Halloween

In honor of the biggest holiday in Chapel Hill, I'm writing in orange. :)

So far today, I've seen an astronaut, Jessie from Toy Story, a Rapper carrying a boom box (real original), and someone with purple hair (that might be normal though). I'm extremely sorry to say that I will not be joining the 70,000 people who flood Franklin Street. I know that I probably should go, but I do not have the money or the time to really put together a good costume. Beyond that though, I hate being in crowds. I become very VERY anxious and nervous. Although I was amongst the crowd on Franklin Street for the National Championship, I was also groped and moved down the street without my feet touching the ground at times. It's a little more than I can handle. Some of my friends are having parties and I might go, but it's doubtful.

So, my hat's off to all of you venturing into the drunken crowds of slutty bumble bees, slutty lady bugs, slutty nurses, and John Edwards look alike politicians. Be careful what you do, because they are sure to show up on facebook.

Song for the day: "She's an Eagle When She Flies"- Dolly Parton

Shes been there, God knows, shes been there
She has seen and done it all
Shes a woman, she know how to
Dish it out or take it all
Her hearts as soft as feathers
Still she weathers stormy skies
And shes a sparrow when shes broken
But shes an eagle when she flies
A kaleidoscope of colors
You can toss her around and round
You can keep her in you vision
But youll never keep her down
Shes a lover, shes a mother
Shes a friend and shes a wife
And shes a sparrow when shes broken
But shes an eagle when she flies

Gentle as the sweet magnolia
Strong as steel, her faith and pride
Shes an everlasting shoulder
Shes the leaning post of life
She hurts deep and when she weeps
Shes just as fragile as a child
And shes a sparrow when shes broken
But shes an eagle when she flies

Do Lord, oh do Lord, do remember me

I think we all have times when we feel like we might be the most insignificant creatures on the face of the planet. It seems like we have so much control, but suddenly, we lose it. The realization hits that you are so far from being in control of any aspect of your life.

Tonight my Bible study was in the book of James. It's a book I've been through before, but like anything, I always see something new every time I read it. Tonight, the focus was on faith and works. So often, I have felt like I don't do enough of one or both of these things. Tonight however, I heard something that really opened some doors. It isn't necessarily about how much of each one that you do, James is writing about how one completes the other. Because of my faith, my works will be influenced and because of my work my faith will be influenced. Overall, it was a great night and dinner went well. I'm really excited about the rest of this year!

Song of the night: "Always on My Mind" ~ Willie Nelson

Maybe I didn't love you
Quite as often as I could have
Maybe I didn't treat you
Quite as good as I should have
If I made you feel second best
Girl I'm sorry I was blind

You were always on my mind
You were always on my mind

Maybe I didn't hold you
All those lonely, lonely times
And I guess I never told you
I'm so happy that you're mine
Little things I should have said and done
I just never took the time

You were always on my mind
You were always on my mind

Tell me, tell me that your
Sweet love hasn't died
And give me
Give me one more chance
To keep you satisfied
satisfied

Little things I should have
Said and done
I just never took the time

You were always on my mind
You were always on my mind
You were always on my mind....

Songs you need to hear before you die..

So I love a good song.. one with some deep meaning. Two of my new favorites are "Pick the Wildwood Flower" by Johnny Cash and "I'll Pray for you" by Sara Evans. Sometimes when I'm in a bad mood music is the only thing that calms me. So here are the song lyrics from Sara Evans.... As for Johnny Cash, if you don't take time to download it, then you have officially lost 3 of the most productive moments of your life. So here they are...

Sometimes I wish I could run home to mama's lovin' arms
In the springtime, when the weather's fine
Sittin' with her on the porch, glass of tea and nothin' more
Than her smile, for just a little while
And when I don't know where to go
I think of home and how you use to sing to me, she sang

Que sera, sera, life goes on
Whatever's meant to be will always be
And baby what don't kill you, will make you strong
Just love the journey that your on
In all you do, I'll pray for you

Wild horses and fairy tales sometimes turn into somethin' else
That you never saw comin' at you at all
So I guess I'm callin' just because he wasnt who I thought he was
And I can't believe he stopped lovin' me
So, when I'm feelin' all alone
I think of home and how you used to sing to me

Que sera, sera, life goes on
Whatever's meant to be will always be
And baby what don't kill you, will make you strong
Just love the journey that your on
In all you do, I'll pray for you


I got babies of my own
And I'm the one that they're countin' on to be here
For every little tear, and I'll sing

Que sera, sera, life goes on
Whatever's meant to be will always be
And baby what don't kill you, will make you strong
Just love the journey that your on
In all you do, I'll pray for you

Poetry

"I hate it" pretty much sums up my feelings of angst and frustration with poets. For the most part, I understand the poetry that is written in "English" but as for Coleridge, I don't think so. Well I take that back, I kinda "get" it but this poetry definitely does not read like a dime novel. Which is highly unfortunate because I try to think as little as possible when I read.. :) So, I'm in Davis (again) reading and attempting to use my brain that is shrinking by the minute to figure out what's going on in these poems. Unfortunately, the hard drive in my brain needs to be replaced because it is full and really slow.. So if anyone would be interested in shedding light in my darkness that would be greatly appreciated. Other than that, Life's Good!





My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ. Colossians 2:2

RAIN!!!

So it's raining here and I think we should all go celebrate. Get pumped!!

Recent developments in my life:
I've been spending an increasing amount of time in Davis Library...
I have an itch on my foot that I can't get to go away...
I've been having a glorious week filled with lots of fun!

I'm really excited about going home for Thanksgiving... But before that is CHAPTER RETREAT!!
Supposedly, I'm going to be giving a testimony so I'm going to begin writing that. I still can't decide if I want to do anything for Halloween, so if anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

Time for bed. :)

There's nothing like a good rant!

I'm fairly tolerant of many things in this world, but one thing that gets my goat is the improper use of pronouns in their roles as subjects and objects. This is VERY simple and I feel like if I don't highlight the issue, we are going to have a world of ignorant people. So today's blog is a grammar lesson.

Pronouns:

Singular-------------- Plural
I ------------- --------We
You ------------------ You (pl.)
He/She/It ------------They

Example:
You're answering the phone: "This is she." (Correct)
"This is her." (WRONG!!)

All of these would be used as subjects and predicate nominatives. They will NOT be the object of action verbs. They also WILL not be the objects of prepositions.

The proper Pronouns to use as objects are as follows:

Singular -------------Plural
Me ----------------- Us
You ---------------- You (pl.)
Him/Her/It -------- Them

The problem for most people is prepositions. Here is a list of common prepositions that MUST be followed with an object...

about	behind	from	on	toward
above	below	in	on top of	under
across	beneath	in front of	onto	underneath
after	beside	inside	out of	until
against	between	instead of	outside	up
along	by	into	over	upon
among	down	like	past	with
around	during	near	since	within
at	except	of	through	without
before	for	off	to

Any time you use one of these USE AN OBJECT!!!

Example:
"Let's just keep this between you and me." (Correct)
"Let's just keep this between you and I." (Wrong all over the place!!)


The proper usage of WHO/WHOM.

Who is used as a subject or a predicate Nominative. That's it.
Whom is used as an object, object of a preposition, and anything else that you need it for, just not a subject.

Example:
The present is for whom? (Correct) It follows the preposition (for).
Edith Wharton, by whom the book Summer was written, died an old lady. (Correct) Whom follows the preposition (by).

This really is not hard!! Let's get it right. There is no excuse for me having to hear thinks like...
"between you and I", From who, to who, for who, by who.... problems!!

There is a difference between WHO and WHOM.. They are absolutely not interchangeable and should not be substituted with "which" because they are powerful on their own. Ok, that was my rant. Please pass on to your friends. :)

Praying for Rain

I know everyone gets all depressed when it rains, but it's getting pretty desperate. We need a GOOD 10 inches of rain and we need it soon. So if you believe in the power of prayer, please just say a quick one for the entire southeast. Also say a prayer for California that those fires would stop spreading out of control.

It's hard to see the Lord's hand in all of this. To know that he has control of everything,often we are quick to think "oh he's punishing us" or "blame it on those sinful people". This is what Job has to say about God's power, even through all the pain he was going through.

His wisdom is profound, his power is vast.
Who has resisted him and come out unscathed?

5He moves mountains without their knowing it
and overturns them in his anger.

6He shakes the earth from its place
and makes its pillars tremble.

7He speaks to the sun and it does not shine;
he seals off the light of the stars.

8He alone stretches out the heavens
and treads on the waves of the sea.

9He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion,
the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.

10He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed,
miracles that cannot be counted.

11When he passes me, I cannot see him;
when he goes by, I cannot perceive him.

Job 9: 4-11

I think it's important that we remember who is in control. I feel like so often we are quick to pretend like we believe that God is in control, rather than ACTUALLY believing it. In verse 10, Job speaks of the unfathomable. Many of us are educated and we live in a world filled with knowledge, but there are some things that we will NEVER understand. As many theories as we have, it is sometimes frustrating to not have an answer to our problems. It is an active process of reminding yourself that God is in control. He knows your phone number, social security number, the number of breaths you take per minute, and the number of hairs on your head. He knows us.

In many ways though, we don't know him. When Job speaks in verse 11 about not being able to perceive or see God, I realize how hard it is for us to comprehend how God can be walking with each person on this earth every second of every minute in every day of our lives. We strive to make sense of God. Often, we end up putting human limitations on a God that is not human. He's so vast and different from us that we can't comprehend. That is not to take away from the idea of us being made in his image, because we were. But that's just it, an image is not the same as the being itself. There are things about a being that are different from an "image". I think of a painting of a person here. That one image may capture one set of emotions or thoughts, but it is definitely not all encompassing.

We have to get to know God, who he is, what he says, and how his love envelops us. I think after this past year that I deem "hell year", I've realized that even though I screwed up a LOT, his love was still enveloping me. I couldn't perceive him through my pain, but he was RIGHT THERE. I couldn't see him, but he was in the people around me, he held my hand when I cried at night, he laid down beside me while I was sleeping, and he spoke to me in my dreams. Even when I was denying him the love that he deserved for what he had already done for me, he still stuck around.

Anyways, those were my tangent thoughts for the day... They happen pretty frequently. So pray for rain and pray that rather than "knowing God" or "understanding God" in his entirety (because that can be annoyingly frustrating), that we would "get to know part of the vast God" and "understand ourselves as a child of God."

Fall???

So it's 80 degrees outside and it's the middle of October... I'm not sure how I feel about that. However, I do enjoy the fact that slowly but surely, fall is coming! Today I made my Christmas list and emailed it to my mom... we are too technologically advanced.

I've started reading the book of John, which is typically known as the book that "brings people to Christ". I'm just amazed by this book and I keep reading the beginning. I'm fascinated by John and his humbleness with what God has called him to do. This man was baptizing and preaching for God and when he was asked if he was Elijah, he could have easily said yes, but he didn't.

One of my favorite verses is "He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie." This is so good!! I love it. Every time he is asked who he is, rather than telling people where he is from, John is constantly pointing to Jesus. He defines himself in Jesus. John says that he is not the light, but he is reflecting the light into the world and is a witness to the life of Jesus (John 1:8). It is amazing to see. It's almost crazy to think of all the times we take our accomplishments as definitions of ourselves, but all we need to do is reflect the love and promises that God has made to us. What would it be like if we did that??

Just random thoughts

Peak Weekend

Yes, I just spent the most glorious weekend in the mountains of North Carolina. This was my fall break and I needed it so much. The lovely Mandy Efird and Emily Bagley accompanied me on my trip to Avery county to meet up with our favorite Jennie Biser in the whole world. After a long drive and a few wrong turns, we finally arrived. It has been quite a long time since I've been so happy to see someone, as I was to see Jennie. She's been working at CAP in Kentucky and this 'blue heaven' that I live in just isn't the same since she left. So we basically had a deet style reunion and caught up on life.

The first morning we arose to a wonderful breakfast and then ventured to Johnson City, Tennessee, where we got Jennie's car fixed and found an Olive Garden. After roaming around Target and Books a Million, we made our way home. Saturday was filled with shopping and riding. Little did we know, but we picked the peak weekend for watching the leaves turn colors. After a few "Friends" episodes, some cuddling, and making our hair look fancy, we spent our last night by enjoying a big meal with Jennie's wonderful grandparents.

We took off early this morning to our little part of heaven. Naturally, we hit up the first Bojangles that we could find for lunch... I mean who wouldn't. Reluctantly, we dropped Emily back off at WFU and Mandy and I made our way on back to Chapel Hill. This was an amazing weekend. Full of fun memories and laughing. I love these girls and this place.

As soon as I got in, I checked my email and fell asleep.. Thank God for a great fall break, who could ask for more!