pg 210

"All knowledge is spendable currency, depending on the market." - Bailey

knight

My knight went on an adventure today and brought these back for me... :)

down at the crick

I was sitting down by the creek tonight, doing some homework and dangling my feet in the water. I kept getting distracted by the water, brilliant greens and little bird sounds all around me and I kept getting distracted by God.

God is like water; sustainer of all life, beautiful, mysterious, refreshing, strong and gentle. And did you know that if you let water work long enough it will eventually remove any stain...?

We spend too much time inside. We were created to live outside. I love nature. Unless it's a bug... I hate that kind of nature. :)

GET OFF YOUR COMPUTER AND GO OUTSIDE! Wake up and have an adventure...

bedtime

You know... I think TV shows and movies are just grownup bedtime stories...

comment please

There is a couple I know who are engaged and they just got married. But they got married about two months before their wedding...

What do you guys think about getting married before your actual wedding?

Just something interesting and out of the ordinary for your minds to chew on today. Mine is. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think about this idea.

nomad

I’m coming to the end (ish) of my time here at Ozark and I kind of feel like I cheated myself. I’ve lived on three different floors in four semesters. Looking back I wish I would have stayed on G2 because at least I would have been with them through my whole two years. As it stands now I am claimed by no one because I never stayed long enough or got close enough.

Sometimes I’m not very good at community… but is that really true? Tonight at devos they were talking about how we have such great community in our dorm/floor and how we need to branch out and spread that community to others on campus. And I sat there, looked around me and noted that none of my closest friends were in that group. My friends are scattered. I have friends in every dorm and I love it… maybe that’s why I don’t feel so close to my dorm as everyone else does.

Whatever it is, it bothers me. I feel like I missed out on something. You can’t have everything in life and I’m not going to sit around regretting my decisions but if I had it all to do over again, I think I would do it just a little bit differently.

homework

My constant thorn in the flesh...

family

Families are so strange. We all think our families are messed up until we go out, view other families and realize just how sane ours actually are.

There are family of origin issues; family rules; things we do and don't talk about... its a crazy cycle. We all have things we don't like about our families but famlies are made up of people; and people are not perfect so we should never expect our family to be perfect. But knowing that perfection cannot be attained should never keep us from trying to do the best we can.

My family can drive me crazy sometimes but I really love them all.

deception

When you find out someone’s deceiving you… you instantly distrust everything they have ever said or done. You hold up your relationship to the light and search for the inconsistencies in it, the flaws that keep it from sparkling.

What if the relationship is very old, and thus should be weathered... yet it remains as a collectable in a box, only taken out once and awhile to be shown off.

Disgraceful.

smile

Sometimes you just need the people around you to be happy. To take notice of the small things and delight in them. To laugh with you and remind you that life is beautiful even when things loom over you. God created the sunshine that makes me sweat and makes the green grass dazzle.

I'm tired of being crabby. It's time to smile.

development

My boyfriend says that to be in youth ministry should mean that you are an educational professional. So if someone outside of the home is with the kids; teaching them and helping them develop, (whether at church or at school), it would seem to me that it’s even more important for the parents to be professional educators. Even if they do not choose to homeschool their children.

I’ve learned a lot about childhood development this semester through Erick Erikson, my classes, Raising Self-Reliant Children in a Self-Indulgent World and just the observance of my youth group kids. I don’t remember much of my childhood but it amazes me how much of what happens when you are young will affect you for the rest of your life. I am excited to learn more about this area of developmental psychology… I’ve spent years studying the male/female relationship but I think its time to move on to parent-educator/child relationships. It’s a very scary thing because so much can go wrong but it also holds so much potential for good…

much

I have so much to say; so much to write about. But not enough time!!! This frustrates me beyond belief.

On my mind...

Men and church; primarily my thoughts on the just finished book Why Men Hate Going to Church.

My missions trip to NYC this summer

God and how He makes me trust Him even when I want to plan out my summer

Prayer among Christians; the long and short of it... heh

I want to go work on photography for the Rapha House art show

People are walking around barefoot and I am not... because I think its ridiculous.

Read books about church planting because it's an adventure I didn't realize until two days ago

What am I actually doing...? Working on a late assignment. *sigh*

imperfect

inactivity

I've discovered that I become more exhausted by inactivity than by constantly being busy. Great amounts of time not used to actually accomplish anything frustrate me. I'm confused about this because I LOVE spending time together and just sitting around, hanging out with my family or beloved friends but in the end I feel like I need to have something to show for it. I think I need to lay aside the extreme value I place on time and learn to let things flow... value the people above the productivity. This is so hard for me... its hard to understand or explain why I am this way.

On another note... I constantly try to outweigh the bad things that happen with the good... but sometimes it doesn't even up. And I need to realize that it's okay. I tell myself the lie that if I just work harder at it, it will all even out. But it never does. The scale always tips to one side or the other. I'm pretty sure that's just life.

did you know

I love the Did You Know videos. They remind us that we must keep moving and never stop learning.

Did you know 2.0
Did you know 3.0

What does it all mean? Never stop learning, or you will be left behind.

motivation

Do I do the "right things" because I love God?

Or because I've been taught it's the right thing to do?

If I'm doing the right thing either way; does my motivation really matter?

Yes.

I want my motivation to be love, not habit.

But when you function off of habit for so long how do you switch to love? You cultivate love by investing in the relationship. There's really no other way... at least for me.

time

I feel like time is slipping through my fingers. The day is over and I have no idea where it has gone...