quote of the day

You can dissipate your gift by making the people with the loudest requests temporarily happy or you can change the world by saying "no" often. -Seth Godin

Amazing Grace

Is there something that you could not forgive? Is there something for which there is no going back? Is there some wrong that keeps you from loving someone?

Does Grace move beyond forgiveness? Are there things that you can forgive but not reconcile with another person over?

Mark just posted this on his blog, and it struck a chord with me.

Grace is a tricky thing when combined with humanity. We pray every Sunday, "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." Forgive us as we forgive others. Give us the same grace we offer others.

Honestly, if God gave me the grace I give to others sometimes, I would have a hard time following Him. Mark's blog confronted the ugly truth in my heart that, while I forgive easily, I have a hard time reconciling with the offender. I become wounded by the offense, and sometimes, I allow that lack of reconciliation to either stop me in my tracks or turn me into a victim, instead of having the freedom and victory Christ offers.

If you never reconcile with an offender, you will always be bound to the offense. Our offenses were forgiven and reconciled the day Christ was nailed to the cross. Reconciliation is part of grace. Grace is like a glass of chocolate milk- forgiveness is the milk, and reconciliation is the chocolate. The milk is fine on its own, but it's so much sweeter when you add the chocolate. It completes the drink. Forgiveness is fine on its own, but it's so much sweeter with reconciliation.

Reconciliation isn't easy, but we have an incredible example to look towards.

[Jesus, not the chocolate milk]:)

Eight days a week

I WENT EIGHT DAYS WITHOUT POSTING?!
oh my gosh guys, you gotta keep me in check.

let's be honest, did some of you think the rapture happened?
KIDDING!

but for real...

The best questions about Jesus EVER.

oh. my. gosh.
this is the funniest thing i've seen in a long time. mad props to Tim Stevens for posting this. I have no idea what it's from, but it's incredible. Share it with your friends :) It's life-changing haha

Making Stories

Cole: "You are going to hear so many great camp stories..."
Joston: "I don't want to hear stories; I want to make my own. I can't wait to get there and be a part of that."

We have some incredible student leaders working with us this summer at camp. Their hearts are already beating for their campers, and it gets me excited seeing how ready they are to pour into their kids. God is moving, and I'm so blessed to be a part of it.

Light the Night

"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path." -Psalm 119:105 NIV

I want this to say, "Your word is a floodlight to my feet and a clear view of where I'm going." We don't always get what we want though, huh?

--------------------------
update:

never ever EVER tell God "these are my plans," because He'll shake it up and give you something better. we compromised on my plan and His plan, and I'm excited about the outcome and really at peace. More updates later!

quote of the day

you need to read what my friend tom wrote over here.

if you don't like to read [how did you get here?], here's the abridged version:

I am always reminded that the Church is still the Bride of Christ, and God loves her so much...even with all her flaws. As much as I can find fault with different aspects of her, I still love her and believe in her.... Be honest, yes... but be negative for the sake of being negative, no way.

[clearly today was all about quoting other people, huh?]

Now Entering: the Marilyn Phase

I'm going through a Marilyn Monroe phase... last year, I went through an Audrey Hepburn phase, which resulted in me watching "Breakfast at Tiffany's" four times in a row one evening. I'm not sure what led me to Marilyn, but I've been reading some of the things she said, and that's what's drawn me in. She was a lot smarter than people realized, or at least a lot smarter than I realized. So, because this is my blog, I'm going to post some of my favorites :)

A career is wonderful, but you can't curl up with it on a cold night.

[regarding celebrities/stars] All we demanded was our right to twinkle.

I don't mind living in a man's world as long as I can be a woman in it.

It's all make believe, isn't it? [my favorite]

The truth is I've never fooled anyone. I've let people fool themselves. They didn't bother to find out who and what I was. Instead they would invent a character for me. I wouldn't argue with them. They were obviously loving somebody I wasn't. When they found this out, they would blame me for disillusioning them and fooling them.

I used to think as I looked at the Hollywood night, 'there must be thousands of girls sitting alone like me, dreaming of becoming a movie star. But I'm not going to worry about them. I'm dreaming the hardest.'

Everybody is always tugging at you. They'd all like a sort of chunk out of you. I don' think they realize it, but it's like 'grrr do this, grr do that...' But you do want to stay intact and on two feet.

I don't want to make money. I just want to be wonderful.

Dogzilla Blogzilla

i freakin love this dog... she's amazing, even on her worst days. that's all. not a REAL update, but i just felt like I needed to give credit where credit was due :)

Quote of the Day

"We must learn to love each other fiercely and hold each other loosely." -Mark Beeson [via gcc twitterfeed]

Don't let the sun catch you angry.

I've been thinking a lot today about the scripture, "In your anger do not sin': Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold." (Ephesians 4:26)" [it came up on the YS_Scoop feed on Twitter this morning, and my brain keeps going back to it]. It's one that everybody knows, and few follow, not because they don't want to, not because they don't believe it, but because it's really really hard.

Usually anger stems from feeling as if an injustice has happened towards someone, whether yourself or someone you care about. Maybe someone treated you poorly, maybe they hurt someone you love, or maybe they just rubbed you the wrong way. Whatever happened, anger built up and you're stuck going, "now what?"

Anger isn't a sin. It's an emotion, it happens. It's what happens next that's so important. Anger is like a cut- if you don't treat it when it happens, it gets infected and everything just gets worse. Anger gives room for sin to enter the picture. If left unaddressed, it allows other thoughts, actions, and emotions to enter the picture, too. It blows up into a bigger deal than the initial incident.

"Anger nurtured somehow gives Satan a place to stand in our heads. Anger protected and unreleased gives him access to our hearts." -YS Newsletter

The biggest thing we can do when anger comes up [and it's the hardest thing to do] is confront it head on in LOVE. If someone hurt us, causing the anger, we need to talk to them, try to understand where the other person is coming from, and explain where our hearts are as well. It's hard, but it's not impossible. It just takes us swallowing our pride and seeing the situation with the eyes of Christ. We have to offer each other grace and understanding, even when our human nature fights it. We have to rise above our humanity and let the anger go. And, as with anything in life, we've got to let God's grace be an example and a motivator for our actions. It's not easy, but it's so important when it comes to our spiritual health and our relationship with God.

Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don't use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don't stay angry. Don't go to bed angry. Don't give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life. -Eph 4:26-27 [MSG]

Simplicity.

"We all think of the Holy Grail as a golden cup covered in jewels. We assume because of its worth, it must be spectacular. In reality, it was a simple wood cup. It was ordinary and extraordinary all at the same time. Realizing the truth about the Grail helps us realize the truth about Christ. We think of Him as "King" and "Lord," and, while He is, He was also a simple man looking to make a difference."

Everyone's asking...

Angela Simmons replied to one of my tweets today, and people are taking note haha :) i'm such a ham. it's really not a big deal, but it made my day! Angela is the cofounder of Pastry Shoes, as well as one of the stars of MTV's Daddy's Girls and Run's House. She's the daughter of hip-hop legend Rev Run and I pretty much think she's great

quote of the day

"if you're going to fail, be fabulous at failing." -Isaac Mizrahi

interesting life perspective... and... if you're fabulous at failing, I would assume you would also be successful at failing, which ultimately means that you have not, in fact, failed.

nyquil makes me mad deep.

Last Train to Awesometown

[shout out to the bro for showing me this cinematic gem]

several things worth mentioning.

1. the next time I get sick, I hope it's not during a "pandemic," because the swine flu jokes are starting to get old. if i see the pig kiss picture one more time, i might actually die.

2. because i've been sick, i've been a waste of existence. last night i took nyquil, in hopes to stop coughing for the first time in like, 72 hours. not only did i stop coughing, i also slept til noon. woaaah nelly.

3. i took 1 nyquil three hours ago because i'd actually like to wake up tomorrow morning, and i keep finding myself zoning out. perhaps i need a healthy alternative.

4. behind the scenes of a twitter post: i wanted to say "i'm spacing out more than [insert astronaut here]." Neil Armstrong was too obvious a choice, so I went for Buzz Aldrin. Unfortunately, I typed "more than Buzz..." and couldn't figure out how to spell Aldrin. So [conveniently] I substituted "Lightyear." I'm pleased with the results.

5. i had to get a new charger for my macbook, which ≠ awesometown. $85 buckaroos, vamanos. andele. muy mal.

6. i never took spanish, so I have no idea if i typed anything correctly. don't worry about it though, because i'm not worried.

7. see what i mean about the nyquil?


also, the cold went into my ear, giving me this awesome sneak peek into the life of the Little Mermaid, who probably dealt with similar hearing issues, since she was always under water. It's like a whole new world has opened up to me [aladdin reference]

in order to save my dignity, i'm going to bed.

"the grass is always greener where you water it." -Shane