors :)

The tools of a true artist such as myself....Ha, yeah right.

A blank canvas....Such a fresh, hopeful feeling

I just like the way the paint blobs looked together before I mixed the colors...

The "finished product."
I say "finished" because it might not be...I could get to feeling creative again in a couple of weeks and continue working on it, but for now, I'm fed up with it and done!

Follows-Ups

There are two bits of information to share with my faithful blog readers (all 7 of you.)

1) Remember how that woman stopped me and asked if I needed help last week and I wasn't sure whether or not to be offended? I've decided I'm very thankful for her assistance.

The day she saw me was 2 days after a 15 year old boy was stabbed in my neighborhood. They haven't found the guy who stabbed him....Scary. The boy is OK, but it definitely makes me a lot more cautious in my walks and a lot more alert.

2) After my "funny fall" yesterday (see last post), I felt the need to repeat it, apparently. I was walking up the marble steps in my office building after class and had the same issue: My toe got caught in my pants as I was stepping up. Once again, I fell. Hard. This time I hurt my knee and my hand.

After a couple of emotionally rough days and the humiliation of falling TWICE in one day, this time having people see and fawn all over me, I sat on the steps and cried out of embaresment, exhaustion, pain and frustration. Then I went home.

I'm realizing how stubborn I am. Even when I know I need to stop, take a break, get in my Bible and follow hard after Jesus, I continue to push myself, fill my time with activities I don't NEED to do, and stay self-focused. God, in his sovereignty, allowed that fall, I think, to give me time to rest and focus on Him...Thankfully, I am feeling more myself today and more focused on the goodness of my Savior.

Praise the Lord for his protection: He protects me from men who stab children, and he protects me from my self-focused self. Thank you, Father.

I Keep On Falling...

Have I mentioned I have small feet for my height? I do. 5'8'' and I wear a 7 1/2. That's a less-than-stable support down there. Most girls my height wear about a 9 1/2 or so, so you see what I'm working with!

I often blamed my abnormally small feet as the reason that I fell A LOT in high school. I would fall down bleachers, walking down hallways, out of chairs (I know, this has nothing to do with foot size), off of sidewalks, etc. I have grown out of that habit, for the most part.

Fast forward to today.

I have been oddly out-of-sorts the last few days, so as I was walking into work this morning, I was praying the Lord would renew my heart and my mind, humble me, and take my heart of stone and replace it with a heart that follows hard after him. I was so caught up in my praying that I didn't notice my shoe getting...uh, caught up...in my pants until it was too late. I hit the cement. Hard.

Blame it on not paying attention, blame it on the insanely pointy-toed shoes I love to wear, blame it on my new European-style wide leg pants I'm sporting...Wherever the blame lies, so there also laid my body. As I was plunging forward, unable to catch myself for the two large bags I was carrying, my sunglasses flew off and I believe I yelled out something less than ladylike.

Thankfully, the only thing that was damaged (besides my skinned hands and knees) was my pride. I mean, I was asking the Lord to humble me. I guess I just didn't think it would be so literal. Pride goeth before a fall, though, right? Good gracious.

I Won!!

What happened last night at the conclusion of the Superbowl was a beautiful thing. Not only was it an amazingly intense game, which resulted in a lot of trash talking between Adrian and I, but it also resulted in ME winning a bet that HE initiated.

The terms of said bet?

If the Cardinals won, I would have to (get to, excuse me) play video games all afternoon with him, namely those I "wouldn't normally play, like Halo and Madden."

If the Steelers won, we would go shopping. For him. For some new jeans.

Have I mentioned that he's 6'8'' and finding jeans that fit is a wee bit difficult? This is going to make it a nice loooonnngg afternoon at the mall with him :)

However, I agreed that we can still play some video games. It was a close game, after all, and I'm just nice like that. I think I like betting!